Environment

=SCIENCE- Saving our Environment = =By Lauren Field =

 Third Grade Lesson Overview This lesson would be found within a unit that focuses on the environment. However, it would focus on one aspect of the environment, namely the effect that humans have on the earth. While the unit itself may last a week or more, this lesson really doesn't last more than a day or two. The main goal of this lesson is for children to realize the impact that even they have on the environment, and how they can help the planet through simple changes in their everyday lives. Through this lesson the students will directly increase their infomation inquiry skills, particuarily since this lesson focuses on providing students with oppurtunities for discussion and debate among their peers.(Callison 106) While they may still be young learners, this initial type of teacher lead discussion, focusing on a list of questions provided by the instructor, will model for them the appropriate steps to take in analyzing new information. The subsequent art project created by the students focuses more on the information inquiry skill that improves the public communication of student ideas and work to their classmates. (Callison 105)

3.1.8 Describe how discarded products contribute to the problem of waste disposal and that recycling can help to solve the problem.
 * Indiana Standard - Science**

3.1.5 Connect learning to community issues. 3.2.3 Demonstrate teamwork by working productively with others.
 * 21st Century AASL Standard**

1. Bring in the book //The Lorax//, by Dr. Suess. Have the class listen to the book, and after reading it allowed, have them break up into teams to complete the following worksheet. [|Project 2 3rd grade worksheet.doc](Another option is to bring in the 1972 film/cartoon version of the book. But I always prefer books to film!)
 * Lesson Plan:**

2. Lead a class discussion where the students share their responses to each of the questions. Most importantly, have them discuss the final opinion question. This will help you to lead into the activity.

3. List all their character descriptions of the Once-Ler and The Lorax on the board, and then ask them what things they might do in their own lives that make the more like the Once-ler and the Lorax. Make sure to make it clear to them that EVERYONE will have qualities found in each character.

4. Have the school librarian put together a cart that contains books and magazines about everything from recycling to water conservation to air pollution. Allow students to look through the cart and find an ecology topic that interests them. They are still working as teams at this point.

5. Each team is assigned to create a poster that will help inspire the school to take action to help protect the environment. THese posters will then be hung around the school. Like the rock the Lorax leaves that reads "UNLESS" the students have now created their own messages to promote environmental awareness.

6. Have students present their posters to their class, then have them hang the posters upon the walls in teh classroom, or better yet, in the halls of the school (make sure to get the Principal permission!)

Each poster is graded based on information presented, originality, imagination and cleanliness. The most important thing is that the students are finding ways to relay to their peers the importance of taking care of the Earth.
 * Assessment**

Whereas the previous lesson focused on just the bare bones of taking care of the environment, with these older students the focus is more on certain aspects of Ecology; most importantly Global Warming.

   Eighth Grade Lesson Overview This Lesson takes place within a unit focusing on Societies' impact on the environment. Students will focus on the cause and effect of global warming and what they can do to help correct this global dilemma. The main information inquiry skill that the the students will improve in this lesson will be the application of results of experiments to scientific arguments and explanations.(Callison, 106) The lesson is meant to provoke and improve their understanding of the effects of greenhouse gases, but also to ultimately provoke them into thinking of ways to apply their learning to the real world and environment. This lesson also improves their experiential, inductive, hands-on learning skills, as it is primarily the experiment, followed by a discussion.(Callison 105) This lesson places an emphasis on meta-cognition, as there is more focus on the student moving from a discussion on what they know, to a questioning phase where they share their ideas with peers, to the actual task of the experiment.(Callison 435-6) This is all followed by the debriefing where the student shares their learning, and then continue on by reflecting what implications their new knowledge has one their world. It could hopefully be taken one step further, and that would be if the student makes alterations to their lifestyle based on the evaluation they did of the information they learned. While the role of the teacher is vital in aiding the students through the experience and discussion, it is not central. The students may, at this point, be able to develop their own questions and lead the discussion with little teacher interference.

8.3.6 Understand and explain that the benefits of Earth's resources, such as fresh air, water, soil, and trees, are finite and can be reduced by using them wastefully or by delibrately or accidentally destroying them.
 * Indiana Standard-Science**

3.2.2 Show social responsibility by participating actively with others in learning situations and by contributing questions and ideas during group discussions.
 * 21st Century AASL Standard**

You will need the following __supplies__: You will need a very sunny workspace, or very strong table lamps on a level surface, 2 thermometers, 1 jar or see through container, a copy of the worksheet for each team[|The Greenhouse Effect.doc], a stopwatch or timer, and most importantly, a well controlled canister of Co2. The teacher will have a jar and apparatus that saturates the inside of the container with enough C02 to force out the oxygen. Within the jar, there is a thermometer that the teacher can assign a student to read a periodic intervals. Due to the caution necessary dealing with this gas, this must be handled by the Teacher ONLY! (Please do not try this activity- I am an english major, and this is for a class project ONLY!)
 * Lesson Plan:**

__Activity__: Discuss with the class the definition of Greenhouse effect. This can be best represented by asking them what happens in the summer inside of a car if the windows are rolled up. Most students should explain that the internal temp on a car is much hotter then the outside temperature. THis is also a great time to ask them if they know anything about green house gases: what they may be composed of, what they my be caused by, and how humans come affect the levels of said gases. Before heading outside, have the students share their hypothesies on what they think will happen. Break the class up into teams of 4, and head outside or to lab stations.

1. Allow the thermometers to sit outside for at least 3 minutes, so that they both read the same temperature. Once this is acchieved, have students record the starting temperature.

2. Now have each group place one thermometer under the jar, and leave one out in the sun. All teammates must make sure they do not cast shadows on this experiment, as it could skew their results.

3. Students may start their stopwatches/timers as soon as they place the jar over the thermometer. They should proceed to take a reading every minute for ten minutes, and record their findings on their worksheets.

While the students are recording their data on their own thermometers, select 2 students to maintain the teachers jar filled with Co2. THey need to do the same as the rest of the class, and take measurements every minute for 10 minutes. (Please don't try this at home!)

4. Once every team has finished their experiment, they need to return to their lab desks and work as a team to create a graph that represents their findings.

Basically, their notes should reflect that the thermometer that was outside the jar did not change temperature much at all, while the one in the jar changes more drastically. At this point the teacher should also ask the two person Co2 team to present their findings, and see if the Co2 had any affect on internal temperature in the jar. The results should show that the jar with the Co2 in it changed the most drastically.

Question the students on whether or not their original hypothesies were correct. Why do they think the Co2 internal temperature got the hottest? What do they think produces these kinds of gases in the world? Share with them the source of most Co2, and explain to them how while the greenhouse effect helps keep the atmosphere warm and stable, the addition of too much pollution makes the temperature too hot, and can actually damage life, hence the term global warming. Another cause of greenhouse gases is the deforestation of trees. Without the trees to filter the air, there is a buildup or gases. Once the atmosphere gets to a point where it cannot be repaired, what do they think the effect will be on humanity. Do they feel that we have an infinite amount of atmosphere, or that our atmosphere is finite?

Ask them what they feel they could do to help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that they produce, such as carpooling or riding a bus or their bikes to school. How else might they help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Here is a great oppurtunity to expand there understanding by haveing them continue by writing a response on what they would think are ways in which they could reduce greenhouse emissions within their homes or schools. What else can be done to help? They may need to make a trip to the library to get more ideas on actions they can take to reduce their emissions.

Students will recieve a grade based on their completion and involvement in the experiment and following discussion. While this would not hold a lot of points, students could be given points ranging from 0-10 based on the following criteria: Did they work well within their team? Did they provide questions and suggestions during the discussion? Did they show reasoning skills when they explained their results? How accurately did they reflect their found data onto their graph?
 * Assessment**

Continuing the activity: Do their papers list informed ways in which they can help to make a difference? Did they find two sources that support thier essays?


 * Comparison: **

While both grades three and eight learned about certain impacts society has on the environment, the disparity between the intellectual levels of the students at the different grade levels impacted the way in which the information was relayed. The main focus of the third grade students was that they learned about how to help recycle in their neighborhood. Most eighth grade students have already had this concept drilled into them both at home and at school. Therefore, they can focus in on some of the topics that they may have little familiarity with, the example being greenhouse gases and global warming.

The most important factor in creating these lessons was not just that they learned the information, but that they did it in a way that combined both the visual and collaborative aspects of learning. The use of visual aids, like the book T__he Lorax__ and the final posters and the use of a physical/tactile experiment, allow each age level to grasp the topics covered in a more understandable way. By combining both visuals and hands on work, students are more able to interact witht he information they are presented. Second, both grades used the element of teamwork to aid them in the learning process. This will help the struggling student to learn and focus more within a small team atmosphere, and will also aid the stronger team members in developing leadership, patience, and most importantly a deeper understanding of the topic as they share the information with their peers. Team work also helps in helping students work to their stronger abilities: some students are more visual, and could be relied on to design the poster or the graph, while other students lean more towards bieng the fact finders and the recorders of information. Team work helps students play up to their strength, and at the same time works on team cooperation.

The most important inquiry skill that the third grade students focused on was the collaborative effort. Much of the learning and discussion was prompted by the teacher. This format of modeling the steps to a discussion provides the young students with the tools they will later need to use when they encounter information of their own. As they mature intellectually, the students will be able to lead their own class discussions with little or no aid from their teacher. This lesson correlates with the Indiana State Standard in science that requires thrird graders to understand the impact they have on the planet. While this could easily be taught just through the book and worksheet, the further step of creating the poster makes this lesson involve the students in an active way in protecting their planet. This correlates with the AASL Standard 3.1.5 Connect learning to community issues.

By comparison, the eighth grade students have, for the most part, mastered this discussion, and can lead it for themselves, with a little prompting from the teacher. The main focus here is that they now take information recently learned through a hands-on experiment, and connect to it discussion. More importantly, however, they can make connections between what they just learned and the real world. Through this lesson, students realize the impact they have on the Earth, particuarily in the resource of our earth's atmosphere. This reflects the Indiana State Standard in science that students will be able to understand that certain natural resources, such as clean air, are not infinite but finite, and that the supply of clean air must be handled with care. The AASL Standards are also supported by this lesson as they focus on showing social responsibility by participating actively with others in learning situations and by contributing questions and ideas during group discussions. Since this is the main outcome of the experiement itself, this standard is obviously upheld.

In all, both lesson help guide the student in some way to the final realization that we each have an impact in Earth's environment. Both Lessons focused on the questioning and wondering why things happen. Students used communication, recieved intellectual growth through books andinteractive experiments, and were able to produce a final product that sumerized their learning experience. Whether the lesson dealt with Dr. Seuss books dangerous gases, the result is the same in that students can now make informed desicions on their roles in keeping the environment healthy and pollutant free.

__1st Grade Level__** The goal of this lesson is to have first graders begin to understand that when they throw something away it doesn't just go away. Trash goes to a landfill and the landfills will eventually become full. This lesson helps build awareness about how to reduce trash. One week before the lesson keep track of how many bags of trash the class creates. Read the book __Where Does All the Garbage Go?__ by Melvin Berger. This is a Macmillian Early Science Big Book that features big photographs of the dump and trash along with simple text. After reading, explore the contents of the classroom trash. It probably has a lot of paper and maybe some recyclables. In small groups have the children brainstorm ways to make less classroom trash. They may come up with ideas such as use both sides of the paper and start a recycle box. The teacher may need to help them create ideas. As a class, discuss each groups' ideas and then vote on the best ones. Start doing those ideas in the classroom. Have the students help keep track of how many bags of trash they now create for a week. As a final product, in small groups, have the students create posters to hang in the hallway. The posters should inform other students and teachers about how they reduced their classroom trash. The poster should include how many bags of trash they made before and after the lesson and what they did to make less trash. ~Jenny C-J
 * __Additional Ideas and Resources__


 * Denise Snyder-addition for high school Biology

__Biology Standards__** B.1.41 Recognize that and describe how human being are part of Earth’s ecosystems. Note that human activities can, deliberately or inadvertently, alter the equilibrium in ecosystems. B. 1.42 Realize and explain that at time, the environmental conditions are such that plants and marine organisms grow faster than decomposers can recycle them back to the environment. Understand that layers of energy-rich organic material thus laid down have been gradually turned into great coal beds and oil pools by pressure of the overlying earth. Further understand that by burning these fossil fuels, people are passing most of the stored energy back into the environment as heat and releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide. 3.1.5 Connect learning to community issues. 3.2.3 Demonstrate teamwork by working productively with others Divide the High School Biology students into groups of three or four- eight groups in all. They will have two days to put together information visually. This group of three or four on the third day will present something about first the Air Quality, Climate Change, Energy, and Water each is affected by our environment, then each group will share information on recycling that could contribute to better air quality, not influence climate change, improve energy resources, and water resources. That will be the first four groups. The second four groups also share what they found out on what is hindering our air quality and give good consumer tips on products to help with air quality, same with climate change, energy and water. Each of those four groups share how consumers can conserve or help to improve each of those areas. It is up to each group how they put the information together. Creativity is a plus. [|http://Earth911.com] - source for information
 * __21st Century AASL Standard__ **
 * Air quality-Recycling
 * Air quality-Product Stewardship
 * Climate Change- Recycling
 * Climate change- Product Stewardship
 * Energy- Recycling
 * Energy – Product Stewardship
 * Water- Recycling
 * Water-Product Stewardship

Reflection: Brainstorm in different groups as to what was learned, put on poster paper, and share with class and see if students could think of community service projects that might help the community.
 * RUBRIC **
 * CATEGORY || **4 ** || **3 ** || **2 ** || **<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">1 ** ||
 * **<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Components of the report ** || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">All required elements are present and additional elements that add to the report (e.g., thoughtful comments, graphics) have been added. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">All required elements are present. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">One required element is missing, but additional elements that add to the report (e.g., thoughtful comments, graphics) have been added. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Several required elements are missing. ||
 * **<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Background Sources ** || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Several reputable background sources were used and cited correctly. Material is translated into student's own words. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">A few reputable background sources are used and cited correctly. Material is translated into student's own words. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">A few background sources are used and cited correctly, but some are not reputable sources. Material is translated into student's own words. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Material is directly copied rather than put into students own words and/or background sources are cited incorrectly. ||
 * **<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Participation ** || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Used time well in lab and focused attention on the experiment. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Used time pretty well. Stayed focused on the experiment most of the time. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Did the lab but did not appear very interested. Focus was lost on several occasions. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Participation was minimal OR student was hostile about participating. ||
 * **<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Analysis ** || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The relationship between the variables is discussed and trends/patterns logically analyzed. Predictions are made about what might happen if part of the lab were changed or how the experimental design could be changed. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The relationship between the variables is discussed and trends/patterns logically analyzed. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The relationship between the variables is discussed but no patterns, trends or predictions are made based on the data. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The relationship between the variables is not discussed. ||
 * **<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Appearance/Organization ** || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Group report is typed and uses headings and subheadings to visually creative organization of the material. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Group report is neatly handwritten and uses headings and subheadings to visually organize the material. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Lab report is neatly written or typed, but formatting does not help visually organize the material. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Lab report is handwritten and looks sloppy with cross-outs, multiple erasures and/or tears and creases. ||