Online Class: Unit Studies 101

This is a two-part class, the purpose of which is to provide you with the tools necessary to develop your own unit studies course for either homeschool or classroom purposes.

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  • 11
    Lessons
  • 22
    Exams &
    Assignments
  • 666
    Students
    have taken this course
  • 4
    Hours
    average time
  • 0.4
    CEUs
 
 

Course Description

Mastering the Art of Unit Studies: An Engaging Two-Part Journey

Are you passionate about crafting enriching learning experiences for your students? Whether you're a homeschooling parent or an innovative educator, the technique of creating unit studies is a powerful tool to engage young minds deeply and meaningfully. Our two-part course provides an extensive guide on how to master this dynamic teaching approach, with an exciting deep dive into baseball as a captivating subject.

Understanding the Unit Study Approach:

Unit studies, at their core, are cross-curricular explorations of singular topics, connecting multiple subjects around one central theme. This holistic approach ensures learning is contextual, relevant, and deeply engaging. For instance, a topic like "Rainforests" could encompass biology, geography, conservation ethics, indigenous cultures, and even art.

Part 1: Crafting Comprehensive Unit Studies

This segment delves into the nuts and bolts of creating a unit study:

  • Lesson 1: Grasp the foundational techniques to formulate impactful unit studies, ensuring that each lesson is engaging and effective.
  • Lesson 2: Understand the nuances of tailoring unit studies to cater to individual learner's interests and academic needs. For instance, if a student is fascinated by ancient Egypt, how can we turn this passion into an expansive learning experience?
  • Lesson 3: Delve into aligning your central topic with various academic disciplines, ensuring a comprehensive educational experience.
  • Lesson 4: With the vast expanse of resources available, both online and offline, this lesson guides you in curating and compiling the most effective materials for your chosen topic.

Part 2: A Home Run with Baseball:

Using the foundational knowledge from Part 1, we dive into the world of baseball as our chosen topic. But why baseball? This sport, beyond its obvious athletic components, has been deeply intertwined with American history, society, and culture.

  • Lesson 5: Understand the broader connections of baseball, from its roots to its significance in modern culture.
  • Lesson 6: Explore the artistry within baseball, from stadium designs to iconic sports photography and memorabilia.
  • Lesson 7: Dive into the science behind baseball - the physics of a curveball or the biology of a player's reflexes.
  • Lesson 8: Appreciate the music inspired by the sport, from classic anthems to contemporary hits that capture the essence of the game.
  • Lesson 9: Decode the mathematics behind baseball stats, understanding averages, projections, and more.
  • Lesson 10: Engage with baseball in literature, exploring memoirs of legendary players or fiction inspired by poignant moments on the field.

Concluding our course, Lesson 11 is all about cementing knowledge through real-world experiences. Field trips provide hands-on learning opportunities, making abstract concepts tangible. Whether it's a visit to a historic baseball stadium or a meeting with a local player, the world becomes a vibrant classroom.

Why Choose This Course?

Educational trends, as per recent statistics, show a rising preference for holistic, interest-driven learning approaches. Unit studies perfectly fit this mold, making learning memorable and impactful. By the end of our course, not only will you be equipped to craft your own unit studies on diverse topics, but you'll also have a meticulously detailed blueprint on baseball as an interdisciplinary subject.

Enroll now and transform your teaching approach, making every lesson a grand slam!

Course Motivation

What is a unit study?

A unit study is a way to give students a big-picture view of a single topic, like baseball, and show how this single topic involves elements of all the different subjects they are learning in school (or homeschool). Baseball, for example, can be used as a point of entry to teach science (the physics of the sport), math (baseball statistics), history (history of the game and how the evolution of the sport reflects changes in American society), art (sports photography and baseball art), Language Arts (baseball songs and poems), and a range of other subjects.

Why should I consider doing a unit study?

First of all, unit studies are fun. This is a different approach to teaching, so it helps students and teachers break out of some of their habits and try something fresh. Also, since you are designing the curriculum, you can choose a topic of interest to the student. You don't have to study 18th-century vegetables if this is not appealing to the child. You can turn just about any topic into a unit study--even pop culture icons and famous singers--whatever the student likes, as long as you find a way to use it as a way to teach the major school subjects. Keeping the topic student-centered makes the subject matter more interesting and instantly more applicable to real-life.

Unit studies help students see the big picture. One of the biggest hurdles adults have to overcome as they move through their careers is being able to see how different pieces all fit together as a whole. In a big corporation, for example, a manager from sales would be very aware of the factors that impact sales growth, but he might not understand how external economics impact production costs. From the first days of school, children are taught to break things down and look at one piece at a time, but the world is not made up of single pieces--it is made up of complex systems. A unit studies approach to learning can help students see the connections between seemingly unrelated things, a skill that will help them no matter what occupation they decide to pursue.

Unit studies also help students stay engaged. Gifted or creative students are often bored with traditional curricula. The boredom can cause them to disengage from their studies, or to see school as a chore rather than pursuing their studies with a true love of learning. Keeping gifted and creative students involved sometimes requires a little more imagination.

3)     What are the advantages of doing a unit study?

Both teacher and student will learn from the experience. If you research and develop your own unit study course, you will learn things about the given topic that you never knew, even if you thought you knew the topic well, because you will be examining it from a different perspective.

You and the student will both be thinking from a systems perspective rather than an assembly-line, single-task perspective, which should liven up the school experience for both of you.

Customizability

Unit studies also offer the opportunity to cater to the student's individual learning style. Although there is significant debate about the importance of learning styles (which we will discuss further in the next section), many people believe that adapting lesson plans to individual styles of learning can make the learning process a lot more efficient and enjoyable for students. Unit studies give you ample opportunities to customize lessons to your student's individual style.

Since you select the topic, you have total control over what you and the student will be researching and learning about. As opposed to packaged curricula, which try to guess at broad-spectrum interests that are generally appealing to children in a certain age group, you can customize the topic to exactly what interests the child. If your student has a fascination with motorcycles, you can capitalize on that interest and create a unit study around that topic. You can also customize it exactly to their level, so if they are strong in math, you can push the math portion of the study further. If they need extra work in spelling, you can place more emphasis on that segment. You have the power to determine exactly what the student will study, based on his needs and interests.

Meet state requirements

Unit studies can cover all the state-required standards without having to adhere to stale formulas.

Break up the routine

Not only do you get to mix up your educational formulas, you also get to do a field trip as a capstone project.

4)     What is the commitment involved?

Developing a unit studies course will take more time than buying an off-the-shelf curriculum and using it without adaptation. It may or may not save you money--depending on how many extras you decide to add on. For example, for the field trip to cap off a baseball unit study, you could take your children to a neighborhood Youth Baseball game free of charge, or you could take them to a major league baseball game in a neighboring city, where you may opt to spend the night in a hotel. Clearly, option two will be more expensive than buying an off-the-shelf curriculum, but that choice is totally up to you.

How much time the course takes to develop will depend on a few factors: your level of familiarity with conducting research, your comfort level with designing curricula, your creativity, how detailed you allow the project to become, and the age/grade level of the student. As students advance, their curricula will need much more detail; however, they will also be mature enough to take on a lot of the legwork themselves so that you can simply ask the questions, and they can research the answers. In general, assuming you are working on other things at the same time, a unit study might take anywhere from a week to two weeks or more to develop. Once you become proficient with it and understand how to do it, you will streamline the process and it will become much faster.

Length of the unit study

How long your unit study takes depends on the depth of the chosen topic and the attention span and interest level of the student. A topic as broad as Medieval England could take an entire school year to complete, because there are so many facets to this one topic. Something more focused, like sea turtles, would only take a few weeks. Also, an older child with a longer attention span and a deep interest in the subject could pursue it much further than a young child whose interests change often and who become bored easily.

  • Completely Online
  • Self-Paced
  • Printable Lessons
  • Full HD Video  
  • 6 Months to Complete
  • 24/7 Availability
  • Start Anytime
  • PC & Mac Compatible
  • Android & iOS Friendly
  • Accredited CEUs
Universal Class is an IACET Accredited Provider
 

Course Lessons

Average Lesson Rating:
4.5 / 5 Stars (Average Rating)
"Extraordinarily Helpful"
(508 votes)

Lesson 1: How to Develop Your Own Unit Study

At the conclusion of this lesson, the learner will be able to identify the purpose of a unit study. 41 Total Points
  • Lesson 1 Video
  • Lesson discussions: Reasons for Taking this Course
  • Complete Assignment: An Introduction
  • Complete: Lesson 1 Assignment
  • Assessment: Lesson 1 Exam

Lesson 2: How to Choose a Unit Study for Your Child

At the conclusion of this lesson, the learner will be able to pick a topic for a unit study and find resources to support the unit study. 40 Total Points
  • Lesson 2 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 2 Assignment
  • Assessment: Lesson 2 Exam

Lesson 3: Subject Areas

At the conclusion of this lesson, the learner will be able to relate the unit study to the subject areas, including Social Studies, Art, Science, and Music. 40 Total Points
  • Lesson 3 Video
  • Lesson discussions: Subject Areas
  • Complete: Lesson 3 Assignment
  • Assessment: Lesson 3 Exam

Lesson 4: Compiling Resources

At the conclusion of this lesson, the learner will be able to pull together all of the resources to make a successful unit. 40 Total Points
  • Lesson 4 Video
  • Lesson discussions: Resources
  • Complete: Lesson 4 Assignment
  • Assessment: Lesson 4 Exam

Lesson 5: Sample Unit Studies Course--Baseball

At the conclusion of this lesson, the learner will be able to make baseball into a vehicle for Social Studies lessons. 40 Total Points
  • Lesson 5 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 5 Assignment
  • Assessment: Lesson 5 Exam

Lesson 6 Unit Study: Relating Baseball to Art

At the conclusion of this lesson, the learner will be able to relate baseball to art. 40 Total Points
  • Lesson 6 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 6 Assignment
  • Assessment: Lesson 6 Exam

Lesson 7: Unit Study: Relating Baseball to Science

At the conclusion of this lesson, the learner will be able to relate baseball to science. 40 Total Points
  • Lesson 7 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 7 Assignment
  • Assessment: Lesson 7 Exam

Lesson 8 Unit Study: Relating Baseball to Music

At the conclusion of this lesson, the learner will be able to relate baseball to music. 40 Total Points
  • Lesson 8 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 8 Assignment
  • Assessment: Lesson 8 Exam

Lesson 9 Unit Study: Relating Baseball to Math

At the conclusion of this lesson, the learner will be able to relate baseball to math. 40 Total Points
  • Lesson 9 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 9 Assignment
  • Assessment: Lesson 9 Exam

Lesson 10: Relating Baseball to Language Arts

At the conclusion of this lesson, the learner will be able to relate baseball to Language Arts 40 Total Points
  • Lesson 10 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 10 Assignment
  • Assessment: Lesson 10 Exam

Lesson 11: The Field Trip

At the conclusion of this lesson, the learner will be able to get maximum educational advantage out of a capstone unit studies activity--The Field Trip. 15 Total Points
  • Lesson 11 Video
  • Lesson discussions: Your Field Trip; Program Evaluation Follow-up Survey (End of Course); Course Comments
  • Assessment: Lesson 11 Exam
416
Total Course Points
 

Learning Outcomes

By successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
  • Summarize how to develop your own unit study.
  • Describe how to choose a unit study for your child.
  • Describe subject areas.
  • Describe compiling resources.
  • Describe sample unit studies course--baseball.
  • Describe relating baseball to art.
  • Describe relating baseball to science.
  • Describe relating baseball to music.
  • Describe relating baseball to math.
  • Describe relating baseball to language arts.
  • Describe the field trip.
  • Demonstrate mastery of lesson content at levels of 70% or higher.
 

Additional Course Information

Online CEU Certificate
  • Document Your Lifelong Learning Achievements
  • Earn an Official Certificate Documenting Course Hours and CEUs
  • Verify Your Certificate with a Unique Serial Number Online
  • View and Share Your Certificate Online or Download/Print as PDF
  • Display Your Certificate on Your Resume and Promote Your Achievements Using Social Media
Document Your CEUs on Your Resume
 
Course Title: Unit Studies 101
Course Number: 7550419
Lessons Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars (508 votes)
Languages: English - United States, Canada and other English speaking countries
Availability: This course is online and available in all 50 states including: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas.
Last Updated: June 2023
Course Type: Self-Paced, Online Class
CEU Value: 0.4 IACET CEUs (Continuing Education Units)
CE Accreditation: Universal Class, Inc. has been accredited as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).
Grading Policy: Earn a final grade of 70% or higher to receive an online/downloadable CEU Certification documenting CEUs earned.
Assessment Method: Lesson assignments and review exams
Syllabus: View Syllabus
Course Fee: $120.00 U.S. dollars

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Student Testimonials

  • "Useful feedback, good instructor.. Useful lessons, and I am surprised that it seems as though no one else has taken the course---they should!" -- Timothy M.

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