One World: The Sciences, Social Sciences,
History,
and Geography
After extensive research on the way children learn, The Studio School’s One World curriculum was conceived by Ms. Rotter, Head of School, and developed by Ms. Mabey, Head of Middle School, and the teachers. The One World curriculum is innovative in its integrative approach to the disciplines of science and social studies (i.e. the life, physical, and earth sciences, history, civics, and geography). Studying subjects in tandem, students are inspired to make insightful and original connections between disciplines through integrative concepts. The core concepts of the One World curriculum are structure, growth, systems, cycles, transformation, and interdependence, and are used to help children organize information in understanding the world. In order for children to grasp and assimilate the world around them, they need to revisit topics and concepts as their thinking matures.
Take, for example, the concept of structures, as studied in different ways over the course of a child’s years at The Studio School. In an Early Childhood class, the students might explore how their family is structured, or walk around the neighborhood and make observations about buildings that they can construct in block building. Elementary students might study layers of the earth’s structure, the human skeleton, and bridges. Middle school students might study the structure of historic societies, the United States government, and the organization of cells and living organisms. Studying the social sciences, history, and geography with life, physical, and earth science, through the core concepts, highlights the ways in which they are related.
Our teachers understand that children’s interpretations of their surroundings expand and deepen over time, and that their awareness and interest in the world grows as well. The curriculum takes into account the students’ interests along with the core concepts, so that their explorations of the world become personally meaningful. Students learn to apply their discoveries to solving problems, answering needs, and enriching their own lives and those of others. Our graduates take with them the capacity to analyze information with ease, synthesize different ideas, and make informed decisions, thereby becoming better citizens in the process.
