Planning the inquiry 1. What is our purpose? To inquire into the following: Age group: 9-12 School: Oak Forest Elementary School code: 006610 transdisciplinary theme How the world works Teacher(s): Jones, Parks, Rice, Legate, Rawlings, Staffa, Stephenson descriptors: Date: January 21 – March 8, 2013 an inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment. Class/Grade: 5th Proposed duration: 40 hours PYP planner over number of weeks: 6 central idea Humans impact the natural and manmade world through their actions. Summative assessment task(s): TASK 2. What do we want to learn? Students will participate in the Pennies for the Planet program by adopting a conservation project to help save wild endangered animals and habitats. They will research their adopted animals and habitats and create a fundraiser campaign for their conservation project, along with a marketing campaign to raise public awareness. The purpose of the fundraiser and marketing campaign is to reveal the negative and positive impacts humans make on the natural and manmade world through their actions. What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry? EVIDENCE Students will provide evidence of their understanding through the design and information provided in their marketing campaign. They will choose an endangered animal and/or habitat to research in depth. Upon completion of their research, they will design a marketing campaign to raise public awareness of the plight of their animal and/or habitat, which will include pertinent information found in their research. The students will then present their marketing campaign as they conduct their fundraiser. At the end of the fundraiser, the students will submit their marketing campaign along with the funds they raised for their conservation project. Assessment Tools: Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the negative and positive impacts humans make on the natural and manmade world through their actions according to observed presentations and interactions during the Pennies for the Planet campaign, class discussions, and marketing campaign product. Students’ written presentations and marketing campaign will be assessed by rubric. Key Concepts: Connection, Perspective, Reflection Related concepts: Conservation, Character, Ecosystem What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea? One’s actions and decisions can affect the planet. U.S. leaders during the early part of the 20th century, showed great courage to see the nation through challenging events at home and abroad. How do ecosystems change over time? Populations within an ecosystem are in competition with one another for resources. What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries? Science Provocation: Illuminating Photosynthesis activity on the Smartboard. Students will be able to manipulate the process of photosynthesis and probing questions about what happens in this process will be asked. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/photosynthesis.html Social Studies Provocation: Watch video at http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/spanishamericanwar/ Updated to include social studies unit from 1900-1930 and Science unit – ready to instruct January 21 – March 8, 2013 Initially taught and reflected between January 23 – March 9, 2012 Planning the inquiry 3. How might we know what we have learned? What are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills? What evidence will we look for? ● A Carousel Brainstorm would be an effective strategy to use in assessing students’ prior knowledge of the social studies and science portions of this unit. Chart paper containing several statements or issues for student consideration would be posted at strategic locations around the classroom. Groups of students brainstorm and respond at one station and then rotate to the next position where they add additional comments. As new thoughts and ideas emerge, the list grows. When the carousel “stops” the original team prepares a summary and then presents the large group’s findings. Knowledge of key vocabulary terms will be important in determining prior knowledge. What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for? ● Provide students with a writing prompt that is based upon a line of inquiry. Evidence of understanding will be shown through students’ written response. Their response should reflect the central idea and incorporate at least two of the key concepts. Students’ written response to prompts can be assessed by rubric. Engagement: ● Evidence of student understanding will occur from written jottings, class discussions and teacher’s anecdotal notes. Explore and Explain: ● Students’ knowledge through initial exploration will occur through hands on experiences. Understanding can be assessed through journal entries, clicker quizzes, and presentations. Extend: ● Student created models and charts will be assessed by rubric in a variety of ways; self, peer and teacher. ● The impact of the field trip to Wolf River Conservancy may be assessed by follow up student reflection. Key subjects and vocabulary should be included in reflection. Leading and facilitating student inquiry: ● Written Document Analysis Worksheet and written report will be assessed by rubric. ● Students will be assessed on their presentation of the environmental heroes based upon class participation and successfully building a Web page about their environmental hero. Updated to include social studies unit from 1900-1930 and Science unit – ready to instruct January 21 – March 8, 2013 Initially taught and reflected between January 23 – March 9, 2012 © International Baccalaureate Organization 2007 4. How best might we learn? What are the learning experiences suggested by the teacher and/or students to encourage the students to engage with the inquiries and address the driving questions? Engagement: (from Box 2) Explore and Explain: Extend: Students will write an IB journal entry 2 or 3 times a week on a prompt provided by the teacher. Whole class discussion to unpack key words in the central idea. Students will demonstrate the relationships among ecological components by organizing them into energy pyramids. Using a sequence chart, illustrate a food chain within a chosen ecosystem. Create a timeline of major events that occurred in the US between 1900 – 1930 Using a sequence chart, illustrate the events leading up to the Spanish American War Using a sequence chart, illustrate the events leading up to World War I ● Students will construct a food web and explain how energy flows through the chain that includes the sun, green plants, herbivores, omnivores, and carnivore ● Investigate the Spanish American War at the following website – answer questions ● Field trip to the local Wolf River Greenway to learn about the conservation of a local habitat. ● Students examine the Events that Drew the United States into the Great War documents in small groups and answer the question: Do you think the acts of the Central Powers should have drawn the United States out of its neutrality? Why or why not? Small groups will present their responses. Leading and Facilitating Student Inquiry: Conduct investigations to learn more about the role of the sun in photosynthesis with two plants – one is exposed to sunlight and the other is not. Research and write a newspaper article on protecting an ecosystem. The article should identify an example of an entire food chain within the system including producers, herbivores, carnivores, and decomposers. At least one graphic source (picture, graph, or illustration) should be included. Students will identify environmental heroes in their local community and around the world. Through research, students will describe the qualities and activities that make these individuals environmentalists. Using the Guestbook and Create Program on the MY HERO Web site to build a Web page about their heroes, students will share stories about environmentalists with other students around the globe to promote an awareness of how humans can take positive actions to improve our world. World War I is considered by many historians as the first man-made disaster of the 20th century due to the immense loss of life (almost 10 million people) and the use of trench warfare and chemical weapons. Digging trenches caused trampling of grassland, crushing of plants and animals, and churning of soil. Erosion resulted from forest logging to expand the network of trenches. And battlefields were polluted by poisonous gases, and most of the gas evaporated into the atmosphere. Are there any wars in the world today that would be considered “a man-made catastrophe” due to loss of life and environmental impacts? Research and write an informative essay. Evaluate primary source documents related to the Spanish American War, World War I, or the Roaring 20s according to the Written Document Analysis Worksheet. After completion of the worksheet, students will respond in writing to a prompt provided by their teacher. What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the development of the attributes of the learner profile? Transdisciplinary Skills: Thinking: Through examination and critical thinking, students increase their knowledge base of natural and man-made systems. Social: Students will interact both in the classroom during discussions and group work to explore various topics related to man’s impacts on the natural and man-made environment. Learner Profile: Knowledgeable: Through research and open discussion, students will explore how man impacts the natural and man-made world. Caring: Students will examine human impacts from an empathetic and objective perspective. Updated to include social studies unit from 1900-1930 and Science unit – ready to instruct January 21 – March 8, 2013 Initially taught and reflected between January 23 – March 9, 2012 5. What resources need to be gathered? What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available? Register for Pennies for Planet http://www.togethergreen.org/p4p/ Arrange for guest speaker or field trip at Wolf River Conservancy http://www.wolfriver.org/ Spanish American War video http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/spanishamericanwar/ How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry? The center for analysis of man’s impact on the natural and man-made world will be the classroom. However, a field trip to the Wolf River Conservancy to learn about a local river ecosystem, will require the 5th grade classes to go to the Wolf River in Germantown, Tennessee. Updated to include social studies unit from 1900-1930 and Science unit – ready to instruct January 21 – March 8, 2013 Initially taught and reflected between January 23 – March 9, 2012 Reflecting on the inquiry 6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose? 7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP? Assess the outcome of the inquiry by providing evidence of students’ understanding of the central idea. The reflections of all teachers involved in the planning and teaching of the inquiry should be included. What were the learning experiences that enabled students to: *Exposure to videos, media, and guest speakers that spoke on ecology of the local area and conservation issues that expanded beyond our local community. *Pennies for the Planet raised awareness of how we can impact change in our world. develop an understanding of the concepts identified in “What do we want to learn?” demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills? develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes? In each case, explain your selection. *Fishbone organizers were utilized to convey their understanding of their intentional and unintentional impact on the natural world. How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have a more accurate picture of each student’s understanding of the central idea. *More field experiences * Better promotion throughout the school *Incorporate more vocabulary What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the transdisciplinary theme? *Students read various trade books and used graphic organizers to develop a better understanding of the dangers facing the global environment. *Students viewed and critiqued topical DVDs and video clips that created a need for students to act. *Students participated in the selection of a biome charity recipient *Students encouraged peers to contribute to a worthy cause by promoting Pennies for the Planet. They collected pennies daily. *At the end of the two-week collection period, the students counted, tallied, and rolled the pennies. * PowerPoint Presentations of research findings of Pennies for the Planet *Students used various graphs to display data collected *Students created dioramas of biomes depicting energy pyramids *Students composed research papers reflecting current issues *Students synthesized information and created narratives of conservation themes *Students created persuasive marketing campaign materials *Students conducted a quadrat study to measure changes in their playground ecosystem Updated to include social studies unit from 1900-1930 and Science unit – ready to instruct January 21 – March 8, 2013 Initially taught and reflected between January 23 – March 9, 2012 © International Baccalaureate Organization 2007 Reflecting on the inquiry 8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning? 9. Teacher notes Record a range of student-initiated inquiries and student questions and highlight any that were incorporated into the teaching and learning. The students all had very high investment in this unit. Not only did they take part in the selection process of their habitat to help conserve, but they also personally took charge in the collection and allocation of the funds raised through the Pennies for the Planet initiative. Their enthusiasm for and investment in the unit made all the difference in their response to the inquiries presented during discussions and activities. The most striking connection the students made was in response to the effects humans have on these various environments, whether intentional or unintentional. Many students chose to act on this with their own self-initiated research. Even though each class had a specific habitat of focus, it did not stop students from branching out and wanting to discover more habitats and endangered animals. The idea of conservation and preservation of our world was naturally looked at by the students through a larger lens, and they took the next step to look at the bigger picture and the impact their life had on the lives of others we share the planet with. Some students looked at ways they could get involved, such as recycling programs in our local Memphis community. Images such as sea turtles entangled or chewing on plastic trash in their environment sparked these self-initiated inquiries. Many students inquired in Chinese class about the state of the environment in China, and whether Chinese people recycle like we do. Also, they came to the realization that, due to sheer numbers of people, China must produce a lot of trash, having a large impact on the natural world. None recored. At this point teachers should go back to box 2 “What do we want to learn?” and highlight the teacher questions/provocations that were most effective in driving the inquiries. One’s actions and decisions can affect the planet. Populations within an ecosystem are in competition with one another for resources. What student-initiated actions arose from the learning? Record student-initiated actions taken by individuals or groups showing their ability to reflect, to choose and to act. No student initiated actions occurred. In future implementations of this unit, students showed interest in doing even more hands-on research into our local environmental issues, and actions that could be taken to help our local environment. Also, many of us think that research into a specific endangered animal, and the possible adoption and tracking of that animal would be highly engaging and help in establishing an emotional connection to an entity whose life is affected by intentional or unintentional interaction with humans. Updated to include social studies unit from 1900-1930 and Science unit – ready to instruct January 21 – March 8, 2013 Initially taught and reflected between January 23 – March 9, 2012 © International Baccalaureate Organization 2007 Updated to include social studies unit from 1900-1930 and Science unit – ready to instruct January 21 – March 8, 2013 Initially taught and reflected between January 23 – March 9, 2012 © International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
