A History of Poop
In this 5 week class, students will take part in different interactive activities to explore the fascinating (and yucky) history of poo.
Dr Anne Holdorph
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What's included
5 pre-recorded lessons
5 weeks
of teacher support1 year access
to the contentHomework
1-2 hours per week. Lesson content will be delivered via an interactive presentation that can be taken at any point during the week. Each week, there will be a creative project to undertake which could take between 10 minutes and an hour, depending on how involved your learner gets in the project. There will also be an optional research question each week which will involve searching online for an answer to an open ended question.Class Experience
US Grade Kindergarten - 3
Poo is fascinating! We can learn so much from studying poo from the past, as well as looking at toilets and sewers. During this course, students will begin to explore the fascinating history of poop, as well as to develop their skills as historians. Classes will follow a similar format each week. An class will be provided through Nearpod, just click the link posted in the class each week. There will be different activities to interact with in each class, including virtual tours, videos, polls and interactive images. All slides will feature audio description so that non-readers and less confident readers can participate too. At the end of each class, learners will be given a 'creative project' to complete in their own time. Students will upload their finished project using Outschool's recording feature or on the classroom discussion board. Students will look at other learners' projects and interact with the videos and chats. I will provide guidance as to how to respond to each project. Each week, there will also be an optional research scavenger hunt. Here, students will be given the opportunity to develop their skills as historians, by researching the answer to a number of questions. Students will be directed to appropriate sources to help them with their research. No prior knowledge is needed for this course.
Learning Goals
By the end of this course, students will:
Understand the link between poop and illness,
Know the development of the toilet in history,
Provide opinions about the past.
Syllabus
5 Lessons
over 5 WeeksLesson 1:
Dinosaur Poop!
Students will get to explore the world of dinosaur poop, learn about people who study dinosaur poop and think about what dinosaur poop can teach us. They will have the opportunity to study different photographs of dinosaur poop and they will become 'paleoscatologists' and interact with a image of dinosaur poop to find evidence. Lesson 2:
Sewers and Sponges
This week, we will look at the history of toilets in the Ancient times. Students will take a virtual tour of ancient public toilets and think about what was good and what was bad about the public toilets. Students will learn about the Roman God of sewers, and give their opinions about why sewers are important. We will also look at toilet hygiene, what the Romans used as toilet paper and why Romans might have been bitten on their bottom while pooping! Lesson 3:
Medieval and Renaissance Poo
This week, students will learn all about how people in the medieval and renaissance periods pooped. Students will learn about what toilets were like in castles and take a virtual tour of part of a castle in England. We'll get the chance to explore what happened to the poop after it left the castle and we will practice making predictions by answering open ended questions. Lesson 4:
How a Dirty Diaper Changed the World
This week, students will learn about disease, poop and toilets in the Victorian period. They will learn about toilets for the lower classes in Victorian London and learn how communal toilets and cesspits contributed to the ill health of Victorian cities. Students will be introduced to the pioneering work of John Snow, who discovered the link between clean water and health. Other Details
Parental Guidance
This class is about poo - we will be sharing images of poo (usually fossilised poo) and toilets. Please ensure that you and your learner will be comfortable with this information before signing up.
Younger learners may need parental assistance to help guide them during the activities.
Supply List
For the lessons and the research questions, students will need only a computer with an internet connection. There are a number of creative projects within this class. Students can choose how to present their work - this could be through drawing, making a model, creating a video, etc. Please be aware that the equipment needed for this project will depend on what your learner decides to do for the project, as such, I am unable to provide a resource list for this class.
External Resources
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
Joined December, 2020
5.0
426reviews
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Teacher expertise and credentials
Non-US Teaching Certificate in Elementary Education
Doctoral Degree in History from University of Southampton
I am a qualified teacher in the UK and I have a PhD in history. I have taught history to learners from 3 yrs old to the postgraduate level.Reviews
Self-Paced Course
$10
weekly or $50 for all content5 pre-recorded lessons
5 weeks of teacher support
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1 year of access to the content
Completed by 39 learners
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Ages: 5-10
