• Using Frames
• Think Like a Disciplinarian
Rocks and
Minerals
The Gold
Rush
Frames used as a teaching tool:
1. Focus on the Big Idea
2. Clarify understanding
3. Guide thinking towards analysis, synthesis and
evaluation
4. Build support, encourage justification
Whole Group or Small Group Instruction:
• Works with different readiness levels
• Frame is the same, content is different
• Use icons to challenge thinking
• Allow for choice
For Alternate Activities:
• Guides discussion in Literature Circles
• Supports independent research
• Provides organizational structure for
responding to literature or writing a report
• Helps focus thinking about unanswered
questions and promotes curiosity
• Use a frame to analyze one topic
• Use a frame to organize subtopics of a Big
Idea
• Use a frame to ‘go deeper’ into complex
icons such as Ethics, Change Over Time or
From Different Perspectives
1. List the Details of
copyright law
2. What
are the
current
Trends?
Examine the
Ethics of
Protecting
Copyright
4. Define the Rules
and how/why they
should be addressed
-
3. Use the
Language
of the
Discipline
to explain
1. Link to curriculum and standards
2. Identify the discipline and related
disciplinarians (e.g Earth Science geologist,
hydrologist, meteorologist, archaeologist,
anthropologist)
3. Define the specific language, tools, skills and
expertise of the disciplinarian
Students…
• work in small groups, in pairs or independently to
focus on one discipline/disciplinarian
• investigate aspects of their particular discipline/
disciplinarian
• approach information and tasks within the unit
from the perspective of the disciplinarian
• relate and share information as the disciplinarian
with others
Unit of Study: Geology/Rocks & Minerals
Geologist: Looks at origin, composition and location:
conducts chemical tests
Archaeologist: Looks at how rocks were used as tools;
conducts simulations, tests theories
Anthropologist: Looks at how rocks were used as
religious ornaments; compares with other evidence
Not always…
• All students may work with frames, but have different
Big Ideas, different icons and/or different levels of support
• All students may ‘think like a disciplinarian’ but be
required to think literally or interpretively, do guided
research or independent research, comprehend or evaluate
• Groups may be mixed, or based upon readiness or
interest
• All students need to stretch and be challenged, which
may look different for different students…