Environmental Stewardship Problem Based Learning Unit

by: Shannon Hudson

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Curriculum objectives Materials and Resources Investigations and activities Assessment

What pollution Exists In Montgomery County and How Does It Effect You?

Curriculum Objectives

Learner Objectives

The overall goal of the grant is to enhance Crawfordsville students’ and residents’ recognition of the need to care for and protect our environment incorporating the knowledge of how to accomplish that.  Within that overarching theme, other objectives will be met.  One of those objectives is for students to complete a problem based learning project focusing on an environmental issue in the Montgomery County area.  Another objective is for students to study other locales’ attempts to deal with environmental degradation.

Indiana State Standards

Standard 1  The Nature of Science and Technology

• 7.1.9 Explain how societies influence what types of technology are developed and used in such fields as agriculture, manufacturing, sanitation, medicine, warfare, transportation, information processing, and communication.  

Standard 3  The Physical Setting: Matter and Energy

• 7.3.13 Explain that many substances dissolve in water.  Understand that the presence of these substances often affects the rates of reactions that are occurring in the water as compared to the same reactions occurring in the water in the absence of the substances.
• 7.3.16 Recognize and explain that different ways of obtaining, transforming, and distributing energy have different environmental consequences.

The Living Environment: Diversity of Life

• 7.4.2 Describe that all organisms, including the human species, are part of and depend on two main interconnected global food webs, the ocean food web and the land food web.

Human Identity

• 7.4.10 Describe how technologies having to do with food production, sanitation, and disease prevention have dramatically changed how people live and work and have resulted in changes in factors that affects the growth of human population.   
• 7.4.14 Explain that the environment may contain dangerous levels of substances that are harmful to human beings.  Understand, therefore, that the good health of individuals requires monitoring the soil, air, and water as well as taking steps to keep them safe.

Standard 5

The Mathematical World

• Numbers 7.5.1 Demonstrate how a number line can be extended on the other side of zero to represent negative numbers and give examples of instances where this is useful.

Shapes and Symbolic Relationships

• 7.5.3 Demonstrate how the scale chosen for a graph or drawing determines its interpretation.

Standard 7 Common Themes Systems

• 7.7.1 Explain that the output from one part of a system, which can include material, energy, or information, can become the input to other parts and this feedback can serve to control what goes on in the system as a whole.

Constancy and Change

• 7.7.3 Describe how physical and biological systems tend to change until they reach equilibrium and remain that way unless their surroundings change.
• 7.7.4   Use symbolic equations to show how the quantity of something changes over time or in response to changes in other quantities.

Standard 3 The Physical Setting: Matter and Energy

• 8.3.8 Explain that all matter is made up of atoms that are far too small to see directly through an optical microscope.  Understand that the atoms of any element are similar but are different from atoms of other elements.  Further understand that atoms may stick together in well-defined molecules or may be packed together in large arrays.  Also understand that different arrangements of atoms into groups comprise all substances.
• 8.3.11 Describe how groups of elements can be classified based on similar properties, including highly reactive metals, less reactive metals, highly reactive non-metals, less reactive non-metals, and some almost completely non-reactive gases.

Technology Standards

Basic operations and concepts

• Students demonstrate a sound understanding of the nature and operation of technology systems
• Students are proficient in the use of technology

Social, ethical and human issues

• Students understand the ethical, cultural and societal issues related to technology
• Students develop positive attitudes toward technology uses that support lifelong learning, collaboration, personal pursuits and productivity

Technology productivity tools

• Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity
• Students use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology-enhanced models, prepare publications, and produce other creative work.

Technology communication tools

• Students use telecommunications to collaborate, publish, publish, and interact with peers, experts and other audiences
• Students use a variety of media formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences

Technology research tools

• Students use technology to locate, evaluate and collect information from a variety of sources
• Students use technology tools to process data and report results

Technology problem- solving and decision- making tools

• Students use technology resources for solving problems and making informed decisions.
• Students employ technology in the development of strategies for solving problems in the real world.

Materials and Resources

Teacher Resources

Guest Speakers

• Name	Title	Area of Expertise
  David Vice	Department of Natural Resources	Natural Resources
  Ray Sullivan	Research Agronomist	Herbicide and pesticide environmental effects
  Jessica Fliss	IDEM representative	Pleasant Meadows Pool
  Stacey Guard	Pleasant Meadows Pool president	Pleasant Meadows Pool
  John Zumer	Mayor	Special Interest Projects
  Raul Moore, Dean Ford	Government Naturalists	Sugar Creek Pollution
  Journal Review Newspaper		Archival articles
  Crawfordsville Public Library		Local History Room
  Angie Williams asn Amy Altman	Soil And Water Conservation Office	Water pollution, Sugar Creek monitoring
  Larry Utes	County Surveyor	Topographical maps
  Bob Ginger	Environmentalist for C.E. L. and P.	Power plant emissions
  Mary Scheidler	Community liaison	Expert in local history
  Les Hearson	City Councilman	Former pollution issues
  Jim Luzar	Montgomery County extension office	Pollution, runoff, water pollution

Letter to the Parents

Dear 7th grade parents,                                 April 19, 2004

The end of the school year is quickly approaching!  And that means we have many more awesome subjects to study and projects to complete.

The purpose of this letter is to let you know about the final large project of the year.  Early in March, we were awarded a large grant to allow students to study environmental pollution in Montgomery County.  Over the past several Fridays, several guest speakers have provided much needed information about current problems we have here in the county and what is being done to try to improve the situations.  We have three more people yet to come before the end of the year.

The final project for this grant is a student created power point presentation focusing on one topic of environmental concern.  They will be in groups of three.  One group member will be researching exactly what happened in Crawfordsville, another will research what pollutant entered the environment and how that is damaging, and the third person will be researching another worldwide situation similar to Crawfordsville’s problem.  Together, the group will brainstorm ideas that might solve the problem.  The project is worth 265 points- and is the majority of the trimester’s grade.  We would appreciate any assistance you could give your student.  They will need to spend time researching OUTSIDE the classroom.  

We will introduce the project Monday, April 19, 2004 during class time.  The project will be due May 12, 2004.  The students will have the days in class to work unless we have our last three guest speakers, PL221 half-day, or the students are a part of the Girl Force activities.

While the students will be working in groups, we realize grades are always a concern.  All group members will receive grades based upon their portion of their project- not the other group members :-)

If you have any questions, or would like to visit the class any time, please feel free :-)

Internet Resources/ Teacher/ Student Information Websites

• http://www.in.gov/idem/
• http://www.journalreview.com/
• http://www.jconline.com/
• http://www.indystar.com/
• http://www.sierraclub.org
• http://www.epa.gov/
• http://www.regulations.gov/
• www.greenpeace.org

Media Resources

• Video- “Sugar Creek” created by Friends of Sugar Creek

Books

• Title	Author	Cost	ISBN #
  A River Ran Wild	Cherry	$7.00	0152163727
  Acid Rain Hazard	Woodburn	$21.27	069109019x
  America's Threatened Drinking Water, Hazards and Solutions	Sullivan	$16.95	1553696166
  Come Back, Salmon	Cone	$7.95	0871564890
  Encyclopedia of Garbage	Coffel	$66.00	0816031355
  Environmental Disasters	Davis	$49.50	0816032653
  Environmental Hazards: Air Pollution	Miller	$45.00	0874365287
  Environmental Victims	Williams	$22.50	1853835242
  Fragile Mountains	Hogan	$21.27	0836804759
  Getting the Lead Out	Kessel	$18.00	0738204994
  Great Lakes	Katz	$28.50	0761408983
  I Want To Be An Environmentalist	Maze	$9.00	0152019391
  Indoor Pollution	Coffel	$19.00	0449904768
  Late Great Lakes	Ashworth	$19.95	0814318878
  Lead Is A Silent Hazard	Stapleton	$11.95	0802774490
  Life Exposed: Biological Citizens after Chernobyl	Petryna	$19.95	069109019X
  Oil and Chemical Spills	Owens	$27.45	1590180577
  Ruin and Recovery	Dempsey	$19.95	0472067796
  Scholastic Environmental Atlas of the United States	Mattson	$14.95	059049354X
  Shades of Green: The Clash of Agricultural Science and Environmental Science	Kidd	$25.00	0816035830
  Silent Spring	Carson	$12.60	0618249060
  Synthetic Planet	Casper	$24.95	0415933552
  The Environment of Children	Stephens	$23.50	1853833266
  The Riverkeepers	Cronin	$12.60	068484625X
  The Sacred Balance	Suzuki	$11.86	0898868971
  Wabash River Ecosystem	Gammon	$25.00	0253212723
  When Smoke Ran Like Water	Davis	$26.00	0465015212
  Acid Rain	Lucas	$30.50	0516055038
  Acid Rain	Morgan	$22.00	0531145670
  An Air That Kill	Schneider	$20.76	0399150951
  Fatal Deception	Bowker	$14.00	0743251431
  Love Canal	Chelsea House Publications	$22.95	0791067424
  Love Canal	Bryan	$29.26	0836855086
  Minamata and the Struggle For Democracy	George	$45.00	0674003640
  Acid Rain	DuTemple	$27.45	1560065028

Investigations and Other Activities

Project Description

The overall goal of the grant is to enhance Crawfordsville students’ and residents’ recognition of the need to care for and protect our environment incorporating the knowledge of how to accomplish that.  Within that overarching theme, other objectives will be met.  One of those objectives is for students to complete a problem based learning project focusing on an environmental issue in the Montgomery County area.  Another objective is for students to study other locales’ attempts to deal with environmental degradation.

The need for this project was identified simply by listening to students and parents concerns.  Crawfordsville, Indiana, has experienced its share of environmental pollution issues such as a local hog farm dumping sewage into local waterways, a local company releasing heavy metals into Sugar Creek, and PCBs found at a neighborhood swimming pool.  Many students have been tested for heavy metal poisoning and while the responsible parties have complied with laws and regulations, fear and unanswered questions have paralyzed parts of the community.  We recognize that informed and knowledgeable citizens make better decisions, therefore the theme of the unit.

This project will involve seventh grade students within the science classes.   

This project will involve approximately 200 seventh grade students each year at Tuttle Middle School.  All eight seventh grade academic teachers will be involved.  Tuttle will partner up with an overseas school.

Tuttle will be assisted in locating this school by the Indiana Department of Education.  Our hope is to develop on ongoing relationship the designated overseas school.  Approximately twelve community members were identified and asked to participate based on their knowledge of pollution issues in our county and their willingness to interact with middle school students.

Solving real world problems, seeing results and working through issues faced by the adults in these situations will enhance student knowledge, skills, and attitudes.  Middle level students often find clues to their future courses of study while in the middle school.  At this point in their lives, they need to begin connecting with, expand their awareness of, and advance a sense of responsibility for their community.   By working with community members, these students will begin to brainstorm solutions to problems that will improve and enhance everyone’s lives.  Community members and middle school students alike need to tap the vast resources, thoughts, and ideas solving environmental concerns.  Everyone’s future will profit from the interaction and solutions that will be produced.

Project Calendar, Timeline

• October 2003- applied for grant
• March 2004- began implementation.  Purchased books, pamphlets, video camera, and digital camera for students to take with them to photograph the different sites.  Guest speakers were brought in every Friday beginning April and finishing in May.  Project was introduced in mid-March
• March, April and May 2004- students have daily assignments to complete parts of the project.  Time to work is given in class. 
• May 12, 2004- all projects are due (this is the date to coincide with the date the laptops were picked up by the technology office for the end of the year).
• May 27, 2004- community night at Tuttle Middle School for all community members to view the students’ projects. 
• Summer 2004- teacher revises and works on students’ projects to prepare for presentations in the fall.  Also, I will attend technology, science and environmental conferences to enhance the project. 

School year of 2004- 2005

• Have students present their projects at various conferences.
• Begin drain painting
• Have the next set of 7th grade students complete the project

Classroom Management/ Handouts

Pre-unit activities- guest speakers discussing local pollution and an introduction to Sugar Creek creation, evolution and pollution problems.  Also, a pretest asking the kids opinions what they know about pollution in Crawfordsville and how it effects living beings.

Beginning questions could include but are not limited to

• Are there places in Montgomery County that are polluted?
• Are any companies polluting our county?

Present a situation about a person poisoned by pcbs… and ask the students to brainstorm about the cause of the illness.  “You are a doctor that specializes in illnesses caused by different types of pollution.  One afternoon, a woman walks into your office with the following symptoms; general pain, numbness, slower body motion, irregular burning of the eyes and face, mysterious rashes, and strange toe and fingernail structure.  After further testing, you discover that this person has liver damage and a possible strange type of cancer that seems to have no beginning point in the body.”  Conversation could lead to possible causes and should lead back around to the fact that many people who worked at a place called P R Mallory in Crawfordsville showed exactly these same symptoms several years ago- and are continually being treated for various other ailments. 

During the Unit- the project must include:

• An introduction to the project (brief explanation)
• Explain what happened during your “event” in as much detail as possible
• Identify the specific contaminant/ contamination and it’s effects on life
• Find one similar incident that has occurred in the world
• Suggested solutions to the problem (at least 2)
• At least three pictures (from digital camera, from clipart, images, etc)
• Extra Information (not required, but can be use to include any other information that does not fit into the other categories)

You may have (but not required)

• Laws and regulations about this problem
• Other similar incidents from around the world (you must have at least one)
• Interviews from actual people who live in the area or area suffering from contamination
• Others??

Possible Topics

Crawfordsville Scrap and Salvage***	Karle Enviro Organic Recycling
Landfills/ Solid Waste/ Recycling	P R Mallory
Mid States	Pleasant Meadows Pool
Polhmann Hog Farms	Shelly Ditch
Sugar Creek	Wastewater Treatment Plant
Coal burning power plants (like CEL and P)

*** Will have to do LOTS of research at the library 

The project must flow in this order…

• Introduction: no more than 2 slides??
• Where in Indiana we are located
• Things that we are “famous” for
• Brief explanation of what your topic/ subject is
• What pollution you will be detailing in your project
• What other incident(s) you will be discussing

Person 1- What specifically happened in Crawfordsville at your specified place?

Person 2- What specific pollution (s) was released? No more than 2

Person 3- What is another example of this pollution problem that happened somewhere in the world?

Problem Solving Solutions

• List the first solution. Explain in as much detail as possible.
• What are two good things about the solution?
• What are two bad things about the pollution?
• List the second solution. Explain in as much detail as possible.
• What are two good things about the solution?
• What are two bad things about the pollution?
• List the third solution. Explain in as much detail as possible.
• What are two good things about the solution?
• What are two bad things about the pollution?

Bibliography: Use the Language Network book or handout

Post unit activities- drain painting and taking kids to conferences, community presentations—add more information here!!!!!!

Assessment

Rubric

Your part of the project is worth 155 points

Explanation of problem (40 points)

Details of information (40 points)

Participation in problem solving (20 points)

Picture(s) relating to your topic (25 points)

Bibliography (30 points)

Ending survey/ questionnaire (30 points)

Group evaluation (30 points)

Classroom use of time 50 points

Total 265 points

Post-test Essay- 30 points (5 points per question)

• Before we began this unit, explain what you knew about pollution in Montgomery County.
• How has your opinion about pollution changed since the completion of this project?
• Please explain your entire project (all 3 parts) in great detail
• Which of your solutions did you feel was the best?  Why?
• Do pollution problems affect your health and well being in any way?  Explain.
• Who is responsible for maintaining natural resources (land, air, water, etc)

Example 1 of completed powerpoint

Example 2 of completed powerpoint

Example 3 of completed powerpoint

Group Evaluation

No one will see this but Mrs. Hudson!!!

YOUR NAME_____________________________

Please list everyone in your group.

Which part of the presentation were you responsible for?  Please circle one.

What happened in Crawfordsville

What pollution and how it can affect life?

Other situations with the same pollution(s)

Please list in detail what you “did” for this presentation?  (Example:  going to the library, finding information on the Internet, pictures, finding books on your topic, highlighting articles, etc...)

How did you contribute to the “introduction” and “problem solving solutions”?  (Example: what information, pictures...)

How well do you think you group worked together?  (Use a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest).

If you were able to give yourself a grade on this project, what would it be and why?

If you were able to assign grades to your partner(s), what would they be and why?