Cells and Genetics Project

I am brainstorming a project related to cells and genetics. I would like students to research their family history to determine diseases that have afflicted their family. Students would then research a specific disease and complete a report and presentation. The goal of the report and presentation would be to have students determine as a group a possible service learning project they could complete.

The guiding question would be, "How do cells and genetics impact my health and daily decisions?"

Here is a possible progression of student activities:
1.) Traditional unit on cell basics.
2.) Traditional unit on basic genetics.
3.) Complete family health history research (through interviews with relatives). Create a pie chart of known relatives (grandparents or parents) with percentage of relatives known to have the disease.
4.) Collect 10 online resources about the science behind the specific disease. (Using delicious)
5.) Collect 2 offline resources about the science behind the specific disease. (Put on notecards)
6.) Create presentation describing the science behind the specific disease. Attempt to persuade fellow classmates to choose their disease as the focus of a service learning project the class works on together.
7.) Complete service learning project as determined by students.

Review of Gas Crunch Project

Gas Crunch is a project where students complete activities related to the central question of "How would an alternative fuel affect the lives of the citizens of our country?"

The materials and activities for this project are available through the PBL Online Colaboratory (you can access this project after a free online registration). There are 9 documents available for download and use by teachers and students. This project is technology laden. Each student needs to have access to and knowledge of computer spreadsheets.

I like the way the PBL online-colaboratory presents projects. The structure of:
Begin with the End in Mind
Craft the Driving Question
Plan the Assessment
Map the Project
Manage the Process
provides a framework for educators to use the resources provided online but "do their own thing" based on their teaching style. The project is not scripted, therefore teachers have to think about what would work best in their classroom. Also, the Word documents are editable, instead of pdf files that you can't edit.

This project is more math oriented. I think I'll have students complete a project based on this theme around Christmas. Students like cars, and this project would maintain internal motivation throughout the month of December.

Possible First Project: Energy Choices

Using project based learning integrates many different disciplines to complete a unit of study. However, I am responsible for teaching all of the science standards in one year. Therefore, I only have the instructional time with students proportional to those science standards. Also, I have no time during the school day to collaborate with other teachers at my school.

I am thinking of setting up a wiki to enable the teachers to collaborate on one project this fall, once things settle in at the beginning of the year. We would hope to start the project by late September to early October. I am hoping for a project related to energy plans of the two presidential candidates.

To incorporate Web 2.0 tools, I hope for students to be able to create graphic organizers, presentations, and videos that can be posted to our St. Adalbert Middle school wiki space. I am not exactly sure how this will all fit together. I am still hoping for a classroom laptop set for our school in the fall. If not, I'll have to start getting resources/activities in order for this project to be successful.

The PBL Co-Laboratory

The PBL Co-Laboratory is an online forum for project based learning. The co-laboratory allows teachers to browse already created projects while allowing teachers to create new projects.

I like the dashboard teachers can set up. Teachers can classify projects as "favorites," and "my projects," while creating their own projects that can be worked on in collaboration with others.

The search feature allows teachers to browse already created projects and to see the format of those projects. Teachers within a school could work on professional development by analyzing these project summaries. I certainly will be reviewing some of these projects in the future.

Review of The Great Earth Day Carpool Project

"The Great Earth Day Carpool" project has students find the average number of cars in the school parking lot and compare this average with the number of cars on Earth Day. Students encourage teachers to carpool to work to reduce carbon emissions. Estimated carbon emission reductions are calculated and posted online. The project suggests students create a powerpoint to show teachers about the benefits of carpooling. Other promotional activities would also be appropriate.

I like the interdisciplinary nature of this project. Integrating math and science in a service learning type project makes this project engaging. The wiki allows those who register the opportunity to edit their own information and use other recordings to compare information. It would also be interesting for students to compare the amount of carpooling and other variables at each school. After the project is completed, students could look up demographic information about specific schools to analyze trends in the information. They might be able to compare school location, amount of carpoolers, and air pollution data from other sources.

Review of Down the Drain

"Do you think people in other parts of the world use more or less water than Americans? Well, this collaborative project will help you find out the answers to these questions. By collecting data on water usage from people around the world you will be able to see how your water use compares to others and determine what you might do to use less water."

This quote describes the goal of Project Down the Drain. I like the real life data that students collect and share by participating in this project. Students compile information as a class and then submit online. They also are able to review information posted by other classes throughout the world.

One way the project could improve is by getting more information from around the world. An overwhelming majority of reports were from the US.

I think an interesting activity would be for students to use this information to create a map where the size of circles indicates the amount of use. Also, a teleconference between classrooms to discuss differences in water use would be interesting.

Review of Global Ecosystems Project

Overview: Students learn about biotic and abiotic factors within an ecosystem by creating a powerpoint presentation that is posted online for sharing. Students use pictures they have taken of their local ecosystem for the project. The power of this project is for students to learn about their own ecosystem, sharing that information, and learning from other schools and areas about other ecosystems.

This project has good intentions. I like the teacher and student resources that make this project a good one for teachers beginning to phase in project based learning. It is also low in terms of the amount of technology required (digital camera and computer with internet connection).

However, only two different ecosystems are currently posted on the webpage (both apparently from the same school). Also, urban ecosystems are somewhat discouraged by the request for rural ecosystems. I think I am going to partake in this project in the fall and spring this year. I hope to be able to have students add the South Bend urban ecosystem and the Lake Michigan Beach area ecosystem (after a field trip to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore).

One final thought about this project. I would try and incorporate the activity of sharing basics about specific ecosystems with a service learning component. Students would determine what the most important part of the ecosystem is to protect and then create a plan to go about protecting that part of the ecosystem. The implementation of this plan and reflection on the project as a whole would be assessed.