ESL Teaching Tools for Environmental Science

Sarah O’Donnell

Cheryl Lechtanski

North Plainfield High School

Objectives

• Share a number of teaching tools– Currently in use at North Plainfield High

School– Aligns with the Sheltered Instruction

Observation Protocol (SIOP) model

Our Application of the SIOP Model

• Content (science) and language objectives

• Building background

• Scaffolding– Verbal, e.g., questioning– Procedural, e.g., partnering– Instructional, e.g., graphic organizers

• Variety of activities

Current Applications

• Environmental Science course– Sheltered– Non-sheltered

Webquests

• Virtual Tours ( http://www.efieldtrips.org )– Examples:

Field Trips

• Raptor Trust (Millington, NJ)– http://www.theraptortrust.org

Games

• Food Chain Game

• Crossword Puzzles– Water Pollution

Games

• Food Chain Game (based on Loch Ness)– http://www.3dlochness.com/schools-info.htm

Games

• Crossword Puzzles– Water Pollution Crossword Puzzle

(http://www.puzzlemaker.com )

Activities

• White Deer Population

• Think, Pair, Share

• Food Chains and Trophic Levels

• Draw an Atom

Activities• White Deer Population

– Adapted from Penn State Environment and Ecological Lesson Plan Series, where students

• Calculate deer population growth on a deer farm where harvesting occurs

• Analyze data and suggest good management practices

Activities

• Think, Pair, Share– Build an animal

• Assessment on understanding of adaptation, where students

– Select a biome– Create a fictitious animal with adaptations that allow it to

survive in the chosen biome– List the specific adaptations and their survival benefits– Present work to class

Activities

• Food Chains and Trophic Levels, where students– Learn new vocabulary– Identify a list of organisms as producers,

consumers, or decomposers

Activities

• Draw an Atom– Assessment on the components of an atom

• Each student draws an atom from the Periodic Table

Labs

• Mark and Recapture Lab

• Dew Point Lab

• What is a Greenhouse? Lab

• pH Lab: Do we have acid rain?

Labs• Mark and Recapture Lab, where students

– Learn concepts and vocabulary of population size estimation

– Apply mark and recapture procedure using peanuts, paper bags and markers

– Evaluate pros and cons of procedure

Labs

• Dew Point Lab, where students– Learn concept and vocabulary of ‘dew point’– Measure ‘dew point’ using the cold can

method– Write a summary of what they learned

Labs

• What is a Greenhouse? Lab– EPA Report No. EPA/600/R-93/126. U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency – http://www.ucar.edu/learn/1_3_2_12t.htm

Labs• pH Lab: Do we have acid rain in North

Plainfield?, where students– Learn and apply pH scale– Compare pH of tap water, rain water, cola,

vinegar and soapy water