Beyond the Classroom Series
You will connect students to exceptional experts. This series offers an innovative approach to learning. Consider this series for hard-to-serve students. Some schools have used this series for gifted learners. All programs rely on humor, critical thinking, and problem solving. Parents have been impressed with the activities and scenarios presented to their children. Every lesson presents information not commonly known by educated adults. The programs in this series are as follows:
Wolves of Yellowstone (Hosted by two Yellowstone Wildlife Scientists, grades 6 - 9)
Themes: Wildlife Science, Map Reading, Environments, and Ecology
Guides: Nathan Varley and Linda Thurston, Yellowstone Field Scientists
How the Project Works: a class is assigned a specific wolf pack from our wolf directory. Each week, students are given reports on the pack they are following. Learning materials (and staff training concepts) are then sent. Students are asked to keep records, track territory, create data files, develop and support theories. Students are given challenges, or mind problems, to respond to real and possible field research investigations. Students will have an opportunity to share their ideas and inquiries with other classrooms via our chat rooms. Schools can enroll as many teachers as desired.
Two exceptional wildlife experts, engaged in Yellowstone research, will serve as the project’s lead education team: Nathan Varley and Linda Thurston. Nathan Varley grew up in Yellowstone National Park; he was part of the original research team for the Gray Wolf Recovery Project. He worked as an assistant producer on numerous wildlife films produced by National Geographic and Landis Films. Linda Thurston has been involved for over five years with the Yellowstone Gray Wolf Recovery Project, participating in capture, handling gray wolves and conducting predator-prey research.
Raptors of Hawk Mountain (Hosted by naturalists, early primary to grade 6)
Themes: Mathematics, Wildlife Science, Number Charts, and Climate
Guides: Naturalists and Volunteers at Hawk Mountain, PA
This program is planned for students in early primary grades. This program can be a part of a math or science class, ranging from 15 to 45 minutes per week with optional activities: drawing & coloring birds, creating bird masks, local bird watching tasks, creating stories etc. An effort will be made to provide appropriate level reading materials, but depending on the class, the teacher may have to present some information verbally.
Students will be helped in using number charts and diagrams to record species migration data. If hand calculators are available, they will be able to do percentages, averages, and other calculations. As they record this data, they will be asked to consider what the numbers are saying, understanding that numbers tell their own story. While simplified, students will be assisted in using numbers to make projections about future events. In time, these charts will be expanded to consider climate conditions associated with migration data. How does weather, the passing of cold fronts or rain, for example, affect migration?
Of course, they will learn about these spectacular birds; tricks in identifying different bird species (the basics of bird watching). They will receive information from observers on Hawk Mountain, along with digital images.Students will be asked to keep records, track flight lines, create data files, and develop theories. Students are given simple, but interesting mind challenges to answer, hopefully engaging their family. Each classroom will have access to a dialog chat room to ask questions and respond to problem solving tasks. Students will have an opportunity to share their ideas and inquiries with other classrooms. Schools can enroll as many classes as desired. The Raptors of Hawk Mountain is an original PDL program concept.Colonial Inn (Hosted by historian and master chief, grades 9 - 12)
Themes: Colonial History, Economics, Food Science, and Gourmet Cooking
Guide: Lee Patrick Anderson, Historian and Historic Site Program Director
Over a semester, students will learn about 12 historic colonial inns. Through the study of these establishments they will gain a novel insight into colonial history and economics. Students will understand the critical role Inns played in the development of our nation.
In this series, each menu touches on an underlying economic, social, or historic fact. This program can work well with students in home consumer science courses; but also enhance social studies or history classes. Ideally, classes should have access to cooking appliances. Yet schools without kitchen conveniences could allow students (with parental support) to prepare meals as part of a family-learning activity. Our historian is Lee Patrick Anderson, Education Programming Director at Fort Mifflin Historic Site (PA). He has collaborated with master chef, Fran McFadden, Assistant Dean, Drexel University, an expert on 18th century cuisine.
Menu items will be selected to allow students the opportunity to prepare and serve colonial style dishes at home or at school. Families should have fun understanding colonial meal preparation techniques (the meal variety and richness in the great Inns of this period are not inferior to modern day restaurants). With some effort, your students might work with your cafeteria personnel to host a colonial-style meal for other classes.
Teachers will receive weekly: authentic receipts, historical facts, reading materials, thought problems, and challenge activities for students. Online forums will allow students to interact with our historian and other peers in responding to challenge questions, cooking issues and outcomes, hospitality issues of that period, and aspects of colonial life: the role of the Inn in early America, problems with travel, standard of living, everyday coping problems, fears and joys of common families.
Valley Forge: A Soldier’s Account (Hosted by historian, grades 6 – 12)
Themes: Problem Solving, Math Calculation, Colonial Terminology, Military Science
Guides: presented by a Valley Forge historian
This can be a great supplemental learning activity for middle and high school history students. We have created a composite type soldier who will send a series of letters to students sharing his daily life experiences at Valley Forge. Information shared will be historically accurate. In addition to approximately 12 to 18 letters, students will receive digital images of Valley Forge and its surroundings, weather conditions, and accounts from newspapers and pamphlets that a soldier might have read at Valley Forge. The soldier will write to students as if they were his younger siblings back home. Most students do not have a soldier’s perspective of what life was like: meals, living conditions, hygiene, daily assigned tasks, dealing with hardship, and attitudes to those around him. These will be both interesting and surprising facts. Even parents will enjoy reading these correspondences. Through a soldier’s eyes, they will sense more deeply what these times were like. Our program guide is Lee Patrick Anderson, Historian and Program Director at Fort Mifflin Historic Site, Philadelphia.
PDL Messaging Services
All teachers in your district can be enrolled in these free services.
Web Watch: Educators receive weekly recommendations about exceptional free educational web sites. Information includes: why the site was recommended, grade level appropriateness, and how it might be used. Examples of web sites shared include:
Comprehensive sites dealing with all aspects of Colonial History
Live cam: eagle’s nest from building to fledging
Live cam: volcano, plus an entire curriculum
Live cam: elephant watering whole in Africa
Quick Teach: Educators receive bi-monthly recommendations in using online resource to create mini-lesson (one to four instructional periods). These are often posted on PDL’s Quick Teach. The PDL provide a description, topic covered, grade level appropriateness, and suggestions for making it an exciting activity. Most lessons incorporate multi-media design. Examples of Quick Teach include:
Reenactment of the Pennsylvania Witch Trial, created by Pennsburg Manor
A series on farming created by the Pennsylvania Agriculture Foundation
Amish & Mennonite Life (PDL Created)
An interview (reenactment) with John Wilkes Booth (PDL Created)
Artists Eye Group Share: Educators are invited into a discussion forum, plus receive bi-monthly information in using PDL’s computer-based drawing program, Artist’s Eye. This free PDL resource is an extremely flexible teaching tool; it can be of value for students across all grade levels of varying abilities. This messaging service helps teachers learn how to use the program itself, understand how it is used by other teachers, and allow teachers to share ideas or ask questions about this product.
Integrated Arts Learning Resources
The PDL has one of the most extensive online series of resources to support arts integrated learning. Project evaluation and analysis of school performance data has shown that when teachers integrate the arts into core academic subjects (2.5 hours per week or more) using PDL resources will realize significant gains in reading and math proficiency at the elementary and middle school grade levels. Schools can request copies of the executive or full report submitted to the U.S. Department of Education.
Artist’s Eye Drawing Program (free, ongoing training is available for teachers to use this product)
This is an excellent online drawing program for students at all grade levels. It can work for special need students or gifted students. Students see an image on the PC screen. They are given several online implements to replicate that image. As they work, the picture disappears and the student is required to rely on their memory, assisted by referring to a grid overlaid on the image. Relying on the grid and recall, students replicate the image. Teachers can be shown how to use their own images or pictures for students to use to blend with their curriculum. Science can be reinforced by using images of the human anatomy or atomic structures, basic and perspective geometry can be introduced, maps can be used to reinforce the study of history or geography.
The Gallery & Stage I offer educators the opportunity to post student art work online. But, it is much more. Both offer dialog boxes for students to post information about their art and receive feedback from artists and peers. All responses are posted only with classroom teacher sign-off. An easy management tool is provided to teachers for posting art work and text. In 2005, the PDL was able to have five student compositions performed by the Philadelphia Classical Orchestra; these are posted on the PDL web site under Stage I.
Arts Integrated Web Resources: over 250 exciting art-related cyber sites are listed for teachers to access; sites can be searched by grade level and academic domain to different art domains. Generally these cyber sites demonstrate integrated learning activities. These were selected by artists and educators as some of the “best” art sites on the Web. Files containing classical, folk and modern music are available, in addition to major reference data on the arts. Teachers are given a basic and advanced search tool to identify sites by grade level, academic core area, and art domain.
Arts Educational Programs: numbers units of study are available to your teachers that were developed though teacher/artist collaboration. All incorporate academics into art experiences. Some units can be covered in a day, others over a full semester. Programming covers such fields as digital storytelling, Japanese Theater Art, folk dance, group poetry composition, mime, and dramatics.
Renaissance Series
Specifically Designed for Gifted & Talented Students (Grades 6-8)
The Renaissance Series represents the highest quality in technical craftsmanship and instructional excellence in cyber course design. Each unit has a two-fold objective: reinforcing or expanding a core academic area and fostering creativity in an art domain.
Programs include:
What is Beauty, (the Mathematical Basis of the Art) How do we define beauty? One theory suggested that the clearest way is through the language of mathematics. Activities will elevate student understanding of musical and mathematical underpinnings, identifying and using patterns, ratios, sequencing, formulations, inversions, and equations. Students will actually create musical compositions using geometric forms and number patterns.
Composing a Fanfare In composing a “Fanfare” student will gain a deeper understanding of the creative and expressive process. Students are guided in understanding what a fanfare is and the conventions followed in composing one. A student need not be a musician to participate in this course. The basics of musical notation and harmony are explained. Skills related to this task also reinforce and develop competencies in history, problem solving, and comparative analysis.
Patriotism Expressed Through Song: This course will lead the learner through a series of investigations that explores the concept of patriotism in addition to acquiring new content-specific skills. After examining the nature of patriotism, students will be guided through activities leading to the creation of an original "patriotic song". In addition to musical composition, course activities integrate with civics, reading, history, and mathematics.
Thinking Through Arts: In this cyber course, learners begin by responding to paintings and photographs, comparing their own responses to those of their peers. As the course progresses, they are guided through the levels of aesthetic response using more defined analytical skills. Web quests, online journals, and interactive forums expose the students to great works in the arts, as they are coached and guided to use a variety of readings to increase awareness and understanding.
Escher’s Waterfall Comes to Life: Students will be challenged to make art come to life. Have you ever viewed a drawing and wondered what it would look like if it were real? After viewing M.C. Escher’s “Waterfall,” students will design and create a real sculpture that actually can move water (upwards). They will experiment with paddle wheels, pumps, or other hydraulic devices to transfer water from one point to another, creating a “living” sculpture.