Final projects may also consist of a curriculum unit using primary sources. The theoretical justification for such a curriculum needs to be theorized and explained. Students must discuss the central intellectual questions at the heart of the curriculum and also identify the distinct methods the curriculum will teach students to use in order to systematically answer these questions.
Curriculum projects can be devised for middle school, high school, and junior college-level students. They should show clear evidence of how you have mastered-and can apply to a classroom-the interdisciplinary approaches, theoretical underpinnings, and primary and secondary sources that are central to the field of American Studies. It is also expected that the pedagogy you articulate in your project is based on a student-centered approach to learning that maximizes your students' critical and creative thinking skills and allows for alternative methods of testing and evaluation.
A typical curriculum project is designed for a ten to twelve week semester, divided into as many units as you and your advisor think appropriate. Students are expected to plan the units with some reasonable approximations of the time they would need to teach each unit and with age and skill appropriate lesson plans and evaluation guidelines. The majority of the materials used should be primary sources with you supplying information about the secondary sources through the introductions and guidelines you write for each unit.
1. A four or five page general introduction that explains the nature and themes of the curriculum and provides a justification of how it is structured and why it is structured in this way. The general introduction could also include an overview of the course materials, the major issues and questions the curriculum is intended to raise, the overall learning objectives for the students, and the methods of evaluating their learning.
2. A detailed lesson plan for each unit that:
a. explains how it is related to the overall themes and goals of the course and provides the necessary historical and critical background for the ideas, issues, and documents you are presenting in the unit;
b. lists the major ideas, questions, and issues raised by the unit;
c. contains study guides and discussion questions for each document or set of documents in the unit;
d. contains written and/or oral assignments based on the documents.3. Copies of all the written documents you will assign in the unit, and if you use visual or auditory sources, copies, slides, or tapes of these documents. Where you can't provide material (such as a video) you should discuss it and its value to the curriculum.
4. A bibliography of the primary and secondary sources you have used in putting together the curriculum project.