Brief Description

During our unit of study on “Saving the Earth,” our kids will plot square meters of land in our schoolyard and in the desert area just outside our fence.  We will record both the living and non-living things that we find. This information will be submitted via  e-mail to a project database.  This database is accessible to all members that have joined the project.  We will compare and contrast our information with other classes. Each group will compose a report or presentation that we will e-mail to the project and it will be posted to the project web site. We will find a “buddy class” online to compare and share our information with as well.

Standards and Frameworks

Technology Standards

• 4T-F1. Communicate with others using telecommunications, with support from teachers, family members or student partners
• 4T-F2. Use technology tools for individual and collaborative communication activities to share products with audiences inside and outside the classroom

• W-F4. Gather, organize and accurately, clearly and sequentially report information gained from personal observations and experiences such as science experiments, field trips and classroom visitors
• VP-F2. Plan and present a report, using two or more visual media
• VP-F3. Access, view and respond to visual forms such as computer programs, videos, artifacts, drawings, pictures and collages
• 2M-F1. Collect and analyze data using the concepts of largest, smallest, most often, least often and middle
• 5M-F2. Explain the concepts related to units of measure and demonstrate the process of measurement with non-standard (e.g., using paper clip lengths), U.S. customary and metric units
• 4SC-F1. Describe and explain cause-and-effect relationships in living systems
• 4SC-F3. Identify the basic structures and functions of plants and animals
• 4SC-F4. Identify characteristics of plants and animals (including extinct organisms) that allow them to live in specific environments

Academic

• Students will record observations (e.g., logs, lists, graphs, charts, tables, illustrations).
• Students will write an introductory statement.
• Students will report events sequentially.
• Students will write a concluding statement.
• Students will organize (e.g., sorting, sequencing, tallying) information from their area.
• Students will identify largest, smallest, most often recorded (i.e., mode), least often and middle(i.e., median) using sorted data.
• Students will formulate questions from organized data to ask their online buddy.
• Students will measure a given characteristic of an object using standard units of measure.
• Students will identify cause-and-effect relationships in living systems.
• Students will explain cause-and-effect relationships in living systems.
• Students will identify basic plant structures.
• Students will describe the functions of basic plant structures.
• Students will identify adaptations of plants that allow them to live in specific environments.

• Students will communicate information electronically with support from teachers and student partners to other members of the “Square of Life” group.
• Students will plan, design, and create a data report to e-mail to other classes and present to our class and to parents on our buddy night.
• Teacher should compile the report and post it under teacher’s name unless parent permission is obtained for students to e-mail information.

Students must be familiar with the mouse and the Microsoft Word program.

Materials

• Magnifying glass
• Clipboards or cardboard
• Data Collection Sheet
• Plant and animal reference books and materials
• Several meter or yard sticks
• Drawing tools (pencils, markers, etc.)
• String or Yarn
• Craft Sticks
• Computer

General

• Technology projects are routine in our class so all students feel more comfortable with technology activities.
• Students will collect data as a group assignment.
• Students will discuss their data and compile a group report to send to other schools.
• A rubric is used to assess which enables all students to progress toward higher-level production.
• Students will complete a self-assessment sheet of their final product.  Teacher will help read information if necessary and write in answers where needed.
• The learning style of using Art will be a data collection strategy.

• A direction sheet will be posted at all times.
• Students will complete their record sheet in groups with much discussion encouraged during the process.
• Clearly labeled examples will be given and available at all times
• Measuring tool will have larger print
• When students are working individually in the lab, they will be seated in an arrangement so those students needing some help are placed by students that are familiar with the program.  They may choose to sit in groups as well.
• Teacher will assist with questions or data explanation for students

• Students will be asked if anyone is familiar with the program and if there are, they will be set up as the experts for other students to go to for help.
• More advanced students will be asked make connections and inferences to enhance the report.
• Students that complete their data reports early, may help another student
• Students will be allowed to investigate other factors that effect our Earth and ways that we can help protect the Earth.
• Students will be allowed to compare and contrast data from several areas.
• Students will be asked to graph the data.

We will be using the CIESE online project connection for this activity.  The URL is http://k12science.ati.stevens-tech.edu/curriculum/squareproj/index.html  Or – you can do a search for CIESE online projects and in two clicks you are there!!! As part of an introduction teacher must visit the site to learn information needed for class instruction.  Teacher must also sign up to join in the fun.  There are deadlines for activities so be careful to watch for dates.  Once this is completed you are ready to begin:

• Create groups of students with 3 or 4 students in each group.  Be careful to group students that will work well together.
• Tour your school grounds to see where interesting sites can be found.
• Create a “Square of Life” Journal for each student to record data.  Journal will include Title page, Square for drawing, Notes page and Student Assessment sheet.

• Explain project to students.  Visit the Square of Life site and show students samples of other student reports and data. (This can be easily accomplished using a viewing device such as an AverKey or Proxima.)
• Discuss what they might find – have students predict what they think they will find in their square.
• Break students up into their groups (one group per square).
• Explain that they are going to investigate what is actually in their one meter (yard) square. Tell them that they are going to work in teams of three or four.
• Handout journals, magnifying glasses, measuring tools,  Explain that they are going to spend about a half hour observing their square and drawing a sketch of it.
• Bring the students outside and have each team measure a square using either a meter stick or a yardstick.  Tell students to put craft sticks at the corners of their square.  Give students yarn to tie around the square.
• You may want to suggest that each student begin in a corner of the square so that they do not disturb each other.
• Let the students sketch whatever they see in their square. Remind them to look under rocks and other movable objects. They should also investigate closely using their magnifying glasses.  About 5 minutes before the end of the activity announce that they should finish up their sketches. Have students record some written comments on what they saw.
• If students find something interesting, have students collect samples of their findings to bring back to class for discussion.
• After about ½ hour of investigation, have the students gather up their materials and head back into the classroom.
• Once back in the room, ask students to share what they found.
• Were the items they expected to find present? Were they surprised at any of the things they found?
• Students should keep their sketches and notes for use in preparing a class list for submission to the Project Database.

• Teacher must have 3 large sheets of paper posted in the classroom.  We investigated 2 different areas – a desert area and school grounds.  We created 6 sheets – 2 for each category.  (Half of our class investigated the desert while the other half investigated the school grounds playing area.) You will only need one sheet for each area.
• Title the sheets – Plants – Animals – Non-living Objects
• Explain that students must list items as well as data about the items that they collected.
• Be sure students know that this information will be shared with other classrooms around the world.
• Select a recorder from each group
• Have groups discuss their information and choose items that should be added to the lists.  Instruct students to be selective in the details they record, and only use those that are accurate and reflect the objects that they are talking about. Reiterate that this information must be factual and will be used for comparing squares with other schools.  During this discussion time, rotate through each group conferencing with the students.
• Continue this activity until students feel they have accurately described their squares.
• Once you have completed the collection process explain to the students that you will take all of the information and post it to the project's web site for the other students around the world to use. Have the students help you input the data to create the report. If the Internet computer is not in the classroom, you post the data and then take students on a  "field trip" to the computer after you have posted the data to see that their information is now online. To post the data go to the Project Data section of the project web site and follow the on screen instructions for submitting your data. Leave the wall charts up for the duration of the project so that they can always refer to it.
• Have students exchange journals within their group.  Students will review journal of their classmate and make comments on the last page.  Journals will be turned in to the teacher.
• You may attach a rubric for students to use as an assessment tool as well.  I had students assess their classmate and then after getting their journal back, students used colored pencils to self assess on the same rubric.  If they disagreed on any points they explained why on the back of the rubric.

• Students will compare and contrast their findings with those from another school.
• Go to http://k12science.ati.stevens-tech.edu/curriculum/squareproj/finalreport.html and follow directions for this part of the activity.

• As an extension and to integrate Geography, this activity is a great follow-up.  Go to http://k12science.ati.stevens-tech.edu/curriculum/squareproj/partnersaroundtheworld.html and follow the directions to complete this activity.
• Our class completed this activity using our classroom wall map.  Students chose a classroom that they wanted to compare our findings with based on the areas that had submitted a report by the time we submitted a report.  Students were quick to choose areas out of the country when possible.  It is a wonderful extension to the activity.

Many forms of assessment will be used during these activities.  They include the following:

• use of journals
• anecdotal recordings
• classroom observations
• conferencing
• self and peer assessments
• rubric
• final reports will be collected and graded