Summary
Students are presented with the following problem: A classmate has moved away to a location where pumpkins cannot grow. You have to decide how we can safely ship a pumpkin to our friend. First students investigate the properties that might impact safely sending this pumpkin. Students utilize PebbleGo to make connections with their prior knowledge of pumpkins. Students are divided into four groups and assume a defined role in order to contribute cooperatively and collaboratively. Students are involved in experiential research to discover important information that will impact decisions made for their pumpkin including: discuss/predict, then measure weight, circumference, and diameter of the pumpkins in their small groups. Students reflect on their pumpkin data and research, synthesize ideas, and collaborate to build and test their pumpkin packages. Students share the results of their experiment through the classroom blog.
TIPC Ratings
Research and Information Fluency were not the primary focus of this lesson. Students did participate in experiential research and utilized some digital resources to further investigate their topic.
This lesson falls in the developing range for Communication and Collaboration. Students were required to work collaboratively to solve an authentic problem. Students communicated the findings of their investigation through the teacher’s blog.
This lesson falls in the approaching range for Critical Thinking and Problem Solving. Students applied information gained during their experiential research to create a package that would safely and successfully transport a pumpkin if dropped from a distance of 10 feet. Students had to work collaboratively to synthesize ideas from group members to meet their design challenge.
This lesson falls in the ideal/target range for Creativity and Innovation. Students utilized their experiential research to collaborate and design a package to that met the design challenge needs to transport a pumpkin safely when dropped a distance of 10 feet. Students reflected throughout the design process to synthesize group member ideas to create a cohesive package. Students further reflected on their processes after the completion of the unit.
Student Artifact
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Contents:
- Lesson Plan
- Student Artifacts
- Teacher Tools
- Class Blog
