Allison Antonson Environmental Science Class th 11 grade Problem based learning Goals and Objectives Students will identify

invasive species growing within their community. Students will explain the effects that these species are having on the local environment. Students will explain and define the cause or origin of the species. Activities: The teacher will give students a project based lesson based on the goals stated above. Students will first need to do research through local scientist, botanists, and internet resources. Students will then have to locate the species within their community and observe the damages or harmful attributes that the species has. Students may also observe positive effects that the invasive species had on the community. Once students have conducted their research they will work together to create an electronic book compiled of all invasive species that they have found. Students will include within their research important concepts such as; origin of species, effects species has on the environment, location of species, and how the species was brought here. Steps to take: Students will be working with a partner to complete this task, as Piaget stated students must learn through social, physical, and logical encounters. Thus working with a classmate to research and discover their invasive species will contribute to the social aspect. Actually conducting research will attribute to the physical research, and finally apply the cause and effect of the species will contribute to the logical encounters that students must encounter. Students will work through a set of questions to help motivate them through their research. Students may use any resources available to them during their research, but they must also have at least 2 scientist listed as resources. Students may skype with scientists who are not local if they see fit. Once students have collected their data, they will work with the rest of their classmates to create a culminating project of an electronic book based on what they have discovered about each invasive species. Assessment: For this project students will be assessed formatively through interview and discussions. The teacher will meet with each group at least once to touch base and to oversee what they have discovered so far, and to ensure they are using accurate resources. For the summative assessment for this activity students will be given two grades, one for their individual pages added to the electronic book, and secondly for the contributions they made to working collaboratively with their classmates.

Project-based Learning Rubric

Score Levels Content
Is well thought out and defines the invasive species Explains origin of species

Conventions
No spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors High-level use of vocabulary and word choice Creatively formatted Has pictures of species

Organization
Information is clearly focused in an organized and thoughtful manner. Information is constructed in a logical pattern to support the solution. Formation of e-book is well organized into sections and flows.

Journal
Well organized and collaboratively created Format enhances the content. Many resources and contacts organized and well laid out.

Explains cause and effect of species Is pulled from a variety of sources Is accurate

Is well thought out and defines invasive

Few (1 to 3) spelling, grammatical, or

Somewhat focused and organized.

Journal kept with some organization

species Explains some origin Has few resources Explains possible cause or effect Is somewhat accurate Was somewhat thought out with clear identification of invasive species

punctuation errors Good use of vocabulary and word choice Somewhat creative. Has mediocre pictures for species. Minimal (3 to 5) spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors Low-level use of vocabulary and word choice Missing pictures

Somewhat logical pattern, slightly unorganized

and some team work Some resources were used, but not large variety

Project has a focus but might stray from it at times. Information appears to have a pattern, but the pattern is not consistently carried out in the project.

A journal was kept with few notes. Only one resource was used. Lack of team work is evident

Is missing some components of cause and effect or origin Has some factual errors or inconsistencies Provides inconsistent information for species Has no apparent application of critical thinking

More than 5 spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors Poor use of vocabulary and word choice

Content is unfocused and haphazard. Information does not support the species to the challenge or question. Information has no apparent pattern.

No journal was kept No resources were used.

Has no clear origin Has no cause and effect