Project ALE

Katelynn Haack
1. Name and place description. I chose Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati as an Alternative Learning Environment. All throughout the ballpark, there are pictures and captions describing different people and time periods. While these are all related to baseball, there are significant historical aspects in these descriptions. This is also a great location to discuss producers and consumers. Between the ticket booth, food carts, beverage stations, and restaurants within the ballpark, students can learn about businesses in the context of entertainment. 2. Identify the ODE and NCSS ODE: Fourth Grade History Content Statements: 1. The order of significant events in Ohio and the United States can be shown on a timeline. 2. Primary and secondary sources can be used to create historical narratives. Economics Content Statement: 23. Entrepreneurs organize productive resources and take risks to make a profit and compete with other producers. NCSS: Production, Distribution, Consumption Time, Continuity, Change 3. Explain the value of the place you selected re potential as a catalyst for: a. Connections/continuity Instead of simply memorizing dates for a test or time periods to put on a timeline, students can engage with events and stories from the past. They can read about and listen to players life stories and struggles they went through growing up and while they played baseball. Important historical events are reflected in the players and are described as factors that affected the game of baseball. Players stories (like Jackie Robinson) explain events that were taking place at a particular time and actions people took in response to those trials. Students can learn about these events while connecting to personal aspects of the players. Students can also see different types of businesses in action. They see food and beverage stations and can relate to buying food or drinks in their own lives. They can also observe the ticket booth as a place of transaction where money is exchanged for a product, in this case, a seat in the stadium. They can observe different factors of the economic system. b. Engagement with Social Studies concepts and ideals With this alternative learning environment, students are immersed in the content and are active participants as they explore and learn about historical events and economic systems. They are able to hear stories about the players and what they did to make changes in both the country and the baseball world. The players were active citizens in society and brought change. The students are able to observe this and see the results of a persons actions. They are seeing responsibility as a citizen played out in alternative ways. They are seeing people stand up for what they believe in and they see how support from other citizens helped their cause. c. Potential for evoking questions and inquiry Because sports are, for the most part, seen as enjoyable, students might be even a little more interested in the players stories. Their stories make the historical events meaningful. Students might be able to relate to aspects of different life stories, further connecting what they are learning to their own lives. Because this place does not present historical events on a basic timeline, students might be more

willing to ask questions about players that reveal more characteristics of that time period. If they are engaged and active participants in the learning process, they will want to keep asking questions and learning more about a given topic. 4. Visit as Placed in Context of a social studies unit of study I would introduce different historical events and ask students to research what life was like during these times. I would ask them to research different aspects of each topic and choose facts they think are important in understanding about that event/time. This would then offer a transition to the ALE and would provide more insight into peoples lives during these events/times. After the visit, I would ask students to describe what they learned in the ALE and the importance of going outside the classroom to learn more about a topic.