Driving question: How can we best utilize local vacant land to produce biomass for fueling our cars?
Timeline
Overview of Timeline
Focus on Teacher
At the beginning of the unit we will introduce the idea of problem-based learning, explaining to students how this type of unit will be different from other types of learning that they have been doing. We will discuss the fact that they will be in charge of most of their learning and emphasize both the voice & choice they will have as well as the responsibility that goes along with that. We will then give students a look ahead at how we envision the unit to go (basically go over the timeline with the students).
For the entry event, we will show a clip of a new Mad Max movie/game that shows a bleak and heartless future world after all the world’s oil has been used up. That will be followed by having the students read an article about violence that occurred due to long gas lines during the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970’s.
Just-in-time direct instruction will include mini-lectures on topics like photosynthesis, enzyme, and cellular respiration, etc., as needed.
This instruction will be used whenever pretest results and/or journal reflections and conversations with students indicate that they have forgotten material that was taught/learned previously during the year.
Focus on Students
Students will undertake both computer research and lab activities, in addition to others. Topics for which we will have lab activities available will include photosynthesis, respiration, enzymes and the effects of pH and temperature, as well as an additional enzyme lab. In order to ensure that student groups will explore the problem from multiple perspectives, students will self-sort by interest (eg. land use, economic or biological perspectives) when groups are formed.
To address the driving question and support their conclusion(s), students will collect and analyze information from computer searches and associated web sites, lab activities, class activities (eg. Carbon Cycle activity & Biofuel Life Cycle activity) and guest lecture(s). Other sources of information, depending on the direction of the group, may include needed mini-lectures, interviews with local government officials and/or other community experts, etc.
Lesson plans, with resources, are detailed day-by-day in the Student Activities: Materials section. The Carbon Cycle activity and the Biofuel Life Cycle activity are required, class-wide activities. The laboratory activities (photosynthesis, respiration, combustion, calorimetry and enzyme labs) will be offered for the benefit of the students who want the review. (Students will have already covered the material and lab activities earlier in the school year). The labs will be offered two at a time (two on each lab day), and students will have the option of having single group members participate as topic “experts”.
Students will be able to feel both ownership and a desire to be actively involved in the project because of the “voice and choice” that they will have. Students will self-select their interest groups, which will help determine the approach each group will follow to answer the driving question. The actual direction taken will be determined by the students. Students will also determine what information they need to collect and in which of the offered lab activities they will participate. By being the ones to make these decisions, students will then be responsible for the outcomes.
Students will engage in higher order thinking not so much because of the activities in which they engage, but because of the planning they will need to do, and particularly the reflections they make. With planning both the directions and the details of their projects and products, they will need to think in ways that they normally might not. Reflections in particular, by their very nature, tend to lead to higher order thinking. This is greatly influenced by the teacher, so in all instances of debriefing and group discussions, as well as in written reflection prompts, the teacher will ask the types of questions that lead to higher order thinking (Why do you think that? What evidence do you have? Does that tell you what you need to know? In what way will that help answer the question? How does that relate to …? What thoughts does that give you? What does that mean in terms of …? So, if you were to … what do you think would happen?)
Prior to the process of group formation, the teacher and class will discuss group process and the specific individual roles needed by the group as a whole. As the groups form, students will self-select the roles to be filled by each member.
Focus on Content
Details of the timeline and activities can be found in the Student Activities section, under Timeline and Materials. The connections between activities and student biofuel content knowledge are described in the daily lesson plans.
At the beginning of the unit we will introduce the idea of problem-based learning, explaining to students how this type of unit will be different from other types of learning that they have been doing. We will discuss the fact that they will be in charge of most of their learning and emphasize both the voice & choice they will have as well as the responsibility that goes along with that. We will then give students a look ahead at how we envision the unit to go (basically go over the timeline with the students).
For the entry event, we will show a clip of a new Mad Max movie/game that shows a bleak and heartless future world after all the world’s oil has been used up. That will be followed by having the students read an article about violence that occurred due to long gas lines during the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970’s.
Just-in-time direct instruction will include mini-lectures on topics like photosynthesis, enzyme, and cellular respiration, etc., as needed.
This instruction will be used whenever pretest results and/or journal reflections and conversations with students indicate that they have forgotten material that was taught/learned previously during the year.
Focus on Students
Students will undertake both computer research and lab activities, in addition to others. Topics for which we will have lab activities available will include photosynthesis, respiration, enzymes and the effects of pH and temperature, as well as an additional enzyme lab. In order to ensure that student groups will explore the problem from multiple perspectives, students will self-sort by interest (eg. land use, economic or biological perspectives) when groups are formed.
To address the driving question and support their conclusion(s), students will collect and analyze information from computer searches and associated web sites, lab activities, class activities (eg. Carbon Cycle activity & Biofuel Life Cycle activity) and guest lecture(s). Other sources of information, depending on the direction of the group, may include needed mini-lectures, interviews with local government officials and/or other community experts, etc.
Lesson plans, with resources, are detailed day-by-day in the Student Activities: Materials section. The Carbon Cycle activity and the Biofuel Life Cycle activity are required, class-wide activities. The laboratory activities (photosynthesis, respiration, combustion, calorimetry and enzyme labs) will be offered for the benefit of the students who want the review. (Students will have already covered the material and lab activities earlier in the school year). The labs will be offered two at a time (two on each lab day), and students will have the option of having single group members participate as topic “experts”.
Students will be able to feel both ownership and a desire to be actively involved in the project because of the “voice and choice” that they will have. Students will self-select their interest groups, which will help determine the approach each group will follow to answer the driving question. The actual direction taken will be determined by the students. Students will also determine what information they need to collect and in which of the offered lab activities they will participate. By being the ones to make these decisions, students will then be responsible for the outcomes.
Students will engage in higher order thinking not so much because of the activities in which they engage, but because of the planning they will need to do, and particularly the reflections they make. With planning both the directions and the details of their projects and products, they will need to think in ways that they normally might not. Reflections in particular, by their very nature, tend to lead to higher order thinking. This is greatly influenced by the teacher, so in all instances of debriefing and group discussions, as well as in written reflection prompts, the teacher will ask the types of questions that lead to higher order thinking (Why do you think that? What evidence do you have? Does that tell you what you need to know? In what way will that help answer the question? How does that relate to …? What thoughts does that give you? What does that mean in terms of …? So, if you were to … what do you think would happen?)
Prior to the process of group formation, the teacher and class will discuss group process and the specific individual roles needed by the group as a whole. As the groups form, students will self-select the roles to be filled by each member.
Focus on Content
Details of the timeline and activities can be found in the Student Activities section, under Timeline and Materials. The connections between activities and student biofuel content knowledge are described in the daily lesson plans.
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