This week I carried out a lesson that I planned using the backwards design. I use this method when planning my lessons. You should plan lesson by knowing what you want your students to know after you have taught the lesson.
My lesson centered around mining and its effects on the environment. I started my lesson my discussing different methods and natural occurrences that can disturb the environment. We discussed the steps of succession and looked at pictures that depicted the different stages. The next part of the lesson was hands on and the kids loved it. They participated in a mining simulation. They were each given a chocolate chip cookie. They were to outline the cookie on their paper before they started mining for the chocolate chips. This represented the land before mining. They were to carefully take out (Mine) the chips (Minerals). After they mined the minerals they were to trace the cookie on their sheet of paper. After they finished they write a description of what happened to the land as a result of mining. They saw that even though they were careful that the land was still disturbed. To wrap up the lesson we discussed ways that companies could help to restore the areas after they use it.
They seemed to enjoy it and of course they loved that they not only were learning but that they also got to eat their lesson.
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very cool lab. I like that it demonstrates the difference between undisturbed and disturbed land. It would be nice to emphasize that the cookie has to have increased in size, even though you took the chips out. My students have a hard time seeing that mine tailings take up more space than the original volume before drilling. This is important since you now have to find a place to put the tailings and also ensure that it does not contaminate the watershed with heavy metals via runoff.
Sincerely,
David