Subject, Lesson, Topic:
The technology lesson for this assignment will be a 5th grade science project on Food Webs.
Lesson Goals:
The students will describe and analyze the necessity of food webs, and the effect of human expansion, and consumption on ecosystems across the nation. In this lesson, students will also incorporate how the production of fossil fuels plays a viable role in destroying ecosystems, and the effect of fossil fuel production on ecosystems in various locations. Students will be assigned particular locations as their area of expertise. The areas of concern will be:
1. Oil drilling in Alaska
2. Population growth in El Paso County
3. The harvesting of tuna in the Pacific and implications on the food webs that include dolphins
4. Effect of the Exxon Valdez, Louisiana, and Gulf Coast oil spills on the immediate and surrounding ecosystems *Students will focus on the changes of the ecosystems by providing a before and then an after report of the ecosystems. Team will pick only one from the list*
Student Interest, Prior Knowledge
Before starting the lesson on food webs, student interest was very high about this particular lesson. The students were explained that this lesson would include the "basic food web" they had learned in the earlier grades, but that at this level they would take it up to a higher level. Students for informed that they would be researching food webs across the globe, but they would incorporate other concepts in truly understanding how important food webs are. Students were excited to have the opportunity to study ecosystems, and food webs behind the traditional classroom approach. Many students acknowledged that when they studied this topic in previous years (third and fourth grade), that they were reduced to learning and understanding a "basic food web." The students have the basic knowledge necessary to understand food webs, but are a little unfamiliar with some of the vocabulary associated with the topic.
Misconceptions
1. Energy inside of food chains start at the top of the food chain and flows down. Students believe that organisms at the top of the food chain produce and have the most energy, by extracting the energy from organisms below them.
2. Students do not understand the effect humans have on ecosystems, and in many cases believe that humans have little effect on ecosystems.
3. Students do not understand the difference between dead and non-living.
4. Students understand the process of photosynthesis, but in many instances do not know that plants actually use the food that they make.
Tapping into Student Interest
As I mentioned earlier, students are excited about exploring the food webs outside of the normal scope. Students are ready, and more than eager, to start researching and putting their projects togetehr so that they can show-off. Again, students having ownership of the project always elevates their desire and interest to a higher level. More important, the students are thrilled about working as a team to gain group bragging rights (for best project).
Technology:
Blogs:
Since the setup of a blog is a little tedious (and time consuming) I will set up a class blog for the students to use during their project construction. Students will be asked weekly to provide a reflection on their progress, and interesting facts that they may have discovered during their research. The blog will also be used so that groups can post websites that they uncover, that may benefit another group, and the class as a whole.
Podcasts:
Students will be required to post two podcasts as part of their project. The first podcast will be due by the end of the first week and posted to the class blog. This podcast will include each member introducing themselves, and stating their particular assignment within the group. The team captain will be responsible for describing the teams project. This podcast will be no longer than five minutes in length. For the second podcast, students will present their findings about the topic assigned. Students will have the opportunity to include pictures for this podcast. This podcast will include their findings, and incorporate an editorial about the impact of their findings on a global level. This podcast will be no longer than ten minutes. As a note, all podcasts will be at least three minutes in length.
Web Resources:
1. www.google.com
2. http://www.youseemore.com/sisd/
3. http://el014.k12.sd.us/5th%20Grade%20Science%20Websites.htm
Computers:
1. Students will use computers to search the web for sites that contain information needed to complete their team projects.
2. Students can use Microsoft PowerPoint to create an eight slide presentation of their findings.
3. Students can use Microsoft Publisher to create a brochure of their findings.
4. Students can use Movie maker to create a five to eight minute video of their findings.
*All groups must complete a brochure, PowerPoint presentation, or movie maker video in addition to the final podcast*
Activities Listing:
1. Monday: Students will be given a pre-assessment on food webs. After the assessment an introduction will be made about food webs, and students will be given whole class instruction on food webs vocabulary. Students will be given their topics, and explained their tasks. After the instruction is over, the students will be given instruction on how to create podcasts.
2. Tuesday: Students will be given additional whole group instruction, and given an overview of food webs through the use of videos (http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/). Students will be given additional instruction on podcasts, and allotted twenty minutes to explore the podcasts. Team captains will also assign group members their tasks for the project.
3. Wednesday: Students will be given instruction on how to post podcasts to the class blog, and instruction on how to post on the blog. Team captains will be responsible for posting to the blog, and one team member will be designated as a backup. Students will then be required to post a listing of their team members to the blog, and start conducting research on their topic.
4. Thursday: Students will be given instruction on how to cite resources gathered, and how to create notes pages to be used for the project. Students will be then given the rest of the class period to conduct research, and brainstorm their project design.
5. Friday: Students will be given approximately thirty minutes to create their podcasts, and post them to the class blog. The remainder of the class period will be devoted to answering any questions that groups may have concerning their projects, and assisting the students in their research. At the end of the class period groups will be required to post their reflections about the weeks' activities.
*Due to time constraints and limited technology resources, this project will probably last for approximately three weeks. Students will be allotted one class period each week to use as research time for their projects*
Assessment:
The assessment used for the students can be viewed at the following website. https://sites.google.com/site/mrharris5thgrade20112012/food-webs-assignment. Students will be given a hard copy for test purposes at the end of three week project.
Mr. Harris,
ReplyDeleteI am very excited to see that you will be using podcasts within your classroom at the 5th grade level. My hope is that someday, I won’t need to spend time at the high school level trying to show students how to use this technology because they will already be well versed with its usage and capabilities. I also agree that misconceptions must be unearthed and addressed early on to avoid student integration of new information with old incorrect assumptions.
What is the timeline for the PowerPoint/ brochure portion of the activities: will it be in the subsequent 2 weeks that will make up a 3 week unit lesson? I think the variety of demonstration of understanding allow for students to actively use the information they are learning in a variety of ways which I think is important in true global learning of a concept. If possible, would you be able to post your rubric for all of the activities you are proposing? I am hooked. I would like to know what exactly the projects entail in terms of food webs and ecology. I am also interested to see how you will be assessing these projects as I have assigned PowerPoint and brochures in the past but have not had students complete those tasks in combination with podcasts or other such forms of video/ moviemaking technology. I would love to see how they all integrate and reinforce each other.
The inclusion of discovery channel videos is, I think, important in terms of modeling the type of videos, sources, etc that would be appropriate for use on their group projects. I also like the aspect of your lesson that asks students to post useful websites for others to look at. This is something that I think is missing from my current lesson plan: more sharing amongst the groups versus simply presenting their information and reflecting on other groups projects. In this regard, it feels as though your lesson provides this opportunity to turn the classroom into a community of learning.
Thank you for sharing this lesson. I feel that the ideas you express can be adapted in so many ways for so many other topics at different grade levels.
Very nice idea, and very well thought out. I don't know how well podcasting will work, but it's worth a try. I know that when I tried it myself, I experience a whole lot of technical difficulties, however, using a podcast is probably preferable to having students come to the front of the classroom to explain their project, as they tend to get shy and won't speak. Are students to include pertinent vocabulary terms? You might want to include that.
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