WEBSITE AND CLASSROOM BLOG CREATION TOOLS

Name: What do Plants do in the Dark?

Directions: Using the template below, describe how students could use a blog, wiki, or other website-
creation tool to learn required learning standards in your content area: For an A grade provide an idea that
reaches a Level of Technology Implementation of 4 or above. Remember higher levels (4-6) require that
students assume adult/professional roles; engage in higher-order thinking; and use technology
create/publish original content for their classmates and/or others beyond their school/classroom. The
learning activities and products should be engaging and meaningful to the students and to others who will
view/use/benefit from students’ work. Review your handouts on Engaged Learning, Authenticity, and LoTi.
Grade Level: 9th/10th
Content Area: Biology
Technology Used (check all that apply):
Blog Wiki Other Website Creation Tool (list):      
Content Area/Grade/Standards/Topics Addressed:
SB1e. Ask questions to investigate and provide explanations about the roles of photosynthesis and
respiration in the cycling of matter and flow of energy within the cell (e.g., single-celled alga).

Brief Description of Learning Experience: What learning standards will be addressed? What will
students and teachers do? What products will students create? How will the project be introduced? How
long will it take to complete? What audience will use/care about the product(s) students are creating? How
broad is this audience? (Overview should be a minimum of 2 paragraphs).

SB1 e. Ask questions to investigate and provide explanations about the roles of photosynthesis and
respiration in the cycling of matter and flow of energy within the cell (e.g., single-celled alga).
Students will be presented with the phenomena of elodea bubbling in water under a spotlight, then asked
the question: What do plants do in the dark? Students will make an initial post stated their claim on what
processes plants carry out in the dark.
They will then be provided with data sets to analyze rates of photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
Students will then make a blog post with an included image of their graphs from the data set, answering the
following questions:
What patterns do you observe in the data presented in the graphs?
How does the amount of O2 change with time?
How does the amount of CO2 change with time?
How is the rate of change changing over time? How might you represent that rate of change
mathematically?

Then they will state their claim on what plants do in the dark based on the data analysis.

Students will then comment on two of their peer’s posts, responding with a question that could further the
investigation and/or adding on to the explanation of the roles of photosynthesis and respiration. We will ask
outside experts to also look at and comment on the initial posts. Farmers and local plant shops may be good
examples of the intended audience for the student work.

After receiving feedback on their first post, students will have a chance to make changes to their claim in a
new post.
This lesson sequence should occur over a week to give ample time for research, data analysis, peer review,
and revisions to the original claims.

Bloom’s Level of Critical Thinking Required (check all that apply):

1
 WEBSITE AND CLASSROOM BLOG CREATION TOOLS
See http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy
Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating

Student Engagement/Level of Technology Implementation (LoTi): What LoTi would this lesson be and
Why?

LoTi level 5: Students would use the blog as a digital resource to create authentic products (blog posts) in a
student-centered learning activity, while collaborating with outside experts.

Importance of technology: Why is using a website-creation tool critical to the project? Could the project
be completed without this technology? What would be lost without using it? What other types of
technology, if any, are going to be used in the learning experience?

The blog posts are essential for the students to receive/give peer feedback and make adjustments to their
claims. This activity could still be done without the blog posts, but we would lose the insight from an
outside expert. Students could complete the activity as a round robin and share their claims with peers that
way but having a blog post to reference would be more beneficial. Students will also get to see the
progression of the claim throughout the ADI process.
Inspiration (optional): If you used existing example as a model for your project (whether in part or
whole), include the URL(s) so we can visit. Explain what concepts you “borrowed” from others.

https://www.nsta.org/lesson-plan/what-do-plants-do-dark

Internet Safety and Student Privacy: Briefly discuss some possible issues surrounding Internet safety and
student privacy that could arise while implementing this learning experience and explain how you would
(1) minimize risks to students/yourself; (2) alleviate any fears by parents/administrators, and (3) follow
common Internet Safety/Acceptable Use Policies.

Students will not use only their first names for their blog posts and will not use a profile picture. The
posting page will also be password protected, so that only the class and the participating experts have
access to communication on the blog.

Describe your personal learning goal for this activity. What are you trying that you have not tried
before? What do you hope to learn from this activity? How do you hope it will help students learn?

I have been trying to integrate more ways for students to give each other meaningful feedback. I think that
this activity blends the use of ADI (without experimentation) with technology well. I would hope to learn
that not every student will have the same claim, and that is okay as long as they back it up with evidence
and make appropriate adjustments after receiving feedback. I would hope that students would learn to
provide and accept feedback in a productive manner.
Other comments about your proposed activity: This activity is a great way to use data in the classroom
that cannot be measured in schools. It is important for students to still engage with asking questions to
investigate according to the standard, but it is not possible to collect data on O2 and CO2 outputs in class.
This activity helps students to interact with an experiment that is not able to be carried out, but they are still
able to analyze and make claims based on provided data.