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Going Green!A Science Unit on Going Green Using a UBD Format

Pace UniversityED 620July 2009Professor Sal Zimmerman

Joe Baird, Ilana Grossman, Candice Kim, Stephanie Kirby, Kenneth Kroog

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An Introduction to Our UnitThe goal of this unit is to offer students access to the curriculum through the lens of Going Green. Today, environmental awareness and the concept of green living is all around us: in the media, where we buy groceries, where we chose to live and how we interact with our environments. This unit will open students up to issues and ideas associated with the Green movement, while exploring the standard content areas with this theme.

Our ClassroomFourth GradeStudents with EBD12:1:1DifferentiationVerbal and visual directions and writing promptsOpportunity to draw or find images instead of writing Different types of questions (multiple choice, fill in, short answer)Group work, pair work, and individual work

Essential QuestionsWhat is the environment?What effects do humans have on the environment?How can groups of people work together to achieve a common goal?What can we do as a community to limit a negative impact on our environment?What is pollution? What causes it?

Students Will Be Able to: Identify man-made and natural environmentsDescribe how man-made and natural environments interactDefine and identify land, water, air, light, and noise pollutionDefine and identify the impact of reducing, reusing, and recyclingCreate pollution solutions for school and homeCollect school recycling data, graph it, and project next years recycling rates Research data on recycling and create a powerpoint presentation Work together to plan and execute an assembly

Standards:4.PS.1 Explore, examine, and make observations about a social problem or mathematical situation4.PS.3 Interpret information correctly, identify the problem, and generate possible solutions4.PS.7 Represent problem situations in oral, written, concrete, pictorial, and graphical forms4.PS.13 Work in collaboration with others to solve problems4.S.2 Collect data using observations, surveys, and experiments and record appropriately4.S.3 Represent data using tables, bar graphs, and pictographs

4th grade, Science Process Skills:7.1a Humans depend on their natural and constructed environments.7.1b Over time humans have changed their environment by cultivating crops and raising animals, creating shelter, using energy, manufacturing goods, developing means of transportation, changing populations, and carrying out other activities.7.1c Humans, as individuals or communities, change environments in ways that can be either helpful or harmful for themselves and other organisms.

Students Will Know:That people can work together to make positive changeThat they can change the world around themHow to graph numbers in real world situationsThat garbage can be used to make usable itemsHow pollution effects various places and people

Students Will Understand That: Recycling is important and our individual and community actions affect the environment around us. They can make positive changes within their school by working as a team.There are different kinds of pollution, positive and negative. There are varying degrees of effects of pollution on our environment and there are ways humans can limit these effects by being knowledgeable.

ContentPre-AssessmentDiscussion surrounding the word environment and informal assessment in groups regarding natural and man-made environments will indicate how much our students knowFinal ProjectPowerpoint Presentation including definition of recycling, examples of items that can be recycling, recorded recycling rates, and projected rates.Unit CalendarOur unit will cover science, citizenship, writing, reading, art, library research, and computers

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday1

What is the environment? There are two kinds: Natural v. Man Made Environments 2

What is pollution? Writing: Students will write letters asking EPA Rep. to attend community assembly3

How Can we Identify Pollution?

Literacy: Students Will read Silent Spring4

What is Water Pollution? What does it look like?

Literacy: Students Will read Silent Spring5

What is Air Pollution? What does it look like?

During Library: Students will pollution rates in NYC and USA 6What is Land Pollution? What does it look like?

Math: Examine School Recycling Rates7What is Noise and Light Pollution? What does is look like?

Math: Examine School Recycling Rates8How does the Natural and Man-made environment Interact?

Math: Projecting School Recycling Rates9What exactly is Recycling?

Art: Create Signs to post around school about Recycling Facts10What is Reducing?

Afternoon Field Trip: Local Recycling Center11What is Reusing?

Art: Making Cool things out of Garbage12What are Pollution Solutions that can change and school?

In writing students will prepare presentations for assembly on their math findings13What are Pollution Solutions that can change our home?

In computers students will turn their math findings into a PowerPoint presentation14

Whole Day Field Trip to Water Waste FacilityCommunity Assembly featuring a speaker from the EPA, students will present their findings about recycling rates at school in powerpoint presentation

AssessmentsWorksheetsShort QuizzesRubrics for ProjectsInformal Questioning Writing PromptsWhole Group Discussion

Name_______________________________ Date:_____________

What did we learn today about Air Pollution?

Define Air Pollution:

Circle anything in this list that causes air pollution:driving a carfactoriesreading a bookburning wood in stoves or chimneys sleepingsmoking cigarettes

List three things that you can do to prevent air pollution: 1.____________________________________________________2.____________________________________________________3.____________________________________________________

List three ways that air pollution affects humans: 1.____________________________________________________2.____________________________________________________3.____________________________________________________

In the picture below, draw lines from the piece of garbage or recyclable container to the appropriate bin.Name:___________________ Date:________Locating Pollution!

Name: Date:

Below draw or find a picture of two places where you can find a man-made and natural environment very close to each other.

Example: Some playgrounds are on the sandy part of a beach. The playground is man-made. The sand and water of the beach is natural.

Name: Date:

Below list three places where you can find a man-made and natural environment very close to each other.

Example: Some playgrounds are on the sandy part of a beach. The playground is man-made. The sand and water of the beach is natural.

Place one:

Place two:

_____________i s man-made.

_____________is natural.

Place one:

Place two:

_____________i s man-made.

_____________is natural.

Place one:

Place two:

_____________i s man-made.

_____________is natural.

For the lesson plan Fun and Useful Ways to Reuse Materials, the students understanding will be assessed by a group project and presentation. During the presentation, the teams will to explain to the class how their new object can be used and how they changed the material so that it can serve the new function. Below is the Rubric that will be used to score the teams success in meeting this expectation during the presentation. Team Presentations of Created Objects Rubric (5 points)Grade/CategoryMeets ExpectationsApproaches ExpectationsDoes not Meet ExpectationsExplanation of New Objects Use/Function (2)Team will describe more than one new use of the object that they created. (2)Team will describe the one new use of the object that they created. (1)Team modified the object, but the new object does not have a clear use/function. (0)Explanation of Planning and Modification Process (2)Team will clearly describe the steps that they took while altering their material into the new object. (2)Team will describe how they altered their material so that their methods are clear, but may not be in sequence. (1)Team is unable to provide the steps or explain how they modified their material. (0)Participation of Team Members (1)Team members take turns explaining to the class the function of their new object and how the created it. (1)The team members do not take turns explaining the function and purpose of their new object. One team member dominates the report. (.5)The team is unable to present to the class their new object and how they created it. (0)