Vernon K. Groenendyk

Have you ever wanted to paint a beautiful picture but haven't had the time or the knowledge of how to do it? Try painting a watercolor picture. You will need desire to work and a great deal of patience. This course will offer you the technique, the time, the place, and the material.

Using a frog we will develop the ability to use dissection instruments and make careful observations. External and internal structures will be identified. Each structure will be described as to size, shape, location, and structural design. Comparisons to other animals and humans will be made.

Take a look back to the early days of your city. See how it has changed and grown. Study photographs to learn more about logging, industry, transportation, building, and recreation in the oldest part of the city. Visit selected famous places. Explore your genealogy.

Have you ever had the urge to get up on stage and belt out a song? As the audience claps and cheers, you gain a feeling of great satisfaction. Now is the time to begin rehearsals-you won't be timid or shy. Sign up now and bring along your movin' shoes.

Something that affects millions of young people and adults is being used and misused in our society. Rock music is a powerful tool in conveying drugs, immorality, and violence to young people. This class will look at past and present rock groups and carefully analyze what they are actually saying through symbolism, text, or backward masking. Using the Bible and Christian books. students will be taught how to

be discriminating listeners using Christian beliefs as a foundation for their thinking.

If you are interested in learning how to write a newspaper, here is your chance. Become involved in discussing topics, interviewing people, and writing articles that relate to your school.

(Summaries from exploratory courses that have been used with students in a Christian middle school.)

One of the many characteristics of the middle school student is a desire to explore. This need goes beyond the exploratory experience that occurs in the core subject areas. George and Lawrence (1982) state it this way:

In an earlier chapter we said that if students have different blends of a variety of intelligences, they will be interested in different areas and will learn in different ways. If some students are "at promise" in certain areas and others are "at risk" in certain areas, then it is important that the curriculum offers a variety of opportunities for students to explore different areas. Exploratory courses such as those described at the beginning of this chapter offer such opportunities.

We know that many students graduate from high school without a clear career direction for their lives. Some of these students find that direction during their college years. Others, however, have great difficulty in selecting a major area of study and leave college with the same lack of direction. Still others choose not to attend college but leave high school with little notion of the type of work they are best suited for.

Career selection begins at the middle school level with providing opportunities for exploring a great many areas of interest. It Is important for administrators and teachers to work together to develop the means and find the time in the middle school program to fulfill this need for exploration.

What are exploratory courses and how do they fit the objectives of a Christian school? The Grand Rapids Christian Schools Plan for Middle School defines exploratory courses as introductory courses that "help provide students with opportunities to explore curriculum areas which enrich their lives, help them determine interests, and prepare them for continued study in future years." Often course topics are determined by the interests and expertise of the teachers or community volunteers who may be available.

Areas of interest might include the following: music, art, drama, language, science/math (calculator contests, problem solving, Olympiads), social studies (local historical studies, genealogy, simulations. current events, inventions), hobbies (photography, collectibles), writing (school newspaper, yearbook), study skills, and athletics (aerobics, weight lifting, bicycling, officiating). We live in an interesting world and God gave us the capacity and urge to explore It. Out of this participation in exploration comes part of our response to creation.

Based on their philosophy of how and what a middle school student should learn, the Grand Rapids Christian Middle School Committee wrote nurture objectives for meeting the special needs of the middle school child. The following statements are implications based on the nurture objective for exploration.

1. Students will be offered courses and other opportunities that allow them to explore and inquire into areas outside of the "core" curriculum.
2. Students will be assigned to certain areas of exploratory learning and will be allowed to choose others.
3. The nature of the curriculum will be exploratory. The developmental levels of the students will determine the degree of "in-depth" instruction.
4. Individual exploration, with guidance and structure, will be promoted and encouraged.
5. Library and media center facilities will be an integral part of exploratory learning.
6. The school will be community based with ample opportunity for education outside of the classroom and school.
7. Activities and strategies which stimulate the creativity of the middle school learner will be selected. (p. 59)

As was stated before, these courses are often developed and taught by the teaching staff. However, it should be noted that community resources (parents, grandparents, business people, etc.) are also useful in the teaching of exploratory courses.

The amount of time spent on exploratory courses may vary. They could fit into one class period per day for a two- to four-week period, one class period two days per week for six weeks, or one class period one day per week for nine weeks. The idea is to have some continuity in scheduling the classes but not to overschedule the number of sessions so that the students lose interest in them. The length of the exploratory classes may be arranged to fit into the time schedule of the core classes taught in the middle school.

Students can be assigned to exploratory courses in different ways. Students may make choices from a list of topics, or they may be randomly assigned to courses. The program could also be arranged so that some exploratory courses are electives and some are required. The advantage to allowing for selection is that all of the students in a class will have Interests in the topic. However, the advantage to randomly assigning students is that students will explore topics that are completely new to them.

It is important to have the parents involved. An introductory letter should be sent home with the listing of the exploratory classes. The letter would include the exploratory course titles with the course summaries. At the beginning of this chapter were samples of exploratory summaries that would be sent home along with the letter.

How is student evaluation carried on in exploratory classes? Since school program time is used, there must be accountability for the time that the students are involved in the classes. Because of the exploratory nature of the courses, the evaluation of the student's work in the class should be approached in a different way from that of the core courses. The focus should be on the student's attitude and performance and not on a letter grade that would be given as an indication of the student's progress. Following is an example of an exploratory evaluation report that would be given to the students at the end of the exploratory course:

COURSE:

STUDENT:

TEACHER:

HOMEROOM TEACHER:

Application: Consistently prepared for class

Used class time well

Attitude: Demonstrated interest in class

Cooperated with teacher and classmates

Demonstrated respect for subject

Performance: Learned objectives of the class

KEY: 4 = Excellent

3 = Satisfactory

2 = Inadequate

I = Unacceptable

Additional comments-

Parent Signaturee-

The exploratory report would be given to the students to share with their parents. After reviewing the report with the student, a parent would sign the report and the student would return it to school.

Exploratory courses are a small, but important, part of the middle school puzzle. By no means have we explored all of the possibilities for organizing, scheduling, and implementing exploratory courses into the middle school program. What is important is that we understand the needs of middle school children and work to incorporate educational opportunities such as exploratory courses into the middle school program.

1. Is it valuable or worthwhile for your school to schedule exploratory course instruction for middle school students? How do exploratory courses fit the Christian philosophy of the instruction for a middle school student?

2. What kinds of topics would you want to include as part of your exploratory course program? Who would teach these classes? Would there be some courses that you would require all students to take or would you allow the students to make all of the course selections? How would these courses be scheduled into your middle school program?
3. How would you communicate an exploratory course program in a positive way to both the students and the parents? What form should evaluation take?