Proejct based learning holds the key
to incorporating critical skills into your science curriculum,
including information and computer technology, collaboration,
writing skills, and critical thinking. What's more, project based
learning can help you incorporate these skills seemlessly. Examine
technology-rich Unit Plans from Intel Education by
clicking here. You can use most of these plans right away, or
as models for your own planning. I've used three of the following
projects in my own classroom. They are some of the most well
though-out projects I've found!
African Adventure
Safari: What is the price of life?
Grade: 3-5, Science
Student naturalists help safari guests learn about diversity,
interdependence, and wonder of life in the African wild.
Biomes: Action for a Healthy
Planet: What can I do to
affect the future?
Grade: 9-10, Science
Student activists explore the biomes of the world and develop a
campaign to increase public awareness to assure protection of biome
health.
Cell-to-Cell: What's
the connection?
Grade: 9, Science
Students assume the role of medical researchers and use their
understanding of groundbreaking cell biology research to trace the
origins of diseases back to the cellular level.
Composting: Why Bother?:
How can I contribute to making a better tomorrow?
Grade: 8-10, Science
Will we drown in our own garbage? Most organic waste is being
trucked and deposited unnecessarily into our landfills. In this
study, students learn how to make compost and begin to understand
the social impact of composting. Students also engage in the
“Rot Off!” composting challenge. In this challenge,
student teams divert the school’s kitchen and yard debris
from the waste stream into uniquely designed compost bins, turning
garbage into “black gold,” beautiful and rich compost.
Density: Got Gas?:
How is science applied in the real world?
Grade: 6-9, Science
Students engage in a variety of investigations related to the
density of liquids, solids, and gases. They build hot air balloons,
experiment with variables that affect flight success, and enter
their balloons in a rally.
Designer Genes: One Size Fits
All?: Just because we can,
should we?
Grade: 8-10, Life Science
Student genetics experts help farmers in a blight-stricken region
of Mexico decide whether to use genetically engineered corn.
Don't Trash the Earth: Social
responsibilities—who decides?
Grade: 6-8, Science
In an interdisciplinary conservation project, middle school
students are presented with a scenario that their local landfill is
about to close because it is too full. Students play the role of
waste management consultants, and analyze past and current waste
management practices at their school and community. Teams devise a
cost-effective and user-friendly recycling program. In a
culminating event, students turn trash into cash as they sell
beautiful and useful crafts made from recycled materials at a
holiday fair.
Energy Innovations: What is a quality
life?
Grade: 9-10, Math, Algebra, Science, Social Issues
To encourage global consciousness, students research the impact of
alternative fuel sources and how their daily decisions about energy
will affect their quality of life, personally and globally. As a
culminating project, students simulate the decision making process
of buying their first car and investigate how data and statistics
can impact their decision.
Float That Boat!: How
can we explain the things that happen around us?
Grade: 3-5, Science
We B Toys just completed their annual customer satisfaction reviews
of their toy boat line. They have learned that customers have
complained that their boats tend to sink. They are looking for new
toy boats and are offering to purchase $1 million worth of
merchandise to the company that produces the best boat. Student
teams design new boats that will float and prepare proposals to
market their boats.
Food for Thought: How
can I stay healthy?
Grade: 5, Science, Mathematics
Elementary students learn about health, nutrition, and consumerism
as they create a new restaurant that offers healthy and appealing
foods.
Forensics: How are math and science
put to work in the real world?
Grade: 6-8, Science, Math
Put on your gloves, take out your magnifying glasses, and get ready
to become a crime scene investigator. Middle school students become
super sleuths as they learn and apply scientific investigation
skills to solve a crime. They apply deductive reasoning skills to
make sense of the relationships between events, suspects, motives,
evidence, and ultimately solve this whodunnit.
Go-Go Gadget: Invent a
Machine: How can we make life
easier?
Grade: 3-5, Science
Young inventors put their knowledge of simple machines to the test
as they create new, labor-saving machines of their own!
Healthy Eating: Are We What We Eat?:
Are we really what we eat?
Grade: K-2, Science, Math
Primary students investigate the age-old adage: You are what
you eat. Students plan a healthy diet, create slideshow
presentations to show how to make healthy food choices, learn about
the food pyramid, interview classmates about food choices, and
create a graph based on information gathered. Most importantly,
students learn about how to make healthy food choices to live a
long, healthy life.
Healthy Oceans, Healthy
Planet: How are we
interconnected?
Grade: 3-5, Science
Working in cooperative groups, students become marine biologists
and oceanographers, offering testimony to the United Nations about
the health of various ocean ecosystems. Students inform UN
delegates about the fate of our oceans, and then offer ideas for
protecting our watery world by creating informational brochures and
presenting their findings.
Help Wanted: Physicist!:
Just because we can, should we?
Grade: 11-12, Science
Lobby Congress! Influence policy! Student teams for special
interests lobby various groups in order to investigate and weigh
the outcomes from modern physics research. Topics students study
may include plasma physics, fusion, superconductivity, lasers,
optical engineering, condensed matter, quantum teleportation, and
biophysics.
Insects: The Good, the Bad and the
Ugly: How are things around
me helpful or harmful?
Grade: 6-8, Science
Insects are often regarded as disgusting, squishable annoyances. In
this unit, students become entomologists and investigate the role
insects play in our lives and the world around us.
Lights, Camera, Reaction!:
What causes change?
Grade: 9-10, Science
Lights, Camera, Reaction! In a high school chemistry class, student
film moguls have been hired to produce a video masterpiece
featuring classic compounds whose chemistry lights up the screen!
Meet the Bears: Are
we like other animals?
Grade: 2, Science, Mathematics
How many of ME would it take to outweigh a polar bear? Primary
students look at bears from all angles and apply math and
measurement skills to compare themselves with their furry friends.
Multimedia Morning Mania:
How do we make meaning with symbols?
Grade: K-2, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science
A multimedia slideshow focuses young students' attention on
academics as they arrive at school. The interactive presentation
offers an engaging and entertaining way to introduce and reinforce
important concepts and skills.
Phabulous Physics:
Can all the events around us be anticipated and explained?
Grade: 11-12, Science
Use Physics! Phabulous Physics! To solve physics puzzles presented
by linear motion, students learn about motion by working with
challenging physics problems. Students use spreadsheet software to
analyze and represent data from a physics problem and then present
their physics findings to their peers by creating a brochure. To
seek community input about local traffic hazards, students then
produce a survey or blog and post it on a site. Armed with this
community data and their own research, student groups take on the
role of members of a highway safety advocacy group. Their task is
to create and deliver a slideshow presentation to the city planners
proposing changes to a dangerous section of road or intersection.
Plugging In to the Sun:
What causes people (scientists) to consider new
alternatives to solve problems?
Grade: 6-8, Science
Students take the role of energy engineers as they study the
sun’s energy, fossil fuels, and the motion of the Earth and
moon around the sun. Students also build solar cookers to harness
solar energy for an egg cook-off.
Pondwater and Pollywogs:
Why do people say, “There is no place like
home”?
Grade: K-2, Life Science
Primary students rear frogs from eggs and share their expertise in
an informative brochure for visitors at a new amphibian exhibit at
the local zoo.
Rock Our Town: What
changes do you see?
Grade: 6-8, Science
Students became geologists and present proposals to the town
planning committee as to what types of native materials planners
might use to create and enhance streets, buildings, pathways, and
other structures.
Seasoning the School
Year: How does the world
change during the year?
Grade: K-2, Science, Language Arts, Math
Grade school botanists and climatologists investigate seasonal
changes, and create class books for the National Arbor Day
Foundation.
Starquest: What can
we learn from the night sky?
Grade: 6-8, Science, Language Arts
Students relate our modern view of the night sky to that of the
ancients. Studying the changing views of stars in the night sky
helps students know more about astronomy and culture.
Teacher's Pet: Do
animals and humans need each other?
Grade: 2-3, Science
In an effort to choose the perfect pet for their teacher, primary
students study the habitat requirements of domestic animals and
learn what it takes to be a responsible pet owner. Students compare
the needs of pets to those of their untamed counterparts in the
wild, and students learn to be better friends to animals
everywhere.
The Earth Moves Under My
Feet: How does change affect the
future?
Grade: 6-8, Science
Students are assigned to task forces with the mission to develop a
comprehensive emergency earthquake plan for the “slice”
of Earth they have been assigned. Each task force will collect
real-time seismic data and use that information and other research
as a basis for recommendations for a specific area.
The Great Bean Race:
Is conquering the impossible possible?
Grade: 3-5, Science
Young botanists investigate plant growth as they compete in a lima
bean stalk growing competition with students from other geographic
locations.
Using Electricity on the Job: Why care
about Earth?
Grades: 9-12, Science
The City Electricity Company (CEC) wants to collaborate with the
class to develop positive publicity materials that promote and
educate others about careers involving electricity. Students create
presentations, brochures, and Web sites for use with adults and/or
children that answer the questions, Why is electricity important?
and What jobs use the concepts of electricity in significant ways?
Wave of Spring: What
changes do you see?
Grade: 3-5, Science, Math, Social Studies
Students anticipate and track the arrival of spring as they plant
tulip bulbs and share observations about growth milestones with
other student gardeners throughout the Northern Hemisphere.
What Does This Graph Tell You?: Why is
studying change important?
Grade: 9-12, Math, Science
How do you model or simulate natural phenomena? How do you use
trendline data to predict future occurrences? How can spreadsheets
help with data analysis? Students explore these questions as they
research natural phenomena, design simulations in a lab setting,
gather data, use spreadsheet software to analyze and represent
their data, and create presentations of their findings.
What Happened to Robin?:
How can I help protect urban wildlife?
Grade: 6-8, Science
Community-minded students help a wildlife rehabilitation center
analyze small animal injury data. Students report their analysis
and recommendations to concerned neighborhood groups to educate
others on stewardship of urban wildlife.
Tags: project based learning Intel critical thinking writing skills technology
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