Curriculum Materials

ATTENTION USAD PARTICIPANTS:
USAD is pleased to release some preliminary information on the curriculum for the 2006–2007 Academic Decathlon season. The full subject area outlines will be posted on USAD’s website on May 1 and will also be published in USAD’s Study Guide, which will begin shipping on May 15.

The curricular theme for 2006–2007 will be China and Its Influence on the World. Following is some general information on the topics in each of the subject areas.

  SUPER QUIZ: The Super Quiz topic will be An Introduction to Climatology. The Super Quiz curriculum will include a climate case study focused on China. The Super Quiz Resource Guide will include readings on such topics as weather and climate, historical evidence of past climate variability, factors that control climate, climates on other planets, the greenhouse effect and human impact on climate change, and the impact of climate change on human activity.

   LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE: The language and literature curriculum will include critical reading, one novel, and six poems. The featured novel will be The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.

   ART: The art curriculum topic will be the art of China, and the curriculum will include the study of eighteen selected artworks. Seventeen of the selected artworks are from the collections of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. One of the artworks is a work of architecture that is located in China.

   MUSIC: The music curriculum will focus on the music of China. The Music Resource Guide will cover such topics as traditional Chinese music, Chinese instruments and musical genres, the influence of Western music on Chinese music, and the influence of Chinese music on Western music. The curriculum will include a companion CD, featuring eighteen listening selections.

   SCIENCE: The social science curriculum will provide students with an introduction to the history of the People’s Republic of China. The Social Science Resource Guide will include discussion on such topics as the founding and first years of the People’s Republic, Mao and Maoism, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

   ECONOMICS: The economics curriculum will focus on fundamentals of economics, including general topics in macro- and microeconomics and international trade and global economic development. The economics curriculum will also include a thematic section focused on the development of a market economy in China.

   MATH: The math curriculum will cover topics in the fields of general math, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and differential calculus.


Essential Information for Coaches 2006-2007

   · The Academic Decathlon competition is comprised of ten events. There are seven multiple-choice exams—one in each of the following subject areas: Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Mathematics, Music, Social Science, and Super Quiz (Science). The Super Quiz event includes an oral relay portion in addition to the written exam. Both the Super Quiz written exam and the Super Quiz oral relay are in multiple-choice format. Students will also take an Essay exam and will be judged in a Speech event as well as an Interview event.

   · The multiple-choice exams in Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Music, and Social Science each have 50 questions. The Math exam has 35 questions. The written Super Quiz exam has 40 questions, and the Super Quiz oral relay has either 5 or 10 questions per student. (Coaches can contact their State Director to find out whether the 5- or 10-question format will be used for the Super Quiz oral relay.)

   The Art Reproductions Booklet contains reproductions of the 18 artworks that are included in this year’s art outline. However, please be aware that no text beyond the title, artist, date, etc., accompanies these reprints.

   USAD permits students to use calculators for the Math exam only. Coaches can view USAD’s calculator policy on USAD’s web site or contact USAD to receive a copy of the calculator policy.

   The subject area outlines contained in USAD’s Study Guide will indicate specifically which topics in each subject area will require independent research beyond the USAD Resource Guides.

   The Language and Literature test items will largely be derived from the selected works of literature, though some test items may also be based on information provided in the Language and Literature Resource Guide.

   The USAD competition tests will be written in accordance with the topics and percentages noted in the subject area outlines that are published in the USAD Study Guide.

   All of the Super Quiz test items—both oral and written—will be derived from the Super Quiz Resource Guide. The student’s oral Super Quiz score accounts for 40 percent of his/her overall Super Quiz score. The student’s written Super Quiz score accounts for 60 percent of his/her overall Super Quiz score.

   USAD offers Resource Guides in Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Music, Science, and Super Quiz (Social Science). Whereas the Super Quiz Resource Guide is a compendium of previously published articles, the other Resource Guides are written by individual writers under contract with USAD. The Resource Guides will assist students in their study of the topics listed in the subject area outlines.

   USAD offers Basic Guides in Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Math, and Music. Whereas the Resource Guides focus on the specific topics listed in this year’s subject area outlines, the Basic Guides offer a reference that can be used by teams year after year. The Basic Guides provide an enduring resource for fundamental subject matter information and concepts that generally do not change from year to year.

   The content of the Art Basic Guide, the Economics Basic Guide, the Math Basic Guide, the Language and Literature Basic Guide, and the Music Basic Guide is the same as it was for the 2005–06 season. Therefore, if you or your students retained your copies of these guides, you do NOT need to purchase these guides again for the 2006–07 season.

   The Math Basic Guide can be downloaded at no cost from USAD’s web site www.usad.org.

   Test writers have been instructed to construct tests such that at least 10–20% of the questions on each test require the use of higher-order thinking skills.

   Students will be given 30 minutes to complete each of the written multiple-choice exams. Students will have 50 minutes to complete the Essay exam.

   While the Art Resource Guide includes information relevant to the 18 selected artworks, this guide contains text only and does NOT include images of the artworks.

   In each of the subject areas except for Super Quiz, a percentage of the test items will require students to do some independent research beyond the USAD Resource Guides. The percentage breakdown of guide-based versus research-based test items for each subject area is indicated below.

Subject Area Percentage of Resource Guide-Based Items Per Test Percentage of Research-Based Items Per Test
Art75%25%
Economics15% 85%
Language & Literature*NA NA
Mathematics— 100%
Music 75% 25%
Social Science 75% 25%
Super Quiz (Science) 100% —
*The Language and Literature test items will largely be derived from the selected works of literature, though some test items may also be based on information provided in the Language and Literature Resource Guide. Furthermore, Language and Literature tests will include a critical reading passage with accompanying test items. The Language and Literature tests will also expect students to be able to analyze the selected works of literature as well as the critical reading passage and will expect students to be familiar with literary terms and devices.


ESSAY PRACTICE TEST

Decathletes will be asked to write essays that are based on the super quiz topic and/or the language and literature topic. Below are sample essay prompts that are illustrative of prompts students may encounter on the essay test.

Instructions to Students

Select one of the prompts for your essay. Write the number of the prompt on the top of the first page of your essay. Write a well-organized essay in which you clearly respond to the question or direction that is presented in the prompt. Be sure to follow the accepted rules of standard English sentence structure, usage, spelling, and punctuation, and to use appropriate diction and style. Maintain legible handwriting. You may use a pen if you wish, but avoid messy cross-outs. Allow yourself time to proofread your essay. For the essay topic you choose, state your individual thesis or position clearly. Use specific information and examples from your studies to support your position. Provide a final paragraph to conclude or close your essay.

Sample Essay Prompts
  1. “There is broad agreement within the scientific community that amplification of the Earth’s natural greenhouse effect by the buildup of various gases introduced by human activity has the potential to produce dramatic changes in climate. Only by taking action now can we ensure that future generations will not be put at risk.”

    —Statement by 49 Nobel Prize winners and 700 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 1990

    Discuss the possible actions that could be taken to mitigate the harm of such a dramatic climate shift. What climatic drivers can and should be controlled by legislation?

  2. Throughout The Good Earth, parallels and contrasts are drawn between the life of a struggling farmer and his family and the life in the rich House of Hwang. In a well-organized essay, select some of the parallels and contrasts between the two families, and discuss how these parallels and contrasts contribute to the structure and themes of the novel.


  3. “The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter” and Kubla Khan were both derived from earlier sources with their roots in China. In a well-organized essay, analyze how each poet uses the earlier source to compose a poem representative of the literature of his own time. You may wish to discuss theme, form, imagery and use of language.