Art, Design, and Biology

Unit Length

8 Weeks (in weather where outside activities are permitted)

Content

Objectives

Students Will Be Able To:

· Improve reading and understanding of scientific texts through kinesthetic activities

· Explain the basic principles of our school garden ecosystem.

· Describe the flow of energy and the cycling of matter in ecosystems.

· Identify the interactions between different species in a community

· Understand the impact of human activities on the environment and the importance of conservation.

· Apply the scientific method to design and conduct experiments in an outdoor lab.

· Analyze and interpret biological and visual data.

· Communicate scientific information effectively, both orally and in writing.

· Initiate ecological cycles utilizing a seed exchange

· Empathize with peers’ neurodiverse point of view

Teaching Strategies and Classroom Experiences

Weeks 1 - 2

·  Teacher activates prior knowledge by having students complete a Know, Want to know, Learned (KWL) chart using ideas they have about our school garden, native Chicago plants and animals, and any other farming practices they have experienced in school.

·  Students read Ten Benefits of Urban Gardens: Focus on Socio-Economic Crises https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FR477and take notes about similarities they find in their own urban garden.

·  Students watch The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food in the City. https://youtu.be/vHGhAcmyNMw?si=JMTQb1wkctX6USaTFrom the video they complete the W column of the KWL chart by jotting down notes. They choose which vegetables to plant and the teacher provides the seeds.

·  Teacher explains the basic principles of our school garden ecosystem. In the school garden, students physically map out the different components they identified in their reading and draw/label vegetation on chart paper as a model of the garden plot.

·  Students take a walking field trip on The 606

·  While on the walking trip, students sketch in their journals. Using colored pencils or markers, they should draw a vegetable garden design that includes proper spacing, native plants, and areas where plants will be located in the school garden boxes.

Week 3

·  Students fill milk cartons with soil and place seeds in the dirt. These seeds will be planted in the garden outside as they sprout and mature. The unused plants in the milk cartons will fill the Free Seedling Exchange for the community seed sharing project.

·  The seeds are kept indoors near a sunny window until weather permits planting outside

·  Students monitor seeds for growth and use rulers to measure and document length and height in their journals

·  Students draw, label, and write short descriptions of what they observe in their journal from the activity of the seeds in the milk cartons

·  Students take soil samples from the outside garden

·  In small groups of 3-4, students use the soil testing kit to see if the garden beds are safe for planting food grade plants

·  Students read the online document “Environmental Inequities and Metal Toxicity: A Demographic Assessment of Soil Contamination in Parks of Chicago, IL.” In their groups they discuss real-life experience seeing the areas of Humboldt Park that are contaminated and brainstorm solutions together. They write the theories in their journal.

Week 4

·  Assessment: Using the Canva app, each student creates a digital flyer,  about how to maintain a personal backyard garden. Elements of the flyer include how to test soil, ways to mitigate pollution, directions for planting seedlings and which native plants to grow in Chicago based on their research. The flyer is distributed using a QR Code that is hosted on our school webpage.

Week 5

·  Students go outside and survey the garden, observing interactions among bees pollinating flowers, worms in the soil, signs of insect herbivory, snakes, squirrels, and rabbits and birds. Rats and stray cats are also included in these observations, due to our urban ecosystem.

·  Students can research specific species found in the garden and predict which species will harm or improve the garden. They write in their journals, describing the outcomes of the ecosystem if left “to nature” compared with Human intervention.

·  Based on the results of the garden soil test lab, students generate a question about the school garden's health. In pairs, they design a simple experiment that tries to answer the questions about the school garden’s health.

·  Students conduct these experiments directly in the school garden. They will add or remove fertilizer, compost and water to test variables that predict success of the seeds we will be pl

·  Students analyze and interpret collected data and observations. Their findings will be represented as simple graphs, charts, and drawings.

·  Assessment: Each group prepares a short presentation or a scientific poster summarizing their experiment, data, and conclusions. They present their findings to the class, answering questions and engaging in scientific discourse.

·  The presentations will begin Wednesday and conclude on Friday.

Week 6

·  Nature Field Trip to Humboldt Park, led by Shedd Aquarium experts

·  Students journal and draw during the visit to the park

·  Students return to the garden boxes and prep the soil. They remove debris using the gardening tools

·  Students hammer nails into the walls of the boxes and use twine to create grids. The grids organize where the seedlings will be planted. The grids prepare the proper spacing between different plants to ensure there is room to grow.

·  According to their drawings, students layout the places where seedlings will be planted in the garden boxes. They mark the spaces with sticky notes so that they know where in the grid to plant the seedlings.

·  They plant the seedlings in the areas they marked with sticky notes for different trophic levels, water sources, and specific plant/animal interactions and proper spacing.

·  Popsicle sticks are placed next to the plants for identification with names of vegetation written on them

Week 7

·  Seedlings are planted in the garden

·  Extra seedlings are exchanged on or around Earth Day as a kick off celebration for our garden project. This will bring awareness to the community of our project

·  Students encourage parents, peers, and neighbors to access their flyers created on Canva via the QR Codes

·  Assessment: Students complete the “L” column of their KWL chart. In the form of a short essay, they describe what they learned from the various activities during the unit. They conclude the essay by explaining how to start and maintain an urban garden.

Week 8 (and throughout the growing season)

·  Plants are maintained and harvested as they are ready

·  Students promote the Free Seedling Exchange of Native Plants to Chicago’s Humboldt Park Neighbors. They encourage seed exchangers to use the QR code to access the how to test soil directions brochure for a personal backyard garden.

Resources

·  Internet connected computer

·  Canva App https://www.canva.com/

·  Markers

·  Colored Pencils

·  Rulers

·  Magnifying glasses

·  Sticky notes

·  Chart paper

·  Clipboards

·  Seeds from dollar store

·  Twine

·  Hammer

·  Box of roofing nails

·  Hand shovel

·  Rake

·  Shovel

·  Gardening gloves

·  30 washed pint milk containers or small paper cups

·  One (1) cubic foot bag of potting soil

·  Soil testing kit (Environmental Concepts Soil Test Kit available at hardware stores)

·  Popsicle sticks to write the names of the seeds and stick them in the designated area once placed below the soil

·  Report: Environmental Inequities https://www.mdpi.com/1457004

·  One (1) spiral notebook for note-taking, journaling, and drawing. This notebook will also serve as the students place to capture vocabulary and definitions on pages called “Language Log”

·  Article Ten Benefits of Urban Gardens: Focus on Socio-Economic Crises

·  YouTube The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food in the City. https://youtu.be/vHGhAcmyNMw?si=JMTQb1wkctX6USaT

·  Register for field trip https://www.sheddaquarium.org/nature-field-trips-at-humboldt-park

·  https://www.the606.org/visit/science-at-the-606/