Submitted by: Megan Parker
School: L. Douglas Wilder Middle School
Summary
The students are using their knowledge of Charles Darwin’s research on evolution, more specifically his research with the Galapagos Island finches and adaptions. The students will develop their own bird with specific and different adaptions. They will research different habitats to decide where their bird will live and how that impacts the food choices. The students will then participate in a gallery walk to evaluate each others work using a Google form.
TIPC Ratings
Approaching- The teacher models to the class how to perform a Google Advanced Search. This will allow specificity when students are researching various birds and how they might adapt to a certain environment. The Google Advanced Search will allow the class to narrow the search results by domain, date published, reading level, and key words.
Developing – Students were able to work in self selected groups and used digital tools to complete this assignment. Peer evaluations were done using a google doc where students had access to the spreadsheet that displayed the results in real time. When appropriate the Google Doc could be shared outside of the classroom walls by providing the parents with the direct link to the student peer evaluations.
Approaching- The students are responding to and discovering the answers purposeful questions throughout this lesson. They were required to justify their answers when creating their final product. Peer evaluation was accomplished digitally through the use of a Google Form that allowed for the class to reflect on their final artifacts. This lesson could have scored higher had the teacher allowed for more communication collaboration and/or focused more on giving the students a choice when creating their end product.
Approaching- Students were required to submit a “paper poster” to show evidence of learning. Offering the students more choice (voicethread, digital infographic, movie) would have allowed for more creativity on the student end. This lesson scored approaching due to the fact that the poster did illustrate many new perspectives and insights gleaned by the class. Also exploring websites like animal splicer may provide the students with brain storming ideas.
Student Artifact
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