Turning+a+New+Leaf

=Turning A New Leaf - PBL Lesson: =

In this collaborative project, students will be finding out about the leaves in their own schoolyard and comparing them with the leaves that are found in a school yard on the other side of the country. This project is aimed for 4th grade students. To begin this project, students will collect leaves from the different trees on their school’s property, or in their school neighborhood if there are not many trees to be found on school grounds. The students will then research which type of leaves they found, and which trees these leaves come from. Students will watch the trees throughout the course of the school year and observe the changes made in the color, size, shape, and texture of the leaves. Students will observe the different seasons of the trees and what effect the weather has on them. This research will be done using various internet search engines. Students will construct collaborative blogs in groups which display their observations and records about the trees. Students will also be viewing the blog made by the classroom across the country, and recording the similarities and differences between the leaves and seasons on their school grounds compared to those of the sister school. (Tara)

Product:
The goal of this PBL is to teach students about the world around them and how their world differs from someone on the other side of the country. Students will be required to take a closer look at their environment and see how nature around them changes from season to season. They will learn how to identify different trees from their appearance and, through their interaction with a sister school on the other side of the country, be able to identify trees from other places. They will be able to compare the differences between the trees in their area to the trees in a different part of the country. In addition to expanding their knowledge of the world in their own backyard, it will expand their knowledge of the world in other people's backyards. Students will also learn the progression of trees from season to season in both their own home and in someone elses. By recording the information in a blog, st udents are also learning an expanded knowledge of technology and a way to communicate with people across the country. (Stephanie) == ==

Curriculum Standards:
According to the Oregon Department of Education, fourth grade students have a set requirement for their science curriculum. They will “build their understanding of the natural world, learning how living and non-living things are classified by their characteristics and properties... compare and contrast fossils and living organisms, and learn about interactions of organisms and their environment.” As well as this, they need to be able to collect, record, and summarize data. They need to use their findings in the real world, and think about them logically. Being able to identify a leaf’s origins based on it’s physical characteristics ties directly into this idea. When collecting the information, they will also be learning how to properly record all of their findings in a blog, which will make it easy to compare and evaluate their own observations, as well as those of their classmates, who may have ideas that help them to expand upon their own. The end result will be a large collection and reference sight for trees locally in their area, as well as those from another side of the country all together. This entire project will focus on expanding upon the classes understanding of the natural world and how, although organisms may seem similar, they have defining characteristics that make it possible to tell them apart from each other. (Megan)

Driving Question:
The big picture question for this project-based learning assignment is what are the significant changes between each season throughout the school year based on leaves and trees that are in the student’s school yard. The students will be going outside every other week to continue their findings and record any changes that see on the leaves and trees. Since they will be doing this project with another school in the United States, it will give them the opportunity to compare the changes that they notice with the results that the other groups in their partner school provide. That will give both sets of students a very good idea on how leaves and trees are affected differently throughout each season in different parts of the country. This will also give the students an opportunity to learn as a group and be able to talk with the other students by the use of technology. Since they will only be recording their changes every two weeks, it will be able to keep the students engaged throughout the year which will ultimately lead to them better understanding how different leaves and trees are affected differently based on the specific season and location. (Michael) == ==

**Technology Integration: **
For this project the students will be doing some work outside as well as on the computer. The teacher will need to set up a class blog on a website such as [|Blogger] where they can create a blog for the class room and then set up additional pages on the blog for the different student groups. The students will examine their leaves and search on the internet looking for what kind of tree that the leaf came from. Students may explore different leaf identifying websites that they find through search engines such as [|Google] where they will find useful websites such as [|LEAF Tree ID Key] where they can go through a series of questions about the leaf that they found and it will tell them what kind of tree it came from. They can also search for a site that is more focused for their region such as if you lived on the west coast you may choose to use [|West Coast Native Tree ID] website that will allow to you identify what kind of tree your leaf belongs to based on its characteristics.From there the students can research further about the specific tree in order to be able to create a blog posting about the leaves/trees. Students can also explore Microsoft Office programs such as word and excel to create a document that will allow them to document their data collected about the different leaves and trees. When the project is near its end the students can view other students blogs along with the blogs from the sister school. By using the blogs students can comment on each others findings, ask questions, collaborate on ideas and processes, etc. (Amanda W)



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