 A Description and Sample Lesson of TCI Curriculum Materials

 All information included in this presentation is from the TCI website ( and TCI materials included in Geography Alive! curriculumhttp://

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 “Geography Alive!” is the Geography component of TCI  Created by Bert Bower, PhD  Interactive instructional approach that is intended to help students of all ability levels and learning styles succeed

o Understanding by Design (Wiggins and McTighe) teaching for deep understanding must begin with planning the big ideas students should learn. (essential question) o Nonlinguistic Representation (Marzano) teaching with nonlinguistic activities helps improve comprehension. (Graphic organizers and movement activities) o Multiple Intelligence (Gardner) address Gardner's seven intelligences: verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual- spatial, body-kinesthetic, musical-rhythmic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. o Cooperative Interaction (Cohen) cooperative groupwork leads to learning gains and higher student achievement. o Spiral Curriculum (Bruner) students learn progressively — understanding increasingly difficult concepts through a process of step-by-step discovery.

o Visual Discovery students view, touch, interpret, and bring to life compelling images as they discover key social studies concepts. o Social Studies Skill Builders students work in pairs or small groups on fast-paced, skill-oriented tasks such as mapping, graphing, identifying perspective, and interpreting primary sources o Experiential Exercise Through the use of movement and introspection, students capture a moment or feeling that is central to understanding a particular concept or historical event. o Writing for Understanding The experience becomes a springboard for writing, challenging students to clarify ideas, organize information, and express what they have learned. o Response Groups students work in small groups with thought-provoking resources to discuss critical thinking questions among themselves. o Problem Solving Groupwork students work in heterogeneous groups to create projects that require multiple abilities so that every student can contribute.

o Standards-Based Content Dynamic lessons build mastery of state and national social studies standards. o Preview Assignment A short, engaging assignment at the start of each lesson helps you preview key concepts and tap students' prior knowledge and personal experience. o Considerate Text successful reading of expository text involves four stages: previewing the content, reading, taking notes, and processing the content or reviewing and applying what has been learned. o Graphically Organized Reading Notes Comprehensive graphic organizers used to record key ideas help students obtain meaning from what they read. o Processing Assignment Processing assignments encourage students to synthesize and apply the information they have learned in a variety of creative ways. o Assessments to Inform Instruction encourage students to use their various intelligences to demonstrate their understanding of key concepts while preparing them for standardized tests.

 Emphasizes thematic approach rather than standard region-centered approach o Mapping labs o Case study approach o Content area reading emphasis o Designed to “turn kids into geographic thinkers”

 Lesson #31: Population Density In Japan: Life in a Crowded Country

 By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to: o define & explain the importance of these key geographic terms: arable land, arithmetic population density, physiologic population density, population distribution o describe how population density affects various aspects of life in Japan o analyze how population density affects life in their own community and around the world

 Teacher projects “Map of Japan” transparency 31A  Students work in pairs to complete Preview 31  Discuss preview worksheet  Teacher projects “Japan at Night” transparency 31B  Discussion of questions o From where & at what time was this image taken? o What countries can be seen in this image? o What do the bright & dark areas represent? o What major cities can be seen in this map? o What do you notice about the population in highland and lowland areas? o Did your predictions match the five biggest cities in Japan? (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, & Sapporo) o Generally, where is most of the settlement in Japan? o Why might settlement have occurred in this pattern?  Introduce population density & Japan

 How does population density affect the way people live? o Analyze swimming pool picture in text o Students work in pairs to read section 31.2 and complete graphic organizer o Answers are shared with the class

 Students will experience population density o Paper exercise (information master 31) Compare population densities of Australia, the US, & Japan Discuss feelings– “what three words or phrases explain how you feel living in this country?” o Subway exercise (transparency 31C) Compare subway crowding in Hamburg, NY, London, Paris and Tokyo What qualities might help people deal with this sort of crowding?

 Students will then read Sections in the text and complete corresponding Reading Notes o Teacher’s guide suggests three methods: Individually reading and completing notes Complete readings as a class, then complete sections together Students complete all predictions then jigsaw the reading so that ¼ of the class reads each section and is prepared to report, put students in mixed groups and have them assist each other in completing notes

 Teacher will project Transparency 31D and hold group discussion on the following: o What are five things you can learn from this map? o Which places are the most densely populated? Least? o What might explain why one place has a high population density and another has a low population density?  Then, teacher will have students refer to text 31.8 and hold group discussion on the following: o What do the tables show? o Can population density affect a nation’s well-being? o Besides population density, what other factors might contribute to a country’s well-being?

 Assessments supplied by TCI for this chapter include: o Multiple choice questions o Table analysis worksheet o Writing prompt