About the Curriculum Project | Curriculum Materials

About the Curriculum Project
 Why are so few women and minorities entering the Information Technology workforce? What role do media play in creating or reinforcing this pattern?

Do you and your middle school students want to help answer these questions?

[NOTE: THE RESEARCH PORTION OF THE PROJECT IS COMPLETE, HOWEVER TEACHERS ARE FREE TO USE GMM CURRICULUM MATERIALS IN THE CLASSROOM.]

1. Download Curriculum Guide (PDF document) This is a project overview which includes
tips and suggestions.
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2. Download Curriculum Materials All the materials you need for the project can be
downloaded from the website.

Frequently Asked Questions & Participant Feedback See comments and suggestions from teacher participants.

The Getting the Media Message curriculum project materials can be used by any 6th through 8th grade teachers in their classrooms. The curriculum was piloted in seventh grade classrooms at Mt. Logan Middle School in Chillicothe, Ohio. During the course of the project, teachers at additional U.S. middle schools used GMM curriculum materials also.

More about the curriculum project
 The curriculum project is grounded in the principles of student-centered, interdisciplinary, problem-based learning in which students are active participants in their own learning and have opportunities to apply their knowledge to real-world situations. As part of this project, students will apply math, language arts, and social studies skills to address a critical and real problem, namely, the dearth of women and minorities in information technology careers.

The curriculum project will ask students to complete the following research steps:
  • Conduct a survey of their peers, with sixth graders surveying other sixth graders, seventh graders surveying other seventh graders, and eighth graders surveying other eighth graders. The survey, including items developed by the Principal Investigators (PIs), will ask students to identify the books and popular magazines they read, the movies and television programs they watch, and the career-related materials (books, brochures, videos, Internet sites) they use in their school and public libraries.
  • Conduct a content analysis, using a coding instrument developed by the PIs, on the materials they identify and collect through their survey.

In examining these issues, students apply concepts and skills from many disciplines.
The emphasis is on higher-order thinking, cooperative learning, and democratic values. Among the arguments for curriculum integration are that:

  • Students are more highly motivated and learn better because an integrative curriculum relates to their needs, problems, concerns, interests, and aspirations (Erlandson & McVittie, 2001)
  • Students are better prepared for life in contemporary society because an integrative curriculum addresses current social problems in all their real-world complexity (Vars, 2001).

In its 1995 position paper, the National Middle School Association called for an "integrative curriculum," a student-centered approach in which students and their teachers plan learning experiences organized around real-world issues significant to both young people and adults. (NMSA, 1995).

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