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Choosing the right ingredients

Essential elements for an effective mix of teaching strategies

Thematic learning

Definition

Thematic instruction is the organization of a curriculum around "themes." Thematic instruction integrates basicdisciplines like reading, writing, math, and science with the exploration of a broad subject such as communities, rain forests, river basins, the useof energy, etc.

Basic Elements

Thematic instruction is based on the idea that people acquire knowledge best when learning in the context of a coherent "whole,"and when they can connect what they're learning to the real world. Thematic instruction seeks to put the teaching of cognitive skills such as reading,mathematics, science, and writing in the context of a real-world subject that is both specific enough to be practical, and broad enough to allowcreative exploration.

Thematic instruction usually occurs within an entire grade level of students. Teachers in the various disciplines in thatparticular grade work together as a team to design curriculum, instruction methods, and assessment around a pre-selected theme.

Typical steps include:

  • Choosing a theme -Themes often involve a large, integrated system (such as a city or an ecosystem) or a broadconcept (such as interconnectivity or weather). Instructors often strive to connect the theme to the students' everyday lives. In somecases, students participate in choosing the theme or themes.
  • Designing the integrated curriculum - The teachers involved must organize the learning objectives of their corecurriculum (both process skills and content knowledge) around the theme. In the study of a river basin, for instance, math might involvecalculating water flow and volume; social studies could look at the nature of river communities; science might study phenomena likeweather and floods; and literature could study books and novels that focus on rivers, such as the works of Mark Twain. The initial designrequires considerable work on the part of teachers. Again, sometimes students help design the curriculum.
  • Designing the instruction - This usually involves making changes to the class schedule, combining hoursnormally devoted to specific topics, organizing field trips, teaching in teams, bringing in outside experts, and so on.
  • Encouraging presentation and celebration - Because thematic instruction is often project-oriented, itfrequently involves students giving collective presentations to the rest of the school or the community. Plus, students commonly createextensive visual displays.

Thematic instruction can be a powerful tool for reintegrating the curriculum and eliminating the isolated, reductionistnature of teaching that is centered around disciplines rather than experience. It requires a lot of hard, initial design work, plus, asubstantial restructuring of teacher relationships and class schedules.

Recommended Reading: (Online only)

Theme Pages : thematic units and lesson plans, resource pages, book activities, books, and professional resources organized bytheme.

Questions & Answers

physiological Psychology
Nwosu Reply
How can I develope my cognitive domain
Amanyire Reply
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Dakolo Reply
Communication is effective because it allows individuals to share ideas, thoughts, and information with others.
effective communication can lead to improved outcomes in various settings, including personal relationships, business environments, and educational settings. By communicating effectively, individuals can negotiate effectively, solve problems collaboratively, and work towards common goals.
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miss
Every time someone flushes a toilet in the apartment building, the person begins to jumb back automatically after hearing the flush, before the water temperature changes. Identify the types of learning, if it is classical conditioning identify the NS, UCS, CS and CR. If it is operant conditioning, identify the type of consequence positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or punishment
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Wekolamo
because it helps many people around the world to understand how to interact with other people and understand them well, for example at work (job).
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ARC
A child is a member of community not society elucidate ?
JESSY Reply
Isn't practices worldwide, be it psychology, be it science. isn't much just a false belief of control over something the mind cannot truly comprehend?
Simon Reply
compare and contrast skinner's perspective on personality development on freud
namakula Reply
Skinner skipped the whole unconscious phenomenon and rather emphasized on classical conditioning
war
explain how nature and nurture affect the development and later the productivity of an individual.
Amesalu Reply
nature is an hereditary factor while nurture is an environmental factor which constitute an individual personality. so if an individual's parent has a deviant behavior and was also brought up in an deviant environment, observation of the behavior and the inborn trait we make the individual deviant.
Samuel
I am taking this course because I am hoping that I could somehow learn more about my chosen field of interest and due to the fact that being a PsyD really ignites my passion as an individual the more I hope to learn about developing and literally explore the complexity of my critical thinking skills
Zyryn Reply
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Jonathan
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Jonathan
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interpersonal relationships
Abdulfatai Reply
What would be the best educational aid(s) for gifted kids/savants?
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Saurabh
What are the treatment for autism?
Magret Reply
hello. autism is a umbrella term. autistic kids have different disorder overlapping. for example. a kid may show symptoms of ADHD and also learning disabilities. before treatment please make sure the kid doesn't have physical disabilities like hearing..vision..speech problem. sometimes these
Jharna
continue.. sometimes due to these physical problems..the diagnosis may be misdiagnosed. treatment for autism. well it depends on the severity. since autistic kids have problems in communicating and adopting to the environment.. it's best to expose the child in situations where the child
Jharna
child interact with other kids under doc supervision. play therapy. speech therapy. Engaging in different activities that activate most parts of the brain.. like drawing..painting. matching color board game. string and beads game. the more you interact with the child the more effective
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Source:  OpenStax, Course 2: new teaching methods. OpenStax CNX. Mar 23, 2006 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10333/1.18
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