Questions About the Natural World (Week-Long Project)
- Sarah Hopkins
- Jan 30, 2020
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 30, 2020
Grade: 3
Lesson Plan Theme/Topic:
Standards Addressed: SC.3.N.1.1, SC.35.CS-PC.3.1 and 2
Goals: (What do you expect the students to be able to know and do?)
Students should be able to come up with questions about things around them and research them using books, computers, and/or other forms of technology. They should be able to find answers to many of these questions and pick out important and interesting questions with their answers to showcase in a project. They should be able to put together a posterboard within a week using the information they have gathered in class and at home about their topic. They should also be able to understand that their teacher and other adults in their lives can help them find answers to these questions when they need help.
Formative Assessments: (How will your students demonstrate that they have met the goals? How will they assess themselves?)
Students will work on a project throughout the week where they research their chosen item, thinking of questions and finding their answers. The project will be graded. They should ask for help when they can't find an answer, and build new questions from answers they have learned. At the end of the project, the students will write a short (5 sentence minimum) reflection on what they learned and their favorite thing they learned. These questions are embedded in the project, and will be a good determining aspect of whether they participated in the project or if their parent did it for them.
Key Content: (What key elements will be learned or practiced?)
Vocabulary: Research, observe.
Skills: Critical thinking skills, using computers and the internet, reading books, writing, possibly typing in word documents for their project at home, possibly cutting and using glue for the project, and observation skills.
Resources, Instructional Materials, Technology:
Books, random objects of study, computers and/or other research technology, paper and pencil, quiz game.
Anticipatory Set: To begin class, we're going to play a little quiz game. Each photo is of a zoomed in animal. Try to guess what animal it is!
Was that game hard or easy? A little of both? Sometimes when we look at things, they aren't what they seem. Other times, they are exactly what they seem! However, we should always do a little more research into things we discover so we can know more about them.
I have brought in things for you all to find out more about. Some of these you won't know, others you will. With things you know, they may not be what they seem, or they may be more than what they seem, so we are going to do a project on whatever you choose today.
Objects of study may include: Various bugs in bug terriariums, such as rolly pollies, milipedes, and caterpillars; seashells; beta fish or goldfish; a bean plant; maggots in soil; a fertile or non-fertile chicken egg; Spanish moss; various herbs or spices (make sure students aren't allergic); old MP3 players with earbuds, loaded with clean songs; unpopular fruit, such as starfruit, ice cream bananas, or honey mangos (make sure children with kidney or other organ issues are not provided with starfruit); different types of beans, such as scarlet runner beans or french horticulture beans; an old typewriter; a gameboy loaded with a simple kid-friendly game; flip/slide phone, such as an old T-Mobile or Blackberry phone; GPS for cars; old Polaroid with a small amount of film; slinkies; spinning tops; plasma or lava lamps; silly putty, clay, or slime; classic books; picture books; poetry; cursive versus normal handwriting; cookie cutters or shape toys; blankets with interesting patterns; dream catchers; light refracting glasses or other similar material; acrylic paint, a couple brushes, and some hard paper to experiment on; oil crayons.
The first goal is to choose various things that will be of interest to different types of kids. For example, some kids like bugs or animals, while others enjoy computers or other forms of technology. Some like games or toys, others like reading. Some enjoy math and shapes, others prefer art and colors.
The second goal is to make sure the things you choose have the ability to spark researchable questions. Examples by subject area: Science (animals)--What do milipedes eat? (dead leaves) Why do they eat that? How does that impact other creatures and plants? (it helps break down decaying plant matter and fill the soil with nutrients) What does fertile soil do? (helps more plants grow). Science (plants)--What caused this plant to grow? (sunlight, proper temp., water, etc.) Why are most plants green? (special cells) Do all plants drop seeds? (no) What are some types of seeds? (acorns, beans, sunflower seeds). Math: Where did we get the star shape from if stars really look like circles? (the way Egyptians represented them in hyroglyphics) Why are there normally only five points?How have we used star shapes? (as a sign of freedom in the western world) What other shapes have we invented that don't look like the actual thing? (heart). Reading/Writing--Why did people write in cursive? (often as a symbol of status) Why do some letters look so different? How do you keep certain letters connected in words when writing in cursive? Art--How and why does acrylic paint smell different than water color paint? (chemicals used to make it) What are some differences in how the paints work? (acrylic may have thicker, more defined colors, may be lumpier but still smooth, may dry slower, etc.) Who invented different types of paints? Technology--How did people text on flip phones with only numbers? (by pushing numbers a certain amount of times to get letters) Why didn't everyone have a slide phone? (personal preference, expenses, etc.) When were smartphones invented? (1992) Why did it take so long for people to use them? Music, photography, other arts--How many songs can be loaded onto MP3 players? (it depends on the player) How long did earbuds last? (depends on brand) What was the best brand (probably Apple when they came out with earbuds) Why did MP3 players fall out of favor? (smartphones could hold all your songs, and companies like Spotify and Pandora made huge debutes). Games--Why is the game in such low quality? (less pixels in older games usually) How did we make more pixels in games? What replaced the GameBoy? (DS, PSP) How expensive are GameBoys and why? (very expensive because they don't make them anymore) How did we improve on game technology? Crafts--What are dream catchers? Where did they orignate from? (Native Americans) Who uses them? (people all over the world, mostly in western civilization) How much money is made from them each year? Can I make money making and selling dream catchers? How are they made?
The kids will be instructed to take their one thing back to their desk and study it. Observe it and write down every question that comes to their mind, think about the object or creature they are studying and what its purpose is, and other things it can be used for outside of its purpose, if any. These will be very different depending on the object. The students will be sent home with photos of their objects, but not the objects themselves. They will work on this in class for 3 days and a project will be due at the end of the week on it.
The project will be a poster board on what they learned. It should be neatly organized and have:
- At least 5 questions with answers that are one or more sentences long.
- Two photos of or relating to the object (for example, a slinky could have an action shot of the slinky going down the stairs and a picture diagram of slinky physics).
- 5-10 interesting facts the student learned through doing research.
- Two possible experiments that could be done (in the form of research questions). (For example, "How does the length of a slinky affect how fast it goes down the stairs?" and "Does the slinky's material affect how far its coils can stretch?").
- The student's favorite thing they learned and why.
My rough plan is to start this on a Monday and give them until Friday to finish. Schedule is as follows:
-Monday: Early release. Give students all of class time to pick their item and observe and ask questions about it.
-Tuesday and Wednesday: Devote all class time for students to research on their own at the library's computer lab and books. Begin to call students up one at a time to chat with you privately about their topic and questions they have. Help them find answers they are struggling to find and think of more questions. *Important* For the SC.35.CS-PC.3.1 standard, this is where you must explain to the students and show them how to access various online resources before they begin their research. It is quick to go over, and perhaps write a few example websites on the media center whiteboard, or print out slips of paper with some addresses for the students to visit, such as the online local library.
-Thursday: Have students work on something else in class. They will finish their projects at home and should be almost done at this point. Give them a little time to observe their object after the lesson so they can see or touch it one last time before their project is due.
-Friday: Invite the parents to come in. Set up the classroom so that each student has a place to put their project. Encourage students and parents to walk around and look at what each student has created. Maybe put the object of study next to each poster.
Later in the day on Friday, have the students write a 5 sentence minimum reflection in class about what they learned from the project, including their favorite thing they learned (this is to weed out if parents did all the work for their student, in which case the teacher would need to call a conference).
Adaptations (For Students With Learning Disabilities): Students with learning disabilities will be able to receive in-class help on their projects and extra help researching their items. They may be granted an extension for the project and/or extra class time to work on it. Parents may be notified ahead of time about the project so they can prepare materials for their child at home, such as the posterboard, and be informed about it and ready to help out.
Possible connection to other subjects: can be connected to every other subject, which is part of what I hope the students learn.
Letter to inform parents: Questions_Project_Letter.docx
The letter says "this coming week," so be sure to either send it out the week before the project. Additionally, you tell the parents that there will be a showcase on Friday for all the posters, and invite them to join. It says you will update them at the start of the week on the times for the showcase. Be sure to send out an email at the start of the week!
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