Teaching Strategies:
The unit will focus on the students working in small independent groups and be prepared to complete both informal and summative assessments. Students will participate in blended learning so as to utilize online resources and materials in an effort to promote online discourse with the traditional classroom method. Students will have a set of high expectations in place, to promote a challenge to succeed. They will investigate environmental and engineering challenges to spur creative design and solutions. The gradual release of responsibility to the students as the teacher becomes facilitator while at the same time spurring discussion and critical thinking through the use of open ended questions. Use events to hook students into engagement of problem solving. The class will follow a set of roles to maintain their purpose and direction focused. It is critical that students participate in hands on learning through observation, data collecting, analysis and experimentation. Offering students opportunities to reflect on the activities and the class discussion offers them opportunities in collaborative team building. While promoting the use of digital tools and resources while engaging in inquiry-oriented methods of discourse. The unit will concentrate heavily on a blended learning and project-based approach that incorporates station rotation with maker-space, mini labs, reading comprehension and critical skill development in independent groups. Students will be expected to take Cornell Notes during the lecture portion of class with periodic informal assessments. During the subsequent class period, students will apply and practice concepts introduced in the lecture series through station rotation. The number of stations may vary based on student population and dynamics. The idea of station rotations is for students to maximize their learning and to develop skills of independent problem solving. The system is designed to incorporate different modes of learning. Groups will be organized based on student strengths and weaknesses.
Activities:
Objective for Activity One
Students will answer the question: what is area? All shapes have space inside their figures which is called area. This space can be measured in squares to find the amount of area. The objective for students is to know how to calculate and finding the area of a rectangle we can multiply its length with its width, which will be equal to the total area of the shape. Students will use plain figure manipulative such as colored tiles to reconnect with concepts of area, surface area and perimeter. Students will use geo-boards to practice length and width in determining area of quadrilaterals. The goal is for students to understand how to calculate length and width to find the area
Mini-Lesson for Activity One
Students will work with flat manipulative quadrilaterals to find the area of various shapes.
Objective for Activity Two
One activity will be determining the length of a mile. The students will understand that eight city blocks in Chicago in the direction of north/south will be approximately one mile. There are 5280 feet in a mile so if we multiply 660 feet by eight blocks we have a total of 5280 feet. If we multiply 16 blocks east/west by its length of 330 feet we find that the total of the blocks is 5280 feet. Students will utilize anchor charts which are completed with teacher and students during lesson. Students will participate in group discussion to visualize student’s ideas and strategies.
Mini-Lesson for Activity Two
Students will understand that eight city blocks in length is equal to one mile. Students will draw and label the total of eight city blocks from their community in the direction of north/south. The students will label each street of the eight blocks. Each block’s length is approximately 660 feet. The students will calculate the length of the eight blocks by 660 feet x 8 blocks= 5,280 feet (one mile).
Objective for Activity Three
Students will understand how the city of Chicago uses a grid system model for streets. A big advantage of Chicago was its geography with no mountains or other features which would impact the remaking of the layout of the city. An orderly street grid system was designed and implemented. I want my students to see how this one single city block is connecting to a wide network of dozens of other blocks. Figure 4 shows an early grid map of the city.
Figure 4: Early grid map of Chicago.
Mini-Lesson for Activity Three
Students will be use a copy of an image of Chicago’s street grid model. Students will calculate and approximate the number of miles the city has in the direction of north/south.
Objective for Activity Four
Students will work cooperatively with peers to distinguish between permeable surfaces which permit water runoff to be absorbed and impermeable surfaces such as pavement which do not allow absorption into the soil but channel to water runoff into sewers.
Mini-Lesson for Activity Four
Students will brainstorm in small groups by using a table to list different examples of permeable and impermeable surfaces.
Objective for Activity Five
The surface of an area has different parts. It can contain soil, rock and grass. Students will use the area of the city block their school campus measuring and approximating the percent of total areas of permeable and impermeable surfaces.
Mini-Lesson for Activity Five
Students will categorize surface area between permeable and impermeable surfaces from a Google Map image. Using this image students will approximate the amount of area of field and other permeable surfaces. Figure 5 shows a view of Richard Edwards Elementary in Chicago from Google Maps. Students will be able to identify permeable surfaces like green spaces and the soccer field to impermeable surfaces like buildings, pavements, and parking lots.
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Figure 5: View of Richard Edwards Elementary using Google maps.
Students will investigate the perimeter of the area including structures, pavements, parking lots, sidewalks, grass/lawn and other various surface area landscapes. Groups of students will identify both permeable and impermeable surfaces. Students will measure the length and width of a permeable or impermeable area then multiplying its total area. Students will sketch the block determine the total percent of the area into two groups of permeable and impermeable surfaces. Students will be able to distinguish the perimeter of the block so that the total area of the surface can be determined.
Objective for Activity Six
Students will work with a peer and use Google map images to compare different school campuses to distinguish between the amount of pervious and impervious areas found.
Mini-Lesson for Activity Six
The students will compare their school to different schools in the city to measure and determine the percent of pervious and impervious surfaces found in these locations. Figure 6 is Richardson Middle School which was built in 2016. Students will use examples of these schools and others to visually understand how architects and engineers are considering landscape as an important part of design while addressing environmental concerns of storm water runoff.
Figure 6: Richardson Elementary
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