Activity Description/Rationale                                                          

This is the final lesson of the unit. Treat it as a discussion, and a learning opportunity for yourself to better the assignment in the future.

NYS/CCL Standards (Content Knowledge, IAD)

RST.11.12.8

WHST.9.12.2

WHST.9.12.5

Goals: Process Skills (Basic & Integrated) and Attitudes/ (Enduring Understandings & Essential Questions)

The goal is to get students to discuss their experience and what they’ve learned about water in a less formal manner.

Universal Design for Learning/Differentiation

As a discussion and unstructured lesson, it should be adaptable to a wide range of student’s abilities.

Materials

No specific materials, however generating specific writing prompts that cater to your class’s assignment may be prudent.

Estimated Length of Activity:

One class period (45-50 minutes).

Pre-Activity

Having completed the lab report exercise, including the final draft of the entire report.

Activity Instructions:

This class is meant to be less formally structured. You may want to have students create a presentation or poster to go with the report, which could be presented during this time.

(15-20 minutes) Provide students with writing prompts and have them write a journal entry. This shouldn’t be graded, it should be done to help you assess the lab report as an exercise. Possible prompts are:

• Was it helpful to break the lab report into individual sections?
• What was your favorite part of this assignment?
• What was your least favorite part of the assignment?
• Are you more or less interested in water quality than when the lab report project began?

These are just possible prompts, feel free to adapt as you see fit. The goal is to get them writing about the process, and also relaying their impressions of the process. Try to set sentence goals, or make sure they answer ‘why’ to avoid one-word answers.

(20-30 minutes) Have students discuss the prompts with their neighbor, and then have the students relay to the class what the neighbor(s) said.

Assignments

No formal assignment.

Assessment and Reflection

Assessment is based on in-class discussions and possibly on journaling exercise. Journaling exercise may simply be a tool you use to assess the project in general.

Instructor’s Notes:

This should be treated as an informal ‘celebration’ of the ending of the course. Presentations may be a good way to have the student relay their information, but may be boring if everyone had the same hypothesis.