Curriculum Design
At School in the Park, we offer curriculum around a broad range of topics for students in grades three through eight. Topics are found at the intersection of our partner institutions’ areas of focus and grade level standards, covering subjects in science, engineering, visual and performing arts, and history-social science.
The SITP curriculum development process is collaborative. School in the Park’s lead educator works with museum educators to finalize the main focus for each rotation. Ideas are fleshed out with input from classroom teachers and SITP staff.
As rotations are implemented, School in the Park staff observe and provide feedback for reflection using a continuous improvement model. Across every institution and rotation, our goal is that “learning comes to life” for students, as they experience topics in a hands-on, authentic way.
3rd Grade Curriculum
San Diego History Center:
Mapping
Students will become immersed in the rich history and vital impact of the Park on our community and the world. Students will use maps and compasses to explore Park chronology and features via outdoor exploration, investigation of historical images and artifacts, hands-on projects, cartography, and the creation of a Kid’s Guide to Balboa Park. Students will understand how Balboa Park has changed over time and imagine its future while becoming able navigators and stewards of this important cultural resource.
San Diego Junior Theater:
Folktales from Around the World
Students will work as an ensemble to develop, rehearse and perform a production that explores folktales from cultures around the world. Students will use the tools of a performer including body, voice, and imagination while participating in rehearsals for scenes, and a song and dance.
Museum of Us:
Kumeyaay People
Students will take on the role of human geographer, seeking to understand how land shapes people’s lives and cultures, as well as how people utilize land-- short and long term. Specifically, students will focus on Kumeyaay communities, and their own experiences. Throughout the week, students will engage in class discussions focused on the culture, history and knowledge of Kumeyaay, specifically art, tools, food, clothing, and cosmology. Students will learn about important transitional historical events in Kumeyaay history, such as the mission system, in order to have an understanding about Kumeyaay legacy, oppression, and resilience. By the end of the week, students will complete an art project that asks them to think about how they would teach what they learned about Kumeyaay people, their histories, their stories, and their resilience to their own families.
San Diego Zoo:
Animal Classification
There are many different kinds of plants and animals on Earth. During this rotation, students take on the role of biologists with the task of classifying animals based on their observable traits. They will learn grade level appropriate information about animal classification and diverse life forms. Throughout the week, they will keep a nature journal to document their observations of different groups of animals throughout the Zoo.
Mingei:
Process of Paper
Each day students will create individual works that will ask them to explore the role of craft in cultures from around the world. And ask them to draw connections and inspirations from their own cultural, family, and personal histories. Students will learn about the traditional arts and crafts of papermaking, leaf stamping, paper marbling, bookbinding, and its variations through many cultures using the museum’s collection and library as primary and secondary resources. They will research and share what they learn about the history, cultural significance, and impact of these crafts on our society. They will explore the artistic process in Mingei’s art studio classroom setup.
4th Grade Curriculum
Air & Space Museum:
Forces and Energy
School In The Park students become physicists during the first week of this rotation, and discover truths about their world (and universe) through research and practice of the physical sciences. Students will investigate forces and energy by designing, constructing, and testing various engineering projects, such as roller coasters, catapults, and stomp rockets. This week’s activities act as a scaffold for students’ learning, allowing them to build upon their newly acquired skills in week two, and rise to the challenge of engineering various rovers with unique requirements.
San Diego Zoo:
A Sense for Survival
Although all animals experience the physical world through their senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste), their sensory structures and capabilities vary greatly. Animals are constantly sending and receiving sensory messages in order to successfully accomplish many key aspects of survival, including finding food, avoiding danger, finding/staying connected to other members of their species, and claiming or defending their territory. During this rotation, students will work as scientists to observe and document the various ways in which animals rely on their senses for survival in a nature journal. Based on their observations, they will construct an explanation about the importance of various sensory adaptations to highlighted species.
Fleet Science Center:
Electricity
Science affects everyday life. Students investigate the properties of electricity and gain a working knowledge to use it in real life scenarios. They emulate Electrical Engineers by applying their knowledge to how we live and then creating schematic blueprints of the flow of electrical energy in a room of their choice. Students then build and test their working circuits and build a take home diorama with LED circuits.
San Diego History Center:
SD, Here I Come!
Through the exploration of documents and artifacts that illuminate the experiences of San Diego citizens over time, students will discover the reasons people have come to settle in San Diego from 1850 to the present day. In studying and creating contemporary examples of primary sources from the perspective of current San Diegans and interacting with visitors to the San Diego History Center, students will discover the ways experiences of and reasons for migration have changed or remained the same. By discussing the experiences of contemporary and historic San Diegans, students will form an understanding of the changes in our region over time.
San Diego Junior Theater:
The Gold Rush
Students will work as an ensemble to develop, rehearse and perform a showcase that explores the California Gold Rush. Students will explore the tools of a performer: body, voice, and imagination while participating in rehearsals for scenes, songs, and movement. Each class will explore the primary careers in theater while developing their characters through improvisational methods for performing as an ensemble and creating collaboratively.
theNAT (Natural History):
I am a Paleontologist
This week in School in the Park, fourth grade students will learn how fossils help paleontologists learn about the past. They will develop observation and inference skills critical to paleontologists and discover how these skills are the key to uncovering earth’s ancient mysteries. School in the Park students will have the opportunity to talk with a real paleontologist this week! Finally, they will connect paleontology to their region by learning about discoveries and field work in familiar locations throughout San Diego.
5th Grade Curriculum
Air & Space Museum:
Amusement Park Engineering
Expanding upon their previous knowledge of the Engineering Design Process, students will become mechanical engineers and inventors, looking to research, design, experiment, and propose solutions for real life engineering challenges while applying limited physics. This rotation will be based off of Shark Tank, a popular TV show including an engineering and entrepreneurship framework. During this week, students will continue building their skills as per the EDP, while beginning to practice comparing and contrasting various solutions to problems, and analyzing qualitative data from experimentation. Students will be responsible for engineering various inventions which will be added to the class’s amusement park. The goal of this rotation is to teach students about the importance of using failures and mistakes as a means of growing closer to a final solution.
The Old Globe:
Theatre Matters
In this rotation students will receive an introduction to theatre production and develop opinions of “why theatre matters.” Students will participate in dialogues and activities that connect the artistry of theatre making with socio-emotional learning. Students will write monologues/scenes, act out their pieces, and design/build costume, scene, and sound projects loosely based on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Fleet Science Center:
Astronomy (rotation 1)
This rotation focuses on the different components of our solar system, as well as the Earth’s place in it. We will learn about the different planets, their composition, reasons for the seasons, and more. Students will use their understanding of our solar system to create an exoplanet solar system by applying concepts to a planet of their creation.
Fleet Science Center:
Forensic Detectives (Rotation 2)
The second rotation takes students through the Fleet Forensics Academy, where they hone their critical thinking skills and powers of observation to earn the rank of Jr. Detective. Students will solve the crime of the missing slime supplies as they learn to lift and classify fingerprints, separate mixtures into their component parts for analysis, and identify a mystery powder based on its physical and chemical properties. At the end of the week, students will use their new forensic detective skills to create their own procedure for crime scene analysis and use it to crack the Case of the Missing Reptile.
theNAT (Natural History):
Human Impact
During our week together, students will learn that humans can both positively and negatively impact the environment. Specifically, they will learn about human impacts that exacerbate climate change. Students will transform into climate engineers this week as they design solutions to one of the negative impacts they observe.
How do human activities contribute to climate change and what can we do to help?
San Diego Zoo:
Food for Thought
All organisms need energy and matter to live and grow. Living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for survival. During this rotation, students will work as scientists to document the components of a food chain and how they may overlap to form a balanced food web on the African savanna. They will also consider real life conservation challenges and how they impact that balance. As they study each component, they will keep a nature journal to document their observations, questions, connections, and discoveries.
Mingei:
Quilt Making
Over the course of the week, students will create individual works that will ask them to explore the role of craft in cultures from around the world. They will use the museum collection and library as primary and secondary resources to help draw inspiration and connections from their own cultural, family, and personal histories. Students will learn and share about the quilting tradition, history, sewing techniques, quilting patterns, and tools usage and safety.
6th Grade Curriculum
The Old Globe:
Twelfth Night
In this rotation, students will explore the story of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and use it as a springboard for creating projects that utilize the techniques of theatre design. With a focus on discovery, creativity, and communication, student designers will learn the steps of the creative design process, discover how to make creative choices, and practice communicating their design ideas to each other by presenting their projects to the class.
theNAT (Natural History):
Environmental Action
SITP Students will become community scientists as they participate in surveying and quantifying species diversity in designated areas of Balboa Park. Using iNaturalist to help them identify the organisms they have found, student teams will collaborate to develop a useable field guide to Balboa Park organisms. Students will think critically about how to develop the best possible field guide for users in the community. They will apply the information they have gained from their field work and in-class research to thoroughly describe the ecology of a Balboa Park organism. At the end of the week, student teams will put their field guide pages to use as they lead interpretive walks through Balboa Park.
The San Diego Zoo:
Inspiring Allies for Wildlife
Conservation Science:
Students will be exploring the Zoo from a global perspective; investigating and reflecting on the challenges facing wildlife around the world and learning how the San Diego Zoo is working to address challenges.
Conservation Media:
Students will work as though they are zoo media specialists disseminating conservation messaging through different media platforms to inspire compassion and drive action.