The Japanese Garden

Instructional/Environmental Modification

The procedures used to accommodate the range of abilities in the classroom including students with disabilities, limited English proficiency, or bilingual students:

If the students do not have access to outside-land, the Japanese Garden may be reconstructed in the classroom. A small area in the room can be set aside for the layout of the garden. Students simply scale down the model. For example, if the outside garden layout is 8x8, the students can scale it down where it would measure 2x2.

The use of cooperative learning groups and technology can foster an active learning environment which we have found accommodated a range of student abilities.

In this unit, we have our students working in a computer laboratory but a regular classroom could be adjusted to include a "cluster" of 2 to 3 computer stations where students could access cd roms or the internet. In schools without access to multiple computers, the concept of rotating learning stations can still be used substituting books, and other documents grouped around a topic for all stations.