PBL Activity – Conservation

Patsy Kraj

November 17, 2010

Title

What Can I Do to Conserve?

Overview

Students will participate in a project based learning experience. The students will collaborate to gather

information and create a VoiceThread displaying their ideas for conservation. The groups will obtain input

from other students and create a graph to illustrate the results.

Goals / Objectives

Students will work in groups to explore conservation for water, soil, and air.

Students will create a VoiceThread presenting an idea for conservation of water, soil, and air.

Students will obtain feedback from other students and create a graph using Microsoft Excel.

Students will know how to create a graph.

Students will know different methods to conserve water, soil, and air.

Georgia Performance Standards

S6E5. Students will investigate the scientific view of how the earth’s surface is formed.

i. Explain the effects of human activity on the erosion of the earth’s surface.

j. Describe methods for conserving natural resources such as water, soil, and air.

S6CS1. Students will explore the importance of curiosity, honesty, openness, and skepticism in science

and will exhibit these traits in their own efforts to understand how the world works.
S6CS9. Students will investigate the features of the process of scientific inquiry.

Students will apply the following to inquiry learning practices:

a. Scientific investigations are conducted for different reasons. They usually involve

collecting evidence, reasoning, devising hypotheses, and formulating explanations.

d. Scientists use technology and mathematics to enhance the process of scientific

inquiry.

M6D1. Students will pose questions, collect data, represent and analyze the data, and interpret results.

a. Formulate questions that can be answered by data. Students should collect data by using samples

from a larger population (surveys), or by conducting experiments.

b. Using data, construct frequency distributions, frequency tables, and graphs. c. Choose appropriate

graphs to be consistent with the nature of the data

Rationale

This activity is for a 6th grade science classroom at Carrollton Junior High School. This is part of a school

wide initiative to integrate project based learning into math and science classes as a means to develop

deeper learning and increase student achievement in the areas of math and science. This activity will

give teachers hands-on experience with project based learning methods.

Prerequisites

It is assumed that students know how to use Microsoft Excel and now how to use the World Wide Web.

This activity will increase students’ ability to use Excel and the World Wide Web.

Resources

Students will need a computer with Microsoft Excel, access to the Internet, and access to an email

address for VoiceThread.

Processes

1. Students will be given the handout and rubric for the activity. The teacher will briefly go over the

directions for the activity and students will be divided into groups of 3-4 students.
2. The groups will participate in the track on TrackStar about conservation of water, air, and land.

3. The groups will discuss ways that they could realistically conserve for each water, air, and land. They

will choose one idea for each conservation area.

4. Together as a class, students will set up VoiceThread accounts, view the VoiceThread tutorial and view

sample VoiceThreads.

5. The groups will create a VoiceThread presenting their ideas of conservation for water, air, and land.

When the VoiceThread is complete, they will share it with other groups in the classroom. The groups will

respond to each other’s VoiceThreads with whether or not the conservation ideas were realistic and if

they would participate in the conservation efforts.

6. The groups will compile the data they receive in the VoiceThread and create a bar graph with

Microsoft Excel to illustrate the data. The graph will then be added to the end of the VoiceThread project

to be evaluated.

Feedback

The VoiceThread and graph will be evaluated with a rubric that the students will be given at the beginning

of the project. Teachers will use a survey evaluation as a means for reflecting on the experience.