Geography Alive!A Description and Sample Lesson of TCI Curriculum Materials

Sources All information included in this presentation is

from the TCI website (http://www.teachtci.com) and TCI materials included in Geography Alive! curriculum

Part I: Rationale & Description

TCI “Geography Alive!” is the Geography

component of TCI

Created by Bert Bower, PhD

Interactive instructional approach that is intended to help students of all ability levels and learning styles succeed

Lessons are based on five theories:

o Understanding by Design (Wiggins and McTighe)• teaching for deep understanding must begin with planning the big ideas

students should learn. (essential question)

o Nonlinguistic Representation (Marzano)• teaching with nonlinguistic activities helps improve comprehension.

(Graphic organizers and movement activities)

o Multiple Intelligence (Gardner)• address Gardner's seven intelligences: verbal-linguistic, logical-

mathematical, visual-spatial, body-kinesthetic, musical-rhythmic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.

o Cooperative Interaction (Cohen)• cooperative groupwork leads to learning gains and higher student

achievement.

o Spiral Curriculum (Bruner)• students learn progressively — understanding increasingly difficult

concepts through a process of step-by-step discovery.

Multiple Intelligence Teaching Strategies

o Visual Discovery• students view, touch, interpret, and bring to life compelling images as they

discover key social studies concepts. o Social Studies Skill Builders

• students work in pairs or small groups on fast-paced, skill-oriented tasks such as mapping, graphing, identifying perspective, and interpreting primary sources

o Experiential Exercise• Through the use of movement and introspection, students capture a moment or

feeling that is central to understanding a particular concept or historical event.o Writing for Understanding

• The experience becomes a springboard for writing, challenging students to clarify ideas, organize information, and express what they have learned.

o Response Groups• students work in small groups with thought-provoking resources to discuss

critical thinking questions among themselves. o Problem Solving Groupwork

• students work in heterogeneous groups to create projects that require multiple abilities so that every student can contribute.

Lesson Elementso Standards-Based Content

• Dynamic lessons build mastery of state and national social studies standards.

o Preview Assignment • A short, engaging assignment at the start of each lesson helps you preview key concepts and tap students'

prior knowledge and personal experience.

o Considerate Text • successful reading of expository text involves four stages: previewing the content, reading, taking notes, and

processing the content or reviewing and applying what has been learned.

o Graphically Organized Reading Notes • Comprehensive graphic organizers used to record key ideas help students obtain meaning from what they

read.

o Processing Assignment • Processing assignments encourage students to synthesize and apply the information they have learned in a

variety of creative ways.

o Assessments to Inform Instruction • encourage students to use their various intelligences to demonstrate their understanding of key concepts

while preparing them for standardized tests.

Geography Approach Emphasizes thematic approach rather than

standard region-centered approacho Mapping labso Case study approacho Content area reading emphasis

o Designed to “turn kids into geographic thinkers”

Part II: Sample Lesson

Lesson #31: Population Density In Japan: Life in a Crowded Country

Lesson Objectives By the end of this lesson, the student will be able

to:o define & explain the importance of these key geographic

terms: arable land, arithmetic population density, physiologic population density, population distribution

o describe how population density affects various aspects of life in Japan

o analyze how population density affects life in their own community and around the world

Lesson Preview Teacher projects “Map of Japan” transparency 31A Students work in pairs to complete Preview 31 Discuss preview worksheet Teacher projects “Japan at Night” transparency 31B Discussion of questions

o From where & at what time was this image taken?o What countries can be seen in this image?o What do the bright & dark areas represent?o What major cities can be seen in this map?o What do you notice about the population in highland and lowland areas?o Did your predictions match the five biggest cities in Japan? (Tokyo,

Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, & Sapporo)o Generally, where is most of the settlement in Japan?o Why might settlement have occurred in this pattern?

Introduce population density & Japan

Essential Question & Geoterms

How does population density affect the way people live?o Analyze swimming pool picture in text o Students work in pairs to read section 31.2 and

complete graphic organizero Answers are shared with the class

Experiential Exercise Students will experience population density

o Paper exercise (information master 31)• Compare population densities of Australia, the US, & Japan• Discuss feelings– “what three words or phrases explain how

you feel living in this country?”

o Subway exercise (transparency 31C)• Compare subway crowding in Hamburg, NY, London, Paris

and Tokyo• What qualities might help people deal with this sort of

crowding?

Reading & Note-Taking Students will then read Sections 31.3-31.6 in the

text and complete corresponding Reading Noteso Teacher’s guide suggests three methods:

• Individually reading and completing notes• Complete readings as a class, then complete sections

together• Students complete all predictions then jigsaw the reading

so that ¼ of the class reads each section and is prepared to report, put students in mixed groups and have them assist each other in completing notes

Global Connections Teacher will project Transparency 31D and hold

group discussion on the following:o What are five things you can learn from this map?o Which places are the most densely populated? Least?o What might explain why one place has a high population

density and another has a low population density? Then, teacher will have students refer to text 31.8

and hold group discussion on the following:o What do the tables show?o Can population density affect a nation’s well-being?o Besides population density, what other factors might

contribute to a country’s well-being?

Assessment Assessments supplied by TCI for this chapter

include:o Multiple choice questionso Table analysis worksheeto Writing prompt