Understanding our Environment

A Comprehensive Study of the Plant Life Around Us

 Instructor: Francia Wilson ScienceGrade 8 - 12 New York State Standards 

1.       RATIONALE: Why did you decide to do this project?        My rationale behind this project was to stimulate the children into thinking of progressive solutions to some of our environmental concerns by a thorough execution of the scientific process. I want my students to have a long term project that would progress over the school term that would simulate what scientists would do when attempting to find solutions.  Students tend to rush or simplify the research of their science projects due to procrastination or generally busy schedules. I hoped I could help them see the practice of a long term science project in the background of general day-to-day activities. 2. cont'd on slide 11

A. In the Zones      Assignment:• Determine plants that can be grown

in various zones• Use 

Tom Snyder Program TimeLiner XE to plot the US zones and a few examples of plants in that zone.

• Find trees in various zones• Find pictures and general

information about the trees, the zones

Resources:

The United States National Arboretum 

Winter Gardens 

Search the Tree Encyclopedia 

B.    What Plants Promote Energy Conservation? 

Tasks:Team Presentation   - What human activities and global situations are affecting plants?

- What plants are being used in energy conservation?

- How are plants being used in energy conservation?

-Figure out if plants can help air quality.

Resources:The United Nations Environment Program  NASA StudyTree Hugger National Geographic online  Provide independent research of news article and other resources by you in the library and online. Record at least two citations you found on your own.

C. What is the Greenhouse Effect?

What are solutions to this problem?

• Make a Google Doc presentation with 3-5 slides

• Include at least 3 images• Must have at least 2 references

D. In the lake, in the desert, in the rainforest or Mars?

 Let's grow tomatoes!- Desert (open container) – Tropical (closed container) – Martian (closed container) – Water (open container) Compare their growth.Handouts and Guides will be distributed during lab time. 

Use Google Spreadsheet to record data and share this document with your team.• Record container Temperatures, Plant

height, color, flowers, fruits• Create graphs of your data.• Determine what environments best

suited growing

E. Pic it, Blog it, Share it. 

We will compile pictures, graphs, updates and summaries of our projects and presentations on our community blog. 

We will come up with a name for our blog as a class, related to the environment and what we are learning about it. 

Keep in mind, we will be using Google technology start to finish in order to share with each other and for consistency. 

How You Will Be Graded

List of Helpful Siteshttp://www.lessonplanspage.com/ScienceSSMars5RealGreenhouseEffect56.htmhttp://www.lessonplanspage.com/ScienceSSMars5BuildGreenhouseWorksheet.htmhttp://www.tomatosphere.org/teacher-resources/teachers-guide/grades-8-10/mars-greenhouse.cfmhttp://www.glenrosearkansasffa.org/lesson%20plans.htmhttp://sftrc.cas.psu.edu/LessonPlans/Forestry/Forestry9to12.htmlhttp://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/advancedsearch.cfmhttp://sftrc.cas.psu.edu/LessonPlans/Forestry/PDFs/SummerKeyForTrees.pdfhttp://www.nationalgeographic.com/http://www.naturalhub.com/vegetable_gardening_in_winter.htmhttp://www.treehugger.com/files/2004/10/top_5_plants_fo.phphttp://www.unep.org/http://www.zone10.com/tech/NASA/Fyh.htmhttp://www.tomsnyder.com/timelinerxe/http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/25feb_greenhouses.htm

2.      OBJECTIVES: Subject area, grade level(s), and specific instructional objectives      This is for natural science 9-12. See the standard below for instructional objectives.3.      New York State Learning Standard or National Educational Technology Standard addressed

SCIENCESTANDARD 1

Scientific InquiryStudents will use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design, as appropriate, to pose questions, seek answers, and develop solutions. Key Idea: The central purpose of scientific inquiry is to develop explanations of natural phenomena in a continuing, creative process. 

4.      MATERIALS: A list of required materials: software, Internet sites, hardware, peripherals, handouts, transparencies, etc.  Note:  No worksheets or tests should be included unless they involve technology.Timeliner XE from Tom Snyder/Scholastic, Data Collection Probes, Greenhouse building handouts, Google Docs, Computers for 1-2 students each, Large Jars, Aquariums, Soil, Water, Charcoal, Foil, Saran Wrap, Internet connection, whiteboard or projector, digital cameras, tomato plants

 

5.      CLASS ORGANIZATION: Will you use a single large-screen monitor?  Will two or more students share a computer?  Very possibly, classroom organization will vary from lesson to lesson or even within lessons.  You may plan your instructional situation based on either: (1) an ideal set-up, or (2) the actual set-up in your school or another school with which you are familiar.      Students will have individual computer time and team computer time. Class teams will be assigned at the beginning of the year. As the year progresses, students may be switched around by me, depending on their progress. 

6.      PROCEDURE: Step-by-step plans for the progress of each lesson in the unit.        Outline of the plan will be found in an online folder all students have access to. This folder will include handouts and links to labs and research resources.      http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dcj3zkp9_27vc92jbks  I just realized that at this time, Google does not allow one to share entire folders, but they have said this is to change soon. I may find a wiki program suitable to my students to upload the items of the Google Docs folders if necessary. Also, I’ve just realized that Google Docs beta does not support pasting spreadsheets into the presentations. This is a key, basic feature that I will work around by capturing images of the spreadsheets and pasting them as images. But if this does not work out, I may start to research other shareware available. If I have time, I will teach them how to turn the spreadsheet into a jpeg using Paint.net (like I did) to insert into their presentations.