For the past five weeks, 3A's Unit of Inquiry has been based around Space and "How the Sun impacts Earth." Now that we've reached the end of our unit, the students had to complete a summative assessment. Following is a sample of what our weekly plan looked like:
Monday
Last week, students looked at 10 misconceptions about Space that they or their classmates had at the beginning of the unit. Before Thanksgiving, they ranked the top three misconceptions that they were interested in explaining in detail. Today, students were put into partnerships based on their top choices. The lesson was dedicated to researching using classroom books (of which there are numerous resources on the various topics) as well as the internet. Students worked on using bullet points to summarize their findings. One student was in charge of exploring the misconception (why people might believe it) while their partner was in charge of the truth (explaining the reality of the misconception.)
Tuesday
Yesterday in Art, students created a visual diagram to represent either their misconception or the reality of their misconception. On a large piece of black construction paper, students used oil pastels to illustrate their research findings from earlier that morning. Today, students were responsible for using their bulleted notations to formulate informative paragraphs. They first had to organize their information in a way that flowed smoothly and then had to create unique, complete sentences to share their information. Partners edited their peer's paragraphs before conferencing with a teacher. The final drafts of the paragraphs were attached to a colorful piece of construction paper for the presentation on Wednesday.
Wednesday
Today was the day of the Science Fair! Each partnership was set up at a table with their visual aids and informative paragraphs. 3A and 3B took turns hosting the fair while students from the opposite class circulated the room and listened to the presentations, taking down notes as they went. Many of my students animatedly explained their findings to their classmates, but of course there were a few "Nervous Nellies" who read straight from their paragraph sheets. After both classes had presented, we sat down as a whole group and had students briefly share with a partner and then with the class a misconception that they resolved today.
Thursday
Today students will be going on a field trip to the American Museum of Natural History to culminate the Inquiry into Space unit. In small groups of four, they will be exploring the six "Journey of the Stars" exhibits and learning about how a star is born, progresses through life, and eventually dies. Students will also be watching an IMAX movie about NASA and their explorations into space.
Friday
Today is a day for students to think back over the entire Inquiry into Space unit, focusing particularly on the information they learned at the Science Fair, to do a "Space Reflection." Students will be demonstrating their knowledge and understanding of space by providing three ways in which the Sun impacts Earth (the overarching theme of the unit.) Students responses require great detail and evidence to support their answer. This reflection, along with the students' final projects, are used as the summative assessment to judge their comprehension.
As you can see, there is a lot of student-led work going on throughout the week. Students are continually taking active responsibility for their own learning. It's amazing to witness! I'll be sure to post photos from the field trip next time I blog.
-Megan
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