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?