A new ninth-grade course, "Early Modern Encounters and Exchange (EMEE)," encourages students to explore the pre-colonial histories of either the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara or the South China Sea. Students connect a current event to course themes and present their findings on a poster at a peer symposium for their culminating project. Drawing from their experiences, participants will learn and practice strategies for matching course goals and essential questions in a culminating project, breaking down departmental silos by seeking out others' expertise, making adjustments mid-course at decision points, engaging students as partners in the process, marshaling school spaces, community practices, and physical resources, and reflecting upon the process to consider what to do in future years.
