2. What do we want to learn?
What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?
Causation, Connection
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
- Renewable and non-renewable resources
- Effects of resource use
- Resource management of the future
- What a new resources being discovered as renewable resources?
- What are negative and positive effects of resource use?
- What type of plans are there for the future?
Learner profile: Caring, principled
Attitudes: Appreciation, respect
Class/grade: 5EAge group: 10-11 years old
School: German European School, SingaporeSchool code: 650249
Title: Waste not Want not
Teacher(s): Adam Turner
Date: 29th October - 30th November 2007
Proposed duration: number of hours 20over number of weeks 5 weeks
1. What is our purpose?
To inquire into the following:
Sharing the planet
An inquiry into rights and responsibilitiesin the struggleto share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution
Central Idea
Resource use has an impact on communities
Summative assessment task(s):
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ understanding of the central idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for?
Presentations of different effects of resource use (pollution, damage to environment) with evidence. Suggest alternative resources and list the benefits of these. Must make a poster of this and present to class. Presentation and poster will be assessed by peers through a student-created rubric. (all in preparation for exhibition)
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?
- Dissection of CI
- Create questions/activities for unit
- Alphabet activity
- Brainpop videos (create questions for other students)
- Venn diagram of R and NR resources
- Study Brainpop videos – create poster with information
- Environmental poster – create poster of environmental problems
- Discuss alternative energy resources – preliminary research
- Create 3 concept questions to guide research – create small presentation
- STUDENT ACTION – allow students to go off on their student action plans
HOMEWORK: Creative thinking activities: Monitor recycling for 2 weeks (use information for spreadsheet in ICT), Reflection of recycling use (why? Do we do enough? Are there other ways?), resources used for one raw material to make it to the grocery store/shopping store
What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the development of the attributes of the learner profile?
(TDS) Synthesis – use information from Brainpop videos to create new questions for partner
(LP) Caring – reflection on the impact on the environment from resources use
(Att) Appreciation, Respect – Attitude and profile reflection on unit (how to we exhibit these while thinking of resources conservation)
3. How might we know what we have learned?This column should be used in conjunction with “How best might we learn?”
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills? What evidence will we look for?
Dissect Central idea – think of synonyms or similar words for key words in CI, use to elaborate understanding of CI
KWL – assess students prior knowledge. (revisit at end)
Alphabet of unit – think of vocabulary for unit for all 26 letters
Create questions for unit – use concepts for this unit to guide questions (responsibility, change, connection)
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
Renewable and non-renewable resources
Select two brainpop videos (fossil fuels, renewable resources, energy sources, humans and the environment - create questions for other student to answer
Venn diagram – present and discuss with class, anecdotal
Effects of resource use
Brainpop videos – global warming, air pollution, water pollution, recycling, greenhouse effect – create poster, peer assessment with student created rubric, reflection after about effective posters
Resource management of the future
Research project (with bibliography) of new alternative resources (positives, negatives) – teacher assessed with rubric (of presentation and information)
and teacher
5. What resources need to be gathered?
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
Brainpop, Altvater, The Lorax
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?
Observations of school grounds (recycling at school), posters created in classroom
6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose?
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.
Central Idea:Resource use has an impact on communities
The students started to lean towards the global implications of resource use, noticing that things are going to run out eventually. I would watch the Lorax earlier in the unit so that they can refer to it easier as it took some time to understand the science of different resources like oil, minerals, water, wood and the time required to replenish these resources.
Renewable and non-renewable resources
There was good class discussions about the different type of resources after they had been exposed to the idea by classroom teaching and discovering on 4 different movies on Brainpop. They created questions for their partner about the videos and this helped show their knowledge to create questions and then their ability to answer their partner’s questions.
Effects of resource use
Their posters were very informative and reflected their thorough understanding of the different effects on the environment through specific resource use. This led to students being more enthusiastic about controlling their resource use as they often used Global Warming or Air pollution as what would happen if they didn’t start now. Regarding their posters, empasize key points and less, yet important, information. Helps prepare them for the Exhibition.
Resource management of the future
This was the inquiry point that was least talked about. It started off well with students selecting a new type of energy (solar, wind, water, etc) and creating their own research questions for that bit of research. It was held back because of timing – there was only a week left and their student action projects were taking off so they voted and decided to work on their action projects. They had a lot of enthusiasm for their projects. If started earlier, this is a good way to expose them to having questions fuel their research.
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.
Allow more time for students to finish their projects, or go more in-depth. They could have done a lot more with this, taken their student action further. Hopefully their student action ideas aren’t lost over the long break. The assessment tasks really tried to coincide with future Exhibition ideas (doing interviews, making posters only, using concept questions as their guiding research ideas). Good practice for them.
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the transdisciplinary theme?
Near the end of the unit, there was more discussion that everybody needs to be on the same page. When first discussing recycling and resource use, there was often the argument that it didn’t matter if one or two of them forgot to do it. Some failure to comprehend during class and group discussions that all needs to be involved.
After seeing the Lorax, and their different research focussing on the global issue, more students began to realize that they need to tell people (especially at school in their Action plans) if they want to see change. It really is sharing amongst everyone here.
7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP?
What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:
1) Connection – students began to realize that their actions that used up energy and resources, particularly electricity, water use and oil/gas, all connected to different environmental problems such as global warming, air pollution, water pollution. As well, a large emphasis was placed on recycling and how that could help save us from using other resources.
Causation – During their research and presentations of different environmental problems, it was presented that people not doing certain things to help the environment (saving paper, electricity, water) caused the earth to be polluted or have problems like global warming and the greenhouse effect.
2) Research skills – present research findings: There was a large focus on this aspect of their research because of the upcoming Exhibition. Students were forced to a poster presentation which isn’t the norm with this class who prefers to use powerpoint. How big the writing is, catch colours, relevant information, too much information was all brought up after the students reflected on each other’s posters.
Research skills – organizing data – Again, related to the posters but also allowed students to reflect on what type of information they want on their poster, how much do they put up, during their presentation do they read of summarize
Thinking skills – synthesis: taking information from their 3 research projects and presenting their own findings
3) Principled – to remember that it is a constant effort to do recycling everyday and to think of the environment. Some students thought that it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t do it here or there but after some class discussions and the idea that if every one thought, think of how much garbage there would be.
Respect – learning to realize that their impact on the environment can be harmful so they need to respect that what they do is helping something survive
9. Teacher notes
Resources:
Alvater Jakob…
Get a field trip to the incinerator plant next time. Supposedly they will bend the rules for the age limit
MOVIE: The Lorax (Dr Seuss)
Websites for research
WEBSITES
-a representative will come and give a conservation talk. Can also organize trips
Find attached Rebecca Scrivener’s suggested activities for Environment units
8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning?
Record a range of student-initiated inquiries and student questions and highlight any that were incorporated into the teaching and learning.
What is solar/wind/hydro/thermal energy?
How is it more effective than energy we use today?
Why don’t people use it then?
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.
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.
Class discussion brought up several ideas:
Individual reflection – make a plan for each night /week to see if you are recycling, family as well
Competition in class / spread to other classes – monitor who is recycling, award points and such
Recycling group – meet once a week to discuss things to do, plan. This idea really took off from 2 student’s idea and eventually 6 more joined their ideas (posters, talking to people) to put it into one group. This group wants to organize a paper that will use notices, information sessions, reward people for recycling (photo or mention their name) in the newspaper.
Created a comic – two girls made a comic strip using digital photos and a comic program supplied by Susan Palm. Was sent home to all parents as an example of Student Action since it was discussed the night prior at an Exhibition meeting
Talk to people – meet with teachers, students. Use a powerpoint or poster to inform them. Get them to spread word. Can do presentation as assemblies, library during break times, to both sections
Make a pamphlet for people
Monitor recycling – have people stand guard during lunches and breaks and watch over recycling in canteen, forum (near recycling bins). A recycling prefect / monitor.