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Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned Vol. II
Science Across the Curriculum in
Rural Alaska
by Alice Porter
Bering Strait School District
In this unit on tundra life I will use a
science process model, describing distinct and successive stages in
learning as well as the recursiveness of the process.
It is appropriate for my school because it
fosters cross-curriculum learning and allows for various learning
styles. The group I work with includes three types of special
education students who will benefit from the multi-media,
multi-sensory, active and concrete experiences. The interrelatedness
of the various disciplines (language arts, art, math, social studies
and science) will reinforce the learning.
After reading Lessons
Taught. Lessons Learned. I have
become more aware of the need to bring the Inupiaq language into the
classroom. This will contribute to the students' sense of identity
and self-esteem and help relate school to home.
Both of these ideas will impact classroom
experience. The science process model will provide an outline by
which we will sequence and expand activities. The Inupiaq language
will be used in identifying specimens and phenomenon and perhaps in
other areas as well.
Here is a brief description of the science
process model with a list of techniques and skills that each
component will include. Through the "gear up" stage, the topic is
introduced and interest generated. The teacher finds out what it is
that the students already know about the topic. The "exploring" stage
consists of activities with enough structure to guide the students
toward discovery of concepts, relationships and generalizations as
defined by the lesson objectives. The "generalize" stage leads
students to formulate the underlying concepts of the previous
exploration. "Testing" is a structured exploration stage in which
students design experiments that answer testable questions.
"Interpret" is the analysis stage. The usefulness and meaning of
acquired data is determined. "Communication" is both a distinct step
and an ongoing process. It is a continuous exchange of observations,
ideas, and questions as well as the sharing of records and analyses
with an audience. Potential learning components of each stage are as
follows:
- Gear up: brainstorming, mapping, sharing,
reading, watching a film, guided imagery
- Explore: following directions, observation,
recording, use of tools, measuring, informal communication,
classification
- Generalize: recalling,
comparing/contrasting, discovery of patterns and relationships,
inferring from observations, formulation of concepts, formulation
of questions
- Test: forming questions and hypothesis,
identifying and controlling relevant variables, distinguishing
useful from extraneous data, creating experimental
designs
- Interpret: processing raw data,
constructing tables and graphs, describing and interpreting
patterns, making and explaining inferences, synthesizing
information
- Communicate: written or spoken word,
graphing, chart making, mapping, diagraming
Science-on-the-Tundra Lesson
Plan
Day 1: Students brainstorm what is already
known about the tundra. Show this as a bubble map on the chalkboard.
Ask what lives there, how it lives, and what changes occur. Watch a
movie of tundra life.
Day 2: Students cut out Tundra Field Trip
Notebook from printed page, read it, and get directions for its use.
Discuss field trip expectations. Form four groups of three students.
Brainstorm descriptive Inupiat words for vegetation and soil, and
what animal signs and evidence of death and decay might be found. Go
out on tundra to an area where berries are known to be found to
collect data and specimens. Materials to take: hula hoop (orrope),
trowel, notebook, thermometer mounted on ruler, bag for specimens,
blindfold, and pencil (one set for each group). Each group will
observe a section of tundra within its hoop. Students will count the
number and kind of plants. Measure at least one of each kind of plant
for diameter and height. Take air and soil temperatures (mount
thermometers one inch from top of rulers, to protect the bulbs).
Record all findings. Fill in five senses chart. Sit blindfolded for
three to four minutes, listening. Use hand lenses forcareful
viewing.
Day 3: Share booklets. Discuss questions that
were raised in the previous session. Write a description of what was
observed, using guided imagery to stimulate recall.
Day 4: Use reference materials to identify and
classify specimens. Use both English and Inupiaq names or invented
names if unknown. Mount and label for display.
Day 5: Using data collected in field
books, make graphs showing proportion of each type of plant. Make
another graph showing heights of plants. Compare graphs. Then make
fractions from the graphs and use in sentences.
Day 6: Interview the bicultural teachers/aides
about traditional use of tundra plants, medicinal uses or recipes.
Record this on a tape recorder, then transcribe from the recording,
stopping the tape as needed to accommodate slow writers.
Day 7: Make berry stains on paper and label.
Try smashing berries and painting designs with the juice.
Day 8: Sketch or trace leaves on graph paper.
Estimate surface area of the leaf. Try two others. Find the average.
Record. Try with another kind of leaf. Repeat, finding the perimeter
of the leaves.
Day 9: Make books in which to mount field
notebook, traditional uses of the tundra plants, plant rubbings,
graph pictures, berry juice art and any other work.
Cross-Curriculum Summary of Tundra
Project Skills
- Math: counting, fractions, measuring
(linear, temperature), charting, graphing
- Social Studies: local names, traditional
uses, legends
- Science: classifying, science process,
inferring, generalizing
- Language Arts: describing, recording,
bookmaking, legends and stories, use of references, reporting,
communicating
- Art: sketching, use of dye,
mounting
Thia unit is one way to relate school to home,
building students' self-esteem as they learn beyond the confines of
the classroom.
Foreword
Ray Barnhardt
Part I *
Rural School Ideals
"My
Goodness, People Come and Go So Quickly Around
Here"
Lance C. Blackwood
Parental Involvement
in a Cross-Cultural Environment
Monte Boston
Teachers and
Administrators for Rural Alaska
Claudia Caffee
The Mentor Teacher
Program
Judy Charles
Building
Networks
Helen Eckelman
Ideal Curriculum and
Teaching Approaches for a School in Rural
Alaska
Teresa McConnell
Some Observations
Concerning Excellent Rural Alaskan Schools
Bob Moore
The Ideal Rural
Alaska Village School
Samuel Moses
From Then To Now:
The Value of Experiential Learning
Clara Carol Potterville
The Ideal
School
Jane Seaton
Toward an Integrated,
Nonlinear, Community-Oriented Curriculum
Unit
Mary Short
A Letter from
Idealogak, Alaska
Timothy Stathis
Preparing
Rural Students for the Future
Michael Stockburger
The Ideal
Rural School
Dawn Weyiouanna
Alternative
Approaches to the High School Curriculum
Mark J. Zintek
Part II *
Rural Curriculum Ideas
"Masking" the
Curriculum
Irene Bowie
On Punks and
Culture
Louise J. Britton
Literature to Meet
the Needs of Rural Students
Debra Buchanan
Reaching the Gifted
Student Via the Regular Classroom
Patricia S. Caldwell
Early Childhood Special
Education in Rural Alaska
Colleen Chinn
Technically
Speaking
Wayne Day
Process Learning
Through the School Newspaper
Marilyn Harmon
Glacier Bay
History: A Unit in Cultural Education
David Jaynes
Principals of
Technology
Brian Marsh
Here's Looking
at You and Whole Language
Susan Nugent
Inside, Outside and
all-Around: Learning to Read and Write
Mary L. Olsen
Science Across
the Curriculum
Alice Porter
Here's Looking at
You 2000 Workshop
Cheryl Severns
School-Based
Enterprises
Gerald Sheehan
King Island
Christmas: A Language Arts Unit
Christine Pearsall Villano
Using Student-Produced
Dialogues
Michael A. Wilson
We-Search and
Curriculum Integration in the Community
Sally Young
Artist's
Credits
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