Classroom Activities
Day 1 – Introduction:
Students will review the definition of close observation and recall where they have practiced close observing throughout the school year. They will consider how the strategy has aided their learning. Educators will present close observation as a skill of early scientists for recording taxonomies of plants and animals. After a brief classroom discussion, educators will have students engage in close observation.
The educator can preselect an element from nature, for instance two leaves from the school yard, or have students collect them. Once the objects are selected, the educator will ask students to sit and silently draw each object one at a time for 4 minutes each. After completing the activity, the group may discuss what elements stood out to them and what made the activity difficult or easy. The educator should keep the objects throughout the unit so that students can come back to them on the last day.
Part 1 – Minerals and land:
Day 2:
Display James John Audubon’s depiction of “Common Buzzard, plate 372” – ask students what do they see in the picture. Have students discuss in partners, challenging students to ask their partner, “What else do you notice in the painting?” Come back together as a full class to discuss the painting, draw student attention to the logging in the background and ask them what they notice. Ask them how the logging might impact the buzzard and the hare shown in the picture.
Display George Brewerton’s “Natural Bridge” and Flavius Fisher’s “Natural Bridge” (Virginia Museum of History and Culture) – ask students to look closely at what they see. Push students to use descriptive language to describe the rocks and geological formation. The educator should share background knowledge about Natural Bridge and make a connection between natural bridge and natural tunnel. The educator should also point to the upright nature of the artworks.
1. Photograph, Natural Tunnel, VA39
Display “The Mine, Petersburg, Virginia” by Timothy H. O'Sullivan and photographic print, Toms Creek Mine, Wise County, Va. – ask students to describe how the land and minerals have been used in these pictures. Share background knowledge on mining, the connection to energy, and the impact on land and minerals.
2. Photographic print, Toms Creek Mine, Wise County, Va40
Day 3:
Synthesize learning with a field experience. First, review the artwork from Day 2 and anchor chart notes that the educator took. Have students share definitions they uncovered related to minerals and land. After discussion, present students with various rocks found within the community and local parks, sand, and metals. Have students discuss the objects in groups and record their observations in notebooks. Students can then make a close observation drawing in their notebooks. Educators may also consider bringing students outside to build their own collection of mineral and land resources.
Part 2 - Water:
Day 4:
Begin by having students list the ways in which they use water while charting on the board. Ask students where does water come from and why is it important. Display images such as “Study from Nature: Inveruglas” (1857) and “London from Greenwich Hill” (ca1865) can be used to initiate conversation around water as natural resources. Explain to students that cities such as Richmond, were developed on rivers. Ask students why that might be the case. Ask students to look at the images and describe the ways in which the water resources are serving the community. Next, display “Wharf, South Side of James River, Opposite Richmond, Virginia” and Ross Merrill’s three depictions of the Chesapeake Bay (National Gallery of Art), or other images from your community, to guide a discussion on local waterways.
3. Study from Nature: Inveruglas (1857)41
London From Greenwich Hill
4. Wharf, South Side of James River, Opposite Richmond, Virginia 42
Day 5:
Synthesize learning with a field experience. Students can consider water conservation in a variety of ways. Using educator resources from the James River Association, educators can guide students to create wetlands in a bottle. As students conduct the experiment, ask them what they observe and why preserving wetlands could benefit water quality. Students could also conduct water quality testing at storm drains or local water ways.
Part 3 – Air
Day 6:
Begin by having students review in small groups what they already know about air and why it is important. As students are discussing, the educator can build an anchor chart. Display three paintings, “London from Greenwich Hill,” “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768)”, and “Staffa, Fingal’s Cave”. In small groups, students describe what they see and build connections with what they already knew about air. If the students do not notice the smokestacks and factories on their own, the educator should point these out and have students consider how that impacts the air. Finally, the educator should ask how air is connected to minerals, land, and water by using evidence from the paintings, pointing out the sublime effect created in “Staffa, Fingal’s Cave” of the burning smokestack melding into the air as the boat approaches the land.
London from Greenwich Hill
Joseph Wright of Derby, Air pump
5. Joseph Mallord William Turner’s “Staffa, Fingal’s Cave” (1832)
Day 7:
Synthesize learning with an experiment such as planting in a jar with no air and a jar with holes and creating an air pollution catcher by placing Vaseline on a paper plate and hanging it up. Alternatively, educators can bring students outside and have them closely observe the environment and how the air is working through it. Students can draw what they see in their notebooks and write about how the impact of air.
Part 4 – Advocacy
Day 8 and Day 9: Project Based Learning
Students should discuss the 3 R’s in small groups. Afterwards, the educator should make a list of the different ways students can reduce, reuse, and recycle. The teacher should ask the students which method they think is the most effective and why. After a whole class discussion, the educator can provide background knowledge around the limitations of recycling. Students should discuss other ways that they can help conserve natural resources. The educator can point to the advocacy efforts of the Friends of Nelson in stopping the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Next students should work in teams to identify a local problem in environmental conservation, such as trash in the school yard or by the local waterways, planting pollinator plants, or limiting energy use by adjusting thermostats or turning off lights. Students should determine how they want to communicate the issue with the broader public. They can consider making signs to hang up, reaching out to local officials, or writing letters to stakeholders such as teachers, principals, and elected officials. Students should be given time to complete their project and display as appropriate.
Finally, students should wrap up their learning by writing “letters to the editor” that describes what they learned about natural resources, why they are important to conserve, and the change their team would like to see. The educator should consider various ways to share students’ message such as submitting to local newspapers, displaying the letters along the dismissal pick-up line, or sharing on the school’s website.
Day 10 – Close Observation
On the final day of the unit, students will celebrate their learning by firsts reviewing the artwork explored and the anchor charts they created. They can discuss their learning in small group and whole group. Then, each team of students should present their advocacy project to the class and the impact it will have. Finally, students will revisit close observation and discuss the ways in which close observation helps tell the story of natural resources and how it helped them learn.
The educator should present students with the same objects they drew on Day 1 and ask students to sit and silently draw each object one at a time for 4 minutes each. After completing the close observation, the educator should pass out the drawings from Day 1 and have students consider the ways in which the objects changed over two weeks.
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