Introduction |
| Anchor Video |
| Concept Map |
| Project Calendar |
| Lesson Plans |
| Letter to Parents |
| Assessments |
| Resources |
| Modifications |
| Grant |
Dear Parent or Guardian,
This semester in science class, your child will participate in a project called “How Can We Prevent Chemical Pollution and Waste?” This project challenges students to use their knowledge of dimensional analysis, stoichiometry, solvents, acids and bases, ecology and impacts of pollution to critically evaluate a lab activity from a general chemistry lab from a local school or college. The goal is to have students recognize where improvements can be made in an experiment that would reduce or eliminate waste (pollution), prevent use of hazardous materials, and use resources more efficiently. Those objectives are commonly referred to as the green chemistry principles. Students then serve as advisors by developing improvements to the experiment or developing an alternative experiment that still conveys the same concepts as the original experiment and complies with the green chemistry principles. This investigation serves as the end of the year “capstone” project for students to apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills to solve a real chemistry problem in the community.
In order to address chemical pollution from a green chemistry perspective, students will be involved in several lab activities that connect ecology with chemistry over the course of four and a half weeks. The ecological activities consist of a lab and internet research aimed at helping them discover how pollution affects plant life in Barton Creek, a popular creek in Austin. Another lab will have students create their own habitat to discover and report through a presentation the effects of pollution on both plant and animal life.
Students will only be required to purchase a bound notebook and one poster board for the project. The notebook will be used to record observations and data for the project and the poster board will be used for the final presentation. Students are not required to have materials other this.
Students will be provided with a project calendar, which will include milestone dates for the project. Student work will be collected on each of the milestone dates in order to monitor the progress of each group and each student. We will provide feedback to the students in the form of notes made to the student work as well as scheduled meetings with groups and individual students if needed.
Each student will keep a research notebook for the project. Each day students will record data and observations pertaining to the project. The research notebook will be collected every Friday. The research notebook will be read in order monitor the progress of each group and each student. Comments will be made in the notebook in order to provide students feedback and guidance as they work on their project.
The research project will end with a final portfolio and oral presentation. The final portfolio will be a collection of the revised milestones written by the groups throughout the project. The oral presentation will allow the students to share their information with others in the class and possible guests. The students will be required to present a detailed talk about their project, aided with visual representations such as a project poster or a power point slide show. This visual representation may include photos, and/or drawing that will illustrate their study area, methods used, summary of data collected, data analysis, the organisms studied, and any other information that pertains to their research. The students may choose to design a web page instead of completing an oral presentation.
The students will be evaluated on their team work as well as on individual efforts. They are required to produce a final product while working with other group members effectively and respectfully. This will prepare the students for real life experiences where projects are often a result of group collaboration in the work place.
I encourage you to discuss your child’s progress with this project with them. Feel free to contact us at (555) 555-5555 if you have any questions.
Please sign below so that we know that you have seen this letter. Thank you for your time and interest.
Sincerely,
Kristine Calderon, Katie Larsen, Loree Campbell