Inquiry
Planning an interdisciplinary unit of study about the Amazon Rainforest
I searched the aisles at Whole Foods for items that originated in the rainforest, my list perched on top of my purse. Chocolate, rosewood soap, cinnamon, ginger, coffee, gum, coconut, bananas, lime, cashews and sugar. From my classroom, I added erasers, rubber bands, and balloons which are all made of rubber. The following day students came in to find that their groups had a brown bag on top with an assortment of items. "Take a look inside and see if you can figure out what we are going to learn about next. Remember to listen to one another and be respectful. "
"We're going to learn about cooking!" And the soap would be for...
"We're going to learn about eating healthy!" The sugar and gum?
"We're going to learn about plants!" Pretty close...
The room got loud with their predictions and I called them to the rug so I could read The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry. "The rainforest! We're going to learn about the rainforest!"
"We're going to learn about cooking!" And the soap would be for...
"We're going to learn about eating healthy!" The sugar and gum?
"We're going to learn about plants!" Pretty close...
The room got loud with their predictions and I called them to the rug so I could read The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry. "The rainforest! We're going to learn about the rainforest!"
Each day of the rainforest exploration (which lasted about five weeks) I read non-fiction books about the Amazon Rainforest. Students learned about the layers of the rainforest, the rich plant and animal life, how it is a unique habitat, the location, why the rainforest is so important, and why it is being destroyed. I took them on a virtual tour by using this link. I am fortunate to work in a school where teachers collaborate, and students learned about the rainforest in a variety of settings. The art teacher, Shana Gutterman, taught them about toucans and they spent two art periods painting a toucan. We planned a lesson together so students could make a motorized rainstick using tools from Maker Space. The P.E. teacher, Renea Dunn, agreed to be part of the fun too, and she created a game where students made the motions of animals in the rainforest, like a jaguar, snake, hummingbird etc.
I collaborated with the science lab teacher, Karianne Jaffa, about science concepts that related to the rainforest exploration. She taught them about the water cycle and students made a terrarium and learned about making predictions, forming a hypothesis, and drawing conclusions. Figure 1 shows Adrielle (left) and Maytal (right) in the science lab working together to make the terrariums. They had to figure out what order to put the components in and demonstrate their understanding of the water cycle. The following week students built a model of the water cycle using plastic bags that they labeled. After that they dissected plants and labeled the parts. I followed up science lab activities by reviewing what students learned and asking students to write about their experiences.
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Figure 1
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Karin Hallett, the media specialist, led the research that students did in the media center. She taught the students how to research, use a variety of web-sites, and organize information they learned. She is an expert in technology and showed the students (and me) how to use a variety of apps to create an on-line book, and students narrated that. This project came alive due to her knowledge, planning, and collaboration.
Through class discussions Karin and I noticed that students were fascinated by the animals in the rainforest. They each chose an animal they wanted to know more about and their research process began in the media center. The first goal was to show them how to use an on-line database. Students worked in pairs to create "I wonder" questions about the rainforest. Their questions became task cards for the next lesson about how to use the World Book Online Kids database to find answers. Students selected an animal they wanted to know more about and continued to use World Book Online Kids, and they completed a graphic organizer created by Karin (figure 2) to take notes. Figure 2 shows the organizer consisted of the animal's name, the type of animal, a description of the appearance, and a diagram with the parts labeled.
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Figure 2
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A subsequent lesson was teaching students to use another database, Kids Infobits. They printed an article about the animal they were learning about and highlighted important information. Dalton (2014) wrote, “Teachers integrating multi-modal projects often bridge from familiar print-based literacies to multimedia projects, rely on writing as a way of planning for multimodal compositions, and directly instruct students in the technical skills required.
Figure 3
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Figure 3 shows a photo where I reminded them how to navigate Kiddle.co. It was important to show them text features such as headings, sub-headings, words in bold, and photos and captions. Fisher & Frey (2015) confirm that students benefit from learning about unique features on non-fiction text. I knew they might be distracted by the advertisements on the site, so I emphasized which text was important and which text to avoid.
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As their research in the media center continued, they searched Google Earth to build their understanding of where the Amazon rainforest is located, and they saved the image and imported it into an app called Book Creator. They used an app called Popplet which allowed them import an image of their animal and create a diagram labeling the parts. There were times when they were frustrated with the process - challenging vocabulary and technology that didn't always cooperate, but Karin and I helped them and they persisted. They really enjoyed the creative part of making their on-line books when they could use their finger to draw pictures, change background colors and fonts, and truly make their book unique. It was important for them to post their work to their blog so they are able to share their accomplishments. You can see the books students created by clicking on their name under the Findings tab.
Methods of Data Collection
Work Samples: I collected different types of work samples from my students. They began their exploration about the rainforest by writing questions. They questioned and wrote about what they were learning throughout the investigation. I looked for differences in the types of questions they asked over time. I was checking to see if understanding more about a topic changed the types of questions they asked. I was also curious to see if working together would promote higher level questions. I coded the kinds of questions they asked in the beginning and the end of the project.
Photos: I took photos at various times through this inquiry to document what students were doing. I wanted to show them in the media center, in the science lab, and the art room since this project involved so many teachers.
Videos: I used video recording to examine how they interacted in a small group while using ipads to research. I realized that I needed to move the group to a different space because there was too much background noise in the classroom. When we moved out of the classroom, students seemed more relaxed and enjoyed being separate, which is not something I anticipated. I listened to their questions as they researched.
Research Journal: I reflected on what I saw after the group met each time. I observed them researching in the library at the beginning and end of the day, and I observed them in the science lab and art class. I noticed what my students said and their body language and mood. I was looking for times when they seemed most engaged and I coded according to when they were most on-task.
Photos: I took photos at various times through this inquiry to document what students were doing. I wanted to show them in the media center, in the science lab, and the art room since this project involved so many teachers.
Videos: I used video recording to examine how they interacted in a small group while using ipads to research. I realized that I needed to move the group to a different space because there was too much background noise in the classroom. When we moved out of the classroom, students seemed more relaxed and enjoyed being separate, which is not something I anticipated. I listened to their questions as they researched.
Research Journal: I reflected on what I saw after the group met each time. I observed them researching in the library at the beginning and end of the day, and I observed them in the science lab and art class. I noticed what my students said and their body language and mood. I was looking for times when they seemed most engaged and I coded according to when they were most on-task.