First PBL Implementation
Observation
Project
Background: UnBEElievable Insects was designed to bridge the gap between our
standards based animal unit and next PLTW unit on seed dispersal. With the PLTW pre-planned lessons only
meeting our engineering standards, I wanted to create some lessons that would give
students the necessary knowledge to complete the finial build in a fun,
hands-on way. In this project, students
learned the importance of honeybees and why they are essential. This lead into our PLTW unit perfectly when
we talked about pollination and different ways seeds spread.
Observation:
Dawn came on the first day of this unit.
My entry event combined inferencing (an ELA skill my students struggle
with), proving their thoughts with evidence and inquiry. The first part of my lesson was a “crime scene”
set up in the hallway with caution tape.
Students had to make observations about each piece of evidence and
record in their science notebook. We
then returned to the classroom, where each group were presented a case
file. Each case file contained two to
three different pieces of evidence and a recording sheet. Students worked within their group to discuss
each piece of evidence, write their thoughts on what the evidence was
describing, and support their thinking with proof. Some examples of evidence included newspaper
articles, pictures, menus, and online articles.
After groups had completed their evidence sheet, we met on the rug to
discuss each group’s evidence and create an anchor chart. During this time, we also developed our
driving questions. How are bees important?
Why should we save bees?
Reflection:
I was so happy with how this lesson turned out…total top 10 teaching moment! I have to admit I felt a little pressure
teaching a bee lesson with Dawn observing me J…but everything turned out
great. I loved watching the videos and
seeing all the kids so engaged and being active participates in discovering
what we would be learning about next.
Listening to the students make connection to previous learning, and
applying past skills to new learning, made my teacher heart sing. I honestly did not think the kids would be
able to come up with the driving question, but they proved me wrong. I cannot wait to incorporate these strategies
into future lessons.
Love, love, love! We are in the plant unit in AP Biology, so we have been talking a little about pollinators and the flowers that they pollinate. It would have been fun to coordinate something between your students and mine. I love how you used the crime scene set-up to work on the inferencing skills. I was also nervous when Dawn came to visit, but after watching the videos of my students highly engaged in what they were doing, I realized it was all worth it. I love that you ranked this spring PBL as one of your top 10 teaching moments. I kind of feel the same way. I think it would be interesting to poll our class and see how many people feel the same way. I bet it would be a lot! Great job!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing lesson! I love the crime scene idea, of observing, making inferences, finding evidence in text, and making connections between it all! Fantastic way to incorporate so many ELA and science standards into one lesson. I know this took a lot of planning on your part, and I'm glad it turned out as well as you had hoped. Did you have Dawn talk about her bees with your kids?!
ReplyDeleteHi Lindsey,
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a great job providing context for your observed lesson and reflecting on it. I know you shared you were a little nervous, but I absolutely loved how you opened the pbl with the crime scene investigation and the crime scene folders in their cooperative groups...and I wasn't the only one as evidenced by students' engagement and their curiosity about what happened to all the bees in Roebuck!
Sincerely,
Dawn