Education Portfolio
GEOGRAPHY, GRADE 7 BOYS, THREE 43 MINUTE CLASS PERIODS.
Objectives for learning.
By the end of the week students will understand main issues and themes regarding saving the environment, wilderness areas and endangered species.
Students will be able to:
- research topics of their choice
- give oral presentations to small groups (3-4 students and pairs)
- and to the class as a whole
- work together cooperatively in groups to learn and teach the material.
Materials: Overview of Week (homework and activities),Homework assignment sheets, Vocabulary, large poster of endangered species list, library books on the environment and endangered species.
HUMAN/ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS
Review (Monday - 10 minutes)
Five Themes of Geography:
- Location
- Place
- Human/Environment Interactions
- Movement
- Regions
Introduction
1. Wilderness for Tomorrow (Monday night homework - 20 min.)
- Evaluate Benefits.
- Choose Most important Benefit to You and Research It.
- Present homework in small groups. (Tuesday - 10 minutes)
- In pairs, give one minute presentations of your research. (Tuesday - 10 minutes)
- Summary of small group findings . (Whole class discussion - 10 minutes)
2. Endangered Wildlife (Tuesday in class)
- In whole class discussion,, look at map of U.S. and identify areas with the most species of endangered wildlife and discuss possible reasons. (10 minutes)
- Review and introduce Tuesday and Wednesday night homework.
- Be thinking about which endangered species you want to report on
3. Environmental Vocabulary (Tuesday night homework - 20 minutes)
- Wednesday, in small groups, go over homework. (12 minutes)
- Together, create a presentation (such as a skit, song, poster or interview) using at least six of the environmental vocabulary terms. (12 - 15 minutes)
- Present it to class as a whole. Each presentation should be 2-3 minutes.(12 - 15 minutes total for all group presentations)
4. Saving the Endangered ( Wednesday night homework - 20 minutes. Research species of your choice.
- On Thursday, share two minute presentations in small groups (6 -8 minutes)
- Choose one member of group to present to whole class (12 - 15 minutes).
- Evaluation - self and group (10 minutes)
- Teacher summarizes knowledge gained in last few days (10 minutes)
Teacher may review five main themes of geography (including the two the class has just covered, Place and Location.)
Lesson introduction
When I was ten, my family moved to Oregon where my father raised blue-lake green beans in the traditional manner for that time with pesticides and herbicides. Then he read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and became an organic farmer.
Wholeness for the lesson
To save/protect the environment (deep ecology)
including wilderness (deep time)
and all species, we must:
- recognize/appreciate our interconnectedness;
- experience our individual and collective empowerment
- realize the power of knowledge to educate and structure a new reality.
- "Knowledge is the greatest purifier."
- "The field of all possibilities is the source of all solution"
- The whole is found in every part.
- The whole is greater than the sum of the parts."
Main Points
1. Scientists identify over 1.4 million species of plant and animal life and estimate the earth may have more than 30 million living species.
2. Man kills off entire ecosystems daily, leading to the loss of tens of thousands of species each year.
3. At this rate, scientists estimate that over one fifth of earth's life forms will be lost forever within the next 30 years!
4. Common reasons for loss of wildlife include:
- use of pesticides
- pollution of waters and land
- loss of habitat (such as the cutting down of forests)
5. Environmental success stories include that of the bald eagle, and more recently, the northern spotted owl and West Indian manatee.
6. People are becoming educated and more involved.
7. The future of our wildlife rests in our hands - the current and future generations.
What difference does it make? Who cares if a few species are lost?
Does the end (progress) justify the means (destruction to environment)?
Today, environmentalists are taking positive steps to ensure:
- further environmental damage is avoided
- repair to nature occurs through careful planning
Benefits of wilderness of man:
- Scientific value
- Commercial value
- Recreation
- Aesthetic value (beauty)
- Historical value
- Pure water
- Clean air
- Educational value
- Preservation of the species
Procedures and activities
Each day will begin with a review . Then, in small groups or in pairs, students will go over the worksheet (see four worksheets) that they have completed the night before , giving them the opportunity to teach each other and go over the content several times. Teacher walks around answering questions and clarifying group process.
Fulfillment.Teacher compliments class on their good work, good ideas, asks them to share what they've learned. Students present to the whole class (group poster/ skit/interview on Environmental vocabulary and individual reports on Endangered species.)
Closure. Teacher asks what conclusions, or patterns can be seen in what has been covered in past few days.Teacher summarizes, ties it back to the original wholeness and to the ideas of problems/solutions, parts/wholeness, diversity/unity.
Homework. Each night, students have 20 minutes of homework (see schedule)
Assessment strategies
- Verbal- question students as to what they learned from lesson
- Written - first day, students write a self-assessment on what they learned during homework and lesson.
- Second day, they fill out the self assessment form and justify their scores to their small group.
- Third day, they turn in all their homework sheets, group project, and final report of an endangered species.
- Finally, they take a brief integrative quiz on all the material, including samples of questions on homework sheets, vocabulary words, and "Who am I?" (descriptions of species that they need to identify).
Self-Reflection
I thought the boys took very well to the small group cooperative learning format, even without formal teambuilding exercises. They also seemed to like the quick-paced dividing into pairs and giving each other little talks. They did very well on their final reports. a special triumph was a boy who didn't interat very well with his group yet with encouragement ended up giving one of the best group presentations (in an interview format) with very rich content and interesting delivery. In further experiences with student teaching I will continue with the cooperative learning, at least for part of each period. I also want to add some modeling work (with clay) whenever applicable.
ENVIRONMENTAL VOCABULARY
Ozone depletion - "The ozone layer is an essential protective filter in the upper atmosphere that surrounds the Earth. As long as human life has existed, it has protected us from harmful ultraviolet rays coming from the sun. When these rays get through the atmosphere, they damage crops, destroy living cells and cause skin cancer. During the last 20 years, ozone levels above Antarctica have decreased by nearly 40% each springtime. It's all caused mainly by our use of chloro-fluorocarbons (CFC). Most countries have stopped industry using these in aerosols but they are still used in other products. The consequences are catastrophic: about 100,000 people die each year from skin cancer. It's especially bad in the southern hemisphere. There is truly no more time to wait: All CFC-use must be stopped immediately!" - Polish Ozone Group.
Greenhouse effect. Caused when some gases (produced when fossil fuels are used) allow sunlight to reach the ground, but prevent the sunlight's heat from rising out of the atmosphere and flowing back into space which subsequently causes average temperatures to rise. The main greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide and we are releasing more and more of it into the atmosphere - 500 billion tons last year. Oceans and forests soak up carbon, so we should hang on to them and stop producing it.
Acid rain. This pollutant forms when moisture in the air combines with nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide released by automobiles, by factories, by power plants that burn coal or oil. The reaction between the moisture and the chemical compounds produces nitric and sulfuric acids, which fall to the earth with rain or snow. The acids pollute lakes and streams, resulting in the death of fish and the contamination of drinking water. They can also harm the crops and reduce the fertility of the soil. This form of pollution may even damage buildings and statues. In addition, acid rain pollutants may travel long distances, even reaching other countries.
Watershed pollution
Creative recycling
Radon pollution
Gridlock
Global warming
Eating lower on the food chain
Overpopulation
Ecotourism
Earth Day
QUESTION: What do we have in common?
Hawaiian Monk Seal Black-footed Ferret
Laysan Duck Audobon's Crest Caracara
Eastern Indigo Snake Stephen's Kangaroo Rat
Jaguarundi Flattened Musk Turtle
Thick-Billed Parrot Northern Spotted Owl
Florida Scrub Jay Plymouth Redbelly Turtle
Virginia Big-Earred Bat Red Wolf
Steller's Sea Lion Wood Bison
Piping Plover American Burying Beetle
Red-Cockaded Woodpecker West Indian Manatee
Northern Swift Fox Stock Island Snail
Gulf Sturgeon Whooping Crane
Attwater's Prairie Chicken Shortnose Sturgeon
Houston Toad N. Mex. Ridgenose Rattlesnack
Delta Smelt Gopher Tortoise
Blue-Tailed Mole Skink Northern Aplomado Falcon
Koloa Maoli 'Alae 'Ula
Ocelot Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle
American Crocodile Florida Key Deer
Nene Goose SantaCruz Long-Toed Salamander
Hawaiian Hoary Bat Grizzly Bear
Caifornia Condor Wood Stork
Tooth Cave Spide Hawksbill Sea Turtle
'Io Cheat Mountain Salamander
Aleutian Canada Goose Greenback Cutthroat Trout
Devil's Hole Pupfish 'Ae 'o
ANSWER: We're all endangered!