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Week1CalvinMoore.docxRunning head: CURRICULUM INCEPTION 1
CURRICULUM INCEPTION 8
Curriculum Inception for School District of Philadelphia
Instructor: Calvin Moore
Cheanel Nolden
January 17, 2019
Curriculum Inception for School District of Philadelphia
Description of the School District
The School District of Philadelphia is a school district that covers the area of Pennsylvania. Since 2012, the district has been ranked the largest school district in the state of Pennsylvania since it serves a proximately 143,800 students. The district is often under the control of the School Reform Commission. The School District of Philadelphia is situated in the consolidated city county of Philadelphia, which is in the south eastern part of Philadelphia. In 2014, the city county hosted approximately 1,560000 residents, according to a survey undertaken by the United States Census Bureau. Philadelphia performed poorly in comparison to Pennsylvania with respect to higher education achievements for the last 10 years. The county city inhabitants had bachelor’s degree or higher at a rate of 23 percent compared to state residents at 34 percent. The average household income for the county city residents is approximately $37,190- compared to the state, which has an average of $52,359. The poverty rate was 26 percent in the city, and 20.3 percent in the state respectively.
Currently, there are approximately 1.45 million people residing w8ithin the confines of the school; district geographical boundaries. This figure is anticipated to reduce to about 1.4 million by 2020. The male to female ratio is 46.5 percent to 53.5 percent and is not projected to change any soon. With respect to racial composition, whites who are non-Hispanics, and to a lesser degree, African Americans are projected to decrease in population in the next five years. Individuals with Hispanic ethnicity and heritage are anticipated to have the highest increase in population by 1.6 percent points in 2020. The forecasted enrollment of students is expected to decline by a proximately 10000 students in the next decade in district operated public school enrollments. This decline is attributed to reduction in birth rates and expansions f school choice in the District. The overall enrollment for school age children is expected to undergo a slight reduction. Further, the parochial and private school enrollment will slightly reduce.
The School District of Philadelphia has the capacity to enroll more than 227000 students. Presently, the district serves approximately 154000 students in districts operated schools. This means that about 70000 in excess seats are still needed. The elementary utilization is about 80 percent, while middle and high school utilization is about 60 percent. Furthermore, the charter school enrollment is anticipated to increase by approximately 9000 from 2010 to 2015. The school district of Philadelphia is committed to offering the greatest educational experience for all students who are enrolled in its schools. In order to attain this objective, the School District realizes that school facilitie4s should be maintained for the school district’s whole facility inventory. While many districts across the nation engage in long range facilities planning exercises, each district comes with its own distinct influences and local priorities and visions. This is especially true when it comes to curriculum development that improves the intellectual competency of students to meet the competitive learning environments in the United States.
Currently, the science curriculum embraced by the School District of Philadelphia is theoretical in nature. As such, students run the risk of viewing science as a form of art or social science subject. This is because it lacks practical and experimental perspectives to science. Therefore, there is need for students from grade4 to 8 to be familiarized with research and practical perspectives of science.
Specific Discipline and Grade Levels for the Pilot Curriculum
The primary objective of the science curriculum is to improve students’ research and experimentation skills and capabilities. This curriculum will be meant for students who are at grades 4 to 5, 6 to 7, and 7 to 8. There are various topics within this discipline that students will learn. For instance, at grade 40 to 5, experimentation skills and methods will be introduced to students. This type of sub discipline will be presented at science fairs. Students will be required to provide presentations that allow them to pose problems, design an experiment to investigate the problem, and record and report their results (Beasley, 2014). These skills will familiarize students with their future research works in college and university levels. The final course outcomes for this area of study will be a display of the collections of the steps that the student undertook, any successes or failures, and the implications of the information.
At grades 6 to 7, students will be taught demonstration skills. This will require learning on how to demonstrate a specific scientific principal or fact. The demonstration should be self-contained in the sense that it should allow observers to operate or manipulate any controls, switches, or devices that are required for the demonstration. Students will also be needed to demonstrate how some systems or electronics work, including scientific phenomena, or the manner in which some things are created naturally or in the laboratory. At grades 7 to 8, students will be trained on how to undertake scientific research (Beasley, 2014). In a research project, the student is encouraged to explore a chosen area of science by consulting primary sources. In this respect, students will undergo training on how to consult reading and learning materials from libraries, museums, government agencies, and the Internet. Moreover, they will gain insights into how to interview experts and professionals in their areas of interests. These will include scientists, healthcare employees, county agents, as well as forepersons. Part of this learning process will include encouraging on-site investigations in the laboratory, industries, and printing plants. Learners will be exposed to materials that will be necessary for exploring their scientific areas in detail, and to report the outcomes in vivid, clear, and interesting ways through the project.
Rationale: Three Benefits to the Students
There are various reasons why these curriculum changes in science are important for students. First, introducing practical or research lessons improve students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills. While inquiry and scientific methods form an integral component of science education and practice, each decision that people make are premised on these processes (Hassard & Dias, 2013). The natural human curiosity and necessity result in asking questions, developing hypotheses, and testing the outcomes with evidences and assessing the results. In so doing, students learn how to make future decisions based on scientific results. This process forms part of problem-solving capabilities, since it involves using critical thinking and evidence to develop solutions and make decisions. Students’ problem solving and critical thinking capabilities are some of the most important skills that they can gain in school. These skills are critical in making good decisions that result in the attainment and success during and after school.
This curriculum will be important in improving students’ life skills. Scientific research and practical education are some of the most important areas in school as a result of their relevance to students’ lives. These include the universally applicable problem-solving and critical thinking capabilities that it employs and develops (Hassard & Dias, 2013). These are lifelong skills that will enable students to develop ideas in the future, weigh decisions intelligently, and gain an understanding of the evidences behind public policy-making. In addition, by learning how devices work and operate, students can solve problems at personal level, such as electrical problems at home. Such life skills will enable learners to address issues that would have otherwise wasted their financial resources. Thus, teaching technological literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving via scientific practical lessons provides learners with the skills needed to succeed in life.
Finally, the contents of this curriculum will allow students to be self-driven. The future workplace environment requires people who are self-driven and able to work to their level best under minimum supervision. By providing students with scientific projects, they can learn how to work independently without support from their teachers and supervisors. This can enable learners to be flexible and dynamic, thus able to operate in any working environment.
Instructional Goals of the Curriculum
1. To provide students with skills necessary for logical reasoning about evidence.
2. To enlighten students on how to plan and implement scientific research and assessment of results and evidence
3. To educate students on how to connect and relate knowledge across several levels, concepts, and domains.
4. To educate students on how they can use mathematics appropriately.
References
Beasley, J. (2014). The Perfect (Ofsted) Science Lesson. New York: Crown House Publishing.
Hassard, J., & Dias, M. (2013). The art of teaching science: Inquiry and innovation in middle
school and high school. London: Routledge.
Martin, D. J. (2012). Elementary science methods: A constructivist approach. Boston: Cengage
Learning.
