Growing Up Green

Problem-Based Investigations in Ecology and Sustainability for Young Learners in STEM (Grades K-2)

Stephen T. Schroth, Janese Daniels

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000493207
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Didattica della scienza e della tecnologia

Growing Up Green allows young students (grades K-2) to build critical and creative thinking skills, while also improving skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The book:

• Includes 10 problem-based investigations that explore sustainability and environmental concerns.
• Covers topics such as reducing one's carbon footprint, developing green manufacturing processes, initiating a recycling program, and more.
• Is perfect for general education classrooms, single- or multi-grade gifted classrooms, or pull-out programs.
• Features crosscurricular connections.
• Includes a list of apps, websites, and books that can be used to increase students' understanding and curiosity.

Each investigation includes comprehensive teacher instructions, ideas for differentiation, hands-on student activities, reproducible student resources, reflection opportunities, and assessment options. The engaging investigations guide learners through the process of identifying problems, developing research questions, gathering and analyzing data, developing possible solutions, and disseminating information to others.

Grades K-2

INVESTIGATION 1
Taking Inventory of Our Resources

Creating an Environmental Impact Statement

DOI: 10.4324/9781003235392-2

AN environmentally responsible community maintains its existing natural resources in addition to trying to make positive and proactive change. In many communities, a development or construction project must be approved before it can take place. One factor that helps determine whether or not the project may begin is a determination that the proposed construction will leave the area in as good of or better condition than it was before the project began. For such a determination to take place, communities must know the status of various areas in their current state, which would include the number of trees present on given parcels of land.

In this investigation, students will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) to help determine the fate of a proposed project. An EIS is a tool used for decision making by government agencies and legislative bodies. A strong EIS will describe both the positive and negative environmental effects of a proposed action and help decision makers to fully understand the situation at hand. An EIS often will also list one or more alternative solutions.

Students will prepare an EIS related to a development, real or imagined, that will affect their community. A part of the EIS will be comprised of a chart that shows how many trees, and of what type, currently exist on a given piece of property. For teachers working with second-grade or advanced students, the EIS could be quite complex, examining a variety of facets affecting the property, including current uses, number of daily visitors, wildlife living there, or a catalogue of trees present. If, however, you are working with a younger group, or one interested in focusing on only one skill, you might easily choose one of these facets to focus upon rather than completing a full EIS.

Assessing Prior Learning

For a pretest activity, ask students to prepare a bar graph of how children in the class got to school that day. Did they walk to school... come by the school bus...get dropped off from their parents' automobile? Quickly assess these bar graphs for accuracy and grasp of the concept, and then record this information.

Planning and Teaching

Participants/Grouping: Students may be grouped using a variety of strategies. A mixed-ability classroom teacher might group students by readiness levels, placing them with two or three other students with similar experiences and abilities, and then provide each group with the appropriate amount of scaffolding and support according to their skills and needs. Students may also be grouped according to their interests, which allows each group to attack individual parts of the EIS. The various small-group contributions can then be combined in a manner that would permit the class as a whole to produce a single EIS.

Standards: EfS Standard 2.2; CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.7

ACTIVITY 1.1
Tree Hunt

Objective

Students will engage in a tree hunt, finding trees with different qualities, recording their findings, and sharing them with others using written, electronic, or other means.

Modifications

Group students by readiness levels into groups of two or three. Lower readiness levels can group trees as "big," "small," and the like, while more advanced students can classify them as "conifers," "deciduous," or other appropriate distinctions. Older or higher ability students may further identify trees by using their common names, their scientific names, or both (e.g., white spruce, P/cea glauca).

Materials

• Teacher's copy of Jason Chin's Redwoods
• Clipboard or whiteboard for each student
• Paper, pencils, markers, colored pencils, construction paper, glue sticks, scissors, and other materials necessary for students to write and create
• Student access to computers, tablets, phones, or other electronic devices with Internet access (optional)

Instructional Sequence

Introduction and Motivation: Read Jasori Chin's Redwoods to the class and discuss how trees may appear to be different or the same, charting student responses.

Procedures:

1. Help students conceptualize how to take an inventory and why one might engage in this process. Think aloud about how students might categorize trees they view, using a pictorial representation projected on a SMART Board or other device.
2. Mention different attributes one might use to compare and contrast, and then show students how they might record this information, using lists, tally marks, pictograms, or other symbols to do so.
3. Distribute clipboards or individual whiteboards and let groups practice recording information using another pictorial representation.
4. Take students on a walking field trip or to a nearby park so that each group may record its data.
5. Have students use tools of their choice to represent their data to others. Appropriate ways of representing these data might include bar charts made with construction paper, computer-generated charts from a spreadsheet, or news shared using social media, such as via a class Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook page.

Closure: Have students share their results with others via a gallery walk to which other classes, families, and administrators are invited.

Assessment: Assess student representations of their bar graphs using a rubric/criteria chart previously created with the class. This criteria chart, which will help students understand when their work is completed, might require students to list each type of tree observed, either by picture or name, and include tally marks next to each type of tree indicating the number seen. More advanced learners might also use the Green Map System website (https://www.greenmap.org), which permits the creation of digital community maps, to document their findings.

Evaluation: Document evidence of learning at the individual and group level, explaining the results of students who learned more or less than expected. Discuss these results with students in individual meetings.

Reflection: Consider this experience in terms of your performance, examining if reteaching is necessary and what changes in teaching might improve the results.

ACTIVITY 1.2
Property Uses

Objective

Students will determine current uses of property, including uses that might not be evident from deeds and government records, recording their findings and sharing these with others using written, electronic, or other means.

Modifications

Group students by readiness levels into groups of two or three. Lower readiness levels might examine how a property is used based upon observed use of the property during business hours, while more advanced students can investigate government records, interview neighbors of the property, and/or set up webcams (with permission} to determine after-hour usage. Older and high-ability students may further discuss ways the property might be used with experts, who might include any of the following: an architect, a landscape architect, a builder, a construction company worker, a city or town alderman or alderwoman, a mayor, a county supervisor, a land-use planning commission member, a parks commission member, a youth recreation leader, or a zoning board member.

Materials

• Teacher's copy of Bao Phi's A Different Pond
• Paper, pencils, markers, colored pencils, construction paper, glue sticks, scissors, and other materials necessary for students to write and create
• Student access to computers, tablets, phones, or other electronic devices with Internet access
• An online tool that permits the publication of student work, such as:
  • Penzu, a customizable online journal (https://penzu.com)
  • Flipsnack, a tool to create, embed, and share online magazines (https://www.flipsnack.com}
  • WordPress, a popular webpage builder (https://wordpress.com)
  • Lulu, ari online ePub or PDF book platform (https://www.lulu.com/create/ebooks)

Instructional Sequence

Introduction and Motivation: Read Bao Phi's A Different Pond to the class, discussing how the same plot of land may be used differently by different people. Emphasize how the significance of a piece of land might not be visible, as in the case where it reminds users of their homeland.

Procedures:

1. Help students focus on what use of a piece of property entails by asking students to brainstorm various ways in which their school is used. Anticipated responses from students could include teaching and learning, but they might also touch upon the various other uses of the building, such as its use as a place for eating breakfast and lunch, as a library, as a community center, as a place for athletics, as a theater, etc.
2. Ask students how they think previous generations of students might remember or view the school (if applicable).
3. Then, ask students how they might be able to find out about the uses of a property they do not use on a daily basis. Anticipated responses might include observing the property, asking people who use the property, asking neighbors of the property, searching government records, and asking experts in land use and development.
4. Next, have students investigate a given property with a partner or partners and record their information. The property investigated might be a vacant lot, a housing development, a shopping center, a leisure or recreation area, or any such commonly found use of land. Appropriate ways of representing this information might include pie charts made with construction paper, narrative explanations with photographs of the property, podcasts or other recordings of interviews, video interviews, or interactive maps.

Closure: Have students share their results with others in small groups, where they will receive feedback about the strengths of their summaries as well as suggestions for changes they might make to help others better understand their findings.

Assessment: Have students use one of several available tools to publish theirfindings. Some of the more useful publishing tools available for no fee are included in the Materials section of this investigation. Assess student representations using a rubric/criteria chart previously created with the class. This criteria chart, which will help students understand when their work is completed, might require students to (a) describe the property that is examined, including as many details as possible, such as neighborhood, address, name of the property, and the like; (b) include photographs of the property, drawings, and diagrams showing how the property is used; (c) list information they have found out about prior uses of the property; and (d) use one of the programs or apps listed in the Materials section to publish their work.

Evaluation: Document evidence of learning at the individual and group level, explaining the results of students who learned more or less than expected. Discuss these results with students in individual meetings.

Reflection: Consider this experience in terms of your performance, especially as related to the discussions you led regarding A Different Pond, and how effective this was in permitting students to understand how a piece of property might have uses and value that cannot be seen by the casual observer but only understood through talking with users of that property. As a result of this examination, determine if reteaching is necessary and what changes in teaching might improve the results.

ACTIVITY 1.3
Wildlife And Human Property

Objective

Students will consider how wildlife, such as birds, animals, and fish, use a given piece of property. Special consideration will be given to how the wildlife interact and live with humans. Students will not need to make a determination of the quality of these interactions, nor come up with possible solutions to the problem of how humans and other wildlife can best coexist on a particular piece of property. (If such determinations or solutions are desired, ask students to come up with these; doing this might prove especially beneficial for high-ability students.)

Modifications

Group student...