Students in Ms. Bardeen's regular chemistry class, grades 10,11,12, at
Oak Park and River Forest High School (OPRF) in Oak Park, IL, enter the
computer lab, access the internet on their computers, and begin to work
with their teams on their current project. Students are busy talking with
one another and their teacher as they investigate the problem of air pollution
in Chicago and around the world.
OPRF is a four year (9-12) comprehensive high school with an enrollment
of approximately 2800 students. The communities of Oak Park and River Forest
are located just west of Chicago. Student backgrounds vary greatly socio-economically
(low to high), ethnically (63% Caucasian, 28%African-American, 4% Hispanic,
4% Asian) and culturally. Average student standardized test scores are above
the state and national averages. The chemistry class is a cross section
of the lower 70% of the school community.
A week after students were asked to find and interview a person who as asthma
or to interview a doctor about asthma, they enter the classroom and the
teacher asks them to pair up with another student and share the results
of their interview. The teacher is moving from group to group listening
to various discussions, occasionally asking a question. put in some sample
comments,here or after next sentence? The teacher then asks the class
to create a list of common problems people have with asthma, what actions
they have to take, and what can trigger asthma or make it worse. After the
discussion the teacher says that the person wants to move to a new city
or country and asks the class which triggers could be different. One of
the triggers mentioned is high air pollution levels. The teacher then discusses
the unit project that the students will complete for the end of the year.
The goal of the project is to investigate the problems that Chicago and
another city or country has with air pollution using a variety of tools
(laboratory technology, internet resources, multimedia technology, etc.)
and to propose the best possible solutions to the areas air pollution problems.
The students will need to prepare a presentation to discuss the problems
and explain their possible solutions using supporting arguments and informantion.
The groups will present their projects to the class and send the information
to someone in the city or country they researched. The teacher presents
the class with a list of possible locations and tells them that by tomorrow
the students must form groups of 4 students and sign up for one of
the locations to researach.
The next day the teacher discusses the timeline for the project. The students
will have to give weekly updates on progress. The students have formed home
groups and selected a location around the world that they wished to investigate.
The teacher then asks each home group to brainstorm for 5 minutes makeing
lists of what they know and what they need to know. After 5 minutes the
teacher askes if the students need more time and the class wants another
5 minutes. The teacher then has the class to compile their lists together
on the board. The class then looks over the list to see if any new ideas
are developed. Each home group then works together to develop a plan for
conducting their research. They initially determine what tasks they what
to accomplish to address the problem, decide who will do each task and when
they will report back to the group. They create an action plan on the computer
and ensure that everyone, including the teacher has a copy of the plan.
Each group has designated someone to look for information about the location,
another person to search for an official from the location that they can
communicate with, and a third person to search for schools in their location
that they could collaborate with on the internet. When the class enters
the computer lab several goups of students create their own subgroups. Each
subgroup contains students from different home groups but the students are
trying to find similar types of information. Refine these examples. For
example, one group is using Netscape to search for information about their
locations on the World Wide Web using a search engine. One student in the
group has used a search engine to find a page that lists The teacher is
assisting another group in a discussion on what officials they might be
able to contact and how to locate them on the Internet or by other means.
The teacher asks how they are going to initiate contact with the official,
how they will describe what they are doing and what questions they are going
to ask. The students then share ideas with each other on accomplishing
this task.
The project on air pollution is in the third week of the 4-8 week inquiry.
All but one of the groups have identified the air pollution problem in their
location through their searches on the World Wide Web and their contact
with local officials and organizations. The students have met with their
home group to discuss what types of pollutants are in their area and they
redefine and reassign the tasks they want to accomplish. As the students
enter the computer lab today they join new subgroups each looking for specific
information about different pollutants. For example, one group of students
is searching for information about SOx pollutants and another group is looking
for information about NOx pollutants. One group of students is learning
from the computer resource teacher how they can use the available software
programs to make graphics that can show the chemical reactions involved
with the different pollutants. The teacher is meeting with one home group
that has not redefined their tasks yet. After determining what the students
have already done in their search, the teacher encourages them to look for
more information, guiding them toward areas they have not yet tried.
The students have one more week to work on their project before presenting
it to the class, they are now working with their home groups designing a
presentation. The computer resource teacher is helping one group to incorporate
a video that they have found into their presentation. As the other teams
work on their presentations, the teacher is moving from group to group.
The teacher provides feedback and assistance and keeps track of noted problems
and progress. She talks with students about their plans and decisions about
strategies, organization and unique presentation ideas.
Technology aspects pending