Basic Productivity Tools (BPT) Lesson Idea

Lesson Title Human Ecological Impact Socratic Seminar

Content Area Biology – 9th and 10th grade

Content Standards SB5. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to assess the interdependence of
all organisms on one another and their environment.
d. Design a solution to reduce the impact of human activity on the environment.
Technology Standards 1.3 Knowledge Constructor
a. Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and
other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.
b. Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility, and relevance of
information, media, data or other resources.
c. Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and
methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or
conclusions.
d. Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems,
developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.

Integrated Technology The internet and PowerPoint (or other presentation software)
Reference or NA
Supporting Resources

Bloom’s Taxonomy Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, Creating.

Levels
Integration Level Level of Technology Integration (LoTi) – Level 4: Integration

Universal Design Principle II –Options for Executive Functions - Use prompts and scaffolds to estimate
Rationale effort, resources and difficulty, and models or examples of the process and product of
goal setting. Provide learners with guides and checklists for scaffolding goal setting.
Use prompts that embed “stop and think” before acting coaches or mentors that
model the “think-aloud” of the process and prompts for categorizing and
systematizing. Use checklists and project planning templates for setting up
prioritization, sequences, and schedules of step. Use checklists and guides for note-
taking and guided questions for self-monitoring.
Principle II – Options for Expressive Skills and Fluency – Use sentence starters,
sentence strips, story webs, outlining tools, concept mapping tools.
Principle III – Options for Recruiting Interest – Provide learners with as much
discretion and autonomy as possible by providing choices in the level of challenge,
color, design and layout of graphics, and sequence and timing of tasks. Vary activities
and sources of information so they can be personalized and contextualized to
learners’ lives, culturally relevant and responsive, appropriate for different racial,
cultural, ethnic and gender groups. Design activities so outcomes are authentic,
communicate to real audiences, and are purposeful. Provide tasks that allow for active
participation, exploration, and experimentation. Invite personal response, evaluation
and self-reflection to content and activities.
Principle III – Options for Sustaining Efforts and Persistence – Provide opportunities
for collaboration, peer tutoring and support.

Lesson Idea As class begins students will be informed that they will be participating in a Socratic
Seminar about human impacts on ecology. The class will discuss what and how of a
Socratic Seminar. Once students have been familiarized with the idea of a Socratic
Seminar, they will be randomly assigned to a numbered group that corresponds to one
of the following pre-determined topics regarding human impacts on the environment:
 greenhouse gases, chemical pollution, eutrophication, acid rain, invasive species,
nonrenewable resources, conservation and biodiversity, and deforestation.

Students will then break out into groups and work on obtaining their background
information as well as collaborating as a group on their possible solution to reduce
human impact. Students will spend the remaining class period working on their
project. If they do not finish, they will be expected to collaborate outside of class.
Students will be expected to be prepared to present and defend their topic and
solution during the next class period. During this time students will be provided with
an outline to help guide their thinking in the process of obtaining information and
developing their solution.

At the beginning of the next class students will be reminded of the rules of a Socratic
Seminar, they will be asked to choose a rule that they will focus on following
throughout the class. Students will be provided with a “sentence starter” sheet that
gives them ideas on how to participate in the evaluating and critiquing portion of the
seminar. Each group will be required to present their topic with background
information and why it’s a problem. They will then go on to present their solution to
the problem. Each group will be expected to present their topic, and critique and ask
questions of another group. Students will be graded on a rubric based on their group
presentation as well as their participation during other groups presentations. Students
will be provided with the rubric so they will know how they will be assessed.

Once all groups have presented and been questioned/critiqued they will then fill out a
one question closer to critique their work on the assignment and how they think they
did in comparison to their peers. They will also list out one thing that they liked about
the Socratic Seminar and one thing they wished they would have done differently if
we asked to participate in another one. Students will receive feedback during the
Socratic Seminar as well as be graded on a rubric.
Design Reflection I believe student learning will be impacted in a positive way with this activity.
Students will be taking the drivers seat in this activity and teaching their other
classmates about the human impact on ecological systems. This topic also is near and
dear to most students because human impact on the environment is something that
affects all of us and I believe this generation of students is particularly aware and
motivated to change things. To further enhance this project students could create a a
presentation on book creator so that they could publish it to reach students outside of
their classroom and school.