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Itl 518 Project Based Learning Template 1
Itl 518 Project Based Learning Template 1
NGSS Standards:
3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some
organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
● [Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence could include needs and
characteristics of the organisms and habitats involved. The organisms and their
habitat make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.]
3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the
environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.
● [Clarification Statement: Examples of environmental changes could include
changes in land characteristics, water distribution, temperature, food, and other
organisms.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to a single
environmental change. Assessment does not include the greenhouse effect or
climate change.]
Classroom Composite: Brief summary of whole group and 3 learners (ELL, IEP,
Student with emotional needs) describe their assets and needs.
Your class is comprised of 23 students 13 boys and 10 girls. Three of your students
are extremely bright and school is easy for them. The majority of your students speak
good English (6) have passed the CELDT test and 3 are still ELL learners. Two students
are on an IEP, one is at grade level but has a diagnosis of Autism (mild). the other
student has ADHD and learning disabilities.
Potential Barriers to Learning:
Students are performing at varying ability levels in the classroom across curricular
domains. Students who are more academically proficient may monopolize this activity,
leaving more struggling learners on the sidelines. Students may not have sufficient
attention spans to see the various activities through to their end. Some students,
especially ELL students, may struggle with vocabulary. Some students may lack the
necessary social skills to work productively in a collaborative/cooperative setting.
Possible Misconceptions:
Accommodations/ Modifications
I will use several whole-class supports to provide access to all students during this
project. These include:
GROUPING
Grouping students in ways that benefit all students. I will make sure that ELL students
who are not yet proficient in English are supported by bilingual students and English
speakers. I will make sure that students who need social-emotional support and
practice working on peer relationships are in groups with students who will support that
growth. I will make sure that groups include a diversity of students who will support
each other’s needs and scaffold each other’s learning, and then provide additional
support myself as students work through the project. This can be done through
observing and conferring with each group to make sure all members’ needs are
being met, and by providing mini-lessons on communicating and working as a group
as the need arises. I will also provide sentence frames for students to use as they
interact and discuss their ideas as a group. I will also use individual conferencing to
ensure that students are having their needs met and benefitting from the project work;
this will involve individually looking at each student’s project journal with them and
addressing any questions or concerns that they have.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPORTS
I will work to ensure that the classroom environment supports independent study for all
students. This will be done by creating an interactive “project wall” where all artifacts
of and supports for learning can be shared: vocabulary, questions, anchor charts,
photographs, drawings, etc. Students will be able to refer to this wall when they have
questions, feel the need to reflect on their project experiences, or have questions that
arise during project work.
I will post an intended timeline of our project so that students can remember where we
have been and where we are going with our work. This will benefit all students in the
class, but also those students who need extra help organizing their thoughts and time.
I will institute flexible seating, and maintain areas in the classroom that are free of
distractions and noise, to ensure that all students are able to choose a location for work
that will most benefit them.
Gifted Students:
The nature of project-based work will ensure that these students have access to rich
learning experiences along with their peers. In task-based learning these students
often find themselves in the role of “mini teachers,” helping scaffold learning for
struggling students. However, in project work, these students will have opportunities to
serve as leaders and investigate questions that interest them. I will make sure I check
in with these students to make sure they do not feel that they are carrying the weight of
their group’s work and make sure that each group member is communicating their
individual needs to the group.
ELL Students:
ELL students often struggle with vocabulary acquisition, especially academic
vocabulary, which will be one of the factors in this project. I will make sure that these
students have adequate supports for understanding vocabulary as we move through
the project. This will include whole-class meetings where we talk about vocabulary
concepts and a word wall with subject-specific vocabulary defined with words and
pictures. I will also create anchor charts during whole-class discussions using words
and images and have these available at all times on the project wall. I will also make
sure to group ELL students with students who are bilingual in their language and also
students who are native English speakers. In this way, the ELL students will have their
language scaffolded on many different levels.
Students with autism often have a difficult time staying on track when completing
assignments or working with a group. I will provide a timeline of project work to ensure
that these students are able to recall where we have been and understand where we
are going. I will provide graphic organizers to students who need help keeping track of
their thinking and learning; these can be added to the project journals so that students
are able to store them and access them in a way that integrates them into their project
work. The anchor charts we create will also help these students access subject-specific
content any time they need to. These students may also need extra support building
and referring to background knowledge needed to move forward with project work. I will
ensure that all concepts we cover are accessible in a variety of formats, including
written (books, internet sites) and auditory (audio books, videos) so that they may refer
to these materials at any time. These students may also need extra support, and I plan
to provide additional time to work with students one-on-one or in pairs as needed to
reinforce concepts that need review or reinforcement. Students will use various forms
of recording to process their learning (science journals, web site, video) that will also
serve as a record of their learning that they may return to during future
projects/extensions
Cross-Curriculum Connections: What other standards and subjects will you address
in this project. (Visual and Performing Arts, Computer Science or Health Education)
Visual Arts:
Computer Science:
3-5.DA.8: Organize and present collected data visually to highlight relationships and
support a claim.
STAGE 1: PLANNING:
Driving Question: the Why is it important to save the honeybees and how can you
question that drives the help?
work
Collaboration: Communication:
Students will Students will be expected to
collaborate as they work communicate effectively and
together in groups respectfully within their groups and
throughout the project to with the class as a whole. They will
perform research and utilize effective communication to
present their findings. make decisions as teams regarding
They will also various choices that they will be
experience collaboration making as a group. They will also
as they work with local communicate with local experts in
experts to determine the the field via field trips, and be
threats to bees and how expected to communicate effectively
we can work together to and ask questions that build their
help bees survive and knowledge about the threats to bees
thrive. They will also and how we can help. Students will
collaborate with also explore various ways that we
individuals and groups can communicate information to a
from around the country broader audience, such as the
as they participate in a creation of web sites, writing letters,
citizen science project, and using artistic processes.
and collaborate to
create an artistic project
that speaks for the bees.
The Hook: How will I am going to use one of the total participation techniques
you engage the students (sorting) to spark the interest of the students. I am going to
and spark their interest create two categories: “Will Exist Without Bees” and “Won’t
Exist Without Bees.” I will invite students to sort a number of
objects into the two different categories, justifying their
thinking. The items are: honey, a bouquet of flowers, an apple,
an onion, a container of yogurt, a cotton tee shirt, a chocolate
bar, a bag of sugar, a canister of tea, and a bottle of nutmeg.
Post-it notes
Sunflower seeds
Potting soil
Small pots
Labels
Technology:
Community/Onsite people:
Books:
Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing by Kay Haring
Videos:
Target 1: Students will be able to describe the role of bees in our ecosystem
Standard:
3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some
organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
Guiding Questions:
● What is an ecosystem?
● What role do bees play in the ecosystem?
● Why are bees important?
● What would the world be like if there were no bees?
Suggested Vocabulary:
Community, Population, Habitat, Environment, Adaptation, Organism, Predator, Prey,
Food Chain, Food Web, Consumer, Producer, Ecosystem, Pollinator/Pollination, Pollen,
Hive, Colony, Apiary, Balance, Climate, Cycle, Dependency, Diverse, Elements,
Equilibrium, Interdependence, Interact, Season
Instructional Strategies:
● Review: What is an ecosystem? (Create anchor charts as a whole class to begin
study, place charts on project wall).
● Create KWL Chart: Bees as a whole class, inviting students to share what they
think they know and want to learn about bees.
● Group read-aloud: Explore My World: Honey Bees by Jill Esbaum. Invite
students to take notes on post-its as you read. After the reading, ask them to pair
up and share their notes. Invite students to share what they learned during the
reading, and place notes on KWL chart.
● Field trip to the UC Davis Honey & Pollination Center & Bee Haven to learn
about bees and speak with experts about bees’ roles in the ecosystem.
● Students will work individually, in pairs or in groups to research online or in
books the role of bees in the ecosystem.
● TPT “True/Not True” -- facts about bees in the ecosystem drawn from read-aloud
book
● Students will write or draw in their project journals (paper or online) three roles of
bees in ecosystem (this will serve as an assessment)
● Students will begin to generate information to populate a project wall in the
classroom and/or a student-created web site to showcase their learning.
● Word Wall with subject-specific vocabulary
● Student project journals will serve as an ongoing way for students to record their
learning and interact with teacher (formative assessment). Project journals will
be used for individual conferencing and student self-reflection.
Checkpoints:
● Group feedback during project time by conferring with individual groups to target
misconceptions, questions, and problems
● Individual comprehension will be informally assessed during individual
conference by reviewing each student’s project journal with them
● Students will write or draw in their project journals (paper or online) three roles of
bees in ecosystem; this will not be graded but used to assess understanding;
misconceptions and misinformation will be addressed with follow-up readings,
videos, or activities.
Target 2: Students will be able to share various ways bees are being threatened
Standard:
3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the
environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.
Guiding Questions:
● Why are bee populations declining?
● What threats do bees face?
● What threats are in our control, and what threats are not?
Suggested Vocabulary:
Toxic, Chemicals, Pesticides, Affect, Factor(s), Collapse, Disorder, Navigate, Sustain,
Neonicotinoids, Global, Local, Resources, Bacteria, Virus, Conditions, Development,
Disappearance, Endangered, Extinction, Threatened, Impact, Lethal, Microbes,
Mysterious, Survival
Instructional Strategies:
● Whole class watches Youtube video Why Are Bees Disappearing? B y Teen Kids
News
● Quick-write: Based on what we just watched, what do you think is the most
significant threat to bees? (Five minutes)
● Pair-Share answers with a partner; invite students to share their answers with
the whole class in whole-class discussion
● Students will work in groups to research online, in books, and/or by virtually
consulting with experts in the field, one of the reasons that bee populations are
declining. They will consolidate their research in a poster, web page,
drawing/painting, or written report detailing their chosen threat, and how that
threat is a result of ecosystem changes.
● Group discussion to revisit KWL Chart: What new information do we have about
bees? What new questions do we have?
● Students will continue to generate information to populate a project wall in the
classroom and/or a student-created web site to showcase their learning.
● Word Wall with subject-specific vocabulary
● Student project journals will serve as an ongoing way for students to record their
learning and interact with teacher (formative assessment). Project journals will
be used for individual conferencing and reflection.
Checkpoints:
● Group feedback during project time by conferring with individual groups to target
misconceptions, questions, and problems
● Individual comprehension will be informally assessed during individual
conference by reviewing each student’s project journal with them
● Group projects will be graded with rubric.
Target 3: Students will be able to explain how scientists use data to understand
phenomena in nature
(Note: To achieve this target, students will participate in the Great Sunflower Project, a
citizen science opportunity. They will grow sunflowers from seed, exploring what it
takes to grow plants, what is inside of a seed, etc. (another project altogether!). They
will plant the sunflowers on campus (additional seeds and information will be made
available for students who also want to plant seeds at home or in their community).
Students will take part in observing the sunflowers daily after they bloom, taking count
of bees according to the specifications of the survey. They will plot their numbers,
analyze data, and compare that data with neighboring counts and counts from far away
using the online data collection system embedded in the project web site. The
sunflower of choice, as specified by the project web site, is the Lemon Queen
Sunflower. This particular type of sunflower take 8-10 days to germinate, and 90 days
from planting to bloom, so teachers will have to ensure that the students begin planting
the seeds about three months prior to the bee project. The planting of the seeds can be
a part of a unit or project on plants and flowers, or a stand-alone activity to get students
excited about the upcoming bee project. Having sunflowers blooming at the school will
provide bees for students to observe up close).
Standards:
Computer Science:
3-5.DA.8: Organize and present collected data visually to highlight relationships and
support a claim.
Guiding Questions:
● How does data help scientists understand what they see in nature?
● What kinds of data can scientists collect?
● How can scientists organize their data to provide them with a picture of what is
happening in the environment?
Suggested Vocabulary:
Analysis, Application, Assessment, Data, Discovery, Evaluate, Evidence, Inquiry,,
Investigation, Measurements, Theory, Phenomena, Properties, Research, Similarity,
Difference, Technology, Digital, Interpret, Justify, Connect, Correlation, Factor,
Represent, Quantity
Instructional Strategies:
● Whole class read-aloud: Katie and the Sunflowers by James Mayhew
● Whole class will watch Youtube video: The Great Backyard Bee Count
● Explain to students that they are going to participate in a citizen science project
that is happening across the country where students like themselves and
average people get to act like real scientists. Explain the project and the
directions for performing observations.
● TPT “Anticipatory Guides” Create true/false statements about what the students
might encounter during their observations as a way to prime them to consider
other factors when looking at data. For example: “I will see more bees when the
sun is shining. I will see less bees on cold mornings. I will see more bees than
wasps.” Create a chart (teacher) with these anticipatory questions. As students
hold up their True/Not True cards, take a count and record this on the chart. As
students perform multiple observations, revisit this chart to see whether their
predictions were accurate or inaccurate.
● Students will spend time each day in their groups observing the sunflowers they
have planted (the project web site specifies that they observe a single flower for
five minutes)
● Each group will input their data into the project web site to provide local area
counts of pollinators
● Students will record their group’s data in their project notebooks, including
associated data that could affect count: weather, temperature, time of day, etc.
● Whole class discussion: What are students noticing (revisit anticipatory chart).
Are there any factors that affect our count? What are they? TPT:
Think-Pair-Share; ask students/groups to share their ideas with the class (Create
list, add to project wall)
● Students will practice their graphing skills using online games, manipulatives, or
other tools that help them conceptualize graphing.
● Students will work together in groups and on the computer to use this data to
create a graph that demonstrates a relationship between environmental factors
and insect count
● As a whole class we will compare maps of pollinator counts available on the
Sunflower Project site for previous years, locate our local area, and compare the
counts over the past three years to answer the question: are bee populations in
our area going down? Is there any area in the country where they are going
down? Up?
● Group discussion to revisit KWL Chart: What new information do we have about
bees? What new questions do we have?
● Students will continue to generate information to populate a project wall in the
classroom and/or a student-created web site to showcase their learning.
● Word Wall with subject-specific vocabulary
● Student project journals will serve as an ongoing way for students to record their
learning and interact with teacher (formative assessment). Project journals will
be used for individual conferencing and reflection.
Checkpoints:
● Group feedback during project time by conferring with individual groups to target
misconceptions, questions, and problems
● Individual comprehension will be informally assessed during individual
conference by reviewing each student’s project journal with them
● Group projects will be graded with a rubric.
Target 4 -- Students will be able to describe ways humans can help declining bee
populations
Standard:
3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the
environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.
Guiding Questions:
● In what ways can humans help declining bee populations?
● What are some ways that we can help bees in our neighborhood/city?
● Can small changes really make a global impact?
Suggested Vocabulary:
Protect, Advocate, Conservation, Preservation, Outreach, Solution
Instructional Strategies:
● Whole class read-aloud: Bea’s Bees by Katherine Pryor
● TPT “Think-Pair-Share” Students turn to their partner and discuss the ways
suggested in the story that humans can help bees. Whole class share-out of
ideas. Teacher writes down ideas students have on anchor chart: “How Humans
Can Help Bees”
● TPT “Ranking” -- Students work with their partner again to rank the ideas
presented in a way that makes sense to them (they choose criteria). Suggestions
for criteria could be: ease of implementation, cost effectiveness, biggest benefit
to bees, etc. Whole class share-out of ideas.
● Students work individually to research three different ways that humans can help
bees. These ideas will be written down or drawn on post-its and added to the
anchor chart (which will be added to the project wall)
● Group discussion to revisit KWL Chart: What new information do we have about
bees? What new questions do we have?
● Students will continue to generate information to populate a project wall in the
classroom and/or a student-created web site to showcase their learning.
● Word Wall with subject-specific vocabulary
● Student project journals will serve as an ongoing way for students to record their
learning and interact with teacher (formative assessment). Project journals will
be used for individual conferencing and reflection.
Checkpoints:
● Group feedback during project time by conferring with individual groups to target
misconceptions, questions, and problems
● Students will write or draw on post-its to be added to anchor chart and project
wall three ways that humans can help bees; this will not be graded but used to
assess understanding; misconceptions and misinformation will be addressed
with follow-up readings, videos, or activities.
Target 5 -- Students will be able to describe how art can be used to create
awareness and serve as a voice for those who cannot speak.
Standard:
Visual Arts:
Students will also have an opportunity to meet Visual and Performing Arts Standard 2.0
(Creative Expression) from the category of dance, music, theatre and/or visual arts as
they complete their culminating project. As students determine how they would like to
artistically represent their learning and activism, other standards within the visual arts
will be determined on an individual basis.
Guiding Questions:
● How can art be used as a means to raise awareness for social and
environmental issues?
● What is the impact of public art?
● How can we use our voices to effect change in the world?
● How can we represent our learning in a way that will impact others?
Suggested Vocabulary:
Cause, Voice, Community, Inspire, Justice, Value, Imagination, Unite, Universal,
Visible, Aesthetic, Audience, Collaboration, Communication, Design, Effect, Exhibition,
Expression, Genre, Innovative, Inspirational, Illustrate, Medium, Form, Resonate, Vision
Instructional Strategies:
● Whole-class read-aloud: Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing by Kay
Haring
● Watch video of Louis Masai’s project The Art of Beeing
● Field trip to view Louis Masai’s Sacramento mural (as well as other downtown
Sacramento public art pieces)
● TPT “Quick-Write” (or quick-draw)(in project journals): What was your favorite
piece of art that we saw on our field trip? How did it make you feel?
● Gallery walk in classroom, where images of activist art to help the bees has been
set up (images on Padlet)
● TPT “Line-ups” Have students line up in two parallel lines and discuss this
question: Which art piece did you like best, and why?
● Group discussion share-out: What were some of the ideas that you discussed
with your partner? Write answers down on anchor chart.
● Students work in teams to research a piece of activist art (see Padlet for ideas).
Team will present their research in a report, which can be written, oral, or
recorded as a video. Questions to answer:
○ Who made this piece? (Who is the artist?)
○ What materials is this piece made from?
○ Where is this piece located?
○ When was this piece made?
○ What was the artist’s purpose for creating this piece?
○ What was the public reaction to this piece?
● Brainstorm: How could we create an art project that raises public awareness for
the bees? Remind students that art includes drawing, painting, sculpture, dance,
music, theatre, etc.
● Students choose what type of art project they would like to work on, and teacher
will create a plan with them for how they will be able to execute that project. How
project proceeds and instructional strategies will depend on what students
decide they would like to achieve.
● Project time will be allotted in class each day for students to work on their art
projects. Teacher will provide whatever scaffolding is required: books, web sites,
materials and supplies.
Checkpoints:
● Group feedback during project time by conferring with individual groups to target
misconceptions, questions, and problems
● Team research project on activist art will be graded with a rubric.
● Other checkpoints will be determined as students determine which art project
they would like to create or work on.
Students will showcase their learning through a curated display of their products of
learning: posters, web sites, artistic representations. They may invite other classes,
parents & family members, or the general public to come view their artifacts of learning.
They will create invitations and provide refreshments. They will need to plan the
sequence of events, order of presentation, what they want the presentation to look like,
etc. Instructional strategies and checkpoints will depend on what students choose to
include in their celebration.
Possible Extensions:
STAGE 2: ASSESSMENT
Assessment Individual: Specific Evidence and
Products: Completion:
1) Student Project Journals
(Student project journals will 1) Students will write or draw in
serve as an ongoing way for their project journals (paper or
students to record their online) three roles of bees in
learning and interact with ecosystem; this will not be graded
teacher (formative but used to assess
assessment). Project journals understanding; misconceptions
will be used for individual and misinformation will be
conferencing and student addressed with follow-up
self-reflection). readings, videos, or activities.