Unit Overview of Activities

Student-Centered Activities

The following student-centered activities have been included into the ITU:

•       Chemistry Oral Presentation: Students will create a presentation about a metal or plastic widely used today using a presentation tool such as PowerPoint, Prezie, or Keynote. The presentation will describe the production process of a plastic or the extraction and refining process of a metal. Students will present their materials to the class. Students work in groups of 3 or 4.
•       Marine Science Presentation: Students will research and create a presentation for their marine science class on how human activities have impacted the lagoon ecosystems in Carlsbad. They will work in groups of 5 to 6 students and provide visuals for their presentation using PowerPoint, Prezi, Glogster, or other technology-based visual aid approved by the teacher.
•       Service Learning Activity: Students will participate in a service learning activity that involves the clean up of a natural resource area in Carlsbad such as one of the lagoons, the beach, or a park. As part of this clean up, the students will need to track the types of trash that they are cleaning up and report that information back to their chemistry and statistics class for use in additional classroom activities.
•       Statistical Trash Analysis: Students, during their service learning activity, will tally off the different trash items they encounter, and include a data analysis of their findings in their final project/portfolio.
•       Service Learning Reflective Paper: Students will be responsible for drafting and revising a reflective paper on their service learning experience. This paper will be used as a spring board for their service learning digital portfolio.
•       Service Learning Digital Portfolio: Students will create a Reflective Digital Portfolio. The portfolio will address the question: How do you think the work you performed as part of your service learning will impact your community? Students will include information on their service learning, pictures, and a video reflection.
•       Get Green Video Competition (optional): The video reflections may be entered into the Get Green video competition. The best student-chosen video will be played on Carlsbad High School’s TV news.

Major Teaching Strategies

Direct Instruction: During lessons covering related material to the ITU, teacher will provide background information and content information related to the service project and ITU through direct instruction strategies.

Flipped Instruction: Using flipped instruction, students will teach each other via presentations about the lagoon ecosystems and the use of plastics in metals in our society. Students will also participate student-led brainstorming activities about possible recycling ideas for the school and community.

Social and Collaborative Learning: Students will be working in collaborative groups on both of their oral presentations, their social learning projects, as well as multiple activities throughout the instructional process in each of their classes.

Co-Teaching Approaches

Complementary co-teaching will be visible across classrooms, where material has connections to the other classes participating in the ITU. Team co-teaching will also be prevalent in the way of co-grading; all four teachers will be the assessors in the final project and Mr. Gordon and Ms. Calderon will be grading another project together.

Student Activity Organization

The students will be organized in the following manner during student-centered activities:

1.     Cooperative Learning Groups: Students will work in groups of 3-6 to create a presentations in both their chemistry and marine science classes.

2.     In English, students will work independently on their reflective papers but will reconvene with their group to prepare for their videos and digital portfolio.

3.     In Statistics, students will have portions of independent study, as well cooperative learning groups for their final portfolio.

ITU Resources

Batiquitos Lagoon
http://www.batiquitosfoundation.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/RELEASE-WAIVER-Prime-Volunteer.pdf

Agua Hediona Lagoon
http://www.aguahedionda.org/

Carlsbad State Beach
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=660

San Diego Surfrider Foundation
http://sandiego.surfrider.org/

S.T.E.M. video competition (see flyer)
http://earthecho.org/news/enter-planet-connects-get-green-video-contest/

TED Video by Captain Moore on Plastics
http://2011.algalitayouthsummit.org/learn/captain-moore/

San Diego County Coastal Cleanup Stats
http://news.carlsbadca.gov/pr/ca/PRN-coastal-cleanup.aspx


Technology Integration

Technology will be integrated into the ITU through the following assignments:

1.     Students will make a short video to send to the STEM competition. The video will express how students use Science, Technology, Engineering and Math to make their city green or greener. Creation of the video requires students to use video editing software, such as iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. Students may also incorporate music and images to their work (optional).

2.     Students will use PowerPoint, Prezi, Keynote, Glogster, or other technology-based presentation software for their class presentations in chemistry and marine science.

3.     Students will create a Reflective Digital Portfolio.

Art Integration

Students will have the opportunity to display creative thought through their Reflective Digital Portfolio. Students will have the opportunity to choose the medium of their project and will have many artistic options open to them. The goal is to have students feel engaged and creative on this assignment of the project.

Social Justice and Equity

Our ITU has a strong focus on social justice and equity. Students will learn about the responsibility that being a “green citizen” entails. Responsibility requires that students gain knowledge, awareness, and become active citizens in their community. Students will learn about the reality behind issues that affect staple landmarks of their community, like the beach and the Carlsbad lagoons. Students will participate in service learning by assisting environmental clean up activities at one of the Carlsbad lagoons, the Carlsbad beaches, or Carlsbad parks. We want students to question, reflect, act and then spread their knowledge to others who may not have access to the same resources as our students do. That is why we are emphasizing the reflective portion of the service learning. 

Service Learning Component

Students will participate in a volunteering activity to a perform and environmental clean-up of one of the lagoons, the beach or a park. This work will involve picking up trash from the areas. During their clean up activities, they will observe and record the types and amounts of trash they collect in each area. This information will be used for further instruction and activities in their classes. They will also observe the impact that human interactions have had on the local ecosystems. Their participation in the project will raise their awareness of environmental conservation and keeping the Earth protected for future generations.