Examining Curriculum Alternatives: Type III Opportunities for Students

The most challenging part of compacting is deciding what students should do with time that they have earned. In this module, we recommend the use of Type III enrichment for time saved through curriculum compacting. To begin, we should review the concept of Type III enrichment. Type III products are self-selected investigations in which students have an interest and they can occur in one of several formats: visual, written, oral, artistic, technological.

Several examples of Type III products completed by elementary and middle school students are below:

Type III Products

Literary

Literary Magazine
School Newspaper
Collections of local folklore
Puppet show, plays
Series of books
Greeting cards with original poetry
Comic book series
Calendar book
Children’s page in a city newspaper

Historical

Historical monologue
Historical walking tour of a city
Slide/tape presentation of historical research
Historical board game
Investigation of local elections
Film on historical topic
Archeological dig
Anthropological study
Oral history

Scientific

Science Journal
Daily meteorologist posting weather conditions
Organize a natural museum
Establishment of a nature walk
Acid rain study
Prolonged experimentation involving manipulation of variables
Science article submitted to a national magazine
Science column in newspaper

Mathematical

Editing of computer magazine for school
Contributor of math puzzles, games, quizzes for children’s sections of newspapers
Math consultant for a school
Math tutoring service
Graphics for films or videos
Programming for computers

Media

Children’s radio show
Children’s television show
Children’s reviews of books, movies on local news shows
Photo exhibit
Pictorial tour
Photo essay
Slide/tape show

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