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Preface

In April 1998, thirty-six teachers from eleven Albuquerque Public Schools became the first class of Fellows of the Albuquerque Teachers’ Institute, taking part in seminars led by faculty from the University of New Mexico with the goal of developing new curriculum materials for public school courses. The Institute, a partnership of APS and UNM, works to improve teaching and learning in the public schools by helping teachers to improve their base of knowledge in content areas, by providing time and assistance as they develop new curriculum materials, and by supporting collaborative work among APS teachers and between teachers and UNM faculty. Albuquerque Teachers’ Institute is one of four sites in the national demonstration project sponsored by the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.

The Albuquerque Institute serves 21 target schools. During Fall 1998, members of the Teachers’ Institute planning team surveyed teachers in those schools to determine the subjects of seminars to be offered in 1999. In response to those surveys, faculty members were recruited to design seminars in which teachers would both increase their own knowledge of the topic and develop new materials for use in their classrooms. Four seminars were offered in 1999.

Each Fellow wrote a curriculum unit designed for his or her classroom. Each unit includes objectives, teaching strategies, sample lessons and classroom activities, and lists of resources for teachers and students. They are intended primarily for the use of Institute Fellows and their colleagues in the Albuquerque Public Schools. Complete curriculum units from each seminar are collected in a separate volume, and a set of volumes is available in every APS school. This guide contains a brief description of each seminar, written by the seminar leader, along with synopses of the curriculum units, written by the authors of the individual units. The authors have indicated the courses and grade levels for which the units were developed; many of the units will also be useful in other courses and levels.

Laura Cameron
Doug Earick
Wanda Martin

August 1999

I. Archaeoastronomy

Martha Bedeaux 99-01-01

Sean Callan 99-01-02

James Dudley 99-01-03

Bill Glover 99-01-04

Blake Learmonth 99-01-05

Mary Ann Lee 99-01-06

Jennifer Murphy 99-01-07

Roxanne Pacheco 99-01-08

Robert Squires 99-01-09

II. Architecture in the Southwest

Jessie Barreras 99-02-01

Cynthia Bowra 99-02-02

Nancy Bugler 99-02-03

Lorena Bustos-Martinez 99-02-04

Penny Fehringer 99-02-05

Anita Forte 99-02-06

Susan Leonard 99-02-07

Michael Stanfield 99-02-08

Shelly Thornton 99-02-09

Antoinette Barela 99-03-01

Larry Daughenbaugh 99-03-02

Karl Dreyer 99-03-03

Doug Earick 99-03-04

Sheri Jett 99-03-05

Tommy Mace 99-03-06

Dolores Salazar 99-03-07

Kathleen Schneider 99-03-08

Maureen Senetra 99-03-09

Doris Tichler 99-03-10

Vickie Warr 99-03-11

IV. Political Culture in New Mexico

Frank Angel 99-04-01

Susan Callaway 99-04-02

Aaron Chavez 99-04-03

Alexis Chavez 99-04-04

Hadar Dubowsky 99-04-05

Charles Kuppus 99-04-06

Martha D. Bedeaux

Three novels about or by Native Americans are studied through the lens of prehistoric astronomy and its impact on the harmony of an individual’s daily life. The unit is targeted for Advanced Placement high school juniors studying American literature. Students will review (or learn) the basic movements of the sun, moon, and stars and will read traditional stories of native peoples which illustrate the integral position of these heavenly bodies in traditional native cultures. Students will also read one of three novels independently (Frank Waters’s The Man Who Killed the Deer, N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn, or Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony) then work cooperatively with others who read the same book to become experts on that text. Each of these novels concerns a hero alienated from his culture who seeks reintegration. Assessment will include an essay written to the standards set by the Advanced Placement scoring guide as well as a formal presentation by the expert groups. By integrating science facts with the study of literature, students will have first hand experience in how all learning is connected.

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Sean Callan

This Astronomy unit plan is intended to give Native American students a sense of self worth and appreciation for the scientific feats and accomplishments of their people. It is also an opportunity to share Native American cultural and philosophical beliefs and understandings with general population students. This unit covers origin, or creation stories and applies them directly to the individual roles of human beings and other entities in the cosmos.

The method of instruction is designed to replicate Native American teachings and educational practices. It will utilize story telling, incorporate intergenerational learning opportunities and have a practical hands on approach. It is specifically designed for Native American Studies, an elective content course in the Albuquerque Public Schools curriculum.

This course can benefit all students. It is cross disciplined, based on the multiple intelligence model of instruction and meets various District Core Curriculum Scope and Sequence guidelines. It incorporates Math, Science, English (Language Arts), and History through the use of music, videos, storytelling and active participation. This unit explores Navajo constellations as well as the earth, sun, moon and other stars. It also gives insight to Navajo perception of time, place, balance and harmony.

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James Dudley

This unit explores applications of trigonometry to the astronomy of ancient Pueblo skywatchers. It can be used as a short unit or as a series of miniprojects interspersed throughout the school year. It is intended for a trigonometry, pre-calculus, or honors algebra II course.

Three kinds of activities are emphasized: 1) recording sunrise and sunset locations on a horizon line; 2) predicting summer and winter solstices; and 3) using the cosine function to model the sun's yearly path along the horizon.

The unit stresses the use of radian measure to determine degrees of arc and astronomical distances. It includes five beginning activities designed to introduce a class to the practice of astronomical data collection, both ancient and modern. It also features nine miniprojects which encourage students to analyize and synthesize data and to apply the basic concepts to a variety of settings. The last three miniprojects depend upon the astronomical experiences gained in the unit to pose divergent questions about why we do what we do in math and science.

Some of the readings listed in the bibliography also suggest interdisciplinary approaches to questions that would compare European and Native American ideas about math and science and delve into the topic of how (and why) we know what we know about ancient Pueblo practices.

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The objective of this unit is to provide an historical and cultural context for the study of physics. I would like the students to understand that the modern world-view has evolved from and is linked to the beginnings of civilization, and in particular, to the ancient’s study of astronomy.

In this curriculum unit I will discuss the approach to astronomy of a number of ancient or traditional cultures and where possible to relate those approaches to the modern world and how we do science now. I will also discuss some of the key cultural differences, and emphasize how our cultural context influences (if not dominates) our view of physical reality.

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Blake Learmonth

This teaching unit is an introduction to pre-telescope astronomy for sixth to eighth grade students. The Background section offers cultural and historical information on the origins of astronomy in a variety of cultures, with some emphasis on the observational practices of both prehistoric and current Native Americans of the desert Southwest. Background is also provided to help teachers identify and dispel some common misconceptions that students have about seasons, shape of the Earth, and the phases of the Moon.

The interdisciplinary lessons are intended to present astronomy in a very experiential rather than abstract way. Astronomy is experienced through direct observation, measurement, construction of observational tools, modeling of astronomical events and role-playing. The emphasis is distinctly on the Solar System, especially the Earth, Sun and Moon. Cultural aspects of astronomy get attention through stories and emulation of ancient observational practices.

Hopefully these lessons will provide students with a grounding in the astronomy of our nearby neighborhood from an ancient, Earth-centered perspective, which will provide a springboard for studying the larger universe around them.

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Mary Ann Lee

Who were the Ancient Pueblo peoples of the Southwestern United States that developed and maintained a culture for more than 400 years before disappearing into history? How did they sustain life in the arid southwest where the rainfall was unpredictable and the winter harsh? What were the messages left behind in their rock carvings?

The Anasazi or Ancient Pueblo people of the Southwest used the harsh landscape for their benefit; they learned to cultivate the land by closely linking their lives with solar and lunar cycles. The wide, open skies and surrounding jagged horizons made it easy to watch the seasonal migration of the sun and the moon. A planting calendar guided the agriculture and a ritual calendar helped the ancient peoples perform ceremonies that would ensure the perpetuation of the cosmos. Perhaps the survival and the success of these ancient indigenous people were in the cosmos.

In this unit students will study both history and astronomy to learn about the prehistoric Pueblo people of the Southwestern United States. Techniques for predicting solstices and equinoxes will be examined. Students will also research other ancient cultures’ astronomical discoveries including methods of navigation, calendars, "observatories" art and folklore.

Activities for this unit of study include Internet research, hands-on activities, group work and presentation of information. Students will also be asked to keep a journal in which to illustrate lunar cycles, seasonal constellations, and other celestial events. This journal may also be used to record celebratory events such as birthdays, equinoxes, and cultural folklore of constellations.

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Jennifer D. Murphy

This unit offers an interdisciplinary approach to teaching literature. The novel I have selected for the students to read is The Way to Rainy Mountain, by N. Scott Momaday. While reading this novel the students will learn basic concepts of astronomy, archaeoastronomy, and ethnography. They will also be using research and interviewing skills. The students will also be performing the basic language arts tasks of writing, reading, interpreting, and analyzing. The main focus of the unit will be the idea of the sense of self contained in the novel and gained in the retrieval of information in the form of family member interviews as well as others. The science involved in the unit will not be too much for the language arts teacher. In fact, the science may well prove to be a beneficial tie-in for the students between their English and science classes. It may answer the all too familiar question, "Where else in life will I have to know this stuff?" Archaeoastronomy is the study of the way ancient people kept track of the movements of the celestial bodies in the universe and how those movements directly affected the earth and their lives. This science will be used to help in the understanding of why the Kiowa people moved when they did, the rituals they performed, and the religious beliefs

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Roxanne V. Pacheco

This unit looks at the astronomical knowledge of ancient Mesoamerican people, in particular the Maya and the Aztec, and how they incorporated this knowledge into their myths. It also briefly describes the basic importance of calendrics, the invention, study and use of various calendars, to an understanding of the Maya and the Aztec cosmovision. For these people the celestial bodies played a direct role in their lives. Based on years of meticulous observations, they discovered a repeating pattern in the movements of the stars, planets, sun and moon. These patterns suggested that nature was ordered. It became the ultimate preoccupation of these people to understand this order and to incorporate it into the very structure of their civilizations. The creation myth of the Quiche Maya, the Popol Vuh, contains references to astronomical bodies such as the Milky Way, the sun, the moon and the planet Venus. Archaeoastronomers consider the Popol Vuh to be a story that incorporates these celestial bodies due to their importance from primarily an agricultural point of view. Other people who study the ancient Mesoamericans have begun to interpret the Popol Vuh as mythological descriptions of various astronomical processes and events which should be of current interest due to their future importance.

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99-01-09

Zuni, Acoma and Isleta: Three Pueblo cultures of New Mexico which are deeply rooted in naked eye observations of astronomical phenomena that provide the pivotal dates around which their lives are structured.

Robert Squires

The expressed goals of the unit are to develop in students an awareness of the earth’s routine astronomical cycles. These cycles include sunrise and sunset, the phases of the moon, the summer and winter solstices, and the spring and fall equinoxes. The path to developing this awareness is through the study of three Pueblos of New Mexico, the Zuni, Isleta and Acoma, whose cultures are deeply rooted in naked eye observations of astronomical phenomena that provide the pivotal dates around which their lives are structured. The Southwestern United States may be foreign to many readers; thus the first part of the unit is devoted to introducing the reader to this region, and the unique vocabulary in this unit. The second part briefly presents each of the Pueblos and some relevant aspects of their culture that pertain to astronomy. Both of these parts are synthesized to suggest specific student activities. Discussion about teaching strategies follows, emphasizing the importance of assessment and finding the right level of material to present to the students.

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II. Architecture in the Southwest 

We use the built, natural, and cultural environments as a window to study the world and the ideas, laws, and principles that govern it--the physics of structure, design in nature, and similarities between body systems and building systems. Working in a design-studio format, participants learn a visual vocabulary, how to draw plans, easy ways to achieve graphic design with accessible visual tools, and how to build models. Every studio experience is an applied and hands-on experience, but no drawing ability is required.

Anne Taylor, School of Architecture.

Director of the Institute of Environmental Education.

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Jessie Barreras

The primary objective of this unit is to teach physical science with Southwestern Architecture as the mode for discovery and learning. Students will discover how scientific concepts apply to everyday life. The Energy and Southwestern Architecture unit is interdisciplinary in that it covers a wide range of learning skills with context and concepts in art, physical and life science, math and social studies.

This is a "hands on" activity oriented curriculum. Students will be working in cooperative groups of three about 80% of the time. They will learn about alternative energy resources and their uses in the home. Experiments will be performed to test the energy usage and conservation effect of different home building materials. Students will learn how to draw floor plans along with perspective and elevation drawings.

Historic Pueblo and Spanish Colonial Architecture will be the focal point as students enjoy a field trip to the University of New Mexico campus and the Museum Anthropology. The field trip will follow a slide show of various southwestern style buildings in the area.

The final project will be for students to design and construct a model of an energy efficient southwestern style home.

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Cynthia Bowra

This unit integrates APS district’s core curriculum for the visual arts with southwest architecture. The unit is for middle school students grades 6-8. The unit will incorporate the district’s scope and sequence for the visual arts through an architectural perspective. The unit will focus on the cultural influences on the region and their relevance to the student’s lives and the neighborhoods in which they live. The major method for learning is a design studio model. This model utilizes interdisciplinary methods that link together basic concepts from different subject matter disciplines and apply them it through universal skills. The context for learning concepts and skills is within the local environment. This will include ample hands on components such as drawing, learning architectural conventions, photographing, using digital cam recording, and making 3-dimensional models. Students will also do research about their local area that incorporates written and language skills. The unit will include a walking tour to local sites to visually connect concepts and terminology to the architecture where students live. The students will work individually and in smaller groups for various segments of the unit. The complete unit will last 6-8 weeks long, although different segments of the complete unit can be used individually.

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Nancy Bugler

The title of this course is CAD Design and Southwest Architecture. It is a high school course in Computer-Aided-Drafting. This unit is specifically designed for students who are enrolled in a drafting class. It is not designed to teach specific drafting techniques as the students are already proficient in that area. The students have the opportunity to see how the people of the Southwest have carried on the Spanish and Native American influence in building design. The students are given an architectural problem relating to the Southwest, its history and urbanization. Through research, problem solving, critical thinking and understanding of design principles, students will design a new housing development based on the architectural history of the Southwest. They will design buildings that are replicas of those built between 1800 and 1900 for a new housing development to be located on the outskirts of Albuquerque in the desert. They will design and landscape a town square as the center of the housing development. The students will create readable blueprints and build scale models of the structures they design. Upon completion of the project the students will give a presentation to fictional clients with blueprints, cost estimates for construction and actual scale models of their buildings. The group projects will promote cooperation and appreciation for cultural diversity and the students’ respect for one another.

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Architecture and History of Barelas 4^th Street

This curriculum focuses in teaching students the basic knowledge about architecture, design thinking, and problem solving through schematic drawing and architectural conventions. This lesson is about discovering the oldest and most historic settlement community in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The area of architecture has its own style and history dating back 400 years ago. The heart of the oldest U.S. Route 66 started here when settlers inspired early trade.

This lesson will benefit students and readers and provide them the venue of information that will support their culture, heritage, aesthetics, pride, and understanding of their past and the preservation that has taken place since 1992. The architecture of Barelas-South Fourth Street Historic District was funded through the U.S. Department of the Interior. Through the efforts of the Albuquerque City Planning Office the area is now in the National Register of Historic Places.

Students will have a clearer understanding about their community because the people of this area have established for themselves a strong sense of belonging and are knowledgeable about this neighborhood. This lesson will provide for students an ability to communicate what will be learned, increase their imagination, innovation and creativity. They will understand the process of the development stages of architecture in detail and overall aesthetics as well as schematic technical competence.

Overall, students will be evaluated based on criteria of numerous lessons that will be

completed within the semester which will include:

1. Schematic drawing.
2. Architectural conventions and utilizing their imagination.
3. Structural concepts and the ability to communicate clearly and fluently.
4. Architectural design process and understanding the lesson.
5. Shade and shadow studies.
6. Design and technology of detail and overall aesthetics

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Integrating Geometry and The Southwest:
The Natural, Cultural and Architectural Environment Around Us

Penny Fehringer

This project will incorporate Geometry concepts with the Southwest Architecture around us, giving students a hands-on approach to learning, allowing them to experience the excitement and see the logic of learning Geometry in the context of the environment. Through the drawing of two-dimensional designs and the building of three-dimensional models the students will learn to comprehend formulas and apply these to real-world applications. Students will connect the principles of Geometry by following a common strand rather than chapter-by-chapter isolated topics. The projects will be interdisciplinary as students learn to research materials needed and make presentations, convincing their peers that their design meets the criteria required.

The activities will continue through the school year using the concept of the design studio. Students will work individually and in groups, learning through visual thinking (so much a part of the Geometry curriculum), hands-on activities, problem solving, creative thought and presentations. This curriculum meets twelve of the content standards for Mathematics. The design studio includes concepts such as bubble diagrams, tracings, plan drawings, elevations and model-building. An overhead projector and a slide projector can bring the world of architecture into the Geometry classroom. The five lesson plans begin with a bubble diagram of their room, transforming this into a scale drawing; designing a fast food restaurant in a Southwestern style; building a Pueblo village; constructing a kiva out of adobe blocks; and finally creating a model of a Spanish Colonial casa of their own design and material choice. Students will learn the history of Southwest Architecture and be able to relate the Geometry learned to real world situations. They’ll also be able to understand the concepts involved and be able to talk about them. All student work will be displayed and acknowledged.

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Anita Forte

The following lesson plans are originally set up for 10th grade communication skills classes, but they can be used by any class in any grade level. The lessons are setup to use as many subject areas as possible. The math teacher will emphasize shapes and measuring while doing art, research, and presentations. Likewise the history teacher will discover in depth the historical aspects, but still cover drawing, speeches, math, etc.

Most of the lessons were taken from Anne Taylors’ Architecture and children Southwest with her permission and then I modified them for my classroom.

I wanted to write two additional lessons, but I ran out of space. The lessons would have incorporated heating (solar, gas, electric, etc.) and ergonomics (making and use of furniture). They would have been lessons 5 & 6 and then incorporated into the final lesson plan.

Each of the lessons is supposed to build on the lesson before it and you, the teacher, are to continue to use the words and ideas learned previously. The lessons can take as long or as little as you want, but I would recommend at least 1 week per lesson. As adults, we took hours per lesson in class ( that would be 3 days in my school) and I spent about 3 hours at home getting it. You know your own class go at your pace.

I highly recommend doing each lesson prior to assigning it in class.

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Susan Coley Leonard

Studying architecture in a studio design model can help clarify meaning in literature and history. Many students who have trouble with reading have even more trouble reading historical fiction. Novels such as Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, and April Morning by Howard Fast are difficult to read in part because their settings are totally unfamiliar. This curriculum helps students see what the built environment might have looked like and how setting might have influenced the novels’ events.

It also demonstrates studio design methods in a traditional classroom. Students should have appropriate work space, tools, and wall space as well as permission to practice without penalty. Exercises in architectural design skills get the students ready to show action, movement through space, sound patterns, and areas of activities. By observing, sketching, and discussing slides, as well touring local neighborhoods and public areas, they will learn and apply basic architectural concepts and vocabulary. Architectural history includes information on building styles of Native American pueblos in the Southwest and wigwams in New England, Spanish colonial homes and plazas, and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century building styles in New England. Pueblo and town designs are of particular interest.

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Mike Stanfield

The state of New Mexico and the Southwest offer a prime location for the building of alternative housing. The abundance of solar power and warm climatic conditions enable use of a variety of indigenous building materials.

The standard wood frame construction, typical of most of the United States, diminishes in comparison to the benefits of Southwest architecture. The native people of the Southwest have used the earth as their primary building material for thousands of years.

A short drive around the state of New Mexico will show many examples of traditional adobe buildings and homes. The massive walls of these buildings are used as protection from the heat of summer and the cold of winter. When we look at the walls of these structures, we begin to explore the possibilities of varied building materials and specific advantages. Besides traditional adobe, these walls can be built using straw-bale or even recycled materials. Adobe construction has become almost a status symbol in New Mexico. The oldest and easiest way of building has a new look in the Southwest.

As we enter the new millenium, construction practices grow and change to support human need. As populations continue to grow, the environmental burden placed on housing needs creates a strong desire for alternative materials. This unit explores three types of ecological construction. These are adobe building, straw-bale building and Earthships. For each type I will include the building process, building materials, and benefits. This information should be taught in a active learning environment for students and as an Eco-curriculum for students who will be future consumers of resources.

The student design studio will enable each individual to create his or her design and bring it into a three-dimensional reality. The studio layout will offer a new experience for students in the architectural and building fields. They will use light tables, projectors, trace boxes, and drafting equipment to create visual ideas for their portfolios. This portfolio will serve as a assessment tool and reference. After identification, sketching and design work, student will create scaled models of their work. An assortment of medias, such as clay, chipboard, adobe and even found objects allow each student the experience of hands-on building and problem solving.

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Shelly Thornton

This unit is meant for seventh or eighth grade learning disabled students in a Language Arts/Literature class. It could easily be modified for Art, Social Studies, Math, or Building Trades classes. The ultimate goal of this unit is to design a neighborhood appropriate to the local environment and the desires of the students. Attention to alternative forms of energy, materials, and landscaping will be important parts of this unit. Throughout the unit students will use design studio techniques to experience information needed to complete their objectives.

It will be crucial for the students to become familiar with architectural vocabulary, tools, and drawing techniques. Building an awareness of the impact of the built environment on their lives will also be an issue. The students will reflect on what they are learning through verbal, written, and built expressions of knowledge. The students will be exposed to the new information by use of handouts, videos, lectures, slides, photographs, posters, models, and guest speakers. District benchmarks for Language Arts and Literature are easily incorporated. Architecture is a particularly facile topic that can be integrated into most curriculums with minimal effort.

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III. Environmental Impacts of Human Settlement and Urbanization on the Albuquerque Region

We take a geologic perspective to explore how Albuquerque’s environment has been influenced by human habitation and accelerating urbanization. First, we survey the evolution of the region’s geologic framework over billions of years. Then we consider the region’s landscapes, soils, and vegetation patterns, features that have developed mainly over the last two million years during the Quaternary Period, a time of profound climatic changes. This provides the basis for examining such issues as soil erosion; urbanization and flooding; potential geological hazards; waste disposal; groundwater supply and contamination; land subsidence; and others. Field trips to key sites illustrate concepts and provoke discussion.

Leslie D. McFadden,

Earth and Planetary Sciences

Toni Barela

This unit will be presented to my class of "at-risk" sixth graders at an inner-city, urban middle school. I consider these students to be "at-risk" due to several socioeconomic factors. Ninety-eight percent of the school's total population qualify for free or reduced lunch and breakfast programs. There is a high percentage of single parent/guardian (usually grandparent) homes. Lastly, the school has a high percentage of monolingual Spanish (non-English) speakers entering American school for the first time during these middle grades. The school population also includes a high percentage of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students who may receive special attention in English and ESL classes, but who are also enrolled in regular content area classes. Adjustments then must be made by the teacher to instruct all the students using different methods including, but not limited to, the use of bilingual aides when available, peer teaching and/or assistance, and language development instruction. LEP students are usually identified as having English reading and writing skills diagnosed as falling two or more years below their chronological age. This is based on scores recorded on the Language Assessment Scale (LAS). Using a geology curriculum unit encompassing New Mexico and the Albuquerque Basin, the students will learn English and Spanish terms for geology, learn new concepts in their native language and come to understand the geologic factors that connect this diverse student population. My focus will be English and Spanish language development. I would like them to become aware of their environment by discovering the geology where they live. The lessons as presented do meet the New Mexico State Standards and Benchmarks.

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Larry Daughenbaugh

Water has many physical and chemical properties that allow it to be a wonderful conduit for life. The Rio Grande watershed captures mountain moisture and transports it to the Rio Grande Valley. Measuring river flow allows students to calculate how much water is available for use. Analyzing river flows illustrates seasonal availability of water and the effect dams have on rivers. Examining riparian communities can allow students to observe biotic changes caused by dams and channelization.

Studying the formation of the Rio Grande Rift will instill an understanding of the aquifer, and we can take measures to conserve our groundwater and preserve the riparian community. Students will investigate rocks, calculate specific densities and deduce their origins and sequence of geologic processes that formed the Albuquerque landscape.

Indigenous populations recognized water’s importance. Easy availability today has permitted wasteful practices. By practicing conservation at home, and forming model water plans, students apply analytical and communicative skills.

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Karl Dreyer

Soil is everywhere. Soil is one substance that can link and connect all the sciences. This unit is meant as an introductory unit on soil science. By having a solid knowledge base about soil, high school students will be able to make informed decisions both politically and environmentally. Through construction of geologic and anthropological timelines, both on local and global scales, the students will see how humans have impacted the environment over time. Students will examine different types of local soil. The students will construct different soil horizons/profiles to discover what is under their feet. Students will examine the source of soils. Activities will occur in the laboratory as well as the field. Students will be engaged in public speaking events that require them to take a stand about environmental issues. This unit is designed to be student oriented and student driven with hands-on activities assessed through a variety of methods.

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Doug Earick

This unit will provide an overview of various issues related to the development of the Albuquerque and Middle Rio Grande regions and the resulting effects this development has had on the management of the Rio Grande river. In recent history, the changes in the river’s pattern of flow and other features have been dramatic. This has been done in part to limit flooding in the region, but also to ensure a more consistent flow of water throughout the year. These modifications, however, have also led to disruptions of natural cycles in riparian ecosystems, and the curtailment of outflow to areas downstream. The slow disappearance of the Bosque forest, the decrease in wetlands and the proliferation of non-native plant and animal species can also be associated to this management scheme.

The goal of this unit is to acquaint students with the current challenges facing the river and to gain an understanding of these challenges by looking at the Rio Grande’s development through geologic, historic, economic, political and biological perspectives.

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Sheri Jett

Many of the issues and challenges the school of American Transcendental thought faced parallel the issues and challenges facing the Albuquerque area as it experiences the same sort of accelerated urbanization and technological advances that characterized the mid- 19^th century. Not only does development in the area persist and cause potentially irreversible damage to the Albuquerque environment, but the region also is in need of fresh ideas and new policies to replace the stale wisdom that promotes the societal emphasis on materialism. A study of Transcendentalism, including its definition, characteristics, and authors, specifically Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller, provides students with the opportunity to see their own connection with nature, understand the interconnectedness and cyclical patterns that define natural environments, recognize the materialism and excesses of modern society, predict future environmental and societal occurrences, and decide what response this information merits in their own lives.

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Household Water Resource Management in the Albuquerque, New Mexico Region

The ‘Water Resource Management,’ curriculum is an interdisciplinary unit that is directed toward ninth and tenth grade, English and Communication students. The curriculum's purpose is to present current and relevant information on household water use in the Albuquerque, New Mexico region. Water use averages per individual in the Albuquerque region exceed the national average while also exceeding the average of four other major Western and Southwestern cities. Pending and potential legislation determining water use per household could ultimately affect the quality of life of each student in the classroom. Increased population of the desert southwest has placed many demands on available water resources. Industry, agriculture and personal household use draw heavily from aquifers that are unable to recharge equal to the rate of discharge. Personal household water use on the personal level in the Albuquerque region increases the opportunity for state, national and global comprehension of world water issues.

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Dolores Salazar

Albuquerque is a city surrounded by many unique geologic landforms. Unfortunately students rarely get the opportunity to relate the geology of the past to the resources of today – specifically water, which itself has several unique physical and chemical properties. Learning about the past is crucial in helping us understand the present and take responsibility for the future.

The goal of this curriculum is to enhance the current Chemistry in the Community (ChemCom) curriculum, which seeks to improve science literacy by emphasizing chemistry’s impact on society. The first ChemCom unit is on water. The unit introduces basic chemistry concepts, while discussing the water issues facing a fictional town. I would like to enhance my current curriculum by providing an overview of Earth formation and chemical composition, along with providing data specific to Albuquerque with an emphasis on conservation. I estimate the unit to be complete in 3 to 4 weeks.

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Kathleen Schneider

A goal of science in middle school is for students to develop a holistic understanding of our living, dynamic planet. This curriculum unit is intended to introduce/ reacquaint middle school students with the challenges that urbanization is bringing to our land; locally, in our country and globally. The students will develop a study area on the school grounds to see what has to be done done to attract fauna to a new area. The students will gather, organize, record and apply data about soils and the fauna from the Elena Gallegos area, The Rio Grande Nature Center, the Coronado State Park and their neighborhoods. In their groups they will formulate questions and draw conclusions about what urbanization has done to the soils in the area. They will then be given a hypothetical situation to study, collect information for and prepare for a "public meeting." The students will be divided into special interest groups including estate property owners, the "greenies" ( a local environmental watchdog group) a local Native American tribe, a developer, and the city economic development committee. These groups will do research and as an assessment will write a 500 word paper with their arguments and an oral presentation about what should be done with a 100 acre plot of land on the northern part of the city near the river. There will not be "right" or "wrong" sides, because each group will have valid issues. This curriculum unit is intended to give students skills in the field, in lab work, group dynamics, critical thinking and problem solving.

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Maureen Senetra

This unit is intended for use in the middle school as a brief overview of the Albuquerque area water supply. We will discuss the origins of the Rio Grande River as they apply to the environment around us. This unit will look at the physical and chemical properties of water, the water cycle, leading into a discussion of surface water, groundwater and wetlands. We want to look at the water usage, pollution, treatment, and finally, what we can do to help conserve our limited supply of water.

The student population this is intended for live in the far South Valley of Albuquerque, many of them on small farms that have been in their families for a generation or two, perhaps longer. Because of the ever-increasing demand for land, these students are in a unique position to make decisions about land usage as urban sprawl moves ever closer to them.

This unit is intended to make them realize that they need to be aware of their environment, weigh the pros and cons and make informed decisions.

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Doris Tischler

Soil quality is a function of human environmental impact. High school geology students will examine, describe, and perform experiments, both in the field and classroom, upon soils from their own neighborhoods in the South Valley of the Albuquerque Basin, New Mexico, to determine soil quality. Students will also conduct surveys to discover the extent and types of soil contamination within their own community. Working in teams of 3-4, they will correlate their field data and contamination surveys, with their experimental classroom data to analyze the connection between soil properties and retention of contaminants. Experiments will include analyzing soil composition, texture, particle size distribution, water movement and retention, acidity and salinity, and environmental influences on soil degradation. This curriculum unit is interdisciplinary, and could be taught in high school geology, environmental science, ecology, and/or chemistry. It is student inquiry-based and investigative in nature, in which students will actively seek, through critical analysis and hands-on experiments, to examine the adverse environmental effects certain human activities have upon soils in their community.

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Vickie Warr

This curriculum unit is designed to entice reluctant sixth grade readers initially to learn about and ultimately to care about water. By combining scientific observation and experimentation with simultaneous poetic observation and experimentation, students will reach an interdisciplinary understanding of the water cycle, its history and its phases. Students perform experiments / write poetry about the whole water cycle, precipitation, condensation, evaporation, ground water, conservation, and the Urban Explosion. Alliterative combinations, metaphorical couplets, lyric poetry, tongue twisters, Bio-poems and a hyperbolic myth / fable are among the types of poetry covered. Selected vocabulary for each section guides students through the series which utilizes interactive web sites, small groups, and peer editing and evaluation.

The culminating project is the "Water Dance Notebook," a compilation of notes, experiments, poetry, illustrations and diagrams, and concluding observations of how this unit changed students' perceptions of their environment and of their role in it.

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IV. Political Culture in New Mexico 

The seminar explores the diverse meanings of "political culture" in New Mexico. We begin by contrasting New Mexico’s conventional political system with those in other states and go on to trace the contributions of various ethnic groups, examining how participation is distributed at different levels of power and how cultural diversity contributes to both public relations and policy formation. Defining both the Indian reservation and the Hispanic land grant as political units, we mark out the structure of the large Hispanic political community and examine the distinctive political styles and interests associated with the state’s regions.

Phillip B. (Felipe) Gonzales,

Sociology

Frank Matthew Angel

This unit is designed for use in a Middle School Spanish Bilingual class. The activities in this unit could be easily adapted by any literature or social studies teacher who wishes to supplement their curriculum with materials relative to Hispanic Americans. This unit also stands to fill a void that I see in Multicultural Education. Many teachers and texts are making strong efforts to present a more complete picture of the American experience by including minorities and women. However, it is my observation, that in the majority of cases Chicano/Latino/Hispanic history, culture and traditions are often left out of this equation. This unit attempts to compensate for these omissions.

This unit consists of four different sections that will be presented to the students through out the school year, one section per 9-week grading period.

The first section uses the book, Tesoros del espíritu by Enrique Lamadrid. This book presents the history of New Mexico and its people using historical texts, folk traditions, and personal narratives.

In the next section the students will conduct an interview with a family member. This is to help the students make connections between the history and traditions of New Mexico and their families.

The third activity is a brief research paper and presentation related to a custom or tradition in New Mexico. For this activity the students will use the publication and web page of La herencia del norte, a publication dedicated to the history and traditions of New Mexico. This activity is designed to bring to the students a greater understanding of the history and traditions of New Mexico.

The last section of this unit relates to the land grants in New Mexico. This issue is very complex and often times very difficult to understand. Nevertheless, it is very important to New Mexico and its people and crucial that the students have an idea of the issues surrounding them. This section will include videos and guest speakers to bring a greater understanding of these issues to the students.

This unit, or parts of it, would be ideal for teachers who teach Hispanic students and wish to include content relative to this population. It would also be ideal for non-Hispanic students to give them a better understanding of the history and traditions of this population.

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Susan K. Callaway

New Mexico is a state of unsurpassed diversity, both geographically and culturally. Geographically, New Mexico measures 121,666 square miles; it is the fifth largest state with one of the smallest overall populations at 1.72 million people. New Mexico is also a remarkable natural wonder: It contains six of the seven life zones which exist in North America. Culturally, the state boasts many distinctive groups, but predominant among these are Hispanics, Native Americans, and Anglos. The vastness of the land combined with the wide range of cultures sets the stage for rather interesting politics throughout the state.

In New Mexico, all seventh grade students are required to take New Mexico history for one semester. This history class is generally taught within a social studies class or as part of a humanities curriculum that would include both social studies and language arts. In several school districts across the state, the history of New Mexico is in a ‘family’ or block setting. Most schools with families include two to five teachers who integrate four or more core subjects such as language arts, social studies, math, and science. Teaching in a family setting with two or more hours of blocked time allows teachers to create units of projects which span all subjects. This integration helps students to realize the interconnectedness across subject matter.

This unit in Political Cultures of New Mexico will include materials and lessons for language arts, literature, social studies, and science. In the unit, students will have the opportunity for genuine, hands-on learning, self-paced research, and immersion into the study of New Mexico history and the process of the state government in New Mexico through the simulation of legislative session within the classroom.

This semester-long unit will be divided into two sections. Each section will last approximately nine weeks. The first section will involve student-conducted research into New Mexico history. In social studies and in language arts classes, students will conduct group research into significant periods of New Mexico’s history. These periods will include: the Pueblo people and their ancestors; Spanish/Mexican Settlement; Territorial period; Early Statehood to the End of the Depression; and the Manhattan Project. The research will culminate in New Mexico Day; this will be the students’ Demonstration of Mastery. The second section of the unit will be a legislative session simulation. Class members will be divided into sections which represent five regions in New Mexico. Elected representatives will then create and chair committees designed to examine school and student-based issues in the school community.

This curriculum unit will focus on specific student behavioral outcomes. Through student-guided research and discovery, students will be encouraged to become self-directed learners, collaborative workers, quality producers, and complex thinkers.

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Aaron Chávez

Focuses on the identity and awareness of eighth-grade students in the South Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Students will investigate the immediate world around them as represented by family, community, and governmental institutions, agencies, customs, and beliefs. Coinciding with this investigation will be instruction of state and local history and culture, current topics of importance, and an overall idea of how community and governmental institutions work together to provide services. Guest speakers, field trips, and literature are all incorporated into the study of history, culture, and community. Focus will be on issues specific to the South Valley. Interviews of family members and community leaders will be the focus of the unit. Students will tape and then transcribe interviews. These oral histories will be compiled and stored in the school library. Students will learn about themselves through their families and communities and, in their responses to what they've learned, be more able to not only define what they believe but also who they are. Additional assignments in the unit include expository and journalistic papers, research into local government, and poetry and art.

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The unit entitled "Changing Lives with Language: Navigation of Proper Political Channels" is intended for use by teachers in the area of language arts and literature instruction. It is geared specifically for seventh-grade students, but can be modified for use at all grade levels.

The first six sections of the unit include an introduction to the unit, an overview of the author's educational philosophy in the development of literacy, the specific curricular standards and benchmarks for the course in which the unit will be taught, the relationship of the unit to the overall balanced literacy curriculum for the Albuquerque Public School District, the relationship of the unit to the specific seminar topic, "The Political Culture of New Mexico," and the general goals of the curiculum unit.

The remaining sections of the unit include five exceptionally detailed lesson plans and a culminating student activity. Additionally, some concluding remarks regarding the seminar and its impact on the process of constructing the unit are included, as well.

This unit will be implemented during the 1999-2000 school year for at least half, and perhaps all, of the seventh-grade language arts and literature students enrolled at Harrison Middle School.

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Hadar Dubowsky

This unit is part of a larger year-long study which centers around the essential question: How do people make change? At the beginning of the year the question is put forth, and is examined throughout the year-long study of American History.

This unit focuses on a more personal look at the essential question, asking how students themselves can make change in their society. Students begin by brainstorming about issues that they feel are important. Through videos, reading, Internet searches, speakers and a field trip to the New Mexico legislature, students are exposed to history of social change and opinions around current issues that might be of concern to them.

Students select topics and groups to write bills to be submitted to the NM State legislature. Students will research their topics, write the bill and supplementary materials (photo essay, personal narrative, letters, buttons and stickers), and then present their bills to the class. Mini-lessons will focus on the structure of New Mexico state government, methods of making political changes, and specific skills. Literature, including music and poetry, will be connected to themes of change and social movements.

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Charles Kappus

Many textbooks outlining the history of New Mexico conveniently sidestep the important social issues that came to the fore in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, namely, racial prejudice and its impact on education and employment for minorities. I created this unit, titled Hispanic Participation in American Politics, to address this void and give my students at Ernie Pyle Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, an appreciation of their cultural past and a grasp of how the political process can provide hope for the future. This three-week unit (based on 70-minute Language Arts/Literature blocks) blends Language Arts, Literature, and Social Studies activities to give students a better sense of Southwest history, an understanding of what politics is, and a feel for how their families are "political" in their actions and attitudes. Hopefully, students will begin to see the political process as having relevence to their lives and as a possible avenue to make meaningful change in their community.

Using on-line and traditional resources, students will research important figures in history and politics, interview a family member, and watch and discuss the PBS documentary series Chicano!, The History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement. Students will also read and discuss Chicano Literature, finding connections between the pain and conflict of a social movement and a people struggling for equality. Activities have been arranged to provide students with the vocabulary and knowledge base they need to explore one of the most explosive periods of American History, a time when Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez and Betty Freidan led social movements that would profoundly change the landscape of American life.

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Albuquerque Teachers’ Institute is a demonstration site of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, made possible by the DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund.