Summary
In this cross-curricular lesson, students worked in self-selected collaborative groups on the following authentic task: “An oil spill has occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. It is currently spilling hundreds of gallons of oil into the water. This accident can affect many aspects of ocean life. NOAA is in need of your assistance to research the impact and report back to us your findings. To complete this task you and your partner are responsible for researching the effects of the oil spill on an ocean animal, organism, habitat, or land animal. You will then compile your research and enter your findings into a Google Form so that NOAA can receive your information and take steps to help the animals, habitats, and water affected by the spill. Using the information you collected, create a presentation explaining your findings.” Students were given a choice in technology tool to make their presentation, using one of the following: Keynote, Pages, or ActivInspire.
TIPC Ratings
This lesson is Ideal/Target in Research and Information Fluency. The students were presented with an authentic task and generated their own questions and conducted research to obtain answers. They utilized the information they found to develop a report for NOAA.
This lesson is lower Approaching in Communication and Collaboration. The teacher designed a challenge that promoted student collaboration to address an authentic task without direct supervision. Students were able to select their groups and worked together on a shared computer to research and create a new product. Students reflected on their roles in their groups and set goals for future experiences. In order to increase the communication, the products could be shared on a blog with other classes and/or students could collaborate with a professional, expert, or class outside of the school for research on this topic.
This lesson is Ideal/Target in Critical Thinking and Problem Solving. Students were asked to research and then create a presentation to NOAA on the information that they found. Students had to develop questions and use this information to create a presentation using one of these tools:Keynote, Pages, or ActivInspire. Students were asked to explain their choices and the problem solving techniques they employed as they completed the task.
This lesson is Ideal/Target in Creativity and Innovation. Students were given three choices for their presentation: Keynote, Pages, or ActivInspire. Students then created a presentation based on the authentic task using the information they had researched. Group products varied and reflected each group’s decisions and risk taking. Students were asked to reflect upon their work.
Student Artifact
