Lesson Plan and Documents

Assignment for Project

Topographic Map of a Golf Course
Objective: To design ONE golf course hole, create a topographic map of that hole and a 3-D representation of your map.
Your hole must include:
The flag with the number of the hole.
At least three hills.
At least 2 depressions (water, streams, bunkers, etc.)
Model must be NO larger than 2ft by 2ft
Models can be made out of paper Mache, play dough, Styrofoam, Legos, etc. PLEASE, nothing that will spoil.
Preliminary Sketch due: November 30th
3-D Golf Course model due: December 3rd
Topographic Map of Model (final draft) due: December 3rd
*** ALL models and drawings must be colored appropriately. There is a section of the grade on effort and creativity! Have fun with this  I am super excited to see your projects!


Rubric
Topographic Map Project
The flag with the number of the hole. _____/5
At least three hills. _____/30
At least 2 depressions _____/20
Model must be NO larger than 2ft by 2ft _____/5
Materials will not spoil. _____/5
On Time _____/10
Final Draft _____/10
Effort & Creativity _____/15

Reflection of Lesson
Reflection of Week Four Instructional Plan
Teaching of map reading is not directly stated in the 7th grade Arizona Science Standards but I feel that teaching map reading skills is necessary to teach as a life skill. Many people struggle with reading a map and would be lost without G.P.S. Map reading is another way for me to incorporate math skills into my science lessons. Teaching about scale factors is a standard is 6th, 7th, and 8th grade mathematics. My favorite type of map to teach about is definitely the topographic map and I love the fact it can be related to the student’s lives. I often mention mini-golf and golfing but this year I connected it to the Wii game system. Using those three examples, almost every student could link topography to something familiar.
The models of the topographic landscapes were created at home as a project. I had two work days in class where students were given credit for bringing in their projects and materials to share about their progress. When I do projects I always have these check-in days to ensure that students are keeping up with necessary components of the assignment. The last day of the assignment was to present and create a colored topographic map of their landscape. I have students use an 8.5 x 11” sheet of paper folded in half “hot dog style”. On one half, they draw in pencil a topographic map including the depressions, hills, water, etc. They also need to include a scale and index contour lines. On the other half of the worksheet, they draw the exact same map but they use color to demonstrate their understanding of the different levels. I have them think of the Wii, where the slope of the land is dark green in high spots and lighter shades of green when the slopes get lower. This serves as the final check of their understanding of topographic maps. After building their models and answering the sample map questions, they are very successful of meeting my goals and expectations for the unit. See below for pictures of student models. They were amazing! It was a very enjoyable and meaningful project for everyone involved. It was the first time I had used this project and it will be part of 7th grade in my classroom forever!

Earth Science Models

For my lesson plan, I had students create topographic maps and models of the landscape of a golf course. It was a wonderful project and the results were phenomenal! Students who rarely turn in work had some of the best projects. To link the idea to student understanding, I compared the project a mini or regular golf course. I also brought in my WII on Friday when we have only 30 minute periods and let the kids see the WII golf course and how the colors change as the landscape changes. The projects were made out of everything from clay, cardboard, wood, legos, cake, and even rice dyed different colors.

Reflection of Web Presentation Tools

I am going my presentation for SCIE 6662 on the Mexican Gray Wolf. I selected this animals because they are amazingly beautiful member of the dog family. My fiance actually raised wolves back when he lived in Ohio and has shared many wonderful stories about the relationships he had with his wolves. He is actually proud that some of his wolves were transported and released to zoos and Yellowstone National Park. Now that I have selected an animal that peaks my interest, the next portion of the project requires selecting a Web Tool for my presenation. When looking over the requirments for the assignment, my initial thought is to use Power Point. Power Point is a wonderful, user-friendly, student-friendly presentation tool that can be used on almost any computer and viewed from almost any computer. There are a variety of clip arts, backgrounds, text styles, etc. on Power Point that allows presenters to make their presentations uniquely them.
The other part of me wants to step outside of my comfort zone and try something that I would generally not make the time to try during the academic year. Our district recently got a few sets of the Promethian Acti-voters and I have made use of them in my classes. The students enjoy the interactive voting machines they get to use and it really increases student engagement in the classroom. Like any technology it takes time to practice with and learn to efficiently use, especially in a classroom full of middle school students. The problem with using this as my presentation tool is that it will not be as effective without the computer software. I could still use the tool to make my presentation because the slides can be inserted in from power point. The professor of the course will see the power point version but will understand and see where the student engagement comes in with the scientific questions I can incorporate into the presentation. For example, when I show the Acti-vote presentation to my classes they can see a bar graph of the populations of gray wolves and they can answer the multiple choice question to analyze the trends over time. The professor, viewing power point, will only see the bar graph and four multiple choice answers.
I am also intrigued by Prezi. I made a brief outline of what I would want to incorporate into the presentation and tried to insert it into the Prezi software. It worked thanks to the many web tutorials that are out there for help. I like how different it is from Power Point and I believe that my students would like to see something new as well. I know many teachers who use Power Point but I am unaware of teachers using Prezi. I am torn on what to use but I believe I would like to give the Prezi software a shot. As always, I have a back-up plan...just incase.

I used the string from the Science Kit, along with a paper clip, a pencil, pennies, and some masking tape. I was trying to determine what variable would change the number of swings in 15 seconds. My first scientific question was “Does the weight affect the number of swings?” In this experiment, I used a string that was 38 cm from the end of a loop to the end of the paper clip. I taped a pencil down to the counter and hung my pendulum loop over the eraser so it had an obstacle free place to swing. I set the kitchen timer for 15 seconds and decided the period would be from the point of release (top of the counter) back to the original point of release. The independent variable I was changing was the mass of the weight. I used 1 penny and 3 pennies, securely fastened in the paper clip. I started with one penny in the paperclip and in 15 seconds, recorded 12 swings. Then I put three pennies in the paperclip and in 15 seconds recorded 12 swings. My conclusion was that the mass of the weight really did not increase or decrease the number of swings.
Next, I made a list of the other independent variables I could test to determine what affected the number of swings. I concluded that the length of the string, height of the string, amount of tape, and force of release could all possibly play a role in the number of swings. For the next experiment, I altered the length of the string. My hypothesis was that if I increase the length of the string, then the number of swings would decrease. I made a 4 more pendulums the exact same way measuring from the end of the loop to the tip of the paperclip. I used one that was 20 cm, 60 cm, and 100 cm. I did one pendulum swing at a time and recorded the number of swings in 15 seconds. For 20 cm, I had 15 swings. With 60 cm and 100 cm, I had 9 and 7 swings respectively. My conclusion was that as the length of the pendulum increased, the number of swings decreased.
The best part of this guided inquiry experiment is that the students will have control of the experiment. The students would get to work collaboratively with others using simple, accessible and cheap materials. Due to the fact that I do not teach motion and force in my standards, I would use this lab to teach about the scientific method. There are so many teachable moments a teacher could use during an inquiry activity like this; for example, controlled variables, manipulating variables, graphing, making data tables, making hypotheses, doing many trials, and taking averages. The challenge of this experiment would be for the teacher to stress to students that the experiment must be controlled. Each group can only manipulate and test one variable. Other than that, this experiment is a wonderful, quick, easy, and affordable way to add inquiry to your classroom to get your students thinking.

July 17- Melting Iceberg Experiment

I too thought it was a little strange that we were supposed to comment on question 9 of the experiment so much before the due date.  So I just decided to do the experiment, answer question 9, then finish the rest of the questions later when I read what others have blogged about.  Above is a picture of my experiment.  I used a small Rubbermaid container and you can see on the lip of the container a little water ran over.  My hypothesis was that “If I add an iceberg to the container of water, then the iceberg will melt and the water will run over the already full container”. 

    I teach 7th grade science in Arizona.  I teach many units where I could incorporate this inquiry activity.  I show clips of the movie Inconvenient Truth as well to the students for the images of real icebergs.  If the polar ice caps melt I believe we will lose out on a beautiful, special, and unique part of our world.  The images you see are just spectacular!  I believe that both human and animal lives will be lost, habitats will be destroyed, and the water levels will rise.  Due to the fact that the majority of our freshwater is stored in the frozen glaciers, we will decrease our supplies when the water mixes with our salty seas.  I believe places like the coasts will experience decreasing coastlines as the water level rises.  

    I do not really have a question but I do believe that this would be a great way to start out a lesson on glaciers and global warming.  I think I will have the kids do the water activity; make hypotheses, observations, and conclusions.  We will do our lessons, research, discuss, and learn more together as a class.  Due to the fact there is so much controversy and debate about the topic of global warming, I would have each student write a position statement paper (to increase the frequency of written language in science class) and split the kids up into the two sides and have them debate.  

    

July 11- STEM Lesson Plan

Well this is the first post in my blog.  I am so excited to finally be using this feature on my website.  Just recently graduating from college, there really is so much more I should know how to do especially with computers and technology.  In regards to my STEM lesson plan, I thought the format was long and redundant but I completely agree with the idea of incorporating technology, engineering, and mathematics into my science lessons.  In middle school science some of the most exciting lessons include way more than just science.  Things like rocketry, bridge building, and the egg dropping unit are the most exciting and could all be considered STEM lesson plans.  I teach more than just science, I teach skills that make my students able to communicate, design, calculate, test, analyze, etc.