Final Project - Experiencing the Three Common States of Matter {and how they change} Through Pie-Making

Link to Project Materials (Google Drive Folder)

Project Idea #3 - Problem-Based Learning - Growing Food

Problem-Based Learning

Solve the Fuel Crisis: Grow Your Own Food

             The initial design of this unit is to teach students in a 2nd grade classroom about the stages of the life cycle of a plant from the seed stage. This unit has always somewhat overwhelmed me because of the vast array of plants that exist. I tried narrowing it down by location and having students only study native, local plants, but even that became a bit daunting. There are trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, fungi,.. and the list goes on. Each year, I end up choosing a plant or two from each main "type" of plant family and students investigate the life cycles, draw models, and even plant some for themselves. It's always a fun unit, but I think I can do better. 

          After reading more about Problem-Based Learning, I had the idea for the modification of this unit. My idea is to identify a realistic problematic scenario and lead my students to solve the problem for themselves. The problem? It is the year 2100. There has been a recent stop to the production of all fossil-fuel based petroleum products. The Earth has simply "run dry" of this valuable, non-renewable resource. As a result, all food distribution has come to a grinding halt. Grocery store shelves are empty and only specialty stores exist with a small supply of very expensive necessities that cannot be "grown" like food storage containers, etc. All of humanity must learn to grow their own food again, like our ancestors once did. Due to land redistribution regulations, each person is only being allowed enough land to raise six crops to consume for themselves and (if fortunate enough) trade with others. Which six crops will you choose to grow? You must consider a variety of factors like your own food preferences, local growing conditions, a balanced diet (protein, fruits, veggies, healthy fats, etc.) and versatility of the food. (Can it be used/prepared in a variety of different ways?) To solve this problem, you must identify six food crops, support your choices with research-based evidence that addresses the factors outlined above, describe the complete life-cycles of each of your crops, and find or create 3-5 recipes that use ONLY the six ingredients you are choosing to grow.

Objectives: Students will be able to identify and describe the life cycle of plants. Students will demonstrate an understanding of how weather and seasons impact environment, as well as the plants and animals in the environment. Students will identify the basic needs of living things, specifically plants and humans. 

Length of Unit:  Two Weeks

Activities: Students will be divided into small groups or "families" of 2-3 that will be deciding on their food plot and creating their final products together. Final products will consist of an explainer video (using the tool My Simpleshow) a poster, model, or other visual display of their food plot, a minimum of 3 published (both hardcopy and digital) recipes using only ingredients grown in their food plot. Students will write a script for their video using Google Docs then paste it into the explainer video tool to create their video. Videos and recipes will be posted to the class forum on the website Seesaw to include parents and get feedback from a variety of sources. Students will "grade" each other using a student-friendly rubric.

Week 1

Day 1: Asking and recording our questions

Day 2: Answering questions through interviewing a local food botanist

Day 3: Answering questions through interviewing a local nutritionist

Day 4: Answering lingering questions through self-guided research

Day 5: Answering lingering questions through self-guided research

Week 2

Day 1: Writing script for explainer video using Google Docs

Day 2: Writing script for explainer video using Google Docs

Day 3: Editing and publishing explainer videos

Day 4: Post explainer videos to Seesaw and review classmates' videos

Day 5: Students will complete a rubric for each of their peer's products and leave constructive feedback in the form of comments on the class Seesaw forum.

Materials/Resources Needed: computers with internet, pencils and paper, access to local plant and nutrition experts

Reading Reflection #3

Problem vs. Project-Based Learning

           I really enjoyed reading about the fundamental differences between project and problem based learning approaches and how each of them are woven in and out of place-based learning. This class is actually the first within which I have had the pleasure of studying the place-based learning approach. I've had quite a bit of experience with both project and problem-based approaches, however the continued exposure does help to solidify the fluency with which I practice them both. And through self-reflection, I do incorporate elements of place-based learning, however unknowingly. Realizing that there is actually a name and research behind this approach to teaching is very exciting to me. I have the distinct pleasure of being madly in-love with the community within which I live and teach. I have always wanted to live and work in Athens, GA- even before I knew I wanted to be a teacher. There is a rich history that lives in Athens. The University of Georgia was founded here back in 1785 and people have been coming here to expand the lens by which they view the world ever since. There is art and music here. There is love and passion for: others, learning, and learning about others. The two callings of being a teacher and living here in Athens collided into my life around the same time about 5 years ago, and I had no idea at the time, the purposeful and meaningful direction my life would soon take. Having the opportunity to learn about these important and effective learning approaches has unleashed countless ideas for my own classroom. As a second grade teacher at an in-town public elementary school in a big university town, I have a unique and diverse population of students. Mostly it is split in half. Half of my students are upper-middle class and from highly educated parents who are artists, academics, and entrepreneurs, some being two or all three of these roles at once. The other half is of a lower socioeconomic status, mostly living in government subsidized housing projects. Now the issue of race is not always clear-cut, but a definite and obvious trend exists. The lower class students are black and the upper-middles are most often white. Now of course, this isn't always the case, but in my experience, it is about 97% of the time. Why? It's so painstakingly obvious, even to seven and eight year olds. They make friends with one another easily but don't often play together outside of school. Strong friendships are formed and then seem to fizzle by middle school because like-kind attracts like-kind, despite our best efforts to mix, mix, mix! 

                Part of our second grade curriculum is to teach about the Civil Rights movement in Georgia, using historical figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Jackie Robinson. These individuals led fascinating lives and did important work and we analyze important relational and cultural shifts that occurred in our society as a result of their struggles and efforts to impart change. These same struggles and efforts occurred within our own city during the civil rights movement, and even to people who attended our very school! Through reading more about place-based learning, I am discovering ways I can bring this content to life for my students and allow them to create products that will benefit the entire community and help to bridge a racial divide that still exists even today. Project ideas I have had within this particular unit are publishing a book for our media center library that can be checked out by students and community members, publishing a digital storybook timeline in the form of a website that is essentially a digital archive of stories from people who attended Chase Street before, during, and after integration. Some problems that I think will arise as a result of their project work are: How can we learn from the mistakes of our ancestors and improve race relations today and in the future? How can we tell other people's stories with respect, consideration and empathy? Of course, I am excited to see what problems my students discover on their own as I encourage them to be problem finders and not just problem solvers. 

Project Idea #2 - A Place-Based Learning Project

Discovering Our Place in the Past 

A Diary of Chase Street School During the Civil Rights Movement in Athens, GA

Initial Design: This project is going to be designed around an existing second grade social studies unit on The Civil Rights Movement in Georgia. Typically, we teach our students about important events and people that helped to orchestrate the critical changes that took place in our society during the 1950s and 60s, especially within the southern states. The school is Chase Street Elementary, an urban public elementary school in Clarke County, GA. I have decided to modify this existing unit to include a place-based learning project of creating a scrapbook documenting accounts from the Civil Rights Movement in our hometown of Athens, GA. Students will collect their information through researching, interviewing, and documenting accounts of people who were alive during the 1950s and 60s and lived in Athens at the time. Originally, my project idea was to cast a wide-net and focus on documenting stories of the Civil Rights Movement within our town as a whole. As a university town, our city boasts a rich history full of important personal narratives about the integration of not only the public school system, but the University of Georgia as well. However, after further consideration, I decided that focusing our storytelling to the integration of our exact school was definitely the way to go. Chase Street School is rapidly approaching its centenarian and also boasts a wonderfully rich and extensive history. 

How Learning Environment is Applied to Teaching Situation: Luckily, place-based learning is already at work to an extent in my existing social studies curriculum mandated for me to teach to my second graders. Our entire year is dedicated to studying the geography, history, and culture of our home state, Georgia. In the spring, we study the Civil Rights Movement in Georgia, along with key influential people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Several weeks ago, Online Athens released a short film/mini-documentary interviewing some Athenians in regards to their experiences during the Civil Rights Movement. Fast forward several weeks and I am finding myself wrapping up a Memoir Project in our writing block where we spent some time interviewing an adult in our life and retelling a story from their childhood. My students did incredible work. It dawned on me that I could extend this particular skill further into our Civil Rights unit in the spring and that is how the idea for the Diary of Chase Street School During the Civil Rights Movement was born. 

Objectives and Timeline: The final products will be both a digital and hardcopy scrapbook or journal that will be shared with the school and broader community. I am envisioning a timeline format, where personal narratives attached to a particular date are recounted, photographs are shared and annotated, and maybe even the inclusion of recorded video interviews. There is already a large amount of interest surrounding the history of our school. Namely, random citizens will stop in to "take a look inside" their old school. Each person has many stories to tell about their time at Chase Street School. Parents of former students have since started a website to help document the school's history, but so far, no class has added much to it or done anything like what I am proposing to do in focusing on the Civil Rights Movement. My intentions would be for this project to take about four weeks. 

Activities:

Week 1: This week will be spent asking important questions and writing them down. Who do we know that we could interview? Who can we enlist the support of for gathering people who would be willing to share their stories? How can we get the word out? What important questions should we ask the people of the Athens Civil Rights Era? I hope to spend this week brainstorming ideas, writing down our questions, our plan of action for interviews, etc. Also, we will decide together what we want our final product to look like and who we want to share it with. 

Week 2: I hope this week would be spent primarily doing the field research. Ideally, I would be able to have special guest visitors to our classroom (through reaching out to parents and community contacts) each day to share their stories while my students fill in story planners, take notes, record interviews, etc. Students would take on the roles of journalist/archivist/historian. 

Week 3: I see this week being spent writing drafts of all the stories and artifacts we plan to include in our final scrapbook/timeline project and revising and editing as needed. 

Week 4: The final week would be spent publishing the stories in a digital format, printing hard copies of stories and photographs and putting finishing touches on both the digital and hardcopy versions of our timeline scrapbook. Students would also spend time this week creating media that would advertise our final product to the community. 

Resources and Materials: Besides pen, paper, computers, and an internet connection, humans are the primary resource for this place-based learning project. My plan is to first reach out to parents and school family to request contacts of older adults who were alive and attending Chase Street during the 1940s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. I would hope to have at least two very different but good accounts of what life was like at Chase Street before the school was integrated and then several stories from the 60s and 70s which were the years just before and during integration. I hope that as the word gets out, more and more people will want to come and share their stories with us. I hope to enlist the entire second grade's help with this project so that we can recruit as many accounts and stories as we can with the hopes of sharing an important part of our school's past. 

Reading Reflection #2 - Place-Based Learning

        As a teacher inside of a fairly historical town in Georgia, I really enjoyed learning more about place-based learning and how I might begin to incorporate its themes inside my own public second grade classroom. The town within which I teach is Athens, GA and I, personally, am inspired by the rich histories that surround our town. While reading about the five thematic patterns of place-based learning, I kept my thinking geared towards how each theme could exist for second graders in Athens. By the end of the article, I found myself with a couple of great project ideas and other avenues for pursuing place-based learning both inside and outside my classroom.

        Within the area of Cultural Studies, students explore the histories of older local citizens (older family members and friends) for the sake of understanding and feeling connected to the local culture. One idea I had, as this relates to my own curriculum in second grade, is chronicling the Civil Rights Movement in Athens through the creation of a website that includes both written and videoed interviews of older family members and community members, asking them questions that relate to what life was like in Athens during the 1950s and 60s. (ie: integration of local businesses, the university, etc.) My students are a perfect mix of both sides of this perspective (about 50% black and white) and involving their families into their education of this tough topic will help bridge gaps that one teacher with only one perspective can do. Each year I teach this topic, I am made painfully aware of my own limitations with fully demonstrating all sides and perspectives of people who lived during the Civil Rights Movement.

        Within the area of Nature Studies, students participate in the observation and testing of natural phenomenons occurring within their own schoolyard, community, and region. It is then expected that students will participate in some form of restoration to these environments. This theme connects itself rather well to our unit on Georgia's geography. Within this unit of study, we learn about the entire state including the five distinct regions characterized by different landforms, climates, soil types, and native plants. We do examine our own region a bit more closely than the others, but after reading about place-based learning, I have a whole new crop of ideas for getting my students out of the classroom and into environments that allow them to create their own knowledge about their native region. Once this foundation has been laid, learning about other regions will be easier because they will all (no matter socioeconomic background) have some authentic experience to connect to.

        Within the area of Real-World Problem Solving, students and teacher will work to identify a school or community issue, study its characteristics and dynamics, develop potential solutions, and organize and participate in the efforts to solve the problem. I always thought of problem-based learning as it's own learning model and not a sub-model of place-based learning. What I now see is that while that may be true, problem-based learning becomes a lot more meaningful when the factor of place is considered. Solving a problem that hits closer to home, like food insecurity within Athens is a bit more engaging than say, trying to brainstorm ways to end hunger in Africa.

        The fourth thematic pattern within place-based learning is Internships and Entrepreneurial Opportunities. This area excited me because Athens is an actual hot-bed of creators, artists, entrepreneurs, and The University of Georgia. The possibilities are endless for ways these resources can be tapped to expose my students to local career opportunities. I love the idea of having local small-business owners come to our classroom and speak about their businesses and tell the story of how the idea for their business was born. In the article, this theme was discussed as being most helpful for rooting highly capable community members to remaining in their hometown post-graduation. While this is not an issue in Athens, I think this theme is still important for showing the students from lower income families the possibilities that exist for them post-graduation without having to move to a new town.

       The fifth and final theme of place-based learning is Induction into Community Processes. I think this theme is more of a comprehensive one that may involve the other four themes selectively or simultaneously while showing and allowing students to become participatory citizens within their own community. Ideas that were generated while learning about this theme were governmental processes and most recently in the news, how community members are going to be expected to participate on local school governance boards as a result of Clarke County School District transitioning to a charter district. This will give students a firsthand look into how schools (especially, their own school) are going to be run and managed inside their community.

Project Idea #1

The first project idea that I have is to redesign my science unit on matter. The duration of this unit will be two weeks. I have several students this year who share my own love of cooking. I have been trying to think of ways I can incorporate this shared interest of ours into my existing curriculum and what better way than exploring the three states of matter inside of a cooking-centered project. One of my students has expressed to me several times his desire to learn how to make cakes and pies. A couple of weeks ago, we read a book together called How to Bake an Apple Pie and See the World. The book included a recipe in the back for making apple pie. Since reading the book, the entire class is interested in making apple pie.  As our science unit on matter gets closer, I have been hoping to show them more about the nature of matter using pie making, specifically the pie crust, itself. Solids, liquids and gases are all at play when the perfect pie crust is baking in the oven.

Project Question: How Do You Make the Perfect Pie Crust?

Week 1: What ingredients do you need to make a pie crust?
Science EQ: How can we describe the properties of matter? How can we classify matter?
Activities: 
Day 1: Try to have students come up with this first question that will begin their research. Split students into teams. Have them work using texts on pie-making/baking and their student devices to make a list of all the ingredients they will need to make a pie crust. After 15 minutes of research, come back together in a whole-group setting and watch a short video on matter. (Like BrainPop Jr)
Have students sort the pie crust ingredients into solids and liquids. Ask them why they think we aren't going to add any gases to our pie crust recipe? Do they think gases will be used to make the crust? Have them make some predictions as a closing.
Day 2: Gather ingredients, put a small amount of each ingredient at each student table and have them spend their work session describing the matter. Ask them to describe the color, odor, size, and shape. Students can record their findings in a table that can be glued inside their science journals. After about 15 minutes of investigation, call students back to the carpet for a whole group closing. Teach them that the ways we describe matter are called physical properties of matter. They help us describe the matter. Physical properties can be observed and measured.
Day 3: Measuring the ingredients. Gather materials like a scale, measuring cups and spoons. Have students practice measuring precise amounts for their pie crust. Student teams can store their measured ingredients in ziplock bags so they are ready for mixing at a later date.
Day 4: Making butter. Discuss physical and chemical changes using butter. Begin by asking class where butter comes from? (Not the store!) Research question: How can we make butter in our classroom?  Have students research for 15 minutes or so. Come back together to share their findings. Create a plan for making butter in mason jars the following week.

Week 2: How do we use our ingredients to make pie crust?
Science EQ: How can matter be changed?
Day 1: Making butter. Have students watch instructional video on making butter in a mason jar. Have students work in pairs. Each pair gets one jar of cream. Have them take turns shaking the jar of cream like the video shows. When one partner's arm gets tired, the other partner can take a turn. The partner not shaking the cream can sing the chant to keep the shaking in a rhythm. As partners begin to see solids forming in their liquid cream, have them continue shaking until they start to see a large clump of butter. Once butter is achieved, meet partners at the classroom sink to strain and rinse the butter. Butter can be collected in one large metal bowl or jar. When partners are finished, have them clean up their area and then record the process in their science journals using pictures, labels, and sentences.
Day 2: Why does the butter and water need to be ice cold when we make our crust? The point of this investigation is to see what happens to butter when heat is applied. Choose one or two students to hold butter in their hands for a minute or two in front on the class. (Do this over a bowl or napkin!) Have the class make predictions beforehand and then watch to see what happens. Discuss how butter can change from a solid to a liquid when heat is applied and how the liquid butter can change back to a solid when it is cooled down.(Use two metal bowls, stacked with ice between them to recool the butter.) As a closing, show video that explains why butter needs to be solid when making pie crust.
Day 3: How do we mix our ingredients to make our crust? Have students work in teams to follow their given recipe for making pie crust. (extension idea: have different teams try different recipes, discuss the differences)
Day 4: Have students work on a journal entry in their science journals first. They can describe 2 or 3 examples of how matter changed during the process of making their pie crust, or any other journal prompt you may have for them to do. As they work, Teacher should create a clean work surface for rolling out the dough and cutting them into 3" rounds with a cookie cutter. Have pre-sliced apples and cinnamon/sugar mixture nearby for filling pies. As students finish their journal entries, they can come to the work station and begin filling their pies. Take a field trip to the cafeteria to place pies in the oven. Talk about what is going to happen to the solid butter when it heats up in the oven. While enjoying pies (or waiting for them to bake), discuss the changes that occurred with each ingredient or type of matter. Did gases help create our pie crust?

Reading Reflection 8/28

This week our readings taught me a lot more about Project Based Learning. I love this approach to learning because it offers students the opportunity to collaborate, think critically, and hone important communication skills as they work together to find a solution to a problem and create a product to report their findings. I especially enjoyed reading the blog post entitled How to Get High-Quality Student Work in PBL. This reading really highlighted some solutions to some very real concerns I have had when considering an implementation of PBL inside my own classroom. For example, using rubrics has always been a part of my teaching, however, the importance of ensuring that I show them to my students before they set out to complete a project or learning task never fully occurred to me until recently. As humans, we all want to know what is expected of us in advance, respectfully. Seven year olds really are no different. Another concern I have had in the past is ensuring our project topics are authentic enough to motivate students. I have experienced, firsthand, the complete devastation that is felt when a project seems so authentic and interesting to me, but falls flat with my seven year olds. Learning the delicate craft of pulling an authentic topic straight from classroom discussions is one I am excited to practice and improve.

            Over the summer, I discovered a new tech tool that I think is going to help me improve project-based learning inside my classroom. I am just beginning my third year teaching. As a new teacher, it can get very overwhelming trying to plan, organize, and orchestrate the many elements of quality PBL (i.e. constant and regular feedback, formative assessments, time to revise, and authentic learning opportunities that cultivating a culture of quality). Teaching 21^st century learning skills to my students is important and I like to give them regular opportunities to use their student devices as tools for as many different applications as I can. I learned about the web 2.0 tool Seesaw (app.seesaw.me). This website is a safe and secure platform that allows students to create and maintain a digital learning journal into which they place “artifacts” completely generated by them independently as evidence of their learning. Students also create artifacts to share their learning with others, and can choose to do so by simply sharing their artifact with the rest of the class. Artifacts are multi-modal, giving students the option of taking a picture, creating a drawing, typing a note, or creating a video. They artifact can then be annotated in a variety of ways, including typed text, voice recording, or drawing directly onto it. Artifacts can be shared with parents and peers and an important opportunity to receive feedback is obtained. I love the idea of using this tool to improve my own PBL opportunities, especially in the areas of science and social studies. I am currently designing instruction for implementing this tool inside my classroom using Chromebook computers. I cannot wait to see how the students react to using the platform. 

        I also enjoyed exploring the website Edutopia. I have bookmarked several articles and videos that I plan to use to help me improve my project-based instruction. Specifically, I found several resources for helping me with the process of selecting authentic topics for projects, resources for getting started, and articles on assessment inside of PBL. I can tell this website is going to be wonderful resource for me inside this course, as well as professionally as I constantly seek to increase learning and motivation for my students. For example, one article on Edutopia talked about the classroom teacher incorporating her own interests into the project topic selection process. Because the teacher enjoyed running races, the class decided to plan and host a 5K and fun run for charity. I loved this example, as I have been making a conscious effort to do the same inside of my own classroom. I really love cooking and teaching about nutrition, something all children can relate to. I am going to try this approach this year and see if I can tie my science and social studies standards a bit more to this general topic, hopefully encouraging my students to begin seeing themselves as competent home cooks who can help prepare meals for their families.