Submitted by: Chad Lowe
School: The Academy at Virginia Randolph
Summary
Students will be told that WWIII has started and they will be responsible for providing energy to their homes for the foreseeable future. They are to use the information they know about energy resources to guide their research on different types of renewable resources are available and how they can use them. Students will be asked to give three reasons why they think the system they created would work. Students will present their arguments to the class and then be given time to reflect and change their minds after seeing other responses. The students will compile their information to create a community resource plan.
TIPC Ratings
Approaching-Students were presented a problem that required them to research information about renewable energy resources and locations to gather these resources in order to get maximum use for the new energy independent community. Students were directed to addictomatic.com as a jump off site to start their research. Each student initially worked independently on an energy resource. Twenty minutes into the lesson, students were presented a Glitch card that required them to reevaluate their search and in some cases redirect their position. They used the information they gathered to develop their energy independent community.
Developing-Initially students were not required to communicate and collaborate with each other. Each student performed his/her investigation without sharing information but after the glitch was presented into the lesson, the students began to realize that in order to create an energy independent community, it would be necessary for them to share resources and information. They began to think more about how the different resources could become integrated to create a successful community together. Although they did not use a collaborative digital tool to share information, they share information in group discussions to complete their paper and their presentation.
Target-Students were given a task to research and find renewable resources that would help meet the energy needs of their community. Teacher provided students a “jumping off” point for their investigation but the soon realized that they would have to generate questions to help them direct their search. Students also had to search for resources that would help them with their energy needs. Just when they thought they had solved the needs for their community, the teacher throws in a “glitch”. The “glitch” will cause some of the students to re-evaluate their searches and the class to realize that they are going to have to pool their resources to provide the energy necessary for their village to function. Students collaborated to write their results including what energy resources there are using, why they choose their particular region, and how they were going to store their energy.
Approaching-After completing the assignment, the students had to find a tool that would demonstrate and present the research about the energy resource they had investigated. The class discussed tools that they had learned this year when one of the students thought about Google Earth, a tool she had learned last year. This tool allowed them to take the audience to the region where they collected a specific type of renewable energy. The students included a caption telling why they selected that specific region and a picture of the area. The students also included an audio blurb giving additional information for their final product.
