Steps – GREAT Project Pathways

TEACHER PREPARATION

Timeframe

1 day: Gather (45 min - 2 hr class - outside)

1 day: Reason (45 min - 2 hr class - inside)

1-6 days: Explore (45 min - 2 hr classes for up to 6 days. Each "E" adds another class period:

1-5 days: Act (45 min - 2 hr classes)

1-2 days: Teach (45 min - 2 hr class)

The most time-saving approach is for the investigation teams to collect their data simultaneously, even if they are not using the same data collection protocols.

Supplies

Before starting this Pathway, obtain the supplies on the list. Limit activity choices, as necessary, based on availability of supplies and equipment. Keep in mind that allowing "student voice and choice" is an essential part of the process.

In addition to the specific supplies needed for each step, students will always need a clipboard, journal or portfolio, and pen or pencil. Cell phones are handy for photos and access to apps, but should remain in a waterproof case (or two well-sealed zip top bags) if used near water.

Journals or portfolios are an essential component of project documentation. They can be as simple as a composition notebook or binder that is used like a scrapbook, or as sophisticated as a digital version to which text and images can be uploaded. This Project Pathway provides Portfolio pages that can be printed and used as-is, or pasted into a notebook. or SeeSaw and Nature's Notebook are two apps that offer online portfolios. Apple Classroom and Google Sites offer options for organizing documents online. Kami is a Chrome extension that allows students to type answers on top of a pdf version of our Portfolio pages. (Note: students must Save Kami before they submit or it sends a blank page). Doc Hub also allows students to type in response boxes on top of a pdf such as our Portfolio and saves automatically. It can easily be added to a Google Drive.

Logistics

After the Observe step, when students ask questions, divide the class into Investigation Teams based on shared curiosity. Each team should have approximately 4 students, for optimum productivity.

Location

Identify a stream or creek where students can collect data (Gather step), conduct field investigations (part of Explore step), and conduct a project (Act step). Scout the location in advance to find an access point where students will not trample vegetation and destabilize stream banks. Limit the number of students who can access the water at one time, as necessary.

Pathway-Specific Preparation

Click on the Pathway below for details on each step of the way.

Step-by-Step Guide

Advance Preparation

TEACHER PREPARATION

Timeframe

1 day: Gather (45 min - 2 hr class - outside)

1 day: Reason (45 min - 2 hr class - inside)

1-6 days: Explore (45 min - 2 hr classes for up to 6 days. Each "E" adds another class period:

1-5 days: Act (45 min - 2 hr classes)

1-2 days: Teach (45 min - 2 hr class)

The most time-saving approach is for the investigation teams to collect their data simultaneously, even if they are not using the same data collection protocols.

Supplies

Logistics

After the Observe step, when students ask questions, divide the class into Investigation Teams based on shared curiosity. Each team should have approximately 4 students, for optimum productivity.

Location

Pathway-Specific Preparation

Click on the Pathway below for details on each step of the way.

Observe

Step-by-Step Strategies for Navigating the Water Quality Pathway

The GREAT Project Pathways model assumes students will keep portfolios or science journals to document their work and capture "deliverables" for each segment. Journals may be in any format, from a spiral binder to a composition notebook, a carbon copy version.

A short video of a polluted lake is provided as the anchoring phenomenon. Note that it is cued up without sound and set to start a few seconds after the beginning, to avoid giving away too much information.

After watching the video, students are asked to describe what they noticed. They may respond in paragraph form or draw and label a diagram. At this point, they don't need to try to explain what they saw.

Gather

During the Gather portion of the Pathway, students decide on the type of data they need to collect and then gather, graph and analyze it. This process is significantly different from most inquiry investigations because it puts the onus on students to think about and determine what data is relevant, in light of the phenomenon they observed and the question(s) they are attempting to answer.

Please make sure to provide adequate time for students to discuss and explore this decision-making process in small groups (investigation teams). The Gather web page includes overviews of several data collection methods. Students can read a short description about types of data and click on the box to read about the corresponding data collection protocols. There is also an option for a student-designed data collection plan. Physical and chemical testing measures the temperature, nutrient content (phosphates and nitrates), acidity (pH), turbidity, and dissolved oxygen level. Macroinvertebrate sampling notes the variety of aquatic larvae as well as the presence or absence of indicator species for clean or polluted water. The Stream Habitat Survey analyzes the bottom and banks of a flowing or ephemeral stream (such as a ditch).

If there are any limitations on the data students can collect due to availability of supplies, proximity to location, safety concerns, or other factors, please elude to this before students discuss their data needs in teams, without revealing what options are foreclosed in advance. Then, after teams explain their decisions and rationale, you can honor their process by validating sound scientific thinking and agreeing on the type of data they would like to collect in an ideal situation, while regretfully explaining that there are limitations on what is actually available to do.

Captain Planet Foundation's ecoSTEM Water Kit contains most supplies needed for the water quality data collection options identified by this Pathway, including EarthForce's GREEN Water Monitoring Kit by La Motte. You may apply for a Captain Planet Foundation grant for the kit, purchase it at cost, or request it through Donors Choose. Feel free to substitute other water quality testing supplies and sampling equipment, as necessary. A small version of the La Motte kit (the Low-Cost Water Monitoring Kit) is available online for about $40. And the Explore page of this Pathway includes an Engineering Challenge to make nets for macroinvertebrate sampling. Feel free to do this activity out of order, if you do not have nets. Note that city or county Water Departments often have Watershed Stewardship, Citizen Science of Adopt a Stream departments that can loan stream-testing equipment to schools. And the Stream Habitat Survey requires no supplies except the form and clipboard.

Students may want to use Create a Graph to assist them in displaying and labeling their data so they can begin to make sense of it. In the next step: Reasoning, students will compare their data to that which would be considered ideal for each parameter, and analyze any differences.

Reason

Provide an opportunity for each of the investigation teams to share their data, including what questions they were seeking to answer, why they chose to collect the data they did, and what they learned. One way to do this is to create a Gallery Walk with data and analysis from each team mounted on the wall. Invite the groups to consider their data in context of data collected by the rest of the class. If teams had differing results or analyzed their results differently, why might that be?

Then each team should work together to create a Claim about water quality supported by Evidence and Reasoning (also known as C-E-R). It is also important for students to consider conflicting evidence and explain its significance. To assist in this process, a form for a Scientific Argument is provided here.

Typically, it is easiest for students to make a claim and identify several pieces of evidence that support it. Less familiar is the process of connecting the evidence to the claim through reasoning. The student pages of the Pathway provide embedded calculator apps that will help them compare the data they collected to a scientific principle (in this case: what is the standard for clean water).

Explaining how closely their data matches that standard provides the Reasoning which connects their Evidence to the Claim. For those students who need additional help with this concept, sentence prompts are also provided in the Portfolio Pathway.

After making their claims about water quality students should be prepared to identify problems based on their data. One way to engage everyone in this activity is to ask each team to identify several problems on sticky notes and organize them on a Problem Tree wall or poster at the front of the room. (A problem tree graphic is located in the Reason section of the student portfolio. Alternatively, this problem sorting activity can be done online by using Trello). By carefully distinguishing between causes (to be placed in the roots), problems or sub-problems (to be placed on the trunk) and effects (to be placed in the crown of the tree) students will develop skills in problem identification. Then ask the class to divide the problems into bite-sized bits by making them local and specific. It is these bite-sized problems that student projects will be designed to address.

A rubric for assessing student arguments is provided in the Student Portfolio and can also be viewed here.

Explore

The Explore section is designed to help students determine what solutions might work for the problem presented by their stream or pond. This allows students “voice and choice” in deciding which investigations to undertake, to yield the most useful information. Each team should be able to explain their reasoning for what they choose to learn. Note that the teacher may foreclose some of the options show in the Project Pathway, due to lack of supplies, time constraints, or to direct students to activities that are more directly related to the standard.

Plan on each E section (empathy, experimentation, engineering, examining evidence, etc.) to last 30 – 45 minutes and allow determine how many days can be dedicated to this learning experience. After teams have explored all that time will allow, provide an opportunity for each team to explain and demonstrate what they learned. The purpose of these activities is to give students a chance to make sense of the phenomenon they observed (water quality) and to begin to think about solutions.

Act

Students will work in teams to brainstorm ideas for projects that could help solve a water quality problem (identified in the previous step). One way to encourage free flow of ideas is to ask students to list their own thoughts on paper before talking and sharing with the team. During the sharing time, no one should criticize ideas presented by other students. After all the ideas are on the table, students can discuss feasibility, practicality, resources, needed, and other criteria for analyzing proposed solutions.

Once the team has agreed on a project to pitch to the class, they should begin preparing their Shark Tank presentations. This consists of an Elevator Talk, a Project Budget, and a Timeline with class roles and responsibilities. Both the online Project Pathway and the corresponding Portfolio page provide information and online calculators for this work. Once the teams are ready to present their project ideas, the class will serve as the Shark Tank, asking questions about the proposal. Each question should begin with a compliment about some aspect of the proposed project. After all the teams have presented, the class can vote on a project that they will complete in the schoolyard or community, to improve water quality.

Planning and carrying out the project is a highly variable process. Set a date for the project and stick to it. Think small. Smaller. Refer to the Design Challenge Project Rubric to keep students on task. Make sure students document the project with still photos and time lapse videos.

Teach

After the project is completed, students will measure the project area and use other relevant metrics (lbs of litter collected? Linear feet of stream bank stabilized? etc.) to describe the project and its impact on the environment. They will also reflect on what went wrong, what went right, and what they would change if they had a chance to do it again.

Then, they will select an audience of stakeholders (others who care about the water quality of the stream or pond) and tell about their project in an article, presentation, interpretive signs, or by other means. This forum will give them a chance to circle back to their original explanation of the phenomenon and revise it reflect what they learned and to be more accurate and precise.

Conclusion

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