STEM MI Champions: Leading Project-Based Learning

If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.
You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

carko pbl Animal Adaptations

Project Overview Part 1: Define

Teacher(s) Name(s): Carl Arko

Name of Project:	Creature Features	Duration: 3-4 weeks
Subject/Course:	Science	Grade Level: 4
Other subject areas to be included, if any:	Social Studies/Writing

Project Idea Summary of the issue, challenge, investigation, scenario, or problem:	Students will choose an animal located in a specific region of the United States. They will then research their animal and the region it is located in. Students will acquire 6 total images of their animal and region. These images and information gathered will be used to create a narrated story using Photostory 3.
Driving Questions	How do animals survive?
Content and Skills Standards to be addressed:	S.IA.04.14 Develop research strategies and skills for information gathering and problem solving. L.EV.04.21 Identify individual differences (color, leg length, size, wing size, ;eaf shape) in organisms of the same kind. * L.EV.04.22 Identify how variations in physical characteristics ofindividual organisms give them an advantage forsurvival and reproduction. 4 – G1.0.1 Identify questions geographers ask in examining the United States (e.g., Where it is? What is it like there? How is it connected to other places?). 4 – G2.0.1 Describe ways in which the United States can be divided into different regions (e.g., political regions, economic regions, landform regions, vegetation regions). 4 – G2.0.2 Compare human and physical characteristics of a region to which Michigan belongs (e.g., Great Lakes, Midwest) with those of another region in the United States. W.GN.04.04 Use the writing process to produce and present a research project using a teacher-approved topic; find and narrow research questions; use a variety of resources;take notes; and organize relevant information to draw conclusions.

...

		T+A	E		T+A	E
21st Century Skills to be expliscitly taught and assessed (T+A) or that will eb encouraged (E) by projectwork, but not taught or assessed:	Collaboration			Other:
	Presentation	x
	Critical Thinking		x

...

					Presentation Audience:
Culminating Products and Performances	Group:				Class:	x
					School:
					Community:
	Individual: Students will create an animal adaptation photostory using Photostory 3. This story will include 6 images of their animal. The story will information on adaptations and the United States region their animal is located in.				Experts:
					Web:
					Other:

Part 2: Design

"Grabber" to launch inquiry & generate interest:	United Streaming Animals Around Us	Students will create a drawing of an animal. The animal must be fictional.
Assessments:	Formative Assessments: (Checkpoints during Project)	Quizzes/Tests	x	Practice Presentations	x
		Journal/Learning Log		Notes
		Preliminary Plans/Outlines/Prototypes		Checklists
		Rough Drafts	x	Concept Maps
		Online Tests/Exams		Other:
	Summative Assessments: (End of Project)	Written Product(s), with rubric:	x	Other Product(s) or Performance(s), with rubric:
		Oral Presentation, with rubric	x	Peer Evaluation
		Multiple Choice/Short Answer Test	x	Self-Evaluation
		Essay Test		Other:

Debriefing Methods	(Individual, Group, and/or Whole Class)	Journal/Learning Log		Focus Group
		Whole-Class discussion	x	Fishbowl Discussion
		Survey		Other:

...

Resources Needed	On-site people, facilities:	Classroom teacher, computer lab teacher
	Equipment:	access to computer lab
	Materials:	Photostory 3, United Streaming account
	Community resources:	DNR

Project Teaching and Learning Guide

Project:		Course/Semester:
Knowledge and Skills Needed by Students to successfully complete culminating products and performances, and do well on summative assessments		Scaffolding/Materials/Lessons to be Provided by the project teacher, other teachers, experts, mentors, community members--*Describe the active teaching needed to support learning*
Whole class KWHL chart	->	Students will begin to answer the questions, "What is an adaptation and what is a region?" The KWHL chart will be set up on the smartboard for students to refer back to. Students will build their vocabulary list in the "L" section of the KWHL chart.
Expose students to species of animals and explore the region they belong to	->	Watch the video Animals Around Us located on United Streaming. Listen to a presentation put on by the Department of Natural Resources.
Conduct research	->	Give students an example topic to research and explore what information can be found.
Retrieve photographs from websites	->	Demonstrate the process of finding an image and saving it to a network.
How to use a graphic organizer to complete a research paper	->	Model a research topic using the graphic organizer.
Peer editing	->	Edit a piece of writing as a class checking for grammar, spelling and punctuation.
Creating a photostory using Photostory 3	->	Model a presentation using Photostory 3.
	->
	->
	->

Project Calendar (Project should be 1 or more weeks)

Project Start Date:

Week(s)	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
One	Lesson 1 How do animals survive? Class discussion DNR presentation	Lesson 2 Creature creation grabber	Lesson 3 United Streaming Animals Around Us	Lesson 4 KWHL What is an adaptation? What is a region?	Lesson 5 Games and Activities www.ecokids.ca
Two	Lesson 6 Choose animal Locate United States Region	Lesson 7 Research Information and animal photographs	Lesson 8 Research Information and animal photographs	Lesson 9 Animal story rough draft	Lesson 10 Animal story edit rough draft
Three	Lesson 11 Animal story Final copy	Lesson 12 Photostory 3	Lesson 13 Photostory 3	Lesson 14 Photostory 3	Lesson 15 Photostory 3 final presentations
Four
Five
Six
Seven

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.