Kelly+Dircks

Problem Based Learning Lesson Kelly Dircks Walden University

Marie Larcara EDUC-6719D-2 Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas Summer 2010

Unit: School Nutritional Guidelines Lesson 1: Problem Based Learning

Many of my sixth grade students are arriving in my classroom “as 'digital natives'” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). Problem Based Learning is a tool which allows students to hone those skills and master content in meaningful ways.

The quality, price and size of our school lunches is a constant source of complaint for parents and students in my school. Likewise, the healthy snack rule is frustrating for families and deemed unfair by students. Each year during our language arts unit on persuasive writing many of the topics selected revolved around food, beverage, snack and lunch policies in our district. Common student-selected topics for persuasive essays included: allowing students to have soda, juice or flavored water in the classroom: eliminating the district's healthy snack policy and reinstating traditional treats for birthdays and special occasions; reinstating the right for teachers to give food rewards such as Tootsie Rolls and Jolly Ranchers; serving Godfather's Pizza for lunch; creating a salad bar; etc. To redesign the persuasive writing unit as a Problem Based Learning (P.B.L.) unit I will guide students in creating a proposal for our district regarding lunches, snacks and vending machines. It is my belief that students will come to the realization that the district has done the best it can given the government policies and financial limitations which must be met.

The language arts P.B.L. unit outlined in the paragraphs that follow will encompass many objectives beyond simply developing the skills to write a persuasive essay. Understanding how to calculate nutritional value and cost of unit items incorporates math. Looking at how and why school nutritional guidelines have changed over the years ties in a bit of history. Additional objectives covered include:

English Language Arts National Content Standards (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p 191): 1. A wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace. 3. Apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. Draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts. 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes. 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions, media techniques, figurative language and genre to create, critique and discuss print and non-print texts. 7. Students create research on issues and interests by generative ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety ofsources that suit their purpose and audience. 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge. 9. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes.

Iowa Department of Education Literacy Standards (Standards, 2009) Benchmark A: Students can understand stated information they have read. Benchmark C: Students can draw conclusions, make inferences, and deduce meaning. Benchmark E: Students can interpret information in new contexts. Benchmark H: Students can identify the writer's views or purpose.

The kick-off for the P.BL. will be a math lesson in our current Everyday Math Program in which students learn to calculate calorie and fat in various food items. The math lesson extends to allow students to create their own menu and determine the nutritional value. I will ask students to select their three least favorite meals from the current month's lunch menu and replace them with new meals. I will allow students to go on-line to one fast food franchise to select one meal from a restaurant that might be considered healthy. Once the new menus have been prepared, I will explain to students that we will be investigating the food policy for our district, with focus on it's impact on school lunches, birthday/special occasion treats, food as a reward and use of vending machines.

Visiting the government website regarding food in schools and nutritional guidelines via an LCD projector will provide an opportunity for reviewing web literacy, determining reliability of a site and how to conduct on-line research (November, 2008). Students will individually create KWHL charts which will be used as a focus as they conduct independent research. Students will then be given time to gather ideas and research both on-line and in library books. Assessment at this point will include use of classroom responders to review nutritional guidelines and a daily reflection blog in which students post updates to their KWHL, pose questions to their peers, post interesting information they learned and link sites, charts and graphics which peers may find helpful. This will allow students to “tap their creativity, align language arts instruction with student learning preferences, and give students an opportunity to express their language arts skills in a variety of ways” (Cennamo, Ertmer & Ross, 2009, p 197). The blog revisions of the individual KWHL charts will support the teacher's efforts to scaffold learning for students. For instance, students may be provided with specific links at their reading level, assisted with copying information into a program which can read text or guided to more challenging books and Internet sites.

The class will then work together to develop teams with various outcomes. The teacher will design the teams based on the interests and abilities indicated during the independent research during the KWHL process. Potential outcomes that the students might decide upon may include: persuasive letter to administration, brochure to K-6 students with recipes for healthy lunches and 'fun' birthday snacks, menu proposals with cost factors for our food service department, etc. Each team will communicate via Wiki, allowing the students to reflect upon their learning and progress and set goals for each day. The Wiki will serve as a means for assessment for the teacher, as will the completion of the final outcome (letter, Power Point, etc.) completed by each group. Students will also have a daily exit slip in which they rank the performance of themselves as well as the performance of the group, which will help the teacher in assessing how to scaffold and guide each group's progress.

The culminating even will be the sharing of each group's final product. Students will then be provided with time to look over their blog postings and daily exit slips and reflect upon their success in meeting the goals of the P.B.L.

Comments!

Hi Kelly, When I entered our Wiki this week to post our second lesson, I realized that everyone is leaving comments in different ways. I commented this week on your lesson through the Learning Communities Board on our course page, but I see that others wrote on the actual lessons or left messages through the discussion page. Not exactly sure if there is a correct way or not, but in case you did not read my comments, I wanted to post them to your actual Wiki as well :) I just copied and pasted what I had written before!

I absolutely love your idea of having the students research healthy meals. Many students and even many adults do not know "how" to eat healthy and I think it is great that you have the students looking at fast food and also the school menu to come up with a three healthy meals! Understandable that the student would be upset that there is no "fun" snacks in the school, having them hypothesize something that is still good, but healthy really has them creatively thinking!

My only suggestion and it was the same one that I gave to Valerie in our group is that you add "monitor" and "evaluation" to your lesson plan to meet the requirements for the assignment of using the GAME plan format for the lesson plan. I saw that it was in the lesson but not specifically "headed" and I'm not sure if that is needed. Seeing that both of you and a few others did not use the format, maybe I misunderstood, and if that be the case; please ignore this suggestion :) Other than that.. it looks good!

Jessica Juhn

Hi Kelly, I may be siding with Jessica on this one. I wrote my second lesson the way it's formatted in our book. After looking at the assignment again, I think Jessica is right. I'll be going back to change the format of my first lesson. Thanks for the heads up, Jessica! -Val

Unit: School Nutritional Guidelines Lesson 2: Collaborative Project

One way in which I wish to customize and personalize learning for my sixth grade students is to support curriculum content with a Wiki (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). My goal is to help students apply content-based skills and identify any incorrect perceptions through use of a Wiki. I can further inform instruction by gaging the progress of groups and individuals to determine if I “misjudge(d) the prior knowledge..., their foundational skills, the support they needed during instruction, or the type of feedback required to help them reach mastery” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 116).

At the point in which this lesson is presented, students will have spent approximately one week gathering a foundation of knowledge including: learning to calculate nutritional content of foods, read food labels, create menus to propose to our school district and investigate the cost of preparing school lunches. Students will have utilized a KWHL chart to monitor their progress as well as a reflection journal. The Wiki will be introduced as a means for collecting and clarifying specific research in preparation for a persuasive essay, a district requirement, to be completed by each student. The Wiki will be a source of gathering facts, posing questions and sharing resources. The interactive nature in a non-threatening environment will aloow “all learners in the classroom the opportunity to attain the goals...of the curriculum” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 193).

A Wiki format allows customization for the diverse range of learners in the classroom. The ability to link video, charts, voice and texts to the Wiki allows students to work in their preferred mode of communication. Students who find it challenging to type can utilize voice-recognition software. Students who need assistance with spelling, grammar and structure can benefit from typing in a Word document and pasting to the Wiki. Students who need time to think and compose before they respond can complete their Wiki postings outside of class. All students receive feedback and support from peers and the teacher due to the collaborative nature of a Wiki.

Student learning will be formatively assessed by determining the quality and quantity of contribution to the Wiki. At this point, the teacher can meet with students whose Wiki performance indicates their reluctance or need for assistance. The continued use of the KWHL and daily reflection log will further aid in assessment. Each group will also be assessed by classmates on its ability to persuade the audience to agree with the viewpoints of its members. The final assessment, summative in nature, will be the completion of a district-required persuasive essay.

Management of the Wiki will be through teacher monitoring of daily progress on the Wiki and conferences with students on an as-needed basis. To allow for productivity, the Wiki will be established and set up as a whole group lesson so that all class members understand the goal and objectives of the project. It may be necessary to use several Wikis depending on the variety of persuasive topics chosen by students. Topics in the past have included; persuading government change in school nutrition guidelines, persuading the district to serve food from fast food chains, attempting to add more fresh food to the school lunches, installing vending machines, etc.

References Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

November, A. (2008). // Web literacy for educators //. Thousands Oaks: Corwin Press

//State Standards: iowa//. (2009, October 30). Retrieved from []

Kelly,

I like your ideas with the Wiki. I think that your idea of conferencing with students for continuing assessment is a great idea because the students are able to address their concerns or ask questions about a specific skill. Furthermore, the Wiki has the students communicating and leaving arguments about the menus. Those arguments and conversation will help when forming the persuasive essay at the end of the unit! Good Work!

Jessica Juhn

Kelly, I like that your students will be assessed with quality and quantity of their contribution the the wiki. Do you know of any quick ways to determine this? I tried using a wiki in my classes last year and with so many students it became really difficult to keep track of everyone. I'm looking for easy ways to improve. Any suggestions? -Val