Project Template

At the beginning of the biology unit, the teacher should spend a day helping the students to develop good web search skills and an ability to find peer-reviewed articles so that they are prepared to assess and compare the reliability of different sources for specific searches. To accomplish this, the teacher will ask the students to complete three TILT (Texas Information Literacy Tutorials) modules at http://tilt.lib.utsystem.edu/ and then give the students a chance to practice their skills the following day. They will research for a current ecological problem of their choice and then post their findings on www.nicenet.org, a free web service that allows teachers to set up a webpage so that the class can easily exchange information. Not only will this be a good way for the students to communicate with each other, but the teacher can make a “Process Analysis” assessment of what the students still need help on and effectively intervene.

After some discussion on food chains, food webs, and food pyramids, the teacher should link the connection of how introducing a new disturbance (ex. corporate construction) will affect the ecosystem (disruption of food webs, loss of habitat, climate changes and the greenhouse effect, altered nutrient cycles: carbon, water, nitrogen) and to what extent the impact will endure (global warming, evolutionary consequences). A website that will help students monitor how the nutrient cycles are currently changing is http://www.epa.gov/. Some real concerns that arise from building a big box company like Walmart are the release of fossil fuels from trucks and factories in operation, energy waste, electronic waste, increased packaging, rapid use of unrenewable resources, an accumulation of waste building materials, and increased water consumption. The EPA has cited Walmart, who produces nearly 250 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, of both the Clean Air and Clean Water violations. Although Walmart CEO Lee Scott has stated the company’s initiative in undertaking environmental sustainability efforts in an October 2005 speech, there are many concerns that remain because of the repeated environmental offenses and Walmart’s history of building in environmentally-sensitive areas. Because Walmart is an internationally recognized corporation and reaches to such a wide scope of people, it has the leadership potential to make some dramatically positive changes in the environment. Some references to look at in this area are http://walmartwatch.com/environment , http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9815727 , and http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=435.

It should first be noted that this is a unit which is very difficult to implement as it can be done as a stand alone unit, however, is much more effective in the context of the other two content areas, namely Biology and Applied Mathematics. This Chemistry unit would work very well as an end of the year “Sum Up” of the topic covered all year as it does encompass every unit taught in a General Chemistry curriculum including (but not limited to): Atomic Structure, Electrons and Chemical Periodicity, Molecular Structure and Bonding, Conservation of Mass and Stoichiometry, Gas Laws, Solids/Liquids and Solution Chemistry, Acids and Bases, Kinetics and Thermodynamics, Electrochemistry and Basic Organic Synthesis. It is important to have a general understanding of all of the above topics as the understanding is imperative for the students to develop their knowledge of Environmental Chemistry.

To prepare to teach this curriculum, the teacher should familiarize him or herself with current issues in chemistry. A great source of this information is your current newspaper as most of them have a science section which can correlate to the topics covered in this unit. Historical information, specifically Lawsuits which involve pollution and harmful chemical can be found on environmentalchemist.com or any of the websites listed in the first section of the Resource List provided. Teacher should also make sure that his or her own classroom has MSDS information readily available (whether online or in a chemical text) in order to reference chemicals that are not commonly known. When teacher is distributing chemicals for each group to research, the teacher should tell the students to use the MSDS information to understand the intrinsic properties of each chemical in order to get a general understanding before the teacher sends students to the literature about that substance.

The purpose of this unit is to allow students to research some of the harmful emissions that result from a Big Box company being built in their neighborhood. Specifically in the chemistry content area of the Project Based Unit, not much positive can be drawn from such a construction. With the obvious negative implications it is important that the teacher be aware of the sensitivities embedded into the students and parents that they are working with and it is crucial that the educator incorporates this when presenting the topics to the students. All of the lesson plans that are used in this lesson are available in the resource list and students should be always have access to the internet during class in order to investigate concepts and theories that may result from their research. With this in mind, it is also imperative that the teacher has done a benchmark lesson on credentialing internet material so that students are aware of where the information that they are reading is coming from.

The main purpose of this project is to allow your students to prepare for the AP statistics tests and to demonstrate their understanding of statistics to you. They will have succeeded in this task when they can completely translate statistical information into laymen’s terms.

When this project was created, there was a lot of tension surrounding the construction Wall Mart type businesses. If that is not the case now, then you should refocus the project around any controversial business that could have negative impacts on your students’ community.

Because most of this project is a review and student lead, there should be much of a need for you to lead any large class discussions. If the students are lacking in any area of the course, there are more then enough project days to sacrifice a few in order to review the material. I highly recommend having the students who understand the material instruct those who do not fully comprehend it.

The project is pretty straight forward, and you should not have to devote much outside time to it. The students need to keep their journals up to date and you need to make sure this happens. Check them every weekend. Make sure that it is of a professional quality. The journal should be written in ink, each entry dated, and complete thoughts should be used.

What Effects Would a Big Box Store Have on Your Community?