Shelagh Gallagher | Problem Based Learning | Gifted Education

Student resource book of historical material: speeches, documents and photographs, that accompany the Problem Log and Teacher Manual.

Sample pages (pdf files): page 14 | page 35 | page 64

This is a Problem-Based Learning unit about the Chinese Exclusion Laws in the late 1800s. Designed primarily for high school classes, students investigate how and why the Chinese Exclusion Laws came into being from the vantage point of a Congressman from California trying to decide whether support the Geary Act.

The Resource Book, Teacher Manual and Problem Log make up the Unit.

Before the unit is over, students are forced to consider what reasonable limits can or should be placed on immigration in a country that urged "bring us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses…" Throughout, students draw powerful parallels to contemporary immigration issues. To understand the background, students investigate why Chinese immigrants first came to America, the rate of Chinese immigration, changing attitudes towards Chinese immigrants, the initial Chinese Exclusion Law and Supreme Court decisions supporting that act. This unit is appropriate for any high school classroom and has elements particularly suited to advanced classes.

Excluded! aligns directly to core Social Studies content outlined in the National History standard and integrates the theme Individuals, Groups and Institutions from the curriculum standards of the National Council for the Social Studies. The content is tied to AP US History topics contained in Development of the West in the Late Nineteenth Century and Industrial America in the Late Nineteenth Century. Interdisciplinary study is fostered through data analysis and connections to literature, and a companion volume allows for investigation through primary resources. Complete with story narrative, fully articulated lessons and a Problem Log for student use, Excluded! provides support for teachers new to PBL and a scaffold for experienced PBL teachers.

Sample pages (pdf files): page 9 | page 25| page 33| page 88

Essential for each student to work through the unit

Sample pages (pdf files): page 13 | page 30

Save $10.00 by ordering a unit set:

Teacher Manual

Resource Book

Student Problem Log (one copy)

Classroom teachers will need to order additional copies of the Student Problem Log

This is a high-school level problem-based learning unit focusing on child labor during the Progressive Era of American history. Students go through All Work and No Play in the role of members of the National Child Labor committee preparing for a Congressional Hearing. Presented with photographs from Lewis Hine, they launch into questions about the extent and nature of child labor, the differences in child labor in industry and agriculture, the background of child laborers, existing regulations on child labor and more. The unit culminates as the students present their recommendations to the Hearing.

It is appropriate for any high school classroom and has elements particularly suited to gifted classes. All Work and No Play aligns directly to core Social Studies content outlined in the National History standard and integrates the theme Individuals, Groups and Institutions from the curriculum standards of the National Council for the Social Studies.

The content is closely tied to the three AP US History topics: Industrial America in the Late Nineteenth Century, Urban Society in the Late Nineteenth Century and Populism and Progressivism. Interdisciplinary study is fostered through data analysis and connections to literature, and a companion Resource Book allows for investigation through primary sources.

Complete with a story narrative and fully articulated lessons, the series provides support for teachers new to PBL and a scaffold for experienced teachers.

Sample pages (pdf files): page 3 | page 12 | page 64 | page 65

Essential log for each student to work through the unit.

Sample pages (pdf files): Table of Contents | page 1 | page 24

Save $10.00 by ordering a unit set:

Teacher Manual

Resource Book

Student Problem Log (one copy)

Classroom teachers will need to order additional copies of the Student Problem Log

Black Death is a problem-based learning unit based upon the plague that devastated Europe in the mid fourteenth century.  The place is the northern Italian town of Lucca, and the year is 1348, the month April.  Reports of the Black Death have reached Lucca.  It has been marching north through Italy, laying waste to one community after another.  In Florence, 96,000 people have died; more than half of the city is dead or dying of the disease.  And Florence is not that far away.  You have been called as an Elder of the People to an emergency meeting to decide what the people of Lucca should do because it is now clear that the dreaded plague will reach Lucca soon.  What do you know?  What should you advise?

Student resource book of historical material: speeches, documents and artwork, that accompany the Problem Log and Teacher Manual.

Essential for each student to work through the unit

Save $10.00 by ordering a unit set:

Teacher Manual

Resource Book

Student Problem Log (one copy)

Classroom teachers need to order additional copies of the Student Problem Log