Athens Drive High School Project Based Learning Unit The Energy of Change Megan Myers, English I Teacher July 2013
Wake County Public Schools
STEM PBL Instructional Guide Topic/Theme: Understanding How Change Happens: A look at a history of change in America and how it can be applied to renewable energy Embracing Change and Renewable Energy
Time: 10 days
Abstract There are many factors that impede scientists and environmentalists in their effort to implement renewable energy strategies such as quantity of resources, financial stability, etc. This project aims to explore is the civil and humanitarian obstacles engineers face in implementing their designs, and how to persuade society to embrace change. Students will explore how change has historically occurred in America, and examine Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird as a model for evaluating actions that revolutionaries can take to implement change. Finally, students will take strategies they’ve assessed in history and literature and create ways to make change possible for the green movement in America.
Common Core/Essential Standards W.9-10.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Substandards a-e apply. W.9-10.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. W.9-10.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. W.9-10.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically. W.9-10.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a selfgenerated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. W.9-10.8 Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively;p assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. RL.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. RI.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. SL.9-10.5 Make strategic use of digital media in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence to add interest. Wake County Public Schools
Learner Objective(s) Students will be able to: Evaluate historical strategies for change in order to apply them to current global issues Deconstruct characterization in a novel to understand its real-world application to the green movement Research current events in order to solve real-world problems Synthesize multiple texts through the lens of an essential focus Support claims to original arguments through textual evidence Answer an essential question using evidence from literary and informational texts to support their analysis and reflection Collaborate with their peers to research and create an informational and persuasive product Present their products in a real world setting, clarifying and reflecting upon their research
The Scenario/ Problem for the PBL Throughout American history, how have advocates for change successfully persuaded their community to embrace new ideas? How can we apply these strategies to persuade Americans to embrace new ideas about contemporary global issues? Map the PBL
Performance Indicators
Already Learned
● Brief introduction Part 1: Outline
to Jim Crow and women’s rights and the culture of the 1930s
● Background and Part 2: Proposal
environmental goals of chosen advocate group ● How to
Taught before the Project
Taught during the Project
● Have already
● How to conduct valid
started reading TKAM ● How to write a thesis
research ● How to write an outline
● What written
● How to write concisely and persuasively for a specific audience
professional proposals look like ● How to use
Wake County Public Schools
● How to collaborate
Part 3: Presentation
collaborate in a group
technology as presentation and persuasive tools
with peers to present a persuasive PSA that is informative, engaging, and creative
Instruction
See 5 E Model for English I document for explicit in-depth day-by-day instruction for the PBL Unit, as well as Google Drive for the following rubrics, templates, models and worksheets: the PBL Assignment, “Atticus as a Revolutionary” worksheet, Audience Evaluation for PSAs, Essay Outline Template, Proposal Peer Review worksheet, and the Rubrics document for teacher evalutation.
Plan the Assessment Day 1: Brainstorm and Present the Project · Assignment: Have students free write a journal response to the quote—do they agree/disagree, and why? Journal entry must be 7-10 sentences long. · Quote: “If the world’s problems were technical in nature, we would have solved them a long time ago. How do you ‘engineer’ a solution to corruption?” –Bernard Amadeus, EWB Founder and Professor at UC Boulder · Discuss as a class what the general ideas and consensus was about the quote (real-world struggles with implementing scientific theories and engineering strategies). · After the discussion, play the EWB YouTube video featuring Bernard Amadeus. Ask students in a second journal to write about the change that Amadeus is implementing into engineering--how does he want to redefine the profession? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp9xw2glyRE&list=PL43C942ED2506B39A · Present the assignment and explain the “Argument” and “Essential Question” sections of the assignment so students gain a thorough understanding of the task. Product: 2 journal entries Materials: Quotation, assignment, computer with speakers and projector for YouTube video Resources: ewb-usa.org as necessary, link to YouTube Days 2-4: Research · Students will have enough time each day in class to research 1 of the goals of the outline (Day 3: Section a; Day 4: Section b; Day 5: Section c). Explain that students will be analyzing what real people did to make change in America, and how can we do the same today for the green movement (their thesis should be about applying 3 strategies people have done in the past to what we can do today). If students finish researching early, they may begin writing their outline in class and get feedback from the teacher. The Wake County Public Schools
students may use the Outline Template to help structure and organize their data. Encourage students to use the Guiding Questions in the assignment to help direct their research and organize their writing. · As students research their project, they will be reading To Kill a Mockingbird Part 2 for homework and filling out the “Atticus as a Revolutionary” worksheet, using the text as a primary source. This is to be used as a model of analyzing the actions of others to understand how we can implement change in our own society. On the last day of research (or the next day, once the students have completed their research), discuss the “Atticus” worksheet in class for what Atticus did that worked/didn’t work/helped to spur on change in Maycomb. Use this as a transition of discussing Atticus’ actions into the proposal assignment--explain to students that they are to put their knowledge about change into action. · Homework: Students will finish the outline for homework (due at the teacher’s discretion). They will submit it by uploading it to their Google portfolio. This is an individual assignment, as well as the proposal, but these assignments should prepare students for their group presentation. Product: Outline Materials: TKAM, model worksheet, Outline Template, Rubric Resources: See librarians for books on historical culture and advocates for change (sections a and b); for websites consider .edu or .gov sites (www.loc.gov/, using Google Scholar, etc) Day 6-7: Proposal · Students will spend half a day in research on a current special interest group working with renewable energy in America, and write a proposal as an advocate for that group. Some students may need more scaffolding for the proposal, in which case the teacher can also offer a list of advocacy groups for the students to choose from, or assign a group to the students. This is an individual assignment meant to practice writing professionally for an advocacy group that is persuading a specific audience, whereas the presentation is a group assignment meant to practice persuading a general audience. · The teacher will scaffold the writing process by providing examples from online as well as organization suggestions from valid educational websites. The teacher might benefit from having a class discussion first about what a good proposal looks like, and why an advocacy might write about. · Once the students have an advocacy group, they will identify the problem: What does the group need to accomplish its goals, or what goals are they trying to enact? · The students will have two days to consider ways to solve the problem, assessing what actions the group needs to take. Then they will write a one-page proposal will be directed at a specific audience (politician, company, etc.) to aid the advocacy group (asking for donations, asking for resources, demanding a law be passed/overturned, etc.) They should have a day for peer-editing using the Proposal Peer Review worksheet before submitting their final proposal. · Homework: Students will finish the proposal for homework (due at the teacher’s discretion). They will submit it by uploading it to their Google portfolio. This is an individual assignment. Product: Written proposal Materials: List of special interest groups, Rubric, writing strategies for proposal, Peer Review sheet Resources: Possible groups to research: 1. CEG, Clean Energy Group (http://www.cleanegroup.org/) 2. RNP, Renewable Northwest Project (http://www.rnp.org/) 3. Energy Advocates (http://www.energyadvocates.org/) 4. BCSE, The Business Council for Sustainable Energy (http://www.bcse.org/) 5. Engineers Without Boarders (www.ewb-usa.org) or (www.ewbncsu.org) 6. Sierra Club (ncsierraclub.org) Wake County Public Schools
7. North Carolina Solar Center (http://ncsc.ncsu.edu)
Day 8-10: Presentation · Assign students into groups for their presentation (it can be based on the groups they used for their proposal, or the teacher can differentiate based on student’s collaboration and presentation abilities). As a transition from the proposal, have the students get into their presentation groups and discuss what they wrote for their proposals. The teacher can either assign a special interest group to the students, or can allow the students to use the discussion time to select a special interest group of their own (perhaps choosing the best proposal as a starting point for the presentation). Let students know that the goal of this presentation is to move from a specific to a general audience--how can the advocacy group convince the public to help their cause in renewable energy? · The students will be working in groups and will have two days to prepare a presentation. Their options (if the teacher can provide the resources) for presenting are: -Create an audio PSA for special interest group (made for radio) -Make a YouTube or iMovie video (made for TV) · Ultimately, the students will present their video or audio recording to the class on the presentation day. Product: Presentation Materials: Rubric, presentation tools (projector, laptop, etc.) Resources: Listen to WKNC for examples of radio PSAs, or look at examples of other nonprofit groups on YouTube for video examples (PETA, etc).
Day 8-10: Presentation · Assign students into groups for their presentation (it can be based on the groups they used for their proposal, or the teacher can differentiate based on student’s collaboration and presentation abilities). As a transition from the proposal, have the students get into their presentation groups and discuss what they wrote for their proposals. The teacher can either assign a special interest group to the students, or can allow the students to use the discussion time to select a special interest group of their own (perhaps choosing the best proposal as a starting point for the presentation). Let students know that the goal of this presentation is to move from a specific to a general audience--how can the advocacy group convince the public to help their cause in renewable energy? · The students will be working in groups and will have two days in class (and for homework as necessary) to prepare a presentation. Their options (if the teacher can provide the resources) for presenting are: -Create an audio PSA for special interest group (made for radio) -Make a YouTube or iMovie video (made for TV) · Since this is a continuation of the proposal, the teacher can either assign students to an advocacy group or assign students who had different groups and let the students choose which special interest group to represent. · As students present their PSAs to the class, the other students will be the audience for the group’s project. Everyone in the audience will fill out an evaluation rubric assessing the effectiveness of the PSA as it’s played for the class 3 times. When the group is done presenting, allow the audience to ask any questions. Give the students a few minutes to finish their evaluation, and collect them. · Once all the groups have presented, give each group their evaluations from the class. Allow the groups to look through and discuss their peer’s evaluations, and discuss how they could change their PSA based on Wake County Public Schools
the feedback from their classmates. · Once all the presentations are complete and the groups have gotten a chance to review their classmate’s feedback, students will write a reflection journal about the research process, the proposal writing, and collaborating with a group to make a PSA. They should write about things they learned, things they want to learn more about, what they liked and didn't like, discuss the different PSAs presented and the different means of persuading an audience, and any other thoughts or wishes they had pertaining to the project. Product: Video/Audio PSA, reflection journal Materials: Rubric, presentation tools (projector, laptop, etc.), Audience Evaluation worksheet Resources: Listen to WKNC for examples of radio PSAs, or look at examples of other nonprofit groups on YouTube for video examples (PETA, etc).
Story Board
Week 1 Activities
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
EWB Quote journal
Research section a
Research section b
Research section c
Model proposals
Present the project
“Atticus” worksheet as they research
“Atticus” worksheet as they research
(turn in Outline online on Day 5)
Discuss results from “Atticus” worksheet
Week 2 Activities
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Begin writing Proposal
Peer editing day Put students for Proposal into groups to begin creating (turn in PSA Proposal on Presentation Day 8
Begin research for advocacy group, or have students select group from a list
Day 9
Day 10
Continue working on Presentation
Present the Presentation, evaluate student presentations Reflection journal
5 E Model Instructional Guide Topic/Theme: Understanding How Change Happens: A look at a history of change in America and how it can be applied to renewable energy Wake County Public Schools
Time: 10 days Common Core/Essential Standards W.9-10.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Substandards a-e apply. W.9-10.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. W.9-10.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. W.9-10.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically. W.9-10.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. W.9-10.8 Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. RI.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. SL.9-10.5 Make strategic use of digital media in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence to add interest. Learner Objective(s) Students will be able to: Evaluate historical strategies for change in order to apply them to current global issues Deconstruct characterization in a novel to understand its real-world application to the green movement Research current events in order to solve real-world problems Synthesize multiple texts through the lens of an essential focus Support claims to original arguments through textual evidence Answer an essential question using evidence from literary and informational texts to support their analysis and reflection Collaborate with their peers to research and create an informational and persuasive product Present their products in a real world setting, clarifying and reflecting upon their research Practice reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills during these activities. Wake County Public Schools
Essential Question(s) ● Throughout American history, how have advocates for change successfully persuaded their community to embrace new ideas? ● How can we apply these strategies to persuade Americans to embrace new ideas about contemporary global issues?
Engage Activity Overview Assignment: Have students free write a journal response to the quotation—do they agree/disagree, and why? Journal entry must be 7-10 sentences long. Quotation: “If the world’s problems were technical in nature, we would have solved them a long time ago. How do you ‘engineer’ a solution to corruption?” –Bernard Amadeus, EWB Founder and Professor at UC Boulder Discuss as a class what the general ideas and consensus was about the quote (real-world struggles with implementing scientific theories and engineering strategies). After the discussion, play the EWB YouTube video featuring Bernard Amadeus. Ask students in a second journal to write about the change that Amadeus is implementing into engineering--how does he want to redefine the profession of engineering? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp9xw2glyRE&list=PL43C942ED2506B39A Present the assignment and explain the “Argument” and “Essential Question” sections of the assignment so students gain a thorough understanding of the task.
Products and Artifacts 2 journal entries
Materials/ Equipment Quotation, assignment, computer with speakers and projector for YouTube video
Wake County Public Schools
Resources ewb-usa.org as necessary, link to YouTube
Explore Activity Overview Students will have enough time each day in class to research 1 of the goals of the outline (Day 3: Section a; Day 4: Section b; Day 5: Section c). Explain that students will be analyzing what real people did to make change in America, and how can we apply these lessons from former civil rights movements to today’s green movement (their thesis should be about applying 3 strategies people have done in the past to what we can do today). If students finish researching early, they may begin writing their outline in class and get feedback from the teacher. The students may use the Outline Template to help structure and organize their data. Encourage students to use the Guiding Questions in the assignment to help direct their research and organize their writing. As students research their project, they will be reading To Kill a Mockingbird Part 2 for homework and filling out the “Atticus as a Revolutionary” worksheet, using the text as a primary source. This is to be used as a model of analyzing the actions of others to understand how we can implement change in our own society. On the last day of research (or the next day, once the students have completed their research), discuss the “Atticus” worksheet in class for what Atticus did that worked/didn’t work/helped to spur on change in Maycomb. Use this as a transition of discussing Atticus’ actions into the proposal assignment-explain to students that they are to put their knowledge about change into action. Homework: Students will finish the outline for homework (due at the teacher’s discretion). They will submit it by uploading it to their Google portfolio. This is an individual assignment, as well as the proposal, but these assignments should prepare students for their group presentation.
Products and Artifacts Outline
Materials/Equipment TKAM, model worksheet, Outline Template, Rubric, print/web sources for research
Resources See librarians for books on historical culture and advocates for change (sections a and b); for websites consider .edu or .gov sites (www.loc.gov/, using Google Scholar, etc)
Explain Activity
Wake County Public Schools
Overview Students will spend half a day in research on a current special interest group working with renewable energy in America, and write a proposal as an advocate for that group. Some students may need more scaffolding for the proposal, in which case the teacher can also offer a list of advocacy groups for the students to choose from, or assign a group to the students.This is an individual assignment meant to practice writing professionally for an advocacy group that is persuading a specific audience, whereas the presentation is a group assignment meant to practice persuading a general audience. The teacher will scaffold the writing process by providing examples from online as well as organization suggestions from valid educational websites. The teacher might benefit from having a class discussion first about what a good proposal looks like, and why an advocacy might write about. Once the students have an advocacy group, they will identify the problem: What does the group need to accomplish its goals, or what goals are they trying to enact? The students will have two days to consider ways to solve the problem, assessing what actions the group needs to take. Then they will write a one-page proposal directed toward a specific audience (politician, company, etc.) to aid the advocacy group (asking for donations, asking for resources, demanding a law be passed/overturned, etc.). They should have a day for peer-editing using the Proposal Peer Review worksheet before submitting their final proposal. Homework: Students will finish the proposal for homework (due at the teacher’s discretion). They will submit it by uploading it to their Google portfolio. This is an individual assignment.
Products and Artifacts Written proposal
Materials/ Equipment List of special interest groups, Rubric, writing strategies for proposal, Peer Review sheet
Resources Possible groups to research: 1. CEG, Clean Energy Group (http://www.cleanegroup.org/) 2. RNP, Renewable Northwest Project (http://www.rnp.org/) 3. Energy Advocates (http://www.energyadvocates.org/) 4. BCSE, The Business Council for Sustainable Energy (http://www.bcse.org/) 5. Engineers Without Boarders (www.ewb-usa.org) or (www.ewbncsu.org) 6. Sierra Club (ncsierraclub.org) 7. North Carolina Solar Center (http://ncsc.ncsu.edu) For scaffolding the writing for students, consider using educational websites and searching “grant writing.” One example is http://www.nea.org/home/10476.htm which has some good suggestions (though some are outside the scope of this project). Also consider searching www.scholastic.com which has a “toolkit” for writing grants—this website has a lot of good suggestions for writing clear and concise grants.
Wake County Public Schools
Elaborate Activity Overview ● Assign students into groups for their presentation (it can be based on the groups they used for their proposal, or the teacher can differentiate based on student’s collaboration and presentation abilities). As a transition from the proposal, have the students get into their presentation groups and discuss what they wrote for their proposals. The teacher can either assign a special interest group to the students, or can allow the students to use the discussion time to select a special interest group of their own (perhaps choosing the best proposal as a starting point for the presentation). Let students know that the goal of this presentation is to move from a specific to a general audience--how can the advocacy group convince the public to help their cause in renewable energy? ● The students will be working in groups and will have two days in class (and for homework as necessary) to prepare a presentation. Their options (if the teacher can provide the resources) for presenting are: ○ Create an audio PSA for special interest group (made for radio) ○ Make a YouTube or iMovie video (made for TV) ● Since this is a continuation of the proposal, the teacher can either assign students to an advocacy group or assign students who had different groups and let the students choose which special interest group to represent.
Products and Artifacts Video/audio PSA
Materials/ Equipment Rubric, presentation tools (projector, laptop, etc.)
Resources Listen to college or nonprofit radio, such as WKNC, for examples of radio PSAs, or look at examples of other nonprofit groups on YouTube for video examples (PETA, etc).
Evaluate Activity Overview As students present their PSAs to the class, the other students will be the audience for the group’s project. Everyone in the audience will fill out an evaluation rubric assessing the effectiveness of the PSA as it’s played for the class 3 times. When the group is done presenting, allow the audience to ask any questions. Give the students a few minutes to finish their evaluation, and collect them.
Wake County Public Schools
Once all the groups have presented, give each group their evaluations from the class. Allow the groups to look through and discuss their peer’s evaluations, and discuss how they could change their PSA based on the feedback from their classmates. Once all the presentations are complete and the groups have gotten a chance to review their classmate’s feedback, students will write a reflection journal about the research process, the proposal writing, and collaborating with a group to make a PSA. They should write about things they learned, things they want to learn more about, what they liked and didn't like, discuss the different PSAs presented and the different means of persuading an audience, and any other thoughts or wishes they had pertaining to the project.
Products and Artifacts Reflection journal
Materials/ Equipment Audience Evaluation sheet, computer/projector/speakers for presentations
Resources Listen to college or nonprofit radio, such as WKNC, for examples of radio PSAs, or look at examples of other nonprofit groups on YouTube for video examples (PETA, etc).
Wake County Public Schools