Introduction |
| Anchor Video |
| Concept Map |
| Project Calendar |
| Lesson Plans |
| Letter to Parents |
| Assessments |
| Resources |
| Modifications |
| Grant |
TOTAL BUDGET FIGURE:
$ 2373.28
Proposal
Summary
This project based unit is a cross disciplinary case study involving biology, chemistry and mathematics. The underlying question which will be investigated is; What is the effect of big box corporation on the financial and environmental aspects on our community?
This five week long program will be composed of three classrooms including a 9th grade biology classroom, a 10th grade chemistry classroom and an 11th grade mathematics classroom. Students will apply to this program at the end of their 8th grade school year and will be tracked to be in these specific classes each year. This course will be taught twice a day to two different groups of students during periods 1 and 2. Students will not be tracked on ability but rather by other class conflicts. Students will commit to block out either 1st or 2nd period of school for their 9th, 10th and 11th grade year as it will be imperative that group members remain in the same class each year. During their first week of the unit, students will be assigned groups based on recommendations during a collaborative meeting including former 8th grade teachers and project based instructors.
The main focus in the biology classroom will be for students to learn how to do research by studying existing problems which occur within an ecosystem. Students will learn about food webs, food pyramids, trophic levels, energy degradation, and naturally occurring cycles. With all of this information students will produce a portfolio on the effect of building a big box corporation.
The main focus of the chemistry classroom will be for students to understand common pollutants and the analytical chemistry techniques that are used to measure the levels of each in the environment. Students will research pollution by multiple big-box corporations and engage in laboratory experiments in which they test samples of soil and water to detect levels in the different areas of the community in which they live.
The
main purpose of the math component of the project is to learn how to
translate
statistical information and mathematical terminology into a format that
everybody can understand. By teaching about statistical and
mathematical
modeling, student will be better equip to enter in a world dominated by
mathematical principles.
Description
Biology
In the biology
classroom students
will learn how to do research by studying existing problems which occur
within
an ecosystem. Students will have
two days to use the Internet to search peer reviewed journals and other
websites in order to gather information on their topic.
During this activity students will
learn the importance of having a peer-reviewed system for publishing
scientific
articles. Students will
present their research results to the class. Following
this activity, students will learn about energy
flow with in an ecosystem. This
topic will be introduced by having students think about where their
energy
comes from and will be expanded by having them draw food webs for
animals that
would be found in the prospective Big Box building site.
They will also learn about energy loss
from one trophic level to the next in an energy pyramid.
Students would also learn about the
water cycle, nitrogen cycle, and the carbon cycle.
For example, to learn the carbon cycle student would be
given various objects including a plant, a picture of an animal, a
piece of
coal, a piece of limestone etc.
Students would be asked to figure out how each item could
have obtained
carbon in its formation. Then
students would have to create a cycle showing how carbon flows from one
object
to the next. Students would also
learn how the greenhouse effect works by doing an inquiry-based lab in
which
they measure the temperatures of different gases under a heat lamp. Throughout all of these
activities students will be adding to their journals what would happen
in their
Big Box building site.
Chemistry
In the 10th grade, student will have already ascertained a detailed analysis on how a Big Box corporation will both negatively and positively affect their own community. In the biology classroom, macromolecular concepts were discussed such as trophic levels, food webs and energy degradation. In chemistry, students will look through a fine tooth comb to the microscopic principles which are involved in industrial pollution as well as how those pollutants are detected and analyzed.
Students will learn about the chemicals which make up the category which Environmental Chemists call, Pollutants. Students will learn the difference between physical and chemical change and furthermore the mechanism of synthesis and decomposition of the chemical pollutants while simultaneously learning the other two main types of chemical equations.
As
chemistry become more and more quantitatively based, a thorough
understand of
analytical techniques of detection and separation will be taught and
students
will have the ability to utilize tools such as the Spect-20 and single
phase
liquid chromatography to identify specific pollutants which are emitted
by the
company into the soil and water of the community.
Statistics
The main purpose of the math project is too learn how to translate statistical information into a format that everybody can understand. Only a few students will ever take a statistics course, yet our media uses terms like margin of error and normality.
The class target size is 30 students. Each group will have 3 students for a total of 10 groups. The groups will be assigned a state and a big box store to perform statistical analysis for. They will first have to create tables and graphs showing their analysis. Afterwards, they will have to translate this information into a context that is “equation free.” Their target audience will be people with poor math understanding. While retaining the statistical accuracy of their information, the presentation will having to avoid terms such as margin of error. If such a term is used, they will have to take time out of their final 15 minute presentation to define the term in such a way that anyone can understand it.
Groups will be
limited to using
free access resources. At the end of each week, a journal that they
have been
keeping all their work will be collected and checked for maintenance.
It will
be returned at the beginning of the next week.
Rationale
Interest and
education in issues
that promote the health of the environment is waning and as the
community that
supports it ages, there will be an increasing necessity for a solid
replacement
of informed individuals who can make good decisions about our future. As we march towards a more advanced
society filled with new technology, innovations, and structural
developments,
we should each take an active role to understand the implications of
our
actions. Although our immediate influence may only be short-term, we
can create
long-term gains for the future sustenance of our community life.
Potential
Impact
Through our project, students will grasp a personal understanding of how the delicate relationships among organisms in an ecosystem interact with one another and how causing regional changes in a specific area can create a cascade of events leading to a global impact. In order to prepare our students for this type of endeavor and making the urgency for action transparent, we need to provide students with appropriate access to scientists and individuals who can adequately inform them of the true environmental needs of our community. Our project is designed to include hands-on modeling and simulations, in-class scientific investigations, and communication through web access, which will contribute to the development of critical thinking skills and prepare students to evaluate the reliability of the sources and the knowledge they find.
With these goals
in mind, students will be able to share in the work with community
leaders to
design a local habitat restoration program that can be used to
alleviate
environmental concerns.
Additionally, students can develop their own webpages to
display areas
that they have explored during their research, data analyses and the
connection
to the overall problem, case-by-case studies showing the historical
impact of
solutions that were chosen to answer specific ecological issues, and
suggest
modes of action that the common person can take away with him/her after
viewing
the website
Evaluation
Plan
In all three courses, the students will be required to create and maintain a journal. This journal will be checked periodically to insure that it is being kept up to date. Each class will also have their own methods of further evaluation beyond the journal.
In Biology, the students will be responsible to present their findings to their peers at certain predefined intervals. Each presentation will be performed in a professional manner. The students will dress up, use visual aids, and present themselves in a manner that demonstrates the students as the cultured individuals that they are. At the end of the first week, their will be presentations by the students over different ecological factors that the students have researched. At the end of the project, the students will have to once again present their findings to their peers. The final journal will be due a this time.
In Math, similar to Biology, the students will have to make presentations using the same format. At the beginning of the second week, they have to present data from the Census Bureau on the states that they performed preliminary research on. At the end of the second week, they will have to present their findings on the assigned big box store. The end of the project will be a fifteen minute presentation where they will have to display their data in basic terms. This presentation will cover the stores impact on their assigned community and the global community.
In Chemistry, each student will be assigned a molecule. They will create a portfolio filled with research on that molecule. Along with a final presentation of the positive and negative impacts of their molecule, there will be two labs performed.
Project
Calendars
Biology
|
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
|
Anchor Video Introduction to
Ecology with discussion Introduce Project
(keep notes and ideas in Journal) |
BENCHMARK: Learn how to
research using the internet; importance of peer review articles. |
INQUIRY: What’s happening in
the World now? Research Problems in
given ecosystems |
INQUIRY: Presentation of
their online searches/research from Wednesday |
Finish Presentations BENCHMARK: Do Apple Model of
Available Usable Land for Resources. |
|
INQUIRY: Introduce Energy
Flow as it relates to Student’s Diet Food Chains, Food Webs (poster
display) |
INQUIRY: Food Pyramids and
Energy loss, Biomass,
Biomagnification |
INQUIRY: “Cats in Borneo”
Story, Food Pyramid with Reducing Links
concept |
PROJECT DAY Go over Wal-Mart
notes (From Chemistry class) with group members. Make
lists of things you think are directly affected in the food chains when
the ecosystem is disturbed. |
PROJECT DAY Make energy webs
showing the connections between the organisms in their Wal-Mart
environment. ASSESSMENT of energy
flow concept. |
|
INQUIRY: Introduction to
Nutrient Cycles: Water Cycle, Pollution Factors,
Discussion of how it relates to Wal-Mart Project |
PROJECT DAY: Working with group
to incorporate new information from water cycle notes into their
Wal-Mart Presentation. |
INQUIRY: Nitrogen Cycle:,
Microorganisms benefit; Discuss How it
affects to Wal-Mart Project |
PROJECT DAY: Work with groups to
incorporate new information from nitrogen cycle notes into their
Wal-Mart presentation |
INQUIRY: Carbon Cycle, Why CO2 is important. |
|
INQUIRY: How Greenhouse
Effect works, Global Warming How it affects
Wal-Mart |
PROJECT DAY: Work With Groups to
incorporate new information from carbon cycle notes into their Wal-Mart
presentation. |
INQUIRY: Evolutionary
Consequences of Building the Big Box Company in the ecosystem. |
PRESENTATION DAY- 15- minute
presentations |
PRESENTATION DAY- 15- minute
presentations. |
Chemistry
|
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
|
CHEMISTRY BENCHMARK LESSON:
Project Introduction and Administrative Information |
Lesson Plan #1 CHEMISTRY GUIDED
INQUIRY: Topics of Interest
for the Environmental Chemist BigBX_EnCm |
Lesson Plan #1 CHEMISTRY GUIDED
INQUIRY: Topics of Interest
for the Environmental Chemist BigBX_EnCm |
CHEMISTRY REVIEW DAY: Stoichiometry and Basic Atomic
Structure of Polutants |
CHEMISTRY BENCHMARK LESSON: The Implications of Big Box
Companies on Chemistry? Research Review and PubMed research techniques |
|
Lesson Plan #2 CHEMISTRY GUIDED
INQUIRY: Chemical Pollution…
What is it? Why do we care about it? BigBX_PoCm |
Lesson Plan #2 CHEMISTRY GUIDED
INQUIRY: Chemical Pollution…
What is it? Why do we care about it? BigBX_PoCm |
PROJECT DAY 3: Research Your Company |
PROJECT DAY 4: Research Your Company |
ASSESSMENT 1: Who? What? When? Where? And Why?
To Teacher (10 min/group) |
|
CHEMISTRY BENCHMARK LESSON: What chemical did each group find?
Overlaps? Introduce Graphical Organizational Tools (venn-diagrams and
concept maps) |
PROJECT DAY 5: Research Your Chemical 1 |
PROJECT DAY 6 Research Your Chemical 2 |
PROJECT DAY 7 Research Your Chemical 3 |
CHEMISTRY REPLANNING DAY: Connect Company with Chemicals |
|
CHEMISTRY BENCHMARK LESSON: Pro vs. Con in the Chemical Sense? |
PROJECT DAY 8: Pro Day 1 |
PROJECT DAY 8: Pro Day 2/Con Day 1 |
PROJECT DAY 8: Con Day 1 |
ASSESSMENT
2: PRO/CON OF CHEMICALS PRESENTATION |
|
TIE TOGETHER 1 |
TIE TOGETHER 2 |
PRESENTATION DAY 1 |
PRESENTATION DAY 2 |
PRESENTATION DAY 3 |
Statistics
|
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
|
Anchor Video Introduction to
math Introduce Project (keep notes and
ideas in Journal) |
INQUIRY: Learn how to research using the
internet; importance of reliable resources |
INQUIRY: State by state economic break
down using Census Bureau database Research Economics in each state |
INQUIRY: State by state economic break
down using Census Bureau database Research Economics in each state |
INQUIRY: State by state economic break
down using Census Bureau database Research Economics in each state Turn
in journal. |
|
PRESENTATION Each group needs to
present the states that they were assigned. Assign each group 1 state to work
with. |
INQUIRY Reintroduce the skills to
understand the data. (Review day of statistical
theorems) |
INQUIRY: Have
students research big box store economic statistics. |
PROJECT DAY Have each group focus on a big
box store and create economic statistics for it. Create more data for assigned
state. |
PRESENTATION Each group needs to present their
big box store. Turn in journal. |
|
INQUIRY: Create methods to turn graphs,
tables, est. of numbers into mundane presentations. |
INQUIRY: Continuation of Mondays exercise. By end of the day, each group
needs to pick a big box store to focus on. |
PROJECT DAY: Each group needs to translate
their data for their state and their store into a format that non
professionals can understand. |
INQUIRY Introduce proper methods to
display the data. Have the class agree upon certain
standards for data presentation. |
INQUIRY: Global affects of big box stores
on the world’s economy. Turn in journal. |
|
INQUIRY: Comparison of the local economy
and the global economy. Just because it is good/bad for
your community, is it good/bad for the world? |
PROJECT DAY: Each project needs to have the
affects of the world economy added into their presentation. |
PROJECT DAY: Students
will rap up their presentations and journals to present them next class. |
PRESENTATION DAY- 15- minute presentations |
PRESENTATION DAY- 15- minute presentations. Turn in Journal. |
Budget
|
Product (Quantity) |
Price |
|
STATISTICS |
|
|
Microsoft Excel |
See Below |
|
BIOLOGY |
|
|
Vernier LabPro (5) |
$220.00 * 5 = $1100.00 |
|
Vernier Temperature Probes (15) |
$30.00 * 15 = $450.00 |
|
Logger Pro Software (1) |
$150.00 = $150.00 |
|
Microsoft Office Student/Teacher Edition (1) |
$64.99 = $64.99 |
|
Journals (30) |
$1.00 * 30 = $30.00 |
|
Plants (5) |
$2.50 * 5 = $12.50 |
|
Soda Lime Crystals (Small Bag) |
$15.00 |
|
Baking Soda |
$2.50 |
|
Vinegar |
$1.29 |
|
Saran Wrap |
$2.00 |
|
Bag of Soil |
$10.00 |
|
Dry Ice |
$15.00 |
|
Seashells |
$20.00 |
|
CHEMISTRY |
|
|
Used Spect 20 |
$300.00 |
|
Spect 20 Supply Kit |
$50.00 |
|
ChemStock Environmental Testing Kit (5) |
$30.00*5 = $150.00 |
|
Total |
$2373.28 |