I, Kid (part V)

By Pixel at January 14, 2006 at 3:52 pm. Filed in pixtopia

I’ve come up with a new concept that should modify my 12-year lesson plan (as seen on I, Kid part IV). I call it “Holistic History.”

The idea is simple but would require the teacher(s) to have near expertise on almost every subject known to man (as all teachers do in my ideal educational world). It goes like this:

1. We begin Holistic History with Astronomy. Now, we’ll stay with the more certain of astronomical theories and stay away from the Big Bang and creation altogether. The first few weeks would discuss how stars, planets, satellites, and solar systems form. It would discuss galaxies, black holes, elements, and all sorts of other fun stuff. The end of this section would create the splinter subject of Astronomy that students could either opt to take then or in the future (it is important that they receive the option at the end of each section and not at the end of the semester as in most other systems. The kids must have what they’ve learned in mind before deciding to go forth in these studies).
2. Holistic History continues with Geology. We discuss the formation of the planet Earth and all of the various formations. The kids learn about volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, weather, minerals, tectonic plates, and all the things that are omnipresent but never discussed. The end of this section would create the splinter subject of Geology that students could either opt to take then or in the future.
3. Then the children are exposed to Chemistry. Focusing specifically on the atmosphere of Young Earth (Young Earth and Friends would make a good children’s cartoon, by the way), kids learn all about the periodic table and even perform some experiments. The end of this section would create the splinter subject of Chemistry for students to opt to take later on.
4. After this, Biology is studied in great depth. First we focus on prokaryotes and explain how– though it is logarythimically quicker than either Astronomy, Geology, or the best theories of abiogenesis,– it was still ridiculously long before eukaryotes arose and even longer still before plants and animals were created.
5. At this point, we discuss Ecology and Biology concurrently. We go through the evolutionary chain until we get to dinosaurs and discuss the various epochs it took to get to them and the various epochs associated with them. After the dinosaurs, we discuss the rise of mammalia (no jokes, please), and culminate with the ice age. The end of this section will be much like the end of Chemistry, Astronomy, and Geology.
6. Here we move on to Prehistory and History. We go through cave paintings, the discovery of fire and the wheel, forward into agriculture, the end of nomadic life, and the cradles of life. We cover the various societies, writing, mythology, and war. It is crucial that all societies existing at the same time are covered at the same time. For instance, we cover Mesopotamia and Egypt at the same time and Persia and Greece too, but also China and Mongolia, the Aztecs and the Aborigines. World history starts with little to no contact between the various cultures, but their development is crucial to understanding what role they play in current times.
7. From this, when we pass the Greek culture, we begin discussing philosophy, anatomy, politics, and rhetoric, along with some individual instruction in each. In Roman times we discuss engineering and strategy. Through the dark ages and into the renaissance, we teach art history and art appreciation (and music and drama) along with various scientific discoveries and the construction of each.
8. Holistic History then takes us into the colonization of the West and we discuss the cultures that clashed here as well as the events that were taking place around the world elsewhere.
9. As we move through the enlightenment and the Romantic period, we further discuss art and philosophy, science and technology. We cover history in broad strokes, but with the minutiae you’d expect from an experienced history buff.
10. Finally, we culminate with current events, world wars, the space race, the tsunamis, religion and race riots, and all of the other ways in which the entirety of human knowledge intersects without us ever paying heed.

I predict Holistic History would take 4 years to teach and grasp fully and another 4 for individualized study, thus it would begin in fourth grade.

Last Year: More Stolen Stuff, Semi-Jacked and Wally-"News" Faux-Mart
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