The following calendar of lesson plans is a 20-day sustainability unit designed for 5th-8th graders from AdVENTURE STEM Program, housed at Herman Intermediate Schoolin San Jose, CA. The lesson plans are broken out by subject area: science, language arts with an emphasis on technology, social sciences with an emphasis on engineering, and math. AdVENTURE's
mission is to engage students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math so that
students will be active and responsible global citizens in the digital age.
| Day | Science | Technology/Language Arts | Social Sciences/Engineering | Math |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What Impact Are We Having?
Students complete a paper based Human Impact Survey to discover their beliefs about the impact of humans on the environment. Students write a paragraph that highlights their preconceived ideas about impact and their effect on a community. |
Sustainable Communities
Review how other schools have made a difference by adopting a waste free lunch program. |
Previewing the 11th Hour
Preview discussion for the move, 11th Hour. K-W-L & opinions/preconceptions about global warming and going green vocabulary. Start watching 11th Hour. |
Introducing the Unit
Students get an overview of what climate change means and why we need to make changes in our daily lives. Students will also build a basic understanding of how scientists, politicians, and other leaders use data to convey the truths behind their message. |
2 | Ecological Footprint Survey
Students calculate their impact in terms of Earth's (Personal Footprint) and then visit the Carbon Footprint Calculator to gather more specific data (can be graphed in math). Students reflect in writing on how to reduce their impact. |
Practice with Persuasion
Students choose other issues of interest and try to persuade their peers to support their ideas. They create online posters using Web Poster Wizard about their issue then we have a class vote to determine which teams were the most persuasive and why (all issues must relate to creating a sustainable community on our campus, e.g., recycling.) |
Watch 11th Hour & take notes on guided viewing sheet.
Students will reflect on what they're learning using a guided viewing sheet. They will focus on questions they have as they viewing the film, as well as the main issues in the film such as: excessive consumption, speed of devastation, climate change, social justice, and local community action. |
How to Collect Data Students learn how to create data tables and collect data with accurate sampling. They then practice collecting data around the school and their home to assess their and their peers impact on the environment. |
| 3 | Positive, Negative or Neutral Impacts
Students jigsaw read simple paragraphs that discuss the human impacts of electricity, transportation, tree planting, recycling, water treatment, waste management, mining, land use, deforestation, fishing and air pollution to determine whether these activities pose a positive, negative or neutral impact on the environment. They fill in a "What I can do today to reduce my impact?" chart. |
Keys to Persuasive Writing
Students will begin conducting online research looking for data and examples that support adopting their issue of interest. |
Finish watching 11th Hour & begin debrief Students will participate in a post-viewing discussion to identify the major points discussed in the film. Special focus on excessive consumption, speed of devastation, climate change, social justice, & local community action. |
Rate of Change Students extend their knowledge of rates and unit rates as they learn about rates of change. They will apply their learning to their research about how fast our climate is changing. |
| 4 | Fish and Food Webs Scenarios Game Students play a game to identify the interdependence of organisms in a food web, and describe how human activities and natural events impact a food web. |
What about Opposing Views? Students will look at what arguments they might encounter when presenting their issue. They will research the arguments against their ideas and continue to take notes on their topic. |
Big picture perspective of the Environmental Crisis Students will discuss the environmental crisis and identify its relevance & importance. Adapted from: www.bigpictureinstructional.com |
Percent of a Number Students will review the procedure for finding the percent of a number so that they can add percentage data to their research on climate change. |
| 5 | Fishing for the Future Students are introduced to the term sustainability and play a game that illustrates how a human activity and new technologies can affect the sustainability of fishing practices. |
Drafting a Plan/Outline Students will use an online tool for building a persuasive essay: PersuadeStar. This will allow them to determine if they have enough data and research or if they need more. To tie into the math unit, they may need to conduct surveys and compile their own primary data for their essays. They can also use data and examples from their social studies or science class. |
Sources of Pollution Students will use observation techniques to further understand how human behavior affects the environment. |
Percent Equations Students continue learning how to calculate percents by using equations. |
| 6 | Mapping the Impact - American Meal Teacher and students identify the resources, processes and impacts embodied in everyday consumer products and describe how a simple action (eating a cheeseburuer, fries and soda) has far reaching impacts on the environment. Students brainstorm ways to reduce the environmental impact of this meal |
Writing the Persuasive Essay Day 1
Students will continue to use PersuadeStar to write the first draft of their essay. There are editing and revision tools on the site and they can email their work to their teacher for review. |
Zero Waste presentation from Speaker from Garden City Sanitation |
Percent of Change Students learn how to calculate the percent of change. They then practice finding the percent of change by calculating the percent change of average daily temperatures between two years. |
| 7 | Mapping The Impact - Stuff
Building on the American Meal lesson, students map the impact of comic strips, T-shirts, sneakers and computers and brainstorm ways to reduce the environmental impact of these products. |
Writing the Persuasive Essay Day 2
Students will continue to use PersuadeStar to write the first draft of their essay. There are editing and revision tools on the site and they can email their work to their teacher for review. |
Economic, Social, Political,
and Historical Factors Involved in the Dependence on Fossil Fuels, Day 1 Adapted from: Big Picture Instructional Design |
Percent Proportion
Students review proportions and percents. Building on earlier percent lessons, students learn the different parts of a percent problem to deepen their understanding that percents are actually proportions out of 100. |
| 8 | What is Waste? Students are taught the meaning of waste using a PPT, and then sort waste products into biodegradable, non-biodegradable, reusable and recyclable. |
Writing the Persuasive Essay Day 3
Students will continue to use to write the first draft of their essay. There are editing and revision tools on the site and they can email their work to their teacher for review. |
Economic, social, political, and historical factors involved in the dependence on fossil fuels, Day 2
Adapted from: Big Picture Instructional |
Organizing Data Students will use Excel to organize some of the data that they collected earlier in the unit. They will experiment with different charts they can make from their data. |
| 9 | Cost-Benefit of Solid Waste, Day 1 Students identify primary sources of solid waste in the U.S. and use a cost-benefit analysis to determine which recycling programs are most cost-effective for a community using the Great Trash Pile-Up and Dumptown |
Editing and Revising the Persuasive Essay
Students will work with a partner to edit and revise their paper to make sure it is persuasive and informative. |
How Advertising Affects our Consumption
Adapted from: No Impact Project |
Various Forms of Data Students will learn to recognize the various forms that data can take and why different types of graphs are used for different purposes. They will choose one type of graph to use in their final report, based on what type of data they have collected. |
| 10 | Cost-Benefit of Solid Waste, Day 2 Students identify primary sources of solid waste in the U.S. and use a cost-benefit analysis to determine which recycling programs are most cost-effective for a community using the Great Trash Pile-Up and Dumptown |
Publishing their Persuasive Essay Students will present their final papers in class and determine what marketing materials they want to create to support their paper |
Identifying the Needs of a Community
Students will share the observations they have made in their homes, school, and communities, over the past few weeks in order to identify possible areas of service. |
Line Plots Students continue their study of how to display the data that they have collected and organized. They learn to identify and make a line plot when collecting data. |
| 11 | Product Life Cycle Assessment Students describe the steps in a lifecycle assessment of a cell phone DVD or soccer ball. Then they suggest ways to reduce the environmental impact of their product. |
Creating Marketing Materials Students work in teams of three to create any three of the following: website (using weebly), Brochure, Poster (using Web Poster Wizard), Video, Rap/Song (take a video or perform), or newsletter. They will use the research, evidence and language from their essays to create a marketing tool to inform and educate the larger community about the need change and ways to create a sustainable campus community. |
Researching Local "Green" Resources and Organizations Students will gain an understanding about what is being done locally in order to inform and align their service learning projects (can be done in pairs) | Central Tendency and Range Students learn how to calculate central tendency and range, as well as how these measures help us understand data. They will practice this new skill with data from the carbon footprint survey they took at the beginning of the unit. |
| 12 | Paper or Plastic? Day 1 Students complete the webquest Paper or Plastic? to present an informed opinion on the paper or plastic debate. Students will create a poster that expresses their opinion using only reused materials |
Creating a Newsletter We will review newsletters looking for techniques and strategies that are effective and ineffective. I will also walk students through the templates for newsletters on MS Office |
I Can Make a Difference! Students will learn about what other kids are doing to reduce waste & go green. |
Bar Graphs and Histographs Students extend their learning of various ways to display data by comparing bar graphs and histograms. They create a bar graph or histogram about how much trash they generate in a day. |
| 13 | Paper or Plastic? Day 2 Students complete the webquest Paper or Plastic? to present an informed opinion on the paper or plastic debate. Students will create a poster that expresses their opinion using only reused materials |
Creating a Brochore We will review newsletters looking for techniques and strategies that are effective and ineffective. I will also walk students through the templates for newsletters on MS Office |
Brainstorm Service Learning Projects & Form Focus Groups Students will choose from a list of pre-prepared service learning activities, adapt their own service idea from the list, or make their own idea |
Using Data to Predict Students learn to use data to predict future outcomes. They predict the actions of a larger group by using data from a sample. |
| 14 | Paper or Plastic? Students create a poster expressing their opinion on the paper/plastic debate using only reused materials |
Creating Videos with Storyboarding Create a video through storyboarding using an online tool: Kids' Vid to create a storyboard to develop their skits. We will also preview other kid/go green videos on youtube.com. We will analyze the videos for strengths and weaknesses. |
Service Learning Project focus groups Students will develop work plans, materials lists, timelines, how you will use class time, etc |
Using Sampling to Predict Students continue their in-depth study of surveys and sampling. They learn various sampling methods and how samples can be used to predict outcomes for larger populations. |
| 15 | Paper or Plastic? Students finish their posters and present to the class and community. |
Creating Our Websites This will be their second time working with weebly sites for creating their own websites. We will review other websites and troubleshoot any issues that students may be having. |
Implement / Create Service Learning Projects |
Misleading Statistics Students will relate how data was collected and how the results are displayed to what conclusions might be drawn. They learn to spot misleading statistics and avoid them in their own report. |
| 16 | Trash to Treasure Challenge Day 1 Students will use the engineering design process to create a product from reused materials. The product needs to be useful (i.e. not an art piece). After the product is constructed, they will complete a Life Cycle Assessment for it. |
Writing Raps and Songs We will review YouTube videos of other student examples ¨C again analyzing the work for strengths and weaknesses and adopting strategies that might work for our projects. We will also connect to our recent poetry unit and discuss elements of good songs. |
Implement /Create Service Learning Projects |
Misleading Statistics Students continue looking through data examples to learn different ways to identify misleading statistics |
| 17 | Trash to Treasure Challenge Day 2 |
Video Editing Day 1 Students will edit their videos into movies and post on YouTube. |
Implement/Create Service Learning Projects |
Evaluating and Representing Service Idea Data Students evaluate the data from their service learning project. They then graphically represent the data they have collected, making decisions for how to display their data based on the different forms they have learned throughout the unit. |
| 18 | Trash to Treasure Challenge Day 3 |
Video Editing Day 2 Students will edit their videos into movies and post on YouTube. |
Prepare for the Big Show! |
Prepare for the Big Show! Students complete their final project with a graph showing their data. |
| 19 | Trash to Treasure Challenge Day 4 |
Public Exhibitions of Work and Assessments In class and evening community open house |
Public Exhibitions of Work and Assessments In class and evening community open house |
Public Exhibitions of Work and Assessments In class and evening community open house |
| 20 | Assessing, Reflecting, and Celebrating Students will take a brief post assessment and complete a rubric to evaluate their projects. |
Assessing, Reflecting, and Celebrating Students will take a brief post assessment and complete a rubric to evaluate their projects. |
Assessing, Reflecting, and Celebrating Students will take a brief post assessment and complete a rubric to evaluate their projects. |
Reflecting On and Demonstrating Service Projects Students will take a brief post assessment and complete a rubric to evaluate their projects. |