Tag Archives: Reflection

2022 Vol 4: What is Identity?

 How Has COVID Affected Me? 

Amy Stonehouse, English as a Second Language, North Mecklenburg High School

Curriculum Unit (PDF)

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Synopsis: In this curriculum unit, I will provide students with the opportunity to reflect on how COVID has changed them because it is clear in the work that they complete and the behaviors in class. Over the past two years, we have gone from in-person, normal school days, to virtual learning, to hybrid learning, and back to in-person, albeit far from normal. We would be naive to think that this drastic shift in learning has not changed our students and how they see themselves. I’ve learned a great deal about myself through the process. I have learned that virtual teaching is not one of my talents. I’m willing to be that my students have discovered similar things about themselves. 

My unit will focus on self-reflection and discovery, from who my students were before the pandemic and how they have changed. I plan on incorporating a personality test to help students discover characteristics about themselves that they may not have thought about before COVID. I will also incorporate journaling and time of reflection throughout the unit. 

2022 Vol 3: Understanding the Science of Light

Optical Illusions: Rainbows and Mirages 

Vashti Mosby, Science, Northridge Middle School

Curriculum Unit (PDF)

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Synopsis: This curriculum unit will make a significant contribution by exploring how optical illusions teach us about how our eyes and brain work together to see. We live in a three-dimensional world, your brain gets clues about depth, shading, lighting and position to help you interpret what you see. When you look at a two-dimensional image, your brain can be fooled because it doesn’t get the same clues. Optical illusions are extremely important for everyday life, people use them for jobs such as pilots, fashion designers, architects and landscapers. Optical illusions also known as visual illusions involve visual deception. The arrangement of images, effect of colors, and impact of the light source all contribute to the misleading nature of visual effects. When we view a visual illusion, we may see something that is not there or sometimes we do not see something that is there. There is a disconnect between perception and reality. Visual illusions prove that the brain could fail to re-create the physical world. Illusions are also explained as mind games. Scientists are fascinated by illusions because by figuring out how the eye and brain can be tricked; they can better understand the normal workings of the visual system. 

2022 Vol 3: Understanding the Science of Light

 “Plants – Having a Light Lunch”: Understanding the Science of Light

Karyn Hays, 3rd Grade, Davidson K-8 School

Curriculum Unit (PDF)

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Synopsis: This curriculum unit provides appropriate level background knowledge for a Third Grade teacher to facilitate students as they explore the ‘big idea’ of “How do plants respond to light?” Students will explore our biggest source of light energy, the sun and some of the properties of light energy in a series of labs. The outcome of this unit is to help students identify and explain the basic properties of solar energy and how it can be used by plants and humans. Students will observe changes in different materials as they interact with light and discuss their observations with their peers and the class in a seminar style discussion. They will learn how light energy is a beam that can be transferred from the sun to a collector – such as a plant. Students will also explore how light can be collected from different angles and study cause and effect scenarios to note differences in how matter will respond to light. Students will experiment with how a solar panel collects light and uses it for energy. Finally, they will use the data and observations collected in the labs to draw conclusions about how the sun’s light can be used for energy. 

2022 Vol 3: Understanding the Science of Light

Light Up the Stage

Debbie Gresham, Dance, Bradley Middle School

Curriculum Unit (PDF)

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Synopsis: This curriculum unit focuses on the relationships between the vocabulary of the science of light and the vocabulary of dance elements and composition. The unit explores how to embody the science vocabulary through movement exploration. Students will learn how color and light affect dance performances and the choreographer’s purpose and intent for a particular piece. In the unit, the students will explore the elements of dance, learn, and implement specific dance vocabulary and use choreographic principles. structures and concepts. The students will explore improvisational skills to develop their phrases. Students will work cooperatively in groups and make decisions as a cohesive team. The students will be immersed in the choreographic process and will make contributions to a dance piece that will be performed in the dance concert. In this unit, students will partner a dance term with a science of light term to create their phrases. This unit supports students’ understanding of the various perspectives through which dance can be appreciated in the context of time, space, energy, body, and relationships. This unit focuses on using a variety of thinking skills to analyze and evaluate dance. Specifically, this unit includes a lesson on how to analyze the relationship between dance elements when observing dance and how to interpret the meanings of dances created by their peers. 

2022 Vol 3: Understanding the Science of Light

Wonderous Wavelengths: Applications of Modelling Periodic Functions to Analyze Phenomena in Light 

Dalton Cooper, Math, East Mecklenburg High School

Curriculum Unit (PDF)

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Synopsis: Following Thomas Young’s double-slit experiment in 1802, physicists began to favor the wave model of light, using the properties of a transverse wave to model phenomena observed in nature, such as refraction, reflection, and the Doppler Effect. Mathematically, trigonometric functions can be used to model periodic phenomena, such as light. My curriculum unit uses phenomena that change the amplitude and wavelength of light in order to discuss transformations of the sine and cosine functions, as well as using transformations to the sine and cosine functions to model phenomena in the natural world. 

2020 Curriculum Units Vol 5: Illuminate Yourself! The Science of Glow

Waving Hello to Glow

Keira Freeman, Science, Carmel Middle

Curriculum Unit (PDF)

Synopsis

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2018 Curriculum Units Vol 1: The Art and Chemistry of Light

Natural Light, Artificial Light, and Pollution: Effects on Evolution, Behavior, and Photosynthesis

Zachary Sanford, Science, William A. Hough High School

Curriculum Unit (pdf)

Synopsis

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2018 Curriculum Units Vol 1: The Art and Chemistry of Light

Lights, Color, Action

Teresa Strohl, Science, Barringer Academic Center

Curriculum Unit (pdf)

Synopsis

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2018 Curriculum Units Vol 1: The Art and Chemistry of Light

Roy G. Biv: The Life and Times of a Scientist and an Artist

Erika L. Williams, Science, Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology

Curriculum Unit (pdf)

Synopsis

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2015 Vol 8: Supernatural Figures in Theatre, Film and the Brain

Collaging the Subconscious and Painting the Revealed Surreal: Uncensoring the Inner Theatre through Right Hemisphere Activities

Noelle Peerey, Visual Art, Hopewell High School

Final Unit(pdf)   Implementing Teaching Standards(pdf)

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2014 Curriculum Units Vol 3: Metamorphosis: Transformative Experiences

Metaphorical Mutations

Rochelle Stanley, English, Garinger High School

Final Unit (PDF)  Implementing Common Core Standards (PDF)

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