Suggesting Experiences and Materials

The last work in organizing is filling a source unit with the right experiences and materials. Two rules govern the experiences, the materials should be varied, and the whole thing only pays off when pre-planning meets live planning in the classroom.

Suggesting learning experiences

When suggesting experiences for a source unit, a developer offers a large collection, so teachers can pick and choose and plan their own teaching for any grade. But the collection is not a grab-bag. Two requirements shape it:

1. The experiences must be inherently linked to the organizing principles of the unit. They should not stand in isolation or be delinked from the elements and principles the unit is built on. An experience that ignores the unit’s organizing principles breaks its continuity, sequence, and integration.
2. The experiences must serve a variety of needs and interests of learners, broad enough that there is no deficiency in the unit. A variety of experiences is provided so that every learner can stay attentive, involved, and free from boredom, and so the unit has enough depth and breadth for each grade and each group.

Flashcard

What two requirements shape the experiences suggested in a source unit?

Tap to reveal

Answer

They must link to the unit’s organizing principles, and serve a variety of learner needs

Experiences cannot stand in isolation from the unit’s elements and principles, and there must be enough variety and depth to keep every learner involved and free from boredom.

Suggesting materials

A source unit should recognise that a variety of material can be used. Materials fall into a few kinds:

1. Verbal materials, such as video tapes, audio recordings, and short films.
2. Non-verbal and concrete materials, including everyday objects like an old newspaper or a shoe box, and things learners use in and after school during activities.
3. Field trips and community resources, for experiences that happen outside the classroom.

Because materials support experiences, every experience suggested should come with appropriate material. A developer also recognises the importance of culminating experiences that tie varied experiences together, facilitate integration, and let learners organize their learning. The materials and the culminating experiences must supplement each other; if a material conflicts with the experience it supports, the unit loses its value as pre-planning.

Schemes for organizing source units

There is no single scheme for organizing a source unit. The right one depends on the subject:

1. In science, social studies, and similar subjects, units are often organized around big ideas, or around problems, with activities that attain the unit’s objectives and a final activity that creates opportunities for integration.
2. In art and aesthetics, where big ideas and problems are less natural, a unit can be organized around something to be done, such as building a structure, or around a series of appreciation experiences. The aim is to develop the ability to find and express beauty.

The elementary level especially offers great opportunity for creative work in developing effective schemes for source units across the curriculum.

Pre-planning and live planning

A few facts close the work. A source unit represents pre-planning, but a great deal of planning is still done at the time of actual teaching. Each group of learners differs in background, interests, and needs, so there will be variation in planning from group to group. When teacher and learners plan particular things together, learners develop greater understanding, find meaning in the learning, and are motivated by it. The activities are selected from those given in the unit, with additions as learners see possibilities, so a particular class plan always shows some variation from the original source unit and never includes all of its material.

The bottom line: planning the organization of learning experiences involves both a great deal of pre-planning and planning as the work goes on. It is through pre-planning and live planning together that the greatest cumulative effect from the various learning experiences is achieved. The source unit prepares the ground; the live planning grows the crop.

Flashcard

Why does a class's actual plan always differ from the source unit?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Each group differs, and teacher and learners adapt and add during live planning

A source unit is pre-planning; much planning still happens during teaching. A class selects from the unit and adds as learners see possibilities, so its plan never matches the source unit exactly.

Flashcard

What range of materials should a source unit suggest?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Verbal, non-verbal and concrete, and field-trip or community materials

Verbal includes video and audio; non-verbal includes everyday objects; field trips reach beyond the classroom. Each suggested experience needs matching material, and culminating experiences tie the work together.