SEMINARS

Students will choose a seminar to participate in each semester they are enrolled at Koshkonong Trails. These seminars work to expand students' horizons by exposing them to problems in historical and present day contexts. Each seminar is thematically built around a guiding question: "What if zombies were real?" "How does energy impact society?" "What if the glaciers came back?" 

Through these seminars, students are challenged to think outside the box and dive into content that they might not gravitate towards without assistance. It also gives our students the opportunity to view their teachers as learners and creative beings onto themselves.

HOW DO THE SEMINARS TIE TO LEARNING TARGETS?

How does Energy Impact Society?

Social Studies

  • World History

  • Legislative Regulation of Corporations (Tradeoffs and Kyoto Protocols)

  • Environmental Injustice

Mathematics

  • Business Math through economics investigations

  • Data analysis for impacts of climate change

Language Arts

  • Informational Writing

  • Persuasive Writing

  • Introduction to British Literature, Transcendentalism, Propaganda and Biographies

Science

  • Atmospheric Studies (Greenhouse Gasses and Climate Change)

  • Natural Selection (Impacts of Industrial Revolution)

  • Atoms & Energy (Nuclear Power)

What if Zombies Were Real?

ELA

How have zombies been represented in literature?

Read one of a selection of books about zombies.
Discuss how the local community of Cambridge would be affected if zombies were real.
Compare the actions of different societies in response to zombies.

CCSS for English/Language Arts

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.7 Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person's life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1.A Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.5 Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

Science/Agriculture

Are zombies really living?How are diseases transmitted?How can diseases be prevented?

Living/nonliving exploration around SLC
Forensic Science disease origin lab activity
Differentiate between bacteria, viruses, and prions.

Explore legislation around transport, treatment, and exposure of food animals to pathogens.


WI Ag & NGSS Science Standards

AS3.a: Prescribe and implement a prevention treatment program for animal diseases, parasites, and other disorders.


MS-LS1-1 Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.


MS-LS1-3 Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.


MS-LS2-2 Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.

Social Studies

How does disease influence society?

Bird, Swine, and Spanish Flu

Smallpox

AIDS

Black Death


Geography, Resources, Discrimination, Societal Impact


WI Social Studies Standards

E.12.12 Explain current and past efforts of groups and institutions to eliminate prejudice and discrimination against racial, ethnic, religious, and social groups such as women, children, the elderly, and individuals who are disabled.

D.12.8 Explain the basic characteristics of international trade, including absolute and comparative advantage, barriers to trade, exchange rates, and balance of trade

C.12.5 Analyze different theories of how governmental powers might be used to help promote or hinder liberty, equality, and justice, and develop a reasoned conclusion

C.12.11 Evaluate the ways in which public opinion can be used to influence and shape public policy

C.12.16 Describe the evolution of movements to assert rights by people with disabilities, ethnic and racial groups, minorities, and women.

Mathematics

How can we use data and models to make informed decisions?

As students investigate prior research into disease and transmission, they will encounter researcher representations of data in functions which will allow them to use functions to model relationships between quantities.
Model the spread of diseases using statistics and graphing.
Through analysis of world data sets, students will investigate patterns of association in bivariate data.

By analyzing decisions made in simulations and the outcomes that occur, students will be able to, use probability to evaluate outcomes of decisions.


Bold statements come directly from CCSS for Math