Course Unit Descriptions

Learning Activities (Three Course “Units”) that comprise European History: An Inheritance of Ideas

  • Activity:

    Engage with curated multi-media content that complements the novel.

    Process:

    A. This curriculum provides:

    i. A complementary library of curated multi-media materials for each philosopher or historical figure who appears in Sophie’s World. 

    ii. Brief annotations that have been made to the text of Sophie’s World to direct the reader when to visit the library of curated multi-media materials, which philosopher(s)/historical figure(‘s/s’) materials they are to examine at that point in the novel, and why.

    B. Therefore, when directed by this curriculum’s annotations to the text of Sophie’s World, students use the complementary library to further explore the philosophical project of the personage(s) to whom they were directed, and use what they discover to add to their final project following the steps below:

    i. Facilitators, in consideration of the individual attributes and group dynamics within their class, can guide students to engage with the complementary library, whether:

    - independently
    - working together in small groups (e.g., their reading pairs/groups)
    - as a class (students picking which material(s) from the library to engage with for each philosopher/historical figure, whether by vote or consensus)
    - as a class with the facilitator picking materials on behalf of the students (this is not the recommended option, and therefore should not be the sole option chosen for the course, and the facilitator should explain to the class why it was chosen for certain philosophers, giving students the opportunity to debate against its selection in favor of one of the other options)
    - over time, any combination of the options above (i.e., independently for one annotation, as a class for others, etc.)

    ii. Students, always working independently (even if during class time), create a one page (8 ½ x 11) poster (text and visuals) for each philosopher/historical figure based on the multi-media content provided and in accord with the “Student Guide: Before You Read”. Options include:


    - handcrafted art (e.g., drawing, painting, collage)
    - exclusively human created computer art (e.g., drawing on the computer, collage, and/or other techniques to create slides in PowerPoint, Google Slides, Canva, etc.)
    - AI-assisted art (with an accompanying log documenting the evolution of their prompt engineering)
    - A combination of handcrafted, human created computer art, and AI-assisted.

    Note: Over time, each student should take advantage of all three of these options, and although one may predominate, no single option should be used less than 25% of the time (e.g., 50% AI assisted art, 25% handcrafted, and 25% exclusively human created computer art would be acceptable; 90% handcrafted, 10% AI-assisted, and no human created computer art would not be acceptable).

    iii. By the end of the novel, this process will result in students having created a “scrapbook” containing one (8 ½ x 11) page for each philosophical/historical figure they encountered in Sophie’s World (122 pages total).

    Note: The final artifact produced will be a physical scrapbook that will be used for those properties in Unit 3.

    C. Simultaneous with activities (b)(i)-(iii), students will discuss and gain primarily peer but also facilitator feedback regarding the understanding and opinions they’ve formed while building their final project. This will be done via facilitator led/moderated Socratic seminars. These should be held approximately fifty times throughout the year-long course. These “seminars” should align with each annotation to the text, both in terms of content and timing. The initial prompts for each seminar should be derived from the essential questions for the course, but wide latitude should be given to students’ direction once the conversation has started. Student discussion of process (e.g., how they created their poster) is acceptable on occasion, but the main focus over the tenure of these seminars should be the philosophical content explored and its impact on the students as reflected in their creations.

  • Activity: Students read Sophie’s World.

    Options:

    A. Students read independently.

    B. Students read independently (silently or out loud) to a pet/therapy animal.

    Facilitators should bring to these students’ attention the number of times Sophie is reading aloud to or in the presence of her cat or her mentor’s messenger-dog.

    C. Students read aloud in pairs or paired with staff.

    Sophie’s World is written largely in the style of a dialogue between Sophie and her mentor, much as Plato constructed his dialogues. Therefore, it is conducive for two-person reading, one taking the roles of Sophie/Hilde as well as reading descriptive passages, with the other taking the roles of Alberto/Albert as well as reading his letters and other passages of philosophy as denoted by the book’s distinctly different fonts.

    D. Students read aloud in a group, or in a group with staff.

    Similar to option (C), a group of up to 4 students could be accommodated. For example, Reader A would read as Sophie/Hilde; Reader B would read as Alberto/Albert when they are speaking; Reader C would read Alberto’s letters; Reader D would read all other characters as well as all paragraphs that contain no dialogue. In this arrangement, if staff participate they would take the role of Reader D when amongst a trio of strong readers who only need support staying on task and preventing parallel thinking, whether due to executive functioning deficits or socio-emotional issues; staff would take the role of Reader C when amongst a trio of students whose reading skills are still developing or are otherwise challenged.

    E. Students listen to an audiobook of the novel and follow along in the text (independently or in groups).

    F. Any combination of options above, whether combined simultaneously (e.g., option (b) and (e) together) or at different times (e.g., option (a) for some chapters and option (d) for others as directed by the facilitator).

  • Activity:

    Analysis & contextualization of what has been learned (objective)
    Identification & explanation of what is important to student (subjective)

    Process:

    A. Following the “Philosopher’s Guide: After You Read”, students turn their Unit 2-created scrapbook into a scroll containing 3 timelines:

    i. Timeline of Philosophers

    ii. Timeline of Major Events in European History

    iii. Timeline of Major Events in World History (ii & iii are to be comparative/complementary, not overlapping/redundant)

    B. Students annotate their timeline-scroll as directed in the “Philosopher’s Guide” (so called because they have now completed their reading and graduated from studying to philosophizing). They will do so by:

    i. Designating three separate sets of events (“sets”) as among those they believe had the greatest historical impact, each set comprised of a philosopher on Timeline I and an event on each of Timelines ii & iii that the student believes are inextricably linked (i.e., the philosopher’s project profoundly influenced and/or was profoundly influenced by the cited historical events on those two timelines; similarly, the corresponding chosen event on the European History timeline profoundly influenced and/or was profoundly influenced by the cited historical event on the World History timeline).

    ii. Describing, by annotating his/her scroll, how Timelines I, II and III are linked at each of those three points that they selected.

    C. Drawing upon and referencing what they learned from Sophie’s World and the creation of their scrapbook/annotated timeline scroll, students write a final (5 - 15 college-ruled 8 ½ X 11 page handwritten) paper that: 

    i. Identifies the philosopher(s) and/or philosoph(y/ies) explored in this course that the student most resonates with.

    ii. Clearly and concretely conveys the nature of that resonance and its impact, in terms of both the student’s present attitude toward and conduct in the world, and in how the student intends to approach life going forward.

    D. Students present and discuss their annotated timelines and papers to each other in class.