I haven’t posted in a long time, but I do read the posts. I hope I am not overstepping my bounds here, but here goes with my view of themes. Back in 2001, I focused on the science interdisciplinary theme of Change and the big ideas of Systems and Models through our eight-week unit on Volcanoes with a major focus on the Rock Cycle. The students and I selected this theme when we discussed all the changes we expected to occur at third grade and decided early on that this theme would be a good focus for all our learning for the year. This was especially poignant for us on September 11 when we realized the changes that were thrust upon us as a nation and realized that some changes are natural and recurring and some changes are introduced by the actions of others that are totally out of the “norm.” My overall goals for student learning about our theme of Change included having my students learn that change may be predictable or unpredictable, good or bad, constructive or destructive, slow or rapid. I wanted them to learn that change is a feature of both scientific and nonscientific processes. I also wanted them to learn that things work together as a system and not in isolation to bring about change. Additionally, I wanted them to develop better critical thinking skills and use the process skills of observing; hypothesizing; collecting, organizing, recording, and analyzing data; drawing conclusions and communicating ideas throughout the curriculum. The science learning I hoped to accomplish through this interdisciplinary theme of Change and the “Big Ideas” of Systems and Models included having students learn how changes in the earth brought about the formation and eruption of volcanoes, how the properties of rocks and minerals vary and that changes in the earth (i.e. heating and cooling) can cause in these properties, and how variables may or may not change the results of an experiment. I wanted the students to become aware of the complexity of the Systems of volcanoes and rocks. I used the big idea of Models to enhance this study of Change because models are something that students can construct, handle, and change in various ways. By using the “big ideas” of Systems and Models, students could relate how things Change and how these changes have effects in all areas of living and non-living things, especially bringing in what they know personally about models and how they work and what they have previously learned about systems. I wanted to increase their scientific knowledge and develop concepts through engagement in the science processes, to have students recognize that Systems and the Changes therein have far-reaching effects and are not limited to science alone, and to connect the science concepts with contributions of scientists (geologists, biologists, and archaeologists). I wanted them to learn how things can work together as a System to bring about Change and that changes in the system have a ripple effect. These overall goals and science learning goals mesh with the National Science Standards and with our state’s science framework. The volcano/rocks unit itself was chosen when Benjamin received a volcano science kit for his birthday and donated it to our class. Also, on almost every sharing day previously, Matthew had brought in car models as his sharing; and Zander brought in many models of Bionicles, a robot-type figure that changes form. By taking advantage of this interest in Models and by using Change as an overarching theme the students were able to personalize curriculum links that promoted a broader understanding of Systems, namely how the systems within volcanoes can produce rocks, how rocks themselves can change, and how the rock cycle is important for soil. The interdisciplinary theme of Change was also important because it allowed us to use our study of the volcanic system as a segue to our soon-to-follow unit on plants and animals which will include a further study of soil and a study of plant/animal/human systems and interactions and how changes in any one area can affect the others. The theme of Change also meshed with our previous study of the solar system and the interactions of the planets, sun, and moon (especially the changes/phases) and how these Systems and their inherent Changes affect living organisms. It helped to increase critical thinking as the students began to understand why things change and that things do not work in isolation. Being able to see how various parts work together helped to develop this critical thinking. When we viewed a video on moon rocks, students also connected Change and Systems to our volcano/rocks unit by virtue of the moon rocks being identified as basalt, a volcanic rock which shows that Change and Systems can also be in effect on the moon. (I then went on to explain the activities/experiments we did.) I believe that our constant reflections and questions on how all our activities connected to Change was critical and powerful in increasing students’ scientific understanding and in their scientific attitudes. It is evident that students had a variety of avenues suitable for their learning styles and were able to personalize connections that will benefit them as they further their science learning. Throughout this unit, students learned about our theme of Change across the curriculum, which I felt was most successful. They learned about changes made in science and history and how these changes influenced interactions/systems—people to people, people to animals, people to environment, and people to ideas. For example, in literature we discussed how characters and situations (plots) changed by completing a “Change Wheel” on the characters and plots in many of our stories, such as the resulting changes that occurred in Stuart Little to Stuart and the Little family. In our reading groups and as read alouds, we also read a variety of non-fiction including Magic School Bus Inside the Earth, The Secrets of Vesuvius, Mount St. Helens—The Story Behind the Scenery and Mount St. Helens—The Continuing Story, The Buried City of Pompeii, an “I Was There” book, and several books on rocks and minerals. In language development, we discussed the changes that occur to words by adding prefixes and suffixes and the change in the word “vulcanology” to the more-accepted spelling “volcanology.” In Life Science we discussed the changes and effects of volcanoes on the lives (systems) of humans and nature when a biologist from a local government agency talked to us about the return of plants and animals after an eruption. In Physical Science we learned that a solid plus a liquid could produce a gas as when vinegar was added to baking soda in one of our volcano experiments. We also saw how crystals form and change, and we experienced chemical reactions/changes when we made crystals, rock candy, and our volcano cake. In math, we learned to change thermometer readings from Fahrenheit to Celsius and back again using our calculators. We also experienced the theme of Change and the big idea of Models when we changed a square of tagboard/posterboard and made tessellating templates (models) to use for artistic mathematical designs. We also shared several models for multiplication: arrays, Cartesian product, and multiplication quilts. We used Change when we graphed the results of our two school-wide surveys about volcanoes and lava and showed what the information looked like with Unifix cubes (kinesthetic), a bar graph and a pie graph and how the information was the same but changed to a different form. When Kathleen saw the extension chapter on geology in our district-adopted science textbook, she informed the class that she was going to be an archaeologist when she grew up. This fit in with social studies and science, so we studied the Roman Empire and the changes wrought by the volcanic eruptions of Vesuvius on Pompeii and Herculaneum. Even though students of this age focus on “immediacy,” they are still curious of events in the long-ago past. For this reason, we included a study of Pliny the Younger’s first-person account of Vesuvius. We studied archaeology and had our own “dig” and “uncovered” an artifact from Pompeii, using a science kit from a local teacher store. An archaeologist from a local government agency spoke to the class on becoming an archaeologist and the changes that have come about in that field. This unit was a huge success even if I did provide you with TMI!!! Cherylle in CA 3rd Grade _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.
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