10-11+SBS+Dave+McConville

﻿Unit #1
=Alternative Fuel Vehicles Project =

﻿The 8th grade students in my classes researched a number of different alternative fuels that can be used in vehicles. Some of these vehicles such as electric cars already exist while some such as hydrogen cars are still in the development phase. All of my classes utilize www.edmodo.com and this where they received the assignment and the rubric. They needed to research all of the fuels and vehicles first before they could decide which one they felt was the one we as a society should put all our money and effort behind to someday replace the gasoline powered vehicle. During the process, I surveyed the students twice using edmodo and they also posted and answered questions with each other as they progressed through their project. The students then had a choice of how they wanted to present their information to their audience. They could create a presentation using PowerPoint, a VoiceThread using @https://voicethread.com/, a podcast using Garageband, a video using iMovie, a pamphlet/brochure using iWork, or write a paper. Even though they had all these choices, most chose to create their presentation at http://prezi.com. After they were complete, they uploaded their project to www.edmodo.com. We viewed all of the presentations as a class.

﻿Student Samples:
The samples below were assessed using the rubric above. I developed the rubric and the students had a copy of it when they started the project.

Meets Expectations
====﻿Below Expectations ====

Unit #2
=﻿Grouping the Elements =

﻿The 6th grade students were learning about elements and gaining background knowledge about differences and similarities. They then introduced to the periodic table and had a general understaning how it was organized. When they began this project, they were directed to www.edmodo.com where they received the instructions/expectations of the project and the rubric for the webpages they were going to create. Individually, the students researched a particular group of elements that I assigned to their lab group. I sent the students a link to one website that had a majority of the information that they needed. They could also utilize other websites to gain the information that they needed. Once their research was complete, the students worked with their lab partners to create a webpage explaining their group of elements. These webpages were created in www.PBWorks.com and organized into class folders. Once all the groups were complete, the students individually investigated the other 7 webpages and gained background information about all the groups on the periodic table. While they were reading, the students were to comment on the pages telling the authors of each webpage what they learned and/or what could be done to improve their pages. The lab groups had time to improve their page and then upload it to www.edmodo.com. I then assessed the pages using the rubric that was provided at the start of project. To finish up the unit, the students completed "Placing Elements on Table" to test the background knowledge that they gained reading the webpages.

Unit Plan:




Student Samples: The samples below were assessed using the rubric above. I developed the rubric and the students had a copy of it when they started the project. You may need the following log-in and password: