Pilot study on curriculum inception Student’s Name Institution Date Introduction Curriculum development is very important in a dynamic and ever changing social and economic environment (Zilian, 2013).. Every school should ensure that its curriculum helps the students meet the emerging needs in the society. The paper will describe some of the factors to consider in a pilot study designed to introduce a better curriculum in Chesapeake. Some of the factors that will be considered include the geographical location, the demographic features, the cultural influence, and existing state policies. The analysis will be based on the fact that integration of classroom requirements along with community needs can dovetail into student activities to promote and strengthen student interest in our actual geographical place . Geographic factors Chesapeake is located in Virginia. This is a place where anglers, boaters, canoeists, and wildlife observers can find plenty of recreational opportunities. There are several tributaries in the region. Such tributaries are source of water supplies and fishing lakes. The Intracoastal Waterway flow through Chesapeake. There are also a canoe trail, and observation tower. The region is also adjacent to the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, which is made up of 107,000b acres of forested wetlands. There are 200 species of birds and around 58 species of turtles, lizards, salamanders and frogs. Understanding the geography of the place is crucial as far as the analysis of curriculum effectiveness is concerned because it will give an insights as to whether the curriculum prepares the students on environment and ecology and related hazards such as hurricanes and ice. One of the teachers once quoted that “Environmental Science is useless unless students know how they are connected to the natural environment and why it’s worth protecting. Kids are used to hearing words—it’s experiences that really influence them to change.” The pilot study will try to see if the curriculum connects students to the natural environment or not. Demographic factors Chesapeake is home to a population of roughly 214,725 residents, encompassing a racial demographic identical to that of the River Walk Community. The Chesapeake public schools are an excellent school district, with a dropout rate of 1.93 percent. This is far much lower than the national average. The district comprises of 27 primary or elementary schools (Eladrel Technologies, LLC 2011), 11 middle schools and eight high schools. This means that the total number of schools in Chesapeake is 46. The district is predisposed to hazards such as hurricane, snow, ice and extreme heat. The number of full-time teaches is 2130 and the total number of students is 39,883. This implies that the average student/teacher ratio is 18.72. The schools are culturally diversed. It is made up of 151 American Indians/Alaska Nativee, 1295 Asian, 1401 Hispanic, 14, 026 Blacks, 21, 846 whites (El.

1. Pilot study on curriculum inception
Student’s Name
Institution
Date
Introduction
Curriculum development is very important in a dynamic and
ever changing social and economic environment (Zilian, 2013)..
Every school should ensure that its curriculum helps the
students meet the emerging needs in the society. The paper will
describe some of the factors to consider in a pilot study
designed to introduce a better curriculum in Chesapeake. Some
of the factors that will be considered include the geographical
location, the demographic features, the cultural influence, and
existing state policies. The analysis will be based on the fact
that integration of classroom requirements along with
community needs can dovetail into student activities to promote
and strengthen student interest in our actual geographical place
.
Geographic factors
Chesapeake is located in Virginia. This is a place where
anglers, boaters, canoeists, and wildlife observers can find
plenty of recreational opportunities. There are several
tributaries in the region. Such tributaries are source of water
supplies and fishing lakes. The Intracoastal Waterway flow
through Chesapeake. There are also a canoe trail, and
observation tower. The region is also adjacent to the Great

2. Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, which is made up of
107,000b acres of forested wetlands. There are 200 species of
birds and around 58 species of turtles, lizards, salamanders and
frogs.
Understanding the geography of the place is crucial as far as the
analysis of curriculum effectiveness is concerned because it will
give an insights as to whether the curriculum prepares the
students on environment and ecology and related hazards such
as hurricanes and ice. One of the teachers once quoted that
“Environmental Science is useless unless students know how
they are connected to the natural environment and why it’s
worth protecting. Kids are used to hearing words—it’s
experiences that really influence them to change.” The pilot
study will try to see if the curriculum connects students to the
natural environment or not.
Demographic factors
Chesapeake is home to a population of roughly 214,725
residents, encompassing a racial demographic identical to that
of the River Walk Community. The Chesapeake public schools
are an excellent school district, with a dropout rate of 1.93
percent. This is far much lower than the national average. The
district comprises of 27 primary or elementary schools (Eladrel
Technologies, LLC 2011), 11 middle schools and eight high
schools. This means that the total number of schools in
Chesapeake is 46. The district is predisposed to hazards such as
hurricane, snow, ice and extreme heat. The number of full-time
teaches is 2130 and the total number of students is 39,883. This
implies that the average student/teacher ratio is 18.72. The
schools are culturally diversed. It is made up of 151 American
Indians/Alaska Nativee, 1295 Asian, 1401 Hispanic, 14, 026
Blacks, 21, 846 whites (Eladrel Technologies, LLC 2011). As
far as high schools are concerned, the region has 8 high schools.
These schools are made up of 13,217 students and 736 full time

3. teachers (Eladrel Technologies, LLC 2011). This means that
student to teacher ratio is 18.0. The region is also made up of
11 middle schools. These schools comprise of 9, 826 students
and 564.8 teachers (Eladrel Technologies, LLC 2011). This
means that the student to teacher ratio is 17.4. The region is
also made up of 27 elementary or primary schools. These
schools comprise of 16840 students and 829.8 teachers. This
means that student to teacher ratio is 20.3 (Eladrel
Technologies, LLC 2011).
Understanding the demographics will be valuable as far as the
pilot study is concerned because it will shape the way the
curriculum should be designed. The statistics shows that the
Chesapeake district schools is culturally and racially diverse
and this implies that the curriculum should be inclusive of all
cultures without any bias or prejudice. It should be noted that
the mission of Chesapeake Public School system is to ensure
that students get the knowledge, skills and aptitudes that will
enable them become productive citizens. The big question that
must be answered comprehensively is: does the existing
curriculum accommodates the needs of such culturally diverse
student’s
Cultural influences
The pilot study should also consider how cultural diversity can
influence the performance of students in schools. Culture is a
word used to denote the way of life for groups who share the
same race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, spirituality,
socioeconomic status and other elements that influence attitudes
and behavior (Coakley & Gruber, 2015).
Culture has a lot of influence on curriculum. The statistics
above reveals that Chesapeake school districts are made up of
students from diverse cultural backgrounds. The students also
come from different races. The ability of curriculum to

4. accommodate such students is one of the things that shall be
considered during the inception of the curriculum. The pilot
study will therefore try to find out whether the curriculum is
inclusive of all races, ethnicities and cultures or not.
Existing policies and programs
The pilot study will also review and analyze the existing
policies and programs and determine whether they are positively
linked to the curriculum development or not. It should be noted
that Chesapeake has a number of programs and policies. One of
these programs is called Chesapeake Bay Foundation program.
The program encompasses teacher professional development
initiatives, student field experiences, principals’ leadership
retreats, and classroom curricula are all designed to support
state standards. It is part of the school curriculum because
students and teachers are key participants. Through such
programs, students get an opportunity to investigate
environmental issues and trends, often within the context of
urban ecology.
Arthur Sherwood program, on the other hand, allows students to
gain a more complete understanding and appreciation of the
ecosystem. By comparing these different habitats, students can
draw connections and eventually gain a much greater
appreciative of the Chesapeake ecosystem, including the human
impact on the health of the Bay. There are also policies such as
Urban Ecology and Environmental Policy—Baltimore Harbor,
Maryland. This policy is designed for high school AP classes
and college/university courses. There are also Student
Leadership Courses designed to prepare students for better
understanding of their environment. Such courses comprise of
activities such as camping, canoeing, water-quality assessment,
fishing, crabbing, island exploration, and meeting with local
field experts.
Describe the specific discipline and grade level(s) for which the
pilot curriculum will be developed.

5. Based on the factors explored above, the pilot curriculum
should be developed on discipline such as environmental
studies, geography and ecology. The pilot curriculum should
involve high school and university student
3. Provide a rationale that proposes three (3) benefits to the
students of the pilot curriculum.
The first benefit of students participation in the pilot curriculum
is that they will over first hand information and experience on
how the curriculum is helping them.
The second rationale is that involving student will help in
determining whether curriculum is impacting on their lives and
whether the curriculum is preparing them to meet the
environmental needs
The third rationale is that the students are the key stakeholders
as far as curriculum is concerned and hence involving them will
give more comprehensive and objective findings.
4. Provide at least four (4) core instructional goals of the
curriculum, providing a rationale for the goals.
The first instructional goal is to promote sensitivity to diverse
ethnicities/cultures through exposure to other cultural
perspectives (Jeonghyun, 2015). This is because the students
from the district are culturally diverse
The second instructional goal of the curriculum is to ensure that
students get the knowledge, skills and aptitudes that will enable
them become productive citizens. This is because effective
curriculum should prepare students to become useful members
of society.
The third goal is to offer students skills to meet the ecological

6. needs. This is because the district schools are located in an area
prone to hurricane and snow and ice.
The fourth goal is to prepare students to be good leaders.
References
Top of Form
Eladrel Technologies, LLC (2011). CHESAPEAKE Public
Schools. Retrieved from: http://publicschoolsk12.com/all-
schools/va/chesapeake-city/
Coakley, T. M., & Gruber, K. (2015). Cultural Receptivity
among Foster Parents: Implications for Quality Transcultural
Parenting. Social Work Research, 39(1), 11.
doi:10.1093/swr/svu033
Jeonghyun, K. (2015). Competency-based Curriculum: An
Effective Approach to Digital Curation Education. Journal Of
Education For Library & Information Science, 56(4), 283.
Zilian, F. (2013). The Academic Curriculum Review.
Independent School, 73(1), 94.
Bottom of Form