Adapted from Project-Based Learning (Second Edition)

Project Title: Relationships and the environment

Teacher(s): Lauren Dinubilo, Joshua Brigham, and Tim Welsh

Grade Level(s): 9th-grade

Subjects: English, history, science, and math

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Build Background Knowledge: Summarize what you learned from the informal research you conducted on the career pathway for your PBL (e.g. content knowledge, issues, current events, community resources, etc.)

The conservation and forestry career pathway professionals in California are currently working with conservation efforts- preserving the California coastline from erosion, invasive species, and deforestation. Professionals look at the environment and figure out how to bring the atmosphere back to its native settings, restoring public and private lands. They manage the use and development of three biomes: forest, rangelands, and other natural resources. Conservation specialists work in several areas such as soil conservation, urban forestry, pest management, native species, or forest economics. Current issues and events of conservation and forestry include: pollution, decreased funding for federal and state park lands, deforestation, erosion, invasive species, red tide, and overfishing.

The Assilomar conference center in Assilomar is located on a coastal state park. There are nature walks available for exploration, as well as conservation efforts. According to the California Department of Parks and Recreations, the Assilomar State Park, a one-mile strip beach and rocky coves, offers visitors beach and coast trail walks, a short boardwalk loop through the natural dune preserve, and overnight lodging.

The Assilomar Natural Dune Preserve is 25 acres of restored sand dune ecosystem. A native greenhouse houses 450,000 plants of 25 different species. Currently, the greenhouse caretaker is conducting research, planting native pines in response to an invasive orange-gray fungus found on the pines. Other resources include state park rangers and current conservation groups such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

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Review the contextual flow and brainstorm possible project ideas.

Possible project ideas:

Create a recycling program Graphic novel Conservation campaign Adopt an animal Water shed project Earthworm recycling project Energy conservation project Save California’s coastline project Tide pool research

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Narrow your focus: Summarize the big idea of this project and how integration between the career pathway and content areas will take place.

The unit we chose is “relationships and their effects on the environment”. The project we chose will focus on Tide Pool Restoration. Our encompassing theme, “everything is connected,” will be integrated into the five content area curriculum, as well as the project.  We want students to be able to detect the delicate balance between all biotic and abiotic factors that affect the local and extending environments around them. We want the students to demonstrate their knowledge of the underlying effects of industrialism, deforestation and the introduction of non-native species. The project will culminate with the student creation of conservation action plans that will be targeted towards restoration of that local environment.

We chose to do our PBL project based on conservation of the California coastline by taking our students to Assilomar State Park to do tide pool research. For science, students will be asked to record the Biotic life at two stations near the coastline: the tide pool station and the beach station. Based upon their quantitative findings they will create their actions plans supported by their prior research.

Students will complete a research paper and conduct expository reading that will integrate English content. History will be integrated by the discussion of the growth of industry in surrounding areas and it’s growing impact on the local environment. In math students will graph the quantitative results of their tide pool research using linear functions.

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Think about outcomes: What do you want students to know and understand about the career pathway and the content areas? What 21st Century Skills will be assessed? What Habits of Mind do you want them to practice? (Requirements: 2 – 3 standards from career pathway, 2 – 3 standards from math, science, or history, a minimum of 1 standard from English Language Arts; 2 – 4 21st Century Skills; 1 – 2 Habits of Mind)

Students should know: CTE Standards:E2.0: Understand air and water use, management practices and conservation strategies.E3.0: Students understand soil composition and soil management.E5.0: Students understand wildlife management and habitat.E6.0: Students understand aquatic use and management.E10.0: Students understand forest management practices.E11.0: Students understand the basic concepts of measurement, surveying, and mapping. E12.0: Students understand the use, processing, and marketing of the products for natural resource industries.

History Standards:10.3 Students analyze the effects of the Industrial Revolution in England, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States.

1.) Understand the connections among natural resources, entrepreneurship, labor, and capital in an industrial economy.

English Standards:Reading 2.0: Students will know the features of informational materials. Writing 2.3: Write expository compositions, including analytical essays and research reports:

Science Standards: Ecology6. Stability in an ecosystem is a balance between competing effects. As a basis for understanding this concept:b. Students know how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity, introduction of nonnative species, or changes in population size.c. Students know how fluctuations in population size in an ecosystem are deter mined by the relative rates of birth, immigration, emigration, and death.e. Students know a vital part of an ecosystem is the stability of its producers and decomposers.g.Students know how to distinguish between the accommodation of an individual organism to its environment and the gradual adaptation of a lineage of organ isms through genetic change.

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Habits of Mind practiced:1. Questioning and problem posing2. Gathering data through all senses3. Creating, imagining, and innovating4. Thinking interdependently5. Applying past knowledge to new situations

21st century skills that will be assessed: 1. Creativity & Innovation. Students will be assessed on their ability to think creatively, work creatively with others, and implement innovations. This will be assessed when students have to create their action plans based upon their quantitative findings from their tide pool research.

2. Critical Thinking and problem solving: Students will be expected to use various types of reasoning such as inductive and inductive as appropriate to the situation. They will be expected to analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other in complex systems such as a local niche in an ecosystem. Students will be expected to make judgments & decisions with their action plans.

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Craft the Driving Question: It should be authentic, provocative, open-ended, challenging and go to the heart of a discipline or topic (require knowledge of core subject matter). Please share all of the versions of the driving question that you developed. Highlight the driving question that you chose as the final version.

Brainstorming:What happens when you get off balance?How does human interaction effect the environment in which we live?What happens when systems of the environment get out of balance?

Driving question: How do relationships effect the environment in which we live?

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Assessments: How will students show you what they know through products and/or performances? Describe the assessments and rationale for choosing these assessments. Attach rubrics for each assessment. (Requirements: 3 authentic formative and 2 authentic summative assessments with a rubric for each, at least one assessment must address a 21st Century Skill and a Habit of Mind) See attached for additional ideas on assessments.

*** The BrainworX Critical Thinking Rubric will be used for all assignments and assessments.***

Authentic Formative #1Description: The students will create and assess their Bio-Dome/Terrarium. The students will create a small ecosystem that will mirror the flow of energy through the aquatic environment they will be visiting in Assilomar beach. The students will Identify the producers, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th order consumers, the decomposers and the basic nutrient pool. They will also Identify the herbivores, carnivores and omnivores present in their bio-dome ecosystem.

The layers of the Bio dome will include:–1st Thin layer of pebbles.–2nd Thin layer of sand on top of that.–3rd Thin layer of soil (brown)–4th Thicker layer of dark organic soil.–5th Add small pieces of various moss–6th Add a piece of lichen–7th Add some small plants–8th Add some small sticks with a mushroom on it.–9th Add a few organisms•Just a few, no vertebrates allowed, do not over populate.•Don’t forget to lightly water it before closing the lid.Rationale: This identification process will help students identify how energy moves through the ecosystem as well as explain the relationships among the biotic and abiotic factors. This structured activity will mirror the same assessments that happen in the professional field of conservation and forestry.

Authentic Formative #2: Social Class PyramidDescription: Students will participate in a small group activity. Groups will be given one of four social class perspectives (nobility, clergy, monarchs, and peasants) and will be given items (characters, settings, etc.) to be placed in a social pyramid. The pyramid will have several different levels (individual, population, and community) and students will be asked to justify their placements of the items. Each group will have the same items. Depending on their perspective placement of the items will differ from group to group.

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Rationale: Students will gain an understanding of how the social classes and the individuals within them affected the levels of social hierarchy.

Authentic Formative #3: Graphic Novel (French Revolution’s Reign of Terror) Description: Student’s will conduct research of the events during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. Students will then use this research to write a narrative from the perspective of one of the social classes or estates (1st, 2nd or 3rd Estates) that existed in France at the time of the events. Students will then transfer narrative to dialogue and begin to storyboard the dialogue into a graphic novel format. The final product will be a poster-sized graphic novel of the events of the Reign of Terror from the perspective of the different estates.

Rationale: By completing the Graphic Novel students will be able to better explain and summarize the events of the Reign of Terror. Have a deeper understanding of the affects of the French Revolution on individuals living in France at the time.

Authentic Summative #1:  Habitat restoration action plan Description: Students will travel to Assilomar beach and do tide-pool and sandy beach research. The students will filter the sand from 0,5,10,15, 20 & 25 meters from the water. They will obtain shovels of sand and assess the organisms at each distance from the water. At the tide pools students will use PVC assessment squares and record all the biotic and abiotic factors in each square at 0,5,10,15,20 & 25 meters from the oceans edge. The students will then analyze their quantitative and qualitative data and develop a flow of energy for the ecosystem and possible destructive factors currently influencing the ecosystem. The students will finally develop an action plan that will directly address how to restore or counteract the destructive factors in the ecosystem.

Rationale: This structured culminating project will develop the professional skills needed to mirror the conservation and forestry career pathway as well as integrate the skills learned throughout the previous unit “Relationships and the environment”.

Authentic Summative #2: Mastery of DefenseDescription: All students will be required to complete a Defense of Mastery Project at the end of each thematic unit. Students will chose a topic from one of the four core disciplines to research. They will then write a proposal explaining the physical product they would like to create (i.e. scale model), create the physical product, and write an abstract explaining their process and learning. Students will then be expected to orally defend their mastery of the content standards of each discipline to a panel of teachers, community members and fellow classmates through presentation of their project. The Defense of Mastery Projects accounts for 40% of students’ quarter marks.

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These projects will be evaluated based on the same Mastery of Standards Rubric that will be used for evaluating assignments and assessments in the course work.

Rationale: The defense of mastery requires students to integrate their knowledge learned from all four subject areas. By orally defending their knowledge in the mastery of defense, students are demonstrating their understanding of the intellectual standards, habits of mind, 21st century skills, as well as their presentation abilities.

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Management: Think about the needs of your students with disabilities and your English Learners. How will you address these needs throughout the process? How will they have access to the content of the PBL without lessoning the rigor? Explain the strategies you will use and your rationale for choosing these strategies.

Throughout the unit “Relationships and the Environment”, we will have technological support on our online Haiku system with printed notes and PowerPoint presentations. We will offer kinesthetic tools and scaffold lessons to support our all students, but will be most beneficial for our ESL students. Students will have roles within their groups allowing peer mentors and support from each other as well as after school support from teachers from 2:30-4:30pm. Extended time during questioning and informal assessments as well as preferred seating will also be provided during direct instruction time. Students will use the Organized Binder systems, as well as keep a calendar of assignment due dates and deadlines to help with their organizational skills.

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Knowledge and Skills needed by students to be successful

Scaffolding and Lessons to be provided by the teacher, other teachers, experts, mentors, community members

MLA format Teacher will show students the MLA style. Students will then complete an online scavenger hunt while browsing the Owl Purdue website

Research methods Teachers will conduct research using online resources. Information will be written on flashcards. The flashcards will be manipulated to develop a logical outline for a research paper.

Historical content of the French Revolution and Industrialism.

Student will receive direct instruction on content. Students will research, synthesize and analyze content.

Students must know how to interpret and extrapolate quantitative & qualitative data.

A lesson involving the experimental design process will be taught to the students. How to interpret the control and variables of the experiment will be explained.

Writing process Students will participate in the writing process by taking their research paper through the 5 steps (outline, draft, edit, revise, publish).

How to write a research paper

Students will choose a research topic, conduct research, and write a research paper using the writing process.

Project Teaching and Learning Guide

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Map the Project: Draw the storyboard or timeline for this project. Think the major components of this project and how they will progress over time.

November 28- December 2:

Science: students will learn and demonstrate skills in foundational ecological principles involving food chains, energy flows and niches.History: Students will obtain knowledge of the Enlightenment era principles that were partly responsible for the igniting of the French Revolution.

English: Students will learn proper MLA style format, Cornell note taking skills, and how to use the Organized binder system.

December 5 - 9:

Science: Students will learn and demonstrate skills in animal detritions. Students will evaluate skull and mandibles skeletal remains and identify whether the animals were herbivores, carnivores or omnivores.

History: Students will study earlier revolutions in England and America and their impact on the ideals of the French Revolution. Students will begin to explore the inequities in French social classes and the injustices that were placed upon the 2nd and 3rd estates by the French monarchy.  Students will study the beginning events of the French Revolution including the Estates-General meetings, the storming of the Bastille, the Tennis Court Oath and execution of the French Monarch.

English: Students will learn the basic elements of a story. Students will be introduced to the settings of the Reign of terror and begin to draft their story based upon an assigned perspective. Students will write a story collaboratively using the telephone method. Students will chose their research topic for their research paper.

December 12 - 16:

Science: Students will learn and demonstrate skills in competitive exclusion in habitats and the development and assessment of environmental niches.

History: Students will track the course of the French Revolution from the initial overthrow of the French monarchy, the Great Fear, the Reign of Terror and the eventual Coup d’état by Napoleon Bonaparte.

English: Students will learn the writer’s workshop method. Students will finish their stories. Students will transfer their narratives to dialogue to begin the graphic novel.

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January 2- 6

Science: Students will learn and demonstrate skills in biodiversity and population sampling.

English and History: Students will create final product of Reign of Terror graphic novel (8-10 panel comic strip using Halftone app)

January 9-13

Science:  Students will learn and demonstrate knowledge and skills in the concepts of special feeding relationships, symbiosis, parasitism, mutualism and commensalism.    History: Students will examine the Napoleonic Era and the establishment of the French empire. The implementation of Napoleon’s policy and the eventual reaction to Napoleon’s policies and aggression. Napoleon’s fatal invasion of Russia and his eventual downfall, along with the establishment of the Congress of Vienna.

English: Students will begin to research for their research papers. Topics will either by about ecology or the French Revolution. Students will use a note card method to organize their research. Students will create an outline for their research paper. History: Students will begin to examine the Industrial Revolution and it’s affects on society throughout Europe, the United States and other parts of the world.

January 16-20

Science: Students will investigate and demonstrate knowledge and skills in all the abiotic factors of differing ecosystems in the biosphere.

History: Students will examine the effects of Industrialism on urban life and individuals, as well as the surrounding environments.

English: Students will draft their research paper. Students will conduct peer-edits for their research paper.

January 23-27

Science: Students will investigate and demonstrate knowledge and skills in the concept of adaptability in the biomes of the Earth.

History: Weekly Journal Project: Students will examine and research the lives of individuals in specific growth industries of the Industrial Revolution and use this research to complete a week long journal of the individuals life during the

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Industrial Revolution.

English: Students will revise their rough drafts after being edited and will perfect their MLA style in their research papers. Students will complete final drafts of research paper.

January 30- February 3

R and R week (reflect and review) Students will work on their proposals for the defense of mastery and have teacher edits completed.

February 6-10

MASTERY OF DEFENSE PROJECT/PRESENTATIONS: students will orally defend their knowledge in front of a panel of teachers, parents, peers, and community members.

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Resources NeededOn site people/facilities:

Core teachers, green house specialist, park ranger, BrainworX peer students, UOP graduate students, UOP professor, ag. specialist (master gardener), Bill and Barry from the SJCOE energy dept., Friends of the Lower Calaveras River, parents, administration, community members (MOD panel).

Equipment:

Equipment: iPads, computers, PVC sampling squares, sifters, shovels, digital scales, Charter bus

Materials:

Halftone software app, large printing paper, pencil, paper etc.

Community resources:

Halftone software app, large printing paper, pencil, paper etc.

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Assessment Ideas

Authentic Formative Assessments: Formative assessments evaluate your students’ progress during the PBL and offer the students opportunity to receive feedback and make changes. Some examples of authentic formative assessments are the following:

journals learning logs outlines preliminary plans prototypes rough drafts practice presentations notes checklists concept maps interview/conference

Authentic Summative Assessments: Summative assessments occur at the end of a project or after a major milestone. Some examples of authentic formative assessments are the following:

written product public presentation essay exam model peer evaluation

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