Assignment 2

Pilot study on curriculum inception

Student’s Name

Institution

Date

Introduction

Curriculum development is very important in a dynamic and ever changing social and economic environment (Zilian, 2013).. Every school should ensure that its curriculum helps the students meet the emerging needs in the society. The paper will describe some of the factors to consider in a pilot study designed to introduce a better curriculum in Chesapeake. Some of the factors that will be considered include the geographical location, the demographic features, the cultural influence, and existing state policies. The analysis will be based on the fact that integration of classroom requirements along with community needs can dovetail into student activities to promote and strengthen student interest in our actual geographical place .

Geographic factors

Chesapeake is located in Virginia. This is a place where anglers, boaters, canoeists, and wildlife observers can find plenty of recreational opportunities. There are several tributaries in the region. Such tributaries are source of water supplies and fishing lakes. The Intracoastal Waterway flow through Chesapeake. There are also a canoe trail, and observation tower. The region is also adjacent to the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, which is made up of 107,000b acres of forested wetlands. There are 200 species of birds and around 58 species of turtles, lizards, salamanders and frogs.

Understanding the geography of the place is crucial as far as the analysis of curriculum effectiveness is concerned because it will give an insights as to whether the curriculum prepares the students on environment and ecology and related hazards such as hurricanes and ice. One of the teachers once quoted that “Environmental Science is useless unless students know how they are connected to the natural environment and why it’s worth protecting. Kids are used to hearing words—it’s experiences that really influence them to change.” The pilot study will try to see if the curriculum connects students to the natural environment or not.

Demographic factors

Chesapeake is home to a population of roughly 214,725 residents, encompassing a racial demographic identical to that of the River Walk Community. The Chesapeake public schools are an excellent school district, with a dropout rate of 1.93 percent. This is far much lower than the national average. The district comprises of 27 primary or elementary schools (Eladrel Technologies, LLC 2011), 11 middle schools and eight high schools. This means that the total number of schools in Chesapeake is 46. The district is predisposed to hazards such as hurricane, snow, ice and extreme heat. The number of full-time teaches is 2130 and the total number of students is 39,883. This implies that the average student/teacher ratio is 18.72. The schools are culturally diversed. It is made up of 151 American Indians/Alaska Nativee, 1295 Asian, 1401 Hispanic, 14, 026 Blacks, 21, 846 whites (Eladrel Technologies, LLC 2011). As far as high schools are concerned, the region has 8 high schools. These schools are made up of 13,217 students and 736 full time teachers (Eladrel Technologies, LLC 2011). This means that student to teacher ratio is 18.0. The region is also made up of 11 middle schools. These schools comprise of 9, 826 students and 564.8 teachers (Eladrel Technologies, LLC 2011). This means that the student to teacher ratio is 17.4. The region is also made up of 27 elementary or primary schools. These schools comprise of 16840 students and 829.8 teachers. This means that student to teacher ratio is 20.3 (Eladrel Technologies, LLC 2011).

Understanding the demographics will be valuable as far as the pilot study is concerned because it will shape the way the curriculum should be designed. The statistics shows that the Chesapeake district schools is culturally and racially diverse and this implies that the curriculum should be inclusive of all cultures without any bias or prejudice. It should be noted that the mission of Chesapeake Public School system is to ensure that students get the knowledge, skills and aptitudes that will enable them become productive citizens. The big question that must be answered comprehensively is: does the existing curriculum accommodates the needs of such culturally diverse student’s

Cultural influences

The pilot study should also consider how cultural diversity can influence the performance of students in schools. Culture is a word used to denote the way of life for groups who share the same race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, spirituality, socioeconomic status and other elements that influence attitudes and behavior (Coakley & Gruber, 2015).

Culture has a lot of influence on curriculum. The statistics above reveals that Chesapeake school districts are made up of students from diverse cultural backgrounds. The students also come from different races. The ability of curriculum to accommodate such students is one of the things that shall be considered during the inception of the curriculum. The pilot study will therefore try to find out whether the curriculum is inclusive of all races, ethnicities and cultures or not.

Existing policies and programs

The pilot study will also review and analyze the existing policies and programs and determine whether they are positively linked to the curriculum development or not. It should be noted that Chesapeake has a number of programs and policies. One of these programs is called Chesapeake Bay Foundation program. The program encompasses teacher professional development initiatives, student field experiences, principals’ leadership retreats, and classroom curricula are all designed to support state standards. It is part of the school curriculum because students and teachers are key participants. Through such programs, students get an opportunity to investigate environmental issues and trends, often within the context of urban ecology.

Arthur Sherwood program, on the other hand, allows students to gain a more complete understanding and appreciation of the ecosystem. By comparing these different habitats, students can draw connections and eventually gain a much greater appreciative of the Chesapeake ecosystem, including the human impact on the health of the Bay. There are also policies such as Urban Ecology and Environmental Policy—Baltimore Harbor, Maryland. This policy is designed for high school AP classes and college/university courses. There are also Student Leadership Courses designed to prepare students for better understanding of their environment. Such courses comprise of activities such as camping, canoeing, water-quality assessment, fishing, crabbing, island exploration, and meeting with local field experts.

Describe the specific discipline and grade level(s) for which the pilot curriculum will be developed.

Based on the factors explored above, the pilot curriculum should be developed on discipline such as environmental studies, geography and ecology. The pilot curriculum should involve high school and university student

3. Provide a rationale that proposes three (3) benefits to the students of the pilot curriculum.

The first benefit of students participation in the pilot curriculum is that they will over first hand information and experience on how the curriculum is helping them.

The second rationale is that involving student will help in determining whether curriculum is impacting on their lives and whether the curriculum is preparing them to meet the environmental needs

The third rationale is that the students are the key stakeholders as far as curriculum is concerned and hence involving them will give more comprehensive and objective findings.

4. Provide at least four (4) core instructional goals of the curriculum, providing a rationale for the goals.

The first instructional goal is to promote sensitivity to diverse ethnicities/cultures through exposure to other cultural perspectives (Jeonghyun, 2015). This is because the students from the district are culturally diverse

The second instructional goal of the curriculum is to ensure that students get the knowledge, skills and aptitudes that will enable them become productive citizens. This is because effective curriculum should prepare students to become useful members of society.

The third goal is to offer students skills to meet the ecological needs. This is because the district schools are located in an area prone to hurricane and snow and ice.

The fourth goal is to prepare students to be good leaders.

References

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Eladrel Technologies, LLC (2011). CHESAPEAKE Public Schools. Retrieved from: http://publicschoolsk12.com/all-schools/va/chesapeake-city/

Coakley, T. M., & Gruber, K. (2015). Cultural Receptivity among Foster Parents: Implications for Quality Transcultural Parenting. Social Work Research, 39(1), 11. doi:10.1093/swr/svu033

Jeonghyun, K. (2015). Competency-based Curriculum: An Effective Approach to Digital Curation Education. Journal Of Education For Library & Information Science, 56(4), 283.

Zilian, F. (2013). The Academic Curriculum Review. Independent School, 73(1), 94.

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