The EnvironMentors Community: Working Together, Learning Together, Growing together
Section Getting to know your mentor Getting to know your cohort of EM students
Objective(s) Students will: - Post their profile and photo onto the online community - Blog about their first meeting with their mentor
The Scientific Method
Students will: - Use online sites to learn about the scientific method
Project Brainstorming
Activity CORE ACTIVITY 1 – Have students log into the EM online community (http://environmentors.net/) and complete their online profile (students must complete all profile fields to be eligible for the drawing) and post a photo to the community. The online community user’s guide will be provided with instructions on “how to” complete their profiles. Supplemental Activity Reflective Blog – Have students write a reflection on their first meeting with their mentor. Include thoughts on the activity students did with their mentors and something interesting that they learned about their mentor. Post this on their My Project Page as a blog. Student to Student Interviews – Pair EM students and have each pair interview each other, take a photograph, and upload this to their Profile Page. Supplemental Activities Reflective Blog – Have students write about the scientific method, which parts of the method did they not understand? Which sections would they like to learn more about? What do they think is the most important stage of the scientific method?
- Use the EM online community to test their knowledge about scientific method
Mentor College Access Quiz – Have students talk with their mentor, what college or university did he/she go to? What type of university/college? What did he/she study? What are some of the universities in their state and what types of scientific research do they conduct? Students will post onto their My Profile Page EM one important piece of advice that their mentor gave about applying to colleges and universities.
-Blog about their experience learning the scientific method
Scientific Method Scavenger Hunt – Provide students with books, magazines, or online resources for each step of the science method. Ask each group to present information on what the procedure is in each step, why it is important, copy one or two examples to present.
-Blog about what they learned about college access from their mentor Students will: - Connect with the outdoors and develop
Supplemental Activities A Walk in the Woods – Have students and mentors, or your student cohort, take a walk outdoors and take photos of things in nature that captivate their attention. Use these photos as a basis to begin project brainstorming. Also, have student post their photos onto their My Profile
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The EnvironMentors Community: Working Together, Learning Together, Growing together
Project Planning
ideas for projects
Page.
- Connect to the NCSE Encyclopedia of Earth (EoE) website
Mind Mapping – The NCSE Encyclopedia of Earth (EoE) is a free online electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environment and their interaction with society. Have students find two articles of interest using the EoE website (http://www.eoearth.org/). Have students identify two or three ideas/issues in each article and complete the mind mapping exercise with their mentor found on page 49 of the Student manual.
Students will:
CORE ACTIVITY 2 Online Posting - Once students have narrowed down their ideas for project topics, have students post their project topic with a brief summary onto the EM online community My Project Page.
-Post Project Topic and Summary to online community -Begin to think about college
Supplemental Activities Connecting Students – After students have posted their project topic onto their My Project Page, have students read through the list of 2010-11 project topics on the online community (http://environmentors.net/projects). Are there projects similar to their own? Have students search for one or two students at other chapters that have similar interests and pose questions to these students on their My Project Page. College Access Inquiry – Have students find 2 universities or colleges that offer degree programs related to their research. What other types of degree programs do these colleges/universities offer that sound interesting? What types of classes in high school do they need in order to apply to these schools? What is the deadline for application?
Background Research
Students will: - Post 2-3 sources found online to their EM project page - Use the EoE website to find credible online research -Use the EoE website to find an expert for students’ Expert
CORE ACTIVITY 3 Project Portfolios – Students will create a digital portfolio of websites, videos, and other articles related to their project topic and post 2-3 sources to their My Project Page. Supplemental Activities Reflective Blog – Have students blog about the most interesting thing they have learned about the subject matter they’re studying? What is one surprising fact that learned while conducting their literature research? Have them post to their My Project Page as a blog entry. Find an Expert - Have students search the EoE website (http://www.eoearth.org/) and identify 23 articles that are of interest and in their project topic field. Each article in the EoE has a lead author who can be contacted by following the link over the author’s name. Have students choose 2-3 articles of interest and send an email message to the lead author requesting an
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The EnvironMentors Community: Working Together, Learning Together, Growing together
Interview assignment
interview. Video Search – Have students search through online versions of current newspapers and find videos on YouTube about their project topic that they will include in their annotated bibliography. Post these videos onto their Profile Page.
Experimental Methods and Data Collection
Students will: - Post Research Question and Hypothesis to the online community - Post Experimental Methods to the online community -Use Google Earth and Google Map to locate study site
CORE ACTIVITY 4 Share Your Research Question – Now that students have begun their experimental research, have them post their research question(s), and hypothesis to their My Project Page CORE ACTIVITY 5 Experimental Research Photos – Have students locate their study site by using the Google Earth feature on the online community, post photos of their study site, their experimental research and/or EM field trips and activities to their My Project and/or Profile Page Supplemental Activities Satellite Imaging of Your Study Site – Have students use the Google Earth and/or the Google Map websites to locate their study site. Students can print these images out and post on their project poster. Imagining Your Experiment - Have students develop a schematic illustration of the steps they will need to complete in order to carry out their experimental procedure. These step-by-step drawings will provide students a visual sense of the materials needed to conduct their experiment. From these drawings, have students make a list of the materials needed for their experiment. YouTube – Have students create a video of their experiment and post on their Profile Page. Reflective Blog – Have students blog about the most interesting and most challenging aspects of their experimental procedure? What are some of the solutions they have come up with to address these challenges? How has their mentor helped you through this process?
Communication Deadline
Students will: -Post conclusion and abstract to the online community
CORE ACTIVITY 6 Project Abstract – Now that students have completed their project research and carried out their experimental research, have students post a brief conclusion and abstract summary to their My Project Page on the online community. Supplemental Activities Reflective Blog – Now that students have completed the academic year as an EnvironMentor, what were some of the memorable moments shared mentors? With other EM students? What
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The EnvironMentors Community: Working Together, Learning Together, Growing together
were some of the challenges being an EnvironMentors student? Student-to-Student Interviews – EM students will interview each other (each from a different chapter) via webcam/Skype to learn more about each research project. Students will write one paragraph explaining their partner’s project and the environmental issue that it addresses. The interviews will be posted on the EM online community as a blog entry.
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