ImagineIT phase 3: Action Plan
Part 1: Identify Desired Results
My big idea, “empowering students with STEM; connections matter”, focuses on connecting the various branches of science together so students can make informed choices that affect their lives. My goal is to have students become aware and understand that the choices made today by not only affect them, but can have consequences for others as well as their environment in the future. Students learn about the environment but fail to see what their role is or how their actions influence environmental changes. Students learn about genetics but fail to see how environmental changes can drive genetic changes. I want students to understand that they have the power to improve their environment and community by small purposeful changes.
To achieve this goal students must be aware of the science that drives their daily lives and communities. NSTA’s Reader’s guide for the K-12 Science Education Framework states that students must, “have some appreciation of the beauty and wonder of science...are careful consumers of scientific and technological information related to their everyday lives; are able to continue to learn about science outside school…..” (Pratt, 2013) Through a variety of activities throughout the school year I want my students to have a deeper understanding of the cause and effect of human activities in our world. Students who have a deep understanding of this cause and effect will be able to identify their individual contributions are to their local environment and be able to explain how those local choices affect the state, the nation and the world.
The curriculum I use currently is called SEPUP and more information can be found at, http://www.sepuplhs.org/middle.html. I plan on focusing on Ecology, Genetic, Human Body, and Evolution units and find ways to connect them together make informed choices on issues affecting Chicago today. All three units will spiral back to the local community issues that occur with the Chicago River. I plan on exploring how our interactions with the Chicago River affect our community and individuals.
To achieve this goal students must be aware of the science that drives their daily lives and communities. NSTA’s Reader’s guide for the K-12 Science Education Framework states that students must, “have some appreciation of the beauty and wonder of science...are careful consumers of scientific and technological information related to their everyday lives; are able to continue to learn about science outside school…..” (Pratt, 2013) Through a variety of activities throughout the school year I want my students to have a deeper understanding of the cause and effect of human activities in our world. Students who have a deep understanding of this cause and effect will be able to identify their individual contributions are to their local environment and be able to explain how those local choices affect the state, the nation and the world.
The curriculum I use currently is called SEPUP and more information can be found at, http://www.sepuplhs.org/middle.html. I plan on focusing on Ecology, Genetic, Human Body, and Evolution units and find ways to connect them together make informed choices on issues affecting Chicago today. All three units will spiral back to the local community issues that occur with the Chicago River. I plan on exploring how our interactions with the Chicago River affect our community and individuals.
Part 2: Performances of Understanding
Students will engage in a variety of Introductory and guided inquiry performances throughout the school year. These tasks will involve ecology, genetic, and evolutionary concepts. The activities will come from the SEPUP curriculum, The Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and the Friends of the Chicago River organization. These performances will be assessed using exit slips to gauge content understanding. Tasks involving text will have checkpoint questions at the end that involve content questions as well as application questions; how does this information apply to the Chicago River?
The culminating performance will require student groups to identify a threat to the Chicago River and devise a possible solution to that threat. Students will have access to various technological tools such as google apps to aid in their presentations. This solution will be presented on the 7th grade Google Classroom, the school website as well as a 7th grade gallery walk.
I will develop general survey of what they know about science issues that affect our society locally and globally. Students will take this survey in the Fall, Winter, and Spring to gauge student understanding; are students realizing how they affect their environment? In additional to this survey students will record their ideas in a Science Notebook when engaging in introductory and guided inquiry performances throughout the year. Students will also have access to Google Classroom and choose which performances they will publish for review. I am using student choice because this will give students time to decide the mode of presentation and give them opportunities to review and interpret their work which studies have shown increase motivation.
I will challenge students to create a personal action plan; what steps do they feel they can take to make a positive effect on their environment? This action plan will be published to our website and revisited throughout the year to revise and have student reflect on their personal progress in making an ecological difference.
The culminating performance will require student groups to identify a threat to the Chicago River and devise a possible solution to that threat. Students will have access to various technological tools such as google apps to aid in their presentations. This solution will be presented on the 7th grade Google Classroom, the school website as well as a 7th grade gallery walk.
I will develop general survey of what they know about science issues that affect our society locally and globally. Students will take this survey in the Fall, Winter, and Spring to gauge student understanding; are students realizing how they affect their environment? In additional to this survey students will record their ideas in a Science Notebook when engaging in introductory and guided inquiry performances throughout the year. Students will also have access to Google Classroom and choose which performances they will publish for review. I am using student choice because this will give students time to decide the mode of presentation and give them opportunities to review and interpret their work which studies have shown increase motivation.
I will challenge students to create a personal action plan; what steps do they feel they can take to make a positive effect on their environment? This action plan will be published to our website and revisited throughout the year to revise and have student reflect on their personal progress in making an ecological difference.
Part 3 - Learning experience and instruction
Context
My school is extremely large with over 1,000 students in two buildings that are 3 blocks apart. There are 3 7th grade classes with over 35 students each. We do not have enough funds to have 5 divisions. My classroom has chromebooks for each student, an interactive startboard and document camera. The internet access can be slow at times which administration has been working on for 2 years.
My school is 70% EL (English Learners) with mainly Polish and Spanish spoken. DL (diverse learners) are co-taught for science with a special education teacher in the classroom as well as one paraprofessional. Due to scheduling of IEP meetings these adults are not always present. Most students have internet access at home however this is through a mobile device and may not have a computer at home.
Content
7th grade focus is on life science. I want my students to know that other disciplines (math, physics) are integrated in Biological concepts. The Next Generation Science Standards include Crosscutting Concepts as well as Science and Engineering Practices. Students must be able to see cause and effect in how human actions cause environmental issues. The challenge I find is students know that there are actions that harm the environment but they are unable to see how their actions affect their environment and community. There is a lack of personal stake in what they are learning. This is especially difficult for my EL and DL students. I find it challenging to find 7th and 8th grade science text translated into certain languages for my 1st and 2nd year EL students. I find is challenging to find science concepts explained in reading levels for some of my DL students who are reading at a 1st and 2nd grade level.
Pedagogy
As I write this I feel that this is a pretty lofty goal and multiple pedagogical approaches will work together to achieve this. My plan is to start The Ecology unit from SEPUP that discusses invasive species in Lake Victoria located in Africa. Students will then go on a field trip to the Chicago River to collect data on the Chicago river. This data will be used to generate questions about our local environment. Student groups will conduct research about the river to answer the questions generated from the data. (what invasive species are found, water quality, any other issues the data shows). Students will collect data from various inquiry activities to aid in understanding ecology concepts. These activities will come from the SEPUP curriculum specifically the Ecology, Genetic and Evolution units, the Friends of the Chicago River, and the Illinois department of Natural Resources. Throughout the ecology unit students will be given time to work on their research and challenged to come up with possible solutions. If possible I would like to see if some of the solutions could be tested by creating some type of workable model.
The final product of this project is for students to publish their solutions using a variety of technological tools. These presentations will be published to the web and will be presented in a 7th grade gallery walk to show the entire 7th grade their ideas. Students will have the opportunity to provide feedback to encourage student interactions.
Students will use Chromebooks and google drive to aid in their research and presentation of information. Various apps (movie maker, comic book apps, are a few examples) will be introduced as possible presentation tools. Students will use various water quality tools borrowed from the Friends of the Chicago River to collect data. Initial data will be collected in a science notebook. While this is extremely low tech, collecting data is a skill that must be taught and refined; science notebooks are a place where students can write, revise, draw and organize their thoughts. The science notebooks now becomes a valuable resource for students when using technology for presentation and further research.
I feel the TPACK “sweet spot” target is achieved with this plan. Students are using technology as a tool for research, data collection, and presentation of new knowledge. Students are learning potentially learning new technological tools but that is not the focus of this unit, it is a interesting byproduct where students can show their creativity as well as their new knowledge of how they interact with their environment.
I am excited to start this journey! I can’t wait to see you my student think differently about how they interact in this world they live.
References:
Pratt, H., Bybee, R. W. The NSTA reader's guide to a framework for K-12 science education: practices, crosscutting concepts and core ideas.
Photo Credit: Cathy Iammartino
My school is extremely large with over 1,000 students in two buildings that are 3 blocks apart. There are 3 7th grade classes with over 35 students each. We do not have enough funds to have 5 divisions. My classroom has chromebooks for each student, an interactive startboard and document camera. The internet access can be slow at times which administration has been working on for 2 years.
My school is 70% EL (English Learners) with mainly Polish and Spanish spoken. DL (diverse learners) are co-taught for science with a special education teacher in the classroom as well as one paraprofessional. Due to scheduling of IEP meetings these adults are not always present. Most students have internet access at home however this is through a mobile device and may not have a computer at home.
Content
7th grade focus is on life science. I want my students to know that other disciplines (math, physics) are integrated in Biological concepts. The Next Generation Science Standards include Crosscutting Concepts as well as Science and Engineering Practices. Students must be able to see cause and effect in how human actions cause environmental issues. The challenge I find is students know that there are actions that harm the environment but they are unable to see how their actions affect their environment and community. There is a lack of personal stake in what they are learning. This is especially difficult for my EL and DL students. I find it challenging to find 7th and 8th grade science text translated into certain languages for my 1st and 2nd year EL students. I find is challenging to find science concepts explained in reading levels for some of my DL students who are reading at a 1st and 2nd grade level.
Pedagogy
As I write this I feel that this is a pretty lofty goal and multiple pedagogical approaches will work together to achieve this. My plan is to start The Ecology unit from SEPUP that discusses invasive species in Lake Victoria located in Africa. Students will then go on a field trip to the Chicago River to collect data on the Chicago river. This data will be used to generate questions about our local environment. Student groups will conduct research about the river to answer the questions generated from the data. (what invasive species are found, water quality, any other issues the data shows). Students will collect data from various inquiry activities to aid in understanding ecology concepts. These activities will come from the SEPUP curriculum specifically the Ecology, Genetic and Evolution units, the Friends of the Chicago River, and the Illinois department of Natural Resources. Throughout the ecology unit students will be given time to work on their research and challenged to come up with possible solutions. If possible I would like to see if some of the solutions could be tested by creating some type of workable model.
The final product of this project is for students to publish their solutions using a variety of technological tools. These presentations will be published to the web and will be presented in a 7th grade gallery walk to show the entire 7th grade their ideas. Students will have the opportunity to provide feedback to encourage student interactions.
Students will use Chromebooks and google drive to aid in their research and presentation of information. Various apps (movie maker, comic book apps, are a few examples) will be introduced as possible presentation tools. Students will use various water quality tools borrowed from the Friends of the Chicago River to collect data. Initial data will be collected in a science notebook. While this is extremely low tech, collecting data is a skill that must be taught and refined; science notebooks are a place where students can write, revise, draw and organize their thoughts. The science notebooks now becomes a valuable resource for students when using technology for presentation and further research.
I feel the TPACK “sweet spot” target is achieved with this plan. Students are using technology as a tool for research, data collection, and presentation of new knowledge. Students are learning potentially learning new technological tools but that is not the focus of this unit, it is a interesting byproduct where students can show their creativity as well as their new knowledge of how they interact with their environment.
I am excited to start this journey! I can’t wait to see you my student think differently about how they interact in this world they live.
References:
Pratt, H., Bybee, R. W. The NSTA reader's guide to a framework for K-12 science education: practices, crosscutting concepts and core ideas.
Photo Credit: Cathy Iammartino