Quest Atlantis Units: Your Standards Solution!

Quest Atlantis Units (Taiga, Plague, Ander City Statistics, Spacenik, etc.) are the curricular features that give teachers and students the biggest reward, in motivation, engagement, and learning. But they also require the biggest investment in time—often taking up to 12 days in the computer lab with more classroom and teacher prep time to support them. But check it out—with a little advance planning these same Units can SAVE you even more time, while addressing content standards across the board in nearly every subject area! The key is to think of them as opportunities for theme-based multi-curricular units. You’ll be amazed at the number of content standards the QA Units can address.

Let’s take a quick look at the possibilities afforded by one QA Unit—our newest release, Virtual Mesa Verde (VMV).

A review of the Unit Guide shows standards alignments for the main subject area covered in the Unit—social studies— addressing geography and world history concepts like the balance of resources with human needs and the characteristics of civilization.

But there is a lot more content that can be mined for standards correlations in many other subject areas. Although you won’t find these standards listed in our Unit Guide (we can’t show correlations based on what a teacher MIGHT do with the content), additional standards addressed in these Units is limited only by the teacher’s imagination and need.

For example, every QA Unit is narrative-based, and the storylines and characters are designed as interactive novels in which Questers become active characters in the story. Think of the language arts content standards that you can cover by examining the characters (motivations, personalities); plot (conflict and resolution, climax and anticlimax); author’s purpose, tone, and craft; and the characteristics of fiction, science fiction, and fantasy! And that’s not all—each Unit also has unique “mini-lessons” that can enhance instruction in many other disciplines. VMV affords possibilities in:

• Science: The VMV Unit is filled with possibilities for science exploration, from agricultural science (the three-sisters gardening process favored by many native cultures and dryland irrigation techniques) to the study of the effects of wildfires on ecosystems and wildfire recovery science, and even more possibilities too numerous to outline here.
• Language Arts: The Unit’s main character, Lorisa, tells Questers a simplified version of the Hopi creation story. Why not compare that story with creation stories from indigenous people in your area or from cultures you’re studying in social studies classes, aligning instruction to comparative literature and mythology standards?
• Math: A technician from CyArk (http://archive.cyark.org/) demonstrates the use of laser technology to create accurate three-dimensional digital measurements (using bearing, inclination, and distance). Students can explore 3D measurements and scale by creating models of cliff dwellings and kivas.
• Social Studies: In addition to the main SS content specified in the VMV Unit Guide, the time travel features of the Unit also lend themselves well to activities in time, continuity, and change. Or expand the storyline with an in-depth study of the importance of primary source materials like artifacts in historical research.
• Art: Ancestral Puebloan (sometimes called Anasazi) pottery is distinctive for its black-and-white geometric designs. Have students create their own pottery and design new variations of this technique. Or plan a lesson on Ancestral Puebloan glyphs and decorations, exploring not only the art but the meaning behind the symbols.

• Health: Lorisa is struggling with peer pressure that is affecting her behavior and her health. Use her problems as a springboard for discussions on the influences of personal beliefs, culture, mass media, and other factors on health and self image as well as ways to communicate care, consideration, and respect for self, parents and family, and the diversity of others.
• Careers: Explore the career possibilities in national parks services, including park rangers, archaeologists, and anthropologists.

The suggestions above are just a small sampling of the standards correlations possible through a theme-based implementation of VMV. An exploration of your own content standards will spark ideas unique to your curriculum. As you can see, rather than a drain on your valuable instructional time, the QA Units can help you cover MORE content standards while engaging your students in transformational learning activities that build skills they can use for a lifetime.

Next time you’re browsing through the Quest Atlantis curriculum, check out the possibilities!

Tags: content standards, curriculum, multi-curricular, theme-based instruction