Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities

Lesson Idea Name: Down the Drain

Content Area: Science
Grade Level(s): 3rd
Content Standard Addressed: S3L2. Students will recognize the effects of pollution and humans on the
environment.
a. Explain the effects of pollution (such as littering) to the habitats of plants and animals.
b. Identify ways to protect the environment.
• Conservation of resources
• Recycling of materials

Technology Standard Addressed: 3- Knowledge Constructor

Selected Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity:

http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/drainproj/

URL(s) to support the lesson:

Describe how you would incorporate an Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity in your
classroom: I will incorporate this online collaborative project into my classroom to contribute to our study
on the effects pollution and humans on the environment. The project will be used to help students recognize
the effects they have on the environment and identify ways they can protect the environment by conserving
water. This project gives students the opportunity to collect and share data on the average amount of water
used by one person in a day. Students will spend a week collecting data on the water use of the people in
their household and record their data on the Household Water Use Chart.

After a week of collecting data, students use the data collected by their household members and classmates
to determine the average amount of water used by one person in a day. Once the class compiles their results
and calculates the average amount of water used by one person per day, the teacher will submit the classes
data to the project website. Students will develop a hypothesis and make predictions about what
relationships they will find when they view other people's data online. Then, they will compare the average
amount of water used per person per day with the average amount of water used by people in other parts of
the world. After analyzing the data, students will determine whether their hypothesis was confirmed or
rejected by the data. When students are finished, they will publish their results and write a summary
describing what they found and possible explanations for their results on the online discussion board.

What technologies would be required to implement this proposed learning activity in a classroom?
A computer or tablet will be needed to implement this activity.

Describe how the following features are addressed in this learning experience (note: all of them may not be
addressed in the project, but most should be if you are reaching a high LoTi Level).
a. Collaboration with peers, near-peers, mentors outside their classroom and often beyond their
school: Students will be able to share their data with other people outside of the classroom.

b. Student-centered learning and knowledge creation (creating original data and or producing original
products as a result of engaging in a project): Students will be collecting data on the water use by the
members of their household and compiling the data with the rest of the class to determine the average
amount of water used by one person per day.

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 Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities
c. Higher-order thinking: Students will think about what they have learned about average daily water
use and develop a hypothesis to investigate how they think their average amount of water use
compares to others and what factors may contribute to this.

d. Students publishing their original work to others who will use/care about their product: Students
will publish their data on the site and compare it to the work of others with parent permission.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☐ Remembering ☐ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☐ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration
☒ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL): The online project provides students with an authentic learning
experience that gives them an opportunity to communicate to real audiences. The teacher will facilitate
managing information and resources by providing templates for data collection. Tables and charts will be
used to give students options for organizing their data and displaying their results. Prompts and sentence
frames will be used to support students as they develop a hypothesis, make a prediction, and communicate
their results. Students can use posters, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, or any other presentation
tools approved by the teacher to communicate their results. A student-friendly rubric will also be provided to
support students in sharing what they have learned with others.

Lesson idea implementation and Internet Safety Policies: Students will record water use by members in
their household for one week. At the end of one-week students will compile their results and calculate the
average amount of water used by one person per day. Students will develop hypotheses and predictions
about what relationships they will find in the data. After analyzing the data, students will confirm or reject
their hypotheses. Students will publish their results on the project web site with a description and possible
explanations for their results. The teacher will use the websites publishing policy and instructions for
publishing students work to create a plan for protecting students privacy and safety during this project. The
teacher will inform parents and administrators about the online project we will be completing, how it
supports learning, and how the teacher plans to protect student's privacy and safety. The teacher will teach
the rules and procedures for using the online project before beginning the project and reinforce these rules
while students are completing the project. Any information published will be reviewed and authorized by the
school district administration before being posted online. At the end of the project, a rubric will be used to
assess student's final product.

Reflective Practice: These activities will impact student learning by giving them an opportunity to think
critically about the effects humans have on the environment. Extending this project might involve students
researching ways they can conserve water at home using resources from the project website and other online
resources. Students can create presentations with tips and ideas on how to conserve water that they can post
in the Student Gallery on the project website.

Spring 2018_SJB