Implementation Plan

for using

(http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/squareproj/index.html)

Square of Life is an internet-based collaborative project that allows students to share information about the plants, animals and non-living objects found in their schoolyard environment with other students from around the country and the world. The project spans a wide range of subject areas including: science, math, language arts, reading, geography and social studies.

The science program in place in the Springfield Public Schools is the Full Option Science System (FOSS) curriculum. Third grade teachers are required to teach four modules, Measurement, Structures of Life, Physics of Sound and Earth Materials. Scientific inquiry is present throughout the curriculum. The problem teachers face is not having enough material to teach science on a regular basis. This collaborative project will give teachers a good unit of instruction to supplement their curriculum.

Third grade teachers will be presented with the opportunity to participate in this collaborative project. It will allow students a chance to be 'real' scientists. Students will participate in all activities. The first set of activities will introduce the students to the Internet-based collaborative project and the partner schools with whom they will be working. They will  use a map to find the location of other schools that are participating in the project. Additionally, students will construct a definition of "environment" through several opened ended exploration activities. The last part of the introductory activities will help the students develop the skills of observation and classification.

The second set of activities will be the investigation. First, students will predict what they will find in their square by drawing a sketch which will include animals, plants and non-living objects. In the next activity, they will visit their square and spend about a half hour observing the animals, plants and non-living objects that are in their square. They will draw a sketch of their square based on their observations and use it to evaluate their initial prediction. The third activity will have the students return to their square and conduct a more in-depth investigation of what is in it. In this investigation they will be working in groups to observe plants, animals, and non-living objects and record their findings in detail. The final activity of this part will have the students summarizing their data and sharing it with all of the other participating schools.

In the final activity, students will work in their teams to review the data posted from their partners around the world. Each team will be responsible for constructing a final presentation that will include a model or drawing of their own square and a re-creation of a square from a partner school. Each group will also write a summary of their project and display it with the square reconstruction.

The collaborative unit will take place over twelve weeks. Each week the activities are expected to take roughly two hours spread across several days to complete.

The local standards, benchmarks, and body of knowledge have been revised to reflect a scope and sequence of activities that will lead to scientific literacy. However, because the teachers do not have resources to teach the new standards, the 2000-2001 standards will be in place next year. For that reason, I have made connections to the national and state benchmarks, from which our new local benchmarks were built.

Learning Standard 11A: Know and apply the concepts, principles and processes of scientific inquiry.

• Plans and conducts simple investigations (e.g., makes systematic observations, conducts simple experiments to answer questions);
• Uses simple equipment and tools to gather scientific data and extend the senses (e.g., rulers, thermometers, magnifiers, microscopes, calculators)

Learning Standard 12C: Know and apply concepts that describe properties of matter and energy and the interactions between them.

• Knows that different objects are made up of many different types of materials (e.g. cloth, paper, wood, metal) and have many different observable properties (e.g., color, size, shape, weight)
• Knows that objects can be classified according to their properties
• Classifies objects according to their properties

Additional thinking and reasoning benchmarks:
 

• Identifies the similarities and differences between persons, places, things, and events using concrete criteria
• Describes and compares things in terms of number, shape, texture, size, weight, color, motion, sound, and behavior
• Recognizes simple patterns in the surrounding events and objects
• Keeps a notebook that describes observations made
• Attempts to verify the results of experiments done by others
• Distinguishes between actual observations and ideas or conclusions about what was observed
• Makes records of observations regarding time and place to formulate hypotheses

   

Very few resources are needed for this project. The classroom should have an internet connection, which all classroom teachers in our district already have. Other supplies are common in buildings- paper, crayons, etc. A camera is optional. Most schools have a digital camera for classroom use. Those who don't can check one out from computer services.