This lesson is for : Grade 1:
Summary
How would your life be different if you were wheelchair bound? Students will investigate this question after listening to the story Sidewalk Patrol by Larry Brimner. The story focuses on a woman that faces a difficult time using the sidewalk due to her disability. In the story, the children assist the woman by removing obstacles from her path. Students will hold a discussion on how their lives would be different if they were wheelchair bound. Most likely the students will be concerned with the challenging task of playing on playground equipment during recess (at least that was the case for this class !). Students will look at pictures of local parks that are sent in by parents. The class votes on a park that would be the best fit to have a new piece of equipment installed that would accommodate a wheelchair bound child. Students are given an opportunity to ask questions and conduct research with the help of a 4th or 5th grade buddy. Working in self-selected groups of three, students will design a new piece of equipment that could possibly be added to the local park. Their design must include at least three geometrical shapes that are to be labeled and they will need to consider an object’s movement due to its size, shape and the force of a push or pull. Students choose one of three digital programs to design both the equipment and advertisement. Commercials are posted to the class blog and the school’s Google+ community for voting. Finally, students are interviewed by the teacher for a self-reflection of the project.
TIPC Ratings
Research & Information Fluency
Rating: Ideal – Explanation: Students collaboratively constructed questions to help guide their research by posting to a collaborative digital wall. With the help of fourth graders, students chose a kid-friendly search engine to research and synthesize information to address the task of understanding how disabled people are able to move about on a daily basis. During research students selected the most appropriate digital tools such as websites, videos and images to draw the information they learned. Afterwards, students displayed and interacted with the information they discovered as they invented a new piece of equipment that fit within the specific parameters of wheelchair needs.
Communication & Collaboration
Rating: Ideal – Explanation: Communication and collaboration occurred throughout this entire lesson. Students worked as a whole to decide on an authentic task after discussing the challenges disabled children face, worked with older students to assist in the research process, and worked with one another to invent and make a commercial for a special piece of equipment for a specific playground that needed an area for wheelchair bound children to play. Parent involvement was a vital component to this lesson since they sent in pictures of various playgrounds and assisted with voting. The school community as well as the virtual world was also important as they helped decide on which piece of equipment should be added to Springfield Playground.
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
Rating: Ideal – Explanation: Critical thinking and problem solving were exercised throughout this lesson. Students had to be innovative as they came up with a brand new piece of equipment for a disabled child to have the capability of using during recess/play time. Furthermore, students had to work together to include three geometric figures in their design and had to consider an object’s movement due to its size, shape and the force of a push or pull. They also had to choose the best digital tool that would illustrate their idea and be able to “sell” their product in the form of a commercial. The video reflection helped students reflect on their roles as critical thinkers and problem solvers.
Creativity & Innovation
Rating: Ideal – Explanation: Students had to synthesize existing and self-generated knowledge about disabled children’s day to day interactions during the research component and then had to collectively invent a piece of equipment that would be a fun addition to Springfield Playground. Not only did students have to come up with an innovative idea, they had to carry it out by creating a visual representation of their invention using a digital tool of their choice and turn it into a commercial that was presented to the community using the class blog.
Lesson Materials
