Constructing Buildings, Bridges, and Minds Building an Integrated Curriculum Through Social Studies

Constructing Buildings, Bridges, and Mindsintroduces and guides teachers through the process of using major classroom projects to facilitate integration of the curriculum. As the author describes the energy and excitement that fills her classroom during her Washington, D.C. and Latin America projects, readers will see beneath the bustle of activity on the surface to the students as they become immersed in their work, developing problem-solving and thinking skills and learning to collaborate and communicate both orally and in writing. Most important, they become motivated self learners who carry their quest for learning far beyond the classroom. Illustrated by examples taken from actual classrooms filled with real children, Constructing Buildings, Bridges, and Mindsdoes not offer a pre-packaged linear model to follow but rather a conceptual framework. This kind of education cannot be reduced to formula, for the integration is free flowing and flexible-often spontaneous-but with guidelines, expectations, and accountability. Educators seeking new ways to stimulate student motivation and learning, classroom teachers, curriculum specialists, school administrators, special education teachers looking for new ideas on inclusion, and anyone interested in reforming schools will find this book intriguing and useful.Young, Katherine is the author of 'Constructing Buildings, Bridges, and Minds Building an Integrated Curriculum Through Social Studies' with ISBN 9780435087968 and ISBN 0435087967.