Gulf Spill Investigations & Our Effect on the Systems we Live in
In the case that you did not know about Jeff Corwin’s webinar on the Horizon disaster last year, please check your schedule for a 10 o’clock slot this Tuesday, April 19th. (register here)
At Agua Caliente Elementary School in the Tanque Verde School District in Northeast Tucson, the fifth grade will come together to discuss the impact of the spill and how our choices affect the greater picture.
Previous to the webinar:
- Students adapted a lesson provided by Discovery and did hands-on labs with activities like cleaning feathers with various chemicals. Lesson Plan – Jeff Corwin Earth Day Oil Spill Webinar.
- Warm-up for the webinar with a discussion on what they know and hope to learn and what they might think will be “debatable.” Students will write out a question they hope to have answered and anticipate for a question Mr. Corwin may have a hard time answering. -these cards will be turned in during the webinar to drop into the chat.
- We will use Google Earth Resources from http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/oilspill/ which have .kml files showing the spread and impact of the spill to explore. We will also identify Mobile, Alabama where there is another room of 5th graders who will Skype with us in two weeks.
Following the webinar, we will debrief and have a “debate.” Students will take notes with a checklist of characteristics that make a solid “argument” and provide feedback to others in the class. Students will then reassess their presentation and go into Discovery Student Center to do more research and fill in the “holes” they have in their debated side. From that research they will prepare questions for the students in Mobile in the diocese with St Paul’s School www.stpaulsmobile.net. The debate will be re-staged the following week.
Extension: Students will create PhotoStories on their findings and considerations for the future.
Additional Resources to use:
Thinkfinity Earth Day resources and Think Green resources like the WATER FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR (great idea for Arizonans!)
Tech4Learning checklist and rubric creator in Recipes4Success
Thank you to Ms. Svea Anderson of Agua Caliente (& a Red Sox fan) for getting so creative and making such good use of Discovery resources.
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Comments
Svea Anderson
What an awesome opportunity we had this morning! As a follow up to our webinar with Mr. Corwin, we video chatted with a sixth grade class in Mobile, Alabama. My fifth grade students were able to ask questions about how the oil spill in the Gulf affected them. Thank you to Emily Mann for the great connection! We, the teachers, are already thinking about what we can do next year!
As part of the DEN Teacher Appreciation week, I have gone onto the techbook and used resources from a unit on alternatives to oil in Earth’s Changing Surface. I liked the video clips and the e-books that were there. The kids are now onto a new unit on Global Warming. I love the fact that they are taking ownership and becoming stewards for the environment.
What a fabulous resource!