Integrating Multiple Outcomes (Essay Sample)

Integrating Multiple Outcomes Name Institution Introduction Teachers in class should help the students develop wholly rather than just feed them with syllabus content. As thus, teachers should endeavor to help their students to develop their mind beyond the content area. Doctor Costa and Garmston (1996) argue that, teachers can integrate simple activities into the class lessons targeted to help the students learn the lesson content plus an extra mind habits. For instance, the teacher may integrate an activity that helps the student control impulsivity and self-restraining. These mind activities help the students develop emotionally and also help them understand the content better, for instance, self-restraining help students be patient and explore the situation fully before arriving to a conclusion thus facilitate the making of a conclusive inference. Multiple outcomes, where students develop a mind habit and enhanced understanding of the content can be achieved through the integration of simple classroom physical activities (experiments) that are relevant to the content being learnt and challenge the students in developing a particular mind habit. The activity needs not be so direct or complex, rather should challenge an aspect of the students that needs be developed. Mapping Potato Island in a geography class This activity will be used in a geography class to learn about the process that is followed in marking contours, and is suitable for grades 5 to 9 students. It is a simple classroom activity performed in a standard 45 minute class. The students require a piece of potato each, a clear plastic deli tub, lid of a clear plastic container, dry erase marker, sharpie marker, kitchen knife and colored water (National Earth Science Teachers Association, 2014). Procedure of the activity 1 Cut one of the potato to make it flat on one side. 2 Place the potato in the plastic deli tub with its freshly cut side facing down and draw an arrow marking north. 3 Mark a one centimeter inclement scale on the side of the tub from bottom up using the ruler. 4 Pour water on the side of the tub until up to the one centimeter mark on the tub. 5 Place the lid and draw a circle tracing the water level around the potato which represents the shoreline contours. 6 Repeat steps 4 and 5 several times until the potato is fully submerged. 7 Remove the potato and observe the various contours on the potato. Does all the contours look alike? (National Earth Science Teachers Association, 2013). The potato island mapping activity is appropriate for a geography class. It helps the students understand how the contours are traced, that is, they are traced using perpendicular high not the physical distance on the ground. The activity also helps the students to acquire two mind habits, persistence and thinking flexibly. This is achieved through the process of being consistent and striving to draw the lines to the end without even knowing the expected results, and trying to imagine the end results of the experiment while conducting it. The two habits are particularly important in geography class as the class is often broad involving different concepts that seems unrel...