Using Concept-Based Charts to Focus on Conceptual Goals

While my previous post looked at students using facts skillfully based on what students should be able to do, we must also be supporting students in their development of conceptual ideas.  (Jeffco teachers will notice that report cards elevate these two descriptors as 1) demonstrates understanding of social studies concepts and content and 2) applies skills and processes of social studies effectively...see the blog post that digs into those descriptors.)

Conceptually speaking, every content area has its most significant concepts.  The most significant concepts of a content can be seen as big ideas or as organizing concepts.  In addition, essential questions are written so students apply inquiry to uncover what we want students to understand.

As a classroom tool, teachers might consider creating a chart that communicates all of the concepts for a unit.  The essential questions can be used to help students and teachers stay focused on the unit's conceptual goals, while the words and phrases (big ideas and organizing concepts) can be included to help students and teachers discuss and use the conceptual language of history, geography, economics, and civics. If we build expectations around the regular use of academic vocabulary, then students will eventually view the use of academic vocabulary as the norm.

Some of you might be interested in looking at the framework for Preschool-12th grade Social Studies. This 

For teachers interested in viewing examples of the social studies concept-based classroom charts by grade level, access the appropriate grade level document.

• 3rd grade Social Studies Concept-Based Charts (by unit)
• 4th grade Social Studies Concept-Based Charts (by unit)
• 5th grade Social Studies Concept-Based Charts (by unit)
• 6th grade Social Studies Concept-Based Charts (by unit)

    

Connecting Facts/Details to Concepts in Changing Face of North America

This week, I had an excellent conversation with teachers about the unit Changing Face of North America: Emergence of a New World Society.  In this unit, it's easy for teachers to think that lots of content information is important.  As we look at concept-based instruction, one thing we have to remember as teachers is...more information does not necessarily equate to smarter students.  Concept-based instruction involves helping students to connect the facts they learn to the broader, more enduring concepts.  In turn, we asked this question. "How do we support students in connecting facts/details to concepts?"  For teachers who use a notebook or graphic organizers to help students track their conceptual understanding, we discussed how students would come back often to these notebook pages or graphic organizers as they learn more factual information and work to connect these facts to different conceptual lenses.

The use of essential questions is connected to inquiry (and to concept-based instruction).  As students learn more information, they can approach each essential question with greater complexity.  Essential questions are written with students as the audience while their corresponding understandings are written with teachers as the audience. 

Last, when teachers look at the Stage 1 Desired Results for a unit of study, there are content specific words and phrases that can also be used by teachers and students in classroom conversations (and writing).  These words and phrases are Big Ideas or Organizing Concepts.  In this unit, these words and phrases are connected to history and geography.  Teachers might consider how to weave this vocabulary and these ideas into classroom discussion (and writing) knowing that these big ideas and organizing concepts continue to appear for students from preschool through 12th grade.  

As we move ahead in our learning about concept-based instruction,  explore how students might use a notebook or graphic organizers to connect student learning to the unit's concepts (essential questions, big ideas, and organizing concepts).  These connections help students to make sense of their learning so the unit is not about a string of facts; the unit is about broader concepts and students have the opportunity to connect the facts/details to the broader concepts.

Physical Geography and the Great Plains Region

My recent discovery is a tool called ThingLink; it was used to add the resources to the image you see in this posting.  ThingLink is definitely my new favorite tool...endless possibilities for instruction, especially schools moving to 1:1 instruction.

Conceptual ideas Within the Image

This collection of resources about the Great Plains might be used to help students explore the geographic concept of "region." Students might use the attached resources to answer such questions as:
1. If the Great Plains is a geographic region, how would you describe "region"?
2. How would you describe the Great Plains region?
3. What are some examples of the impact this region's physical geography has on wildlife and people?
4. How would you compare the Great Plains region to ____(different region here)___?

Application of Skills and Thinking Processes 

that Might Be Developed Using These Resources

1. Organize information using a variety of graphic organizers.
2. Analysis of maps and other geographic sources.
3. Describing a region and comparing/contrasting regions of Colorado, the United States and the world.

* * * * What other resources might you want to see added to this ThingLink so it's useful for students in 4th grade? * * * *

(Click on the links embedded into this image.)

How does physical geography support understanding the geographic concept of region?

In your mind, using your mental map, how do you picture the United States?  Do you picture individual states or do you picture a set of states within a region?  Why do you think you have a mental picture of the United States by region?  One...you probably connect to characteristics connected to human geography (regions with political dispositions, regions with unique ethnic populations, regions with varying economic patterns, regions with different population density).  You might also view U.S. regions in a particular way because of how you associate physical features, climate, and weather patterns with different regions.

When teachers support students in developing the geography concept of region, we often begin with physical geography.  Physical geography allows students to consider facets such as landforms and climate.  In addition, we can begin to understand how weather patterns help students to develop an understanding of region. 

With recent news, people around the nation and the world are connected to the impact of tornados (physical geography, weather patterns) on people (human geography).  As someone from Denver, I watch the stories about this phenomena and have some connection knowing that a number of tornados occur in the plains region of Colorado.  Still, I often look at tornados as something that's connected to the midwest region and southeast region.  Imagine if you were watching these news stories from California, would you have a connection?  Probably not, and you would most likely associate this weather pattern with other regions in the United States.  In contrast, I associate forest fires with Colorado and the west region.  I associate hurricanes with the southeast region, portions of the southwest, and, increasingly, with the northeast. 

What regions do you think of when you hear about...drought? Blizzards?  Ice storms? El Nino? Hurricanes? Excessive heat?  Excessive humidity?

If we can support students in thinking through the conceptual lens of region, then we connect them to a deeper geographic understanding of the world.  Below, find some geographic tools to help support this learning with students who are beginning to explore regions of the United States.

(Note: I debated titling this posting Get Rid of Old Fashioned Fact-Based State Studies, Become a More Concept-Based Geography Teacher and Help Students Think About the United States Through the Concept of Region)

Links:

• Winter Snow Depths
• Climate Maps
• Satellite View Maps
• Average Annual Snowfall in the US
• Average Rainfall in the US
• Average Annual Sunshine in the US
• Average High/Low Winter Temperatures in the US
• Average High/Low Fall Temperatures in the US
• Average High/Low Summer Temperatures in the US

Tornado Tracks infographic by johnmnelson.

Tornado Probabilities infographic

Source:LiveScience

by johnmnelson.Learn about business intelligence tools.

Rats of New York: Understanding the Geography Concept of Human and Physical Interaction

Let me begin with a virtual hooray and shout..."SOOOOOO glad I don't live in New York City after Hurricane Sandy."  One word can explain my perspective: RATS!  Here are just a few resources (organized chronologically) for those of you who haven't heard the story just yet.

• The Daily Beast - Hurricane Sandy Worsens N.Y. Rat Problem (Oct. 31, 2012)
• Gothamist - Interactive Map: Where New Yorkers Complain About Rats Most (Jan. 2, 2013)
• NYTimes  - Storm's Toll Creeps Inland, 4 Tiny Feet at a Time (Feb. 6, 2013)
• Huffignton Post - NYC Rats: Did Subway Vermin Survive Hurricane Sandy? (Feb. 8, 2013)
• National Geographic Daily News - After Sandy's New York Deluge, a Flood of Rats?

While the story of rats makes me cringe, the story allows me to don my geographer's hat and  offer concept-based geographic insight.   The story begins with the rats living all around New York City. New Yorkers were bothered by the rats, but the rats generally stayed in their own space.  Over time, rats adapted to their physical world by living in sewers and tunnels. In those sewers and tunnels, they built the necessary shelter and found local food. The rats learned about their physical surroundings and developed patterns and systems for living within the physical environment of New York.  In 2012,  Hurricane Sandy hit and the rats were spontaneously forced to adapt and move (or migrate).  The physical world of the rats changed instantly and they moved (for different reaons such as safety, food supply, warmth, etc.).  The rats were experiencing push-pull factors to move because the physical condition of their "home." They were pushed from their homes due to a change within the physical system, and they were pulled to new locations because of the opportunities related to food supply, safety, and warmth.  Throughout this story, a geographer continually recognizes the human and physical interaction.  



Conceptually, we want students to examine the concept of human and physical interaction. If rats were truly rat-people, then this would be a fine example to help students understand human and physical interaction. Sometimes the interaction of human and physical systems causes a spontaneous, quick change (such as the example immediately following Hurricane Sandy).Ssometimes human and physical interaction causes people to adapt in ways that become part of daily life (think of how the rats lived on a daily basis before the hurricane). As a conceptual thinker, I can apply what I know about human and physical interactions to more situations:

1. Early Native American groups lived differently because of the physical landscape. Their shelter, food, tools were different because of the local physical landscape and physical systems. These are adaptations that are part of each group's daily life.  The groups also had to adapt spontaneously due to changes in the physical world such as drought. 
2. When various groups of people migrated to Colorado over time, they were often brought here because of the resources that were part of the physical world.  People mined for gold, built railroads through the mountains, and eventually built reservoirs to deal with water limitations. These groups also had to adapt spontaneously due to blizzards, drought, or the migration of animals (food sources). 
3. When Europeans came to the Western Hemisphere to establish colonies, life in the northern, middle, and southern colonies looked different because of how the physical landscape and physical systems caused people to adapt. 
4. For our earliest cultures throughout the Western Hemisphere, we see differences in their lives and cultures because of the physical world and local physical systems.  The Aztecs created floating gardens for food, the Inca established Machu Picchu for defense, and the Inuit developed tools uniquely suited to colder (and often icy) climates. 

These examples show how the daily lives of people are impacted by their local physical world and physical sytems.  Yet, we can probably imagine all of the spontaneous adaptations these groups made due to the physical world.  Situations such as drought, blizzards, tornadoes or lack of seasonal water cause more spontaneous adjustments.  In all situations, geographers recognize how people use the physical world daily or spontaneously adjust to meet their ever-changing needs. This is just one way to look at the geography concept of human and physical interaction.