TitleIII Technology Literacy Challenge Grant

Learning Unit

Overview | Content Knowledge | Essential Questions | Connection To Standards | Initiating Activity | Learning Experiences | Culminating Performance | Pre-Requisite Skills | Modifications | Schedual/Time Plan | Technology Use

OVERVIEW

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What would life be like on another planet?

If another planet was discovered what would it be like?

How would you prepare yourself for a trip to another planet?

How does it feel to have no gravity at all?

CONNECTIONS TO NYS LEARNING STANDARDS
List Standard # and Key Idea #: Write out related Performance Indicator(s) or Benchmark(s)

INITIATING ACTIVITY

 Show a video clip of a recent outer space trip. Discuss what happens in the video clip. Talk about how interesting and scary it is to think about visiting far away planets. Then fill out a KWL chart on outer space, finding out what they know and what they want to learn.

LEARNING EXPERIENCES
In chronological order including acquisition experiences and extending/refining
experiences for all stated declarative and procedural knowledge.

DECLARATIVE KNOWLEDGE
What declarative knowledge should students be in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of the unit, the student will know or understand…Identify the planets and asteroids and comets, Identify the characteristics of the planets, Vocabulary, How long it will take to go to the sun by car, plane, or space shuttle, What each planet's surface is like, The size of the planets, Amazing facts about space exploration, A review of all unit information.

What experiences or activities will be used to help students acquire & integrate this knowledge? Read Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System, Research planets - CD ROM, internet, books, encyclopedia, Make a space dictionary, Math worksheet, Read Louis and the Night Sky, Sort models from smallest to largest, Math sheet using subtraction to compare planets, Read I Didn't Know That You Can Jump Higher On The Moon by Kate Petty, Quiz Show.

What strategies will be used to help students construct meaning, organize and/or store the knowledge? KWL Chart, Mnemonic Devices, Three Minute Pause, Graphic Organizer, Advance organizer questions, Notetaking, Notetaking, Use of a calculator, Comparing, 3 minute pause, Comparing, Compare, Subtract, Sort, 3 minute pause, Experiments, KWL chart, Questioning

Describe what will be done. Show video clip. Fill out KWL chart, just do the know and want to learn. Then read the Magic School Bus together or use a listening center for the students to hear the book (it may take more to read). Half way through the lesson stop and do a three minute pause to reflect on what they had learned from the book. At the end discuss what they have read in the book and use a graphic organizer to do this. Make sure they discuss what an asteroid and a comet is. Also discuss the names of the planets and use a mnemonic device.

The students will be given a sheet on how to do research. The teacher will go over this sheet. The children will receive a checklist that they are to use as they go through each step. The students will be assigned a planet to research with a sheet of questions they need to answer. Once research is done they will give an oral presentation of their findings and draw a picture on the computer of their planet. Then everyone together will make a huge wall chart to put all the information on.

As the students encounter new vocabulary they are given a book with blank pages to write the word and definition on the bottom half of the page. On the top half they draw a picture of the word.

They will discuss which form of transportation is the quickest or slowest to get places. Then they will talk about going to the sun. They will be shown how to use a calculator. Then they will be given a worksheet on comparing the time it would take to get to the sun using a car, plane, or space shuttle.

They will orally read the book Louis and the Night Sky by Nicola Morgan using a 3 minute pause in the middle of the book. They then will compare what the surface of each planet is like.

Using models of the planets and the information they had gathered on the wall chart, the students will put the planets in order from smallest to largest. Then using the math worksheet they will use subtraction to compare the sizes of the planets.

The teacher will read the book to the students. As they listen to the story they will answer the questions and do some of the experiments in the book. At the end of the book they will do a 3 minute pause to summarize, identify interesting aspects, and clear up any confusions. Then do the L part of KWL chart. Then the students will do the culminating activity.

The class will be broken into 4 groups. Give students some time to come up with 10 questions with answers from the unit. Then the groups take turns in round-robin fashion asking one another the questions, gaining a point for each correct answer. Keep score on the board. If a group can't answer a question, give the next group in the circle the chance for the point.

PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE

What procedural knowledge will students be in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of this unit, students will be able to: How to research information, use of word processing and draw program, simulation of the distances between planets and the sun, distinguishes between each planet's surface (construct dioramas), gravity (act out using senses).

What will be done to help students construct models, shape & internalize the knowledge? Modeling, demonstration, use of senses, demonstration, charting, construct boxes, compare surfaces, use senses, act out experiments on gravity, use senses.

Describe what will be done. Use the worksheet to show the students how to do research. Demonstrate to the students how to use the word processing and draw program. The students will take a role as wither a sun or a planet. They will place themselves in order from the sun and the appropriate distance using ratios. Discuss rotation with them. After discussing Louis and the Night Sky, group students into 9 groups. Use the information from the book to depict each planet's surface by putting different materials into a box to make a diorama. Then each child goes around and writes which planet they think each box depicts. Then they all compare there answers to each other. One student will demonstrate this experiment on gravity by moving a chair to the front of the room and placing a glass of water in the floor next to the chair. Then the student will lie across the chair with his stomach on the chair's seat and his head bent down toward the glass of water. The student will grasp the glass with his hands and take a drink. (The gravity will pull on the water to make it difficult to drink). Next, place a straw in the glass and ask the student to drink the water using the straw. (the Earth's gravitational pull still makes this difficult to do, even though more force is pulling the water toward the student's mouth.) After it has been demonstrated by the one student, then all of the students should try the experiment.

EXTENDING AND REFINING
What knowledge will students be extending and refining? Specifically, they will be extending and refining their understanding of…What to take with them to outer space, What if a new planet was discovered.

What reasoning process will they be using? Comparing, Deductive Reasoning, Analyzing Perspectives

Describe what will be done. The student will discuss in a small group of 2-3 students, what items they would take with them on a trip into outer space. They will make a collage of items using magazines and computer drawn pictures to do this.

Analyzing all the information that they learned about all of the other planets, they would write a letter to a friend describing what this new planet looks like.

CULMINATING PERFORMANCE
Include rubric(s)

 The student will produce a type written repot about a planet that will be displayed at a local library with their computer drawing of their planet. The display will be arranged on a wall to show the order of the planets from the sun.

PRE-REQUISITE SKILLS

MODIFICATIONS

 The special area teachers like art teacher, reading teacher, and/or resource room teacher will be used to help students having difficulty in the areas of art, reading, problem solving, or physically manipulating materials in construction.

UNIT SCHEDULE/TIME PLAN

Planning: 1 hour

Implementation: 2-3 days

Assessment: 1 period

TECHNOLOGY USE