ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

“In a world filled with the products of scientific inquiry, scientific literacy has become a necessity for everyone. Everyone needs to be able to engage intelligently in public discourse and debate about important issues that involve science and technology. And everyone deserves to share in the excitement and personal fulfillment that can come from understanding and learning about the natural world.”(from the National Science Education Standards: An Overview) The curriculum development team in our district has been involved with Project 2061 which is a long-term initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Project 2061 characterizes scientific literacy as: -Familiarity with the natural world, its diversity and interdependence. -Understanding the big ideas of science such as energy, patterns of change, variation , systems and interactions, and scale and structure. -Knowing that science, technology, and mathematics are interdependent human enterprises and, as such, have implied strengths and limitations,. -Ability to think scientifically. -Using scientific knowledge and thinking patterns for personal and social purposes. Our curriculum team has developed a curriculum based on the cognitive abilities of children. Air and weather is part of the recommended studies for second grade. The study of air and weather meets numerous standards and benchmarks of the Bismarck District Standards which are aligned with the ND Science Standards. In the near future our state tests given to our fourth grade students will include a science proficiency assessment. Research shows that students show improvement in science when involved with activity-based programs compared to textbook/lecture programs. This improvement is shown to be significant for females, disadvantaged and minority students. (Bredderman, T. Laboratory programs for elementary school science: A meta-analysis of effects of learning. Science Education, 69, (4), pp. 577-591). Observing my second grade students this year, it has occurred to me that they do not have a lot of general knowledge of the physical world to draw from. Being involved in a inquiry-based and project-based study of air and weather should not only help them to become aware of earth-related phenomena, but also help them to better understand the world they live in and communicate socially about it.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: -Scientists use different kinds of investigations and tools to develop explanations using evidence and know how. -Air is one of the Earth’s materials.-Air and weather are inseparable. -Air has specific properties. -The sun provides heat to maintain the temperature of the Earth. Goal(s): Students will become familiar with the properties of air. Students will observe changes in weather. Students will become familiar with the tools used to measure conditions in atmosphere (thermometer, wind vane, rain gauge). Students will understand how changes in conditions of the atmosphere affect weather (temperature, wind, types of clouds.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: -What is weather? -What are the properties of air? -How does air interact with objects? -What tools are used to measure atmospheric conditions that affect weather? -What causes precipitation? -How do we organize information to look for change? Objectives: Given a weather calendar, the student will daily write the temperature and precipitation (both reported by that day’s class “meteorologist” ), and wind activity and make a simple picture showing that day’s weather for one month. Given the topics: air is all around, air takes up space, air can move objects, and air can be compressed, the student will be able to name a real world situation that is an example of each one of those topics with 75% accuracy. Given certain conditions in the atmosphere, such as the temperature, type of clouds present ,and wind, the student will be able to make a reasonable general prediction about what weather could result from those conditions. Given a simple cycle drawn with four blank boxes, the student will be able to write in the appropriate blanks the four parts of the water cycle with 75% accuracy.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding? -Written assessment activity in which the students circle the correct word to accurately complete the sentence. On the rest of that activity the students mark the sentences that are true facts, -Activity sheet on which the students draw a line from the tool to the condition being measured, What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding? -End of investigation activity discussion and the construction of a concept chart that will be displayed in the classroom. What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?  -Student weather journal -Student produced water cycle chart -Book on the water cycle produced by small group -Class record of activities (including photographs )and student input about what was discovered during the activities What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect? -Anecdotal questions -Teacher observation -Skit presented to other class on precipitation

Instructional Strategies

Inquiry Learning: After I have shown them a plastic bag and asked what is inside, discussion will be opened about what air is and where it is and how we know it’s there. With some direction from the teacher, the children should start with some questions. After they have had the opportunity to have hands on experience with balloons, air pumps, feathers, paper, cotton balls, etc. , some information will be gathered and that should lead to more questions. Further investigation with containers and water, paper parachutes, pin wheels, kites, and rocket balloons should lead to deeper learning and understanding and then more questions. As they investigate and learn, they hopefully will apply that understanding to new situations. They will be able to understand the properties of air, that it is all around, takes up space, can move an object that it comes in contact with and can be compressed. As they work with their small groups, they can share information and ask questions of each other. By recording changes in atmospheric conditions and the weather associated with those changes, they should start to see connections and come to understand that weather is caused by those conditions in the atmosphere. They should be able to make some predictions about weather and conditions in the atmosphere. As they predict and then record to test their predictions, deeper understanding will be reached. As they understand , they will be more able to express what they have learned and share with each other. Project Learning: As the students have investigated and asked questions, answered many of their own questions, shared understanding with each other, it will be nice to have a way to organize some of that understanding and to share it with others outside our group. Deeper understanding always comes when the student has the opportunity to explain what he/she understands to someone else. Our project of a class record in pictures and words of our investigations into air and weather will provide a way to organize and to share what we have done. We will be able to share what we have learned with students from other classes and with parents when we present our skit on the water cycle. The skit project will also help us to meet some language arts standards for second grade (Standard 6: Students engage in the speaking and listening process). It will provide a fun and creative way to share, providing a means of expression for those children that express thinking in creative ways.