PK-12 Curriculum
Purdue Homeland Security Institute (PHSI) and Purdue University Visualization and Analytics Center (PURVAC) have developed a middle school science, social studies and mathematics curriculum relating to homeland security. The curriculum modules can be integrated into PK-12 instruction as an adjunct to current studies and are aligned to Indiana’s State Department of Education standards. As these modules are taught, various life skills are introduced such as: evaluating available resources, teamwork, observation skills, and decision making. Research has confirmed that students also need to be able to critically analyze data, and the modules were constructed with that objective in mind.
Module topics have included the following:
- Causes of terrorism
- Effect of climate and geography on people
- Sensor technologies to address real world problems
- Visualization of data to show cause and effect
This curriculum has also been presented at conferences for the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers and the Indiana Council for Social Studies. PHSI intends to continue its development of PK-12 curriculum, attend future conferences, update website resources and develop workshops for teachers.
Lesson 1 – Causes of Terrorism
The media frequently connects Islam and terrorism, usually without informing the audience about the religion and its central beliefs. Through guided inquiry, students will identify causes of terrorism, especially in Southwest Asia. This lesson may act as an effective hook at the beginning of a unit about the Middle East or religions that originate in Southwest Asia by taking advantage of the cultural misconceptions that pervade current media.
Social Studies module developed by James Howard, Penn Harris Madison School Corporation in Granger, Indiana.
Lesson Plan 1 - Causes of Terrorism (PDF)
Lesson Plan 1 - Inquiry Data Table (PDF)
Lesson 2 – River Valley Simulation, Decision Making Cause & Effect
With national events such as the devastation of Hurricane Katrina or the trauma of September 11th still current in both the public and therefore governmental eye, it is necessary for Federal, State, and Local governments to be able to practice decision making strategies to prepare for future events. This lesson will integrate decision making processes through guided inquiry and open students to the impact of cause and effect through their own decision making. Students will explore the effects of the Tigris and Euphrates River on the developing civilization in Mesopotamia. Guided inquiry presents the opportunity to tap higher order thinking skills, coupled with research. The advantage comes with the students participating in the higher order thinking processes, applied to an antiquated scenario.
Social Studies module developed by James Howard, Penn Harris Madison School Corporation in Granger, Indiana.
Lesson Plan 2 - River Valley Simulation (PDF)
Lesson Plan 2 - Invitation from your King (PDF)
Lesson Plan 2 - Assessments (PDF)
Lesson 3 – Geography and Climate, Visualizing Data for Better Understanding
Today’s students have seen what natural disasters such as Katrina and tsunamis have done to dramatically affect a large population and their surrounding environment. Recovering from a disaster such as these has caused people to rethink the location and structure of their cities and towns based on climate and geography. Through guided inquiry, students will interpret population distribution, physical geography and climate data, hypothesizing correlations that they infer from the data. Visualizations are “visual” displays of data, such as graphic organizers, data tables, and the like. This module will introduce to the students how data visualization may have advantages over other representations of data. The module may be adapted for any unit of study and can serve as an introduction to a region, helping the students gain understanding about the geography of the region.
Social Studies module developed by James Howard, Penn Harris Madison School Corporation in Granger, Indiana.
Lesson Plan 3 - Geography and Climate (PDF)
Lesson Plan 3 - Physical Geography and Climate Activity (PDF)
This activity will require students to work in groups. For help in forming these collaborative groups among students, use the heterogeneous grouping data table.
Lesson 4 – River Valley Civilization Visualization
It is sometimes difficult for students to grasp why learning about ancient civilizations, such as those that developed in river valleys, is important. One way to overcome this is to emphasize the role of learning about ancient cultures as a means to learn about other relevant skills. This activity focuses on critical thinking, use of cooperative learning skills, and the understanding of cause and effect.
Lesson Plan 4 - River Valley Civilization Visualization (PDF)
Lesson Plan 4 - Writing Sample (PDF)
Lesson Plan 4 - Student Examples (PDF)
Social Studies module developed by James Howard, Penn Harris Madison School Corporation in Granger, Indiana.
Lesson 5 – Israel Visualization
This activity builds upon the process of analysis and understanding of how cause and effect interact as found in the previous lesson. Students will work collaboratively to analyze a data set and determine how each piece of data relates to each other via cause and effect. While the activity can occur after learning has occurred, it is suitable as a means to introduce a unit over the Middle East, focusing on the country of Israel.
Lesson Plan 5 - Isreal Visualization (PDF)
Lesson Plan 5 - Activity Instructions (PDF)
Social Studies module developed by James Howard, Penn Harris Madison School Corporation in Granger, Indiana.
Lesson 6 – Sensing and Sensing Our World
All that we understand about our world comes from our senses. This introductory science skills unit embraces the idea that one of the primary tasks of scientists is to utilize these senses and sensors to help human beings increase their understanding of this world and beyond. The students will first focus on the basic human senses and the types of natural and man-made sensors. Second, students will then focus on the factors that govern sensor creation. Third, the students will explore hi-tech and specialized sensors that exist in our world today. Finally, students will engage in a final task to create a new sensor or improve an existing sensor to address a real-world problem.
Science modules developed by Kent Mikel, Penn Harris Madison School Corporation in Granger, Indiana
Lesson 7 – Face Misidentification, Biometrics
Biometrics is the study of methods for uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or more intrinsic physical or behavioral traits. Many new biometrics technologies, such as hand geometry and face recognition are being used, such as in airports for security purposes, or police departments for crime investigation.
This unit enhances students’ knowledge of measures of central tendency by using the real-world examples of face recognition/eyewitness/misidentification scenarios. By stepping students through the scientific method and giving students their first experience of data collection, this unit provides a solid basis for beginning of the year activities in math and science classes. Additionally, this unit compares data analysis performed manually and using MS Excel.
Mathematics module developed by Eric Kukula, fellow in the GK-12 Discovery Learning Center Program, funded by the National Science Foundation.
- 8th Grade
- 16-18 class periods (50 minutes each)
Lesson 8 - Using Concept Maps to Summarize Scientific Writing
Science modules developed by Kent Mikel, Penn Harris Madison School Corporation in Granger, Indiana.
Lesson 9 - Organizing Information
In the classroom, visualizations can take many forms. The key is that the information in organized visually. As students become more adept at using visualizations to organize what they are learning, they will begin to take ownership and vary from student to student. Visualizations allow for the display of different perspectives and relationships in what the students are learning, though they are certainly not limited to these to applications.
Social Studies module developed by James Howard, Penn Harris Madison School Corporation in Granger, Indiana.
Lesson Plan 9 - Organizing Information (PDF)
Lesson Plan 9 - Diagrams (PDF)
Lesson 10 - Map Projections
Students will develop their ability to analyze different visualizations through their study of different map projections. This activity may be either individual or collaborative and does not require prior knowledge of different map features, such as longitude and latitude. In fact, this activity should precede the introduction of such features.
Lesson Plan 10 - Map Projections (PDF)
Lesson Plan 10 - Map Projection Data Table (PDF)
Social Studies module developed by James Howard, Penn Harris Madison School Corporation in Granger, Indiana.
Many of the activities in the following lesson plans will require students to work in groups. For help in forming these collaborative groups among students, use the heterogeneous grouping data table.
Lessons developed by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
These lessons were created by the Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (MSTE) program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in collaboration with the Information Trust Institute (ITI) NSF Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power grid (TCIP) project. Please visit the TCIP project site to see the lessons: http://tcip.mste.uiuc.edu
Power and Energy In The Home
This lesson is designed to allow middle-school students (and others) to explore power and energy usage in the home. The Java applet shows power flowing to a home and powering many common household appliances. By interacting with the applet, students learn concepts such as power conservation, network flows, and the relationship between power and energy.
The Power Grid
This java applet provides a simulation of a large scale power system network. There are five types of generators providing power to three communities. The output of some of the generators can be varied to meet increase or decrease in demand.
Power Economics and Emissions
An extension of The Power Grid scenario, this applet shows the same power grid with five types of generators and three different communities but with costs and emissions associated with different generators and payments associated with different communities.
