Brief Description

Square of Life: Studies in Local and Global Environments is an Internet-based Collaborative project in which students investigate their local environment and share that information with other students from around the country and the world.
Participants will:

• Identify living and non-living things in their school yards.
• Share their findings with other participating classes.
• Look for similarities and differences in the reported data.
• Prepare a final report or presentation based on their findings.

Technology Standards

• 3T-E2. Use a variety of technology tools for data collection and analysis
• 3T-E3. Publish and present information using technology tools
• 4T-E1. Use telecommunications efficiently and effectively to access remote information and communicate with others in support of facilitated and independent learning
• 4T-E2. Use technology tools for individual and collaborative writing, communication and publishing activities to create curricular related products for audiences inside and outside the classroom
• 4T-E3. Collaboratively use telecommunications and online resources

• 1SC-E3. Organize and present data gathered from their own experiences, using appropriate mathematical analyses and graphical representations
• 4SC-E1. Construct classification systems based on the structure of organisms
• 4SC-E7. Explain and model the interaction and interdependence of living and non-living components within ecosystems, including the adaptation of plants and animals to their environment
• W-E8. Demonstrate research skills using reference materials such as a dictionary, encyclopedia and thesaurus to complete effectively a variety of writing tasks

Academic

• Based on prior knowledge, students will predict at least two objects from the categories of animal, plant, and non-living that they will find in their square.
• Using a variety of art materials, students will sketch a reproduction of their square.
• As a class, students will summarize the materials in all three categories found in their squares.
• Students will find at least two similarities and two differences between their square and the square of another school in another part of the country. Students will write a report based on their findings that will score at least a level three on the scoring rubric.

• Using the Square of Life website, students will use telecommunication to share information with other participating schools.

• Students will need appropriate permission to access the Internet.
• Students will need to know how to access the Internet.
• Students will need to know basic word processing skills.

Drawing tools (pencils, markers, etc.)
Clipboards or cardboard
Plant and animal reference books and materials
Quarter inch PVC pipe (3 ft.sections) and connecting elbows (4 of each per group)
Computer with Internet access

Accommodations for Special Needs

Students can work in teams.

• Sheltered English Immersion {SEI} students can write in their own language or work with a partner.
• SEI and Special Ed students would only have to find one similarity and one difference between their square and the square of another school in another part of the country. Their reports could be dictated or completed in their resource rooms where they could receive added assistance.
• Gifted students could probe deeper into the reasons behind the similarities and differences. What environmental factors are involved? How do these plants and animals fit into the ecology of their areas? What is the source of the non – living items?

1. Go to the Square of Life website at http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/squareproj/index.html
2. Click on Project Information and read the requirements and registration information.
3. Post a letter of introduction by the required date.
4. Before beginning this lesson you should complete the following:

• Ideally you will want to have three students per square, so for a class of 24 students you will need to measure off eight squares around the schoolyard.
• You should tour the schoolyard and select the sites for your squares carefully. It is best to select sites that will contain unique objects for the students to study. This object might be a tree, large rock, ant colony, etc.
• It can be very useful to have several basic reference books on hand to help in the identification of the objects students find. In the Reference Materials section of the project web site you will find web sites as well as books which you can use.
• Once you have selected the locations for your squares use the PVC sections and elbows to construct a three-foot square.

SAFETY NOTE: Make sure to follow the guidelines for your school regarding outdoor activities. In particular, make sure to exclude areas which might be dangerous to work in. It might be helpful to locate the squares in one area so that you can observe all of the groups at the same time. Before conducting the activity make sure to pre-select the students and assign them to a square. Select students which will work well together and will not distract one another from completing the activity. Don't wait until the classes start to assign students to squares.

DAY 1
For this activity, do the following:

1. Explain to the students that they are going to get to work on a special project that will involve their schoolyard environment. Tell them that once they are able to describe every detail of their own square and what they found in it, they will get to tell the other students around the world what they discovered.
2. Lead a discussion in which students make predictions about some of the things (living and non-living) that they think they will find in their squares.

Activity #1: Sketching your square
For this activity, do the following:

1. Break students up into their groups (one group per square).
2. Explain that they are going to investigate what is actually in their square. Tell them that they are going to work in teams of three ( larger or smaller groups will work).
3. Handout drawing paper and explain that they are going to spend about a half hour observing their square and draw a sketch of it. Wait until they are at their squares before you distribute the drawing tools.
4. Bring the students outside and have each team sit next to their square. You may want to locate each student at a corner of the square so that they do not disturb each other. Once all of the groups are settled distribute the drawing tools and handout paper.
5. Let the students simply sketch whatever they see in their square. Remind them to look under rocks and other movable objects.  About 5 minutes before the end of the activity announce that they should finish up their sketches. For older
students, you can ask them to record some written comments on what they saw.
6. Note:  In addition to making sketches and taking notes, you might also allow the students  to collect a few samples to bring back into the classroom. Bring brown paper bags and sampling jars and demonstrate how to collect a sample and
place it in the bag.
7. Have the students gather up their materials and head back into the classroom.

Activity #2: What did you find?
For this activity, do the following:

1. Reassemble into a circle and ask the students to share what they found. Were the items they expected to find present? Were they surprised at any of the things they found?
2. Students should keep their sketches and notes for use in preparing a class list for submission to the Project Database.

DAY 2
 
Before beginning this lesson you should complete the following:

You will need to have three large sheets of paper posted on the classroom wall. One sheet should be labeled Plants, another Animals and the other Non-living Objects. You will probably need additional sheets depending on how many observations you want to record.

Procedure
Activity: Putting the details together
For this activity, do the following:
1. Explain that they are now going to come up with one big list of all of the plants, animals and non-living objects that were found in all of the squares. Besides listing the items they found they will also need to list as many details about each item as they can remember. Explain that once you create the three lists you will share them with the other schools around the world.
2. Pick one of the three categories to start with and go around the room and ask each student one at a time to tell you one item that should be listed. If students repeat objects make sure they realize that you only want to list an object once.
3. As students give you answers and fill in the details start recording what they say on the wall chart. Try and be selective in the details you record, only use those that are accurate and reflect the objects that they are talking about. This is important since you will be sharing these details with the other participating schools who will may be re-creating your square from the information you supply.
4. Continue this activity until you have filled in all of the details for each category.
5. 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. If you have a computer with Internet access in your classroom you can have the students help you input the data or watch you post it. If the Internet computer is not in the classroom it is a good idea to have them take a "field trip" to the computer after you have posted the data to see that their information is now online.
6. 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.
7. Leave the wall charts up for the duration of the project so that they can always refer to it.

DAY 3 – 4

This activity is best done in a computer lab where all students have online access. If this is not possible, the information can be printed out ahead of time and distributed to the students. The ideal situation is to have each student, either in pairs or in small groups, access the Project Data Area and look at the square data information submitted by other classes. For younger students, the teacher may want to assign a particular school to each group and that would be that information that they would compare to their own. Older students may want to compare several schools to their own and to one another. For example:

First graders in Maine might want to pick a school in Florida to compare to their own.

Fifth graders from Florida might want to chose four or five schools from different parts of the country or the world and look at similarities and differences among all of them.

Writing the Final Report
 
After they have taken notes on the similarities and differences between/among their own square findings and the findings of the school(s) they have chosen, the students should go back to the discussion area to see if they can find interesting facts about the other schools in their letter of introduction. They will then compile all this information into a final report which should include the following criteria:
 

• A brief description of the writer's own school environment and what was found in the square including the animals, plants, and non – living objects.
• The name of the school(s) whose square findings they are comparing to their own or to others, including any information about the environment of that school that they think might have affected what was found in the square
• A comparison of the squares selected including at least two similarities and two differences.
• Possible reasons for similarities and differences
• Conclusions or lessons learned


Note: Teachers of very young students may want to write one collaborative report with input from each group of students.
Teachers can also select one piece for posting or have each group write a report and post them all as one entry. For example:
                           Final Reports from Walker School, Grade 5, Groups 1-5.
Digital pictures and scans of student sketches may also be included with the student reports.
Student final reports will be published in the Student Area.
 

Students will write a report based on the criteria given in the DAY 3 – 4 activity in which they will include their original sketch of their square. They may include digital pictures or scans of their site. The report will be assessed by the rubric found at http://rubistar.4teachers.org/view_rubric.php3?id=763670
All students will be expected to score at least a three.