Research on Sustainability in Schools
Integrating Literacy, Social Studies, Science, Math (Virtual Tour)
Stage of Literacy Development:
Stage 3: Literacy for GrowthAges:
9-12
Grade Range:
4th 5th 6thFood Groups:
Primary: Knowledge Building, Vocabulary Secondary: Motivation for Literacy
Transcript
Behind me you can see some graphs that my students made as apart of out data management unit in math. The students designed survey topics in order to help them understand more about sustainability in our school. This math unit is connected to our global partners work. I think its important that issues like sustainability are investigated in social studies, in science, and in math. The students went around the school and asked every classroom their survey question. These questions had to be measurable, relevant, and easy to understand. Even developing questions was hard work for these students. Once they collected all of their data, they organized the data, decided on the appropriate type of graph, and then worked to create a graph that would effectively communicate what they had learned about sustainability. The students then worked on inferences using these graphs. I found it interesting that the students had a lot of practice making inferences in literacy, but when making inferences in mathematics, they were a little lost. I developed an anchor chart using level 1, 2, 3, and 4 inferences. Level 1 being a lower level inference and level 4 being a very high level inference. The students worked on understanding what they could learn about sustainability in our school by looking at their graphs. They wrote their inferences, then they brought their inferences to me and we compared them to the leveled charts. These charts help me explain to them how to move from a level 2 to a level 3, or a level 3 to a level 4. The inferences help the students synthesize what they had learned by collecting all of this data and relating it to the bigger issue of sustainability. One example of a level 4 inference that the students made relates to the graph on my left about room usage. The students can understand that 8 of the classrooms in the school are used for less than half the day. And this was bad for the environment because it meant that the room was heated or cooled even though for half the day no body was in it. This is not an efficient way to use the energy in the school. These graphs are displayed in the hallway of our school. This is so the students can feel proud of their work, but more importantly, this is used to educate the rest of the school about issues of sustainability and how we can lower our impact on the environment. People that pass by these graphs hopefully learn a little bit about sustainability in our school and what types of changes they can make in their classroom to be more energy efficient. Main Sections of Video: SUMMARY: Math in Global Partners Project on Sustainability in the School 1. Develop Survey Questions 2. Collect Data by Surveying the School 3. Organize the Collected Data 4. Select the Appropriate Type of Graph for the Data 5. Make Inferences from the Data
Related References
Additional Links:
Global Partners Junior: http://gpjunior.tiged.org
Resources for Rethinking: Exemplary Classroom Resources Reviewed by Teacher for Teachers http://resources4rethinking.ca
The Environmental Literacy Council: http://enviroliteracy.org/teachers-index/
Environmental Science Games & Lessons from EcoKids: https://ecokids.ca
Activity Objective
The goal of Research on Sustainability in Schools: Integrating Literacy, Social Studies, Science and Math (Virtual Tour) is to describe data management applications within a classs focus on urban sustainability. As part of the Global Partners Junior project students began by preparing and implementing a survey in classrooms throughout their school, they then created appropriate graphs to illustrate the information they had gathered, and finally, based on their findings, students developed high-level inferences related to sustainability issues in their school and drew conclusions about how to make school-wide improvements.
Quick Tips
Additional Comments:
- Graphing the students survey data and displaying it in the hallway is a great way to promote engagement throughout the school. - Having students survey other classes promotes school-wide involvement in their project, which further develops a sense of community. - Connecting with other schools in the area or even in other countries further develops students knowledge of sustainability issues. Think about using a graphic organizer like a Venn diagram to illustrate some similarities and differences between different schools or even between classes to further develop ideas about sustainability.
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