Examples of Using Content, Language, and Technology Objectives

Language teachers may have difficulty setting content objectives, and content teachers may have difficulty setting language objectives. For this reason among others, language and content teachers should coordinate their instruction and cooperate in developing objectives. Finding lessons on the Web that have objectives outlined can also facilitate this process, as can practice developing objectives.

Examples of content and language objectives for CALL lessons follow; these examples also integrate sample content-area standards. The sample activity included in each example suggests technologies that may be used to meet the objectives. Although not specifically mentioned here, each lesson is developed with the CALL principles from chapter 1 in mind.

Content Area: Science

Objectives

Content:

Identify simple machines, understand and apply the equation force x distance = work; understand the relationship of force and distance to work; set up an experiment and observe and chart the  mechanical advantage gained from using simple machines. (Some of the objectives are taken from the teacher’s guide for Science Court: Work and Simple Machines, Version 1.0.3)

Language:

Content Obligatory: Define and use with increasing accuracy these words: work, force/effort force, mechanical advantage,  simple machine. Use  present  tense to describe events that happen regularly. Predict, summarize, listen for facts, exemplify.

Content Compatible: Participate comfortably in discussion, use appropriate turn-taking, ask questions, and disagree politely.

Standards: Next Generation Science Standards
(http://www.nextgenscience.org/)

Identify and test causal relationships and use these relationships to explain change. They understand events that occur together with regularity might or might not signify a cause and effect relationship.

Sample Activity

During this lesson, the learners participate in multimedia tasks presented in the Science Court: Work and Simple Machines software (Version 1.0.3) and accompanying external documents. The software presents cartoon video footage of a four-part trial in which scientific knowledge determines the outcomes.

Students work in cooperative groups to collect data, answer questions, make predictions, and demonstrate understanding of the concepts presented.

Content Area: Mathematics

Objectives

Content:

Choose appropriate arithmetic operations, compute answers, communicate about math, perform multi-step problems with multiple operations, estimate, and present mathematical ideas orally.

Language:

Content Obligatory: Define and  use with increasing accuracy the following vocabulary: number, step, unit,  multiply, divide, add,  subtract, quantity. Use   past tense to describe orally and in writing mathematical processes (e.g., I took 10 away from b and divided by a). Understand and follow the steps in the problem-solving process. Watch and listen for essential information, take accurate notes, and explain mathematical answers orally and in writing without using numbers.

Content Compatible: Use appropriate group processes, demonstrate accurate subject and verb agreement (e.g., She tooks, no she took,  the money to the bank), demonstrate accurate number agreement, express reasons for choices, and  construct simple sentences.

Standards: Common Core Standards
(http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/OA/)

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.OA.A.3: Solve multi-step word problems posed with whole numbers and having whole-number answers using the four operations, including problems in which remainders must be interpreted. Represent these problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies including rounding.

Sample Activity

As part of this lesson, learners complete tasks presented in the software package Fizz and Martina’s Math Adventure: Project Sphinx (2002; Version 3.3). Much like with the Science Court software, Math Adventure presents students with a set of multimedia scenarios during which they must note and use mathematical data to help their team solve the characters’ problems.

Content Areas: Geography, Social Studies, Mathematics

Objectives

Content:

Use trial and error to develop a balanced town ecology; research facts related to decisions; track, record, and report on processes and outcomes; and explain outcomes in terms of geography, culture, quantity, and so on.

Language:

Content Obligatory: Define and use with increasing accuracy the following vocabulary: town, city, goods and services, balance, development, costs, pollution, quantity, description,  data, pattern, ecology, housing, resident, labor. Express and support opinions. Indicate agreement and disagreement.

Content Compatible: Use descriptive words (e.g., big, small, extra, difficult) appropriately, use past tense to describe group processes (e.g., We agreed to add the school), and make suggestions.

Standards: Next Generation Science Standards
(https://www.nextgenscience.org/); Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (http://www.corestandards.org); National Geography Standards (https://www.nationalgeographic.org/standards/national-geography-standards/)

Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem; investigate chance processes and develop, use, and evaluate probability models; Understand how human actions modify the physical environment; understand how physical systems affect human systems; understand the changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources.

Sample Activity

SimTown is a virtually text-free simulation that allows users to build a town from the ground up, succeeding or failing based on the balance that they achieve among all the important components. In cooperative groups, learners make decisions about what to add to the town, why to add it, and where it should be placed. Group members must research successes and failures in other forums and explain the outcomes.

Content Area: Music

Objectives

Content:

Listen to and choose music appropriate to a chosen culture, explain the music chosen, use authentic personal materials from the target culture to support ideas or issues, research ideas and issues, choose key concepts related to music, and summarize and present in a multimedia project.

Language:

Content Obligatory: List vocabulary relevant to topic, use present tense to describe everyday events, take notes from authentic sources, and use comprehensible pronunciation  during presentation.

Content Compatible: Use pronouns appropriately (e.g., instruments as it or they rather than he or she), use article/noun agreement accurately (e.g., a flute, some instruments), and use and explain phrases and idioms appropriate to the target culture.

Standards: National Association for Music Education
(2014; https://nafme.org/)

Demonstrate and explain how intent is conveyed through interpretive decisions and expressive qualities

Demonstrate and explain how selected music connects to and is influenced by specific interests, experiences, purposes, or contexts.

Sample Activity

Using any of the many multimedia tools available, learners create a presentation that presents an overview of the music of a chosen culture, preferably one with which they are familiar or have had experience.