Heather Paganica                                                                      July 3, 2004

Project Title: Adopt-a-Whale Project                                       Michele Dornisch

 

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

 

A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE ADOPT A WHALE PROJECT

 

Each year the students in this class save money to adopt a whale.  In this lesson students will use Microsoft Excel to create a table from last year’s ‘Adopt a Whale’ Program stats.  After creating this table the students will begin a table for this year’s stats.  After creating this second table, students will create another graph. 

            When both tables and graphs have been created the students will answer questions pertaining to the statistics.  Students will see these questions first so that they may figure out what stats they should incorporate into their tables and graphs.  The information provided to the students will not all need to be contained in the graphs created.  Students will need to decipher what information is needed in the graphs.  After answering questions given to them, students will create questions that their classmates can answer using the chart created.  The graphs and questions will be displayed in the classroom bulletin board that will be all about our whale adoption.  Some graphs may be featured in out classroom newsletter to let parents know where we are in our collection of funds for our whale adoption. 

 

THE LEARNERS OR PROSPECTIVE LEARNERS

            The learners in this class are a group of approximately 25 children in a 3rd grade inclusion classroom.  The needs of the students in this classroom vary.  Students will be put in groups of approximately 4 or 5 to create these charts and graphs.

 

THE CONTEXT OR ATMOSPHERE IN WHICH THE POJECT WILL BE IMPLEMENTED

            I plan on creating a bi-weekly newsletter with my 3rd graders this year.  I think this project will be a great way to incorporate math within the newsletter.  I think that learning how to create a spreadsheet and ultimately a graph will be fun for the class to see.  I believe that ultimately the class will want to create more graphs on excel and incorporate them either in the newsletter or in class projects.  Reading and being able to create graphs is an important aspect of math in grade 3 and above.  Many of the state exams require that students know how to create and read a graph including the labeling of the graph itself, the x and y axes, etc.  By using excel I think it makes it a little more fun to create the graphs and possibly makes the children more apt to look at the axes and title of the graph.  This is an area that I often see students missing.  I think this project will be a boost to future projects that the students themselves will come up with.

 

OBJECTIVES OR GOALS FOR THE LESSON (OR PROJECT)

The children will be able to:

Ø      Create 2 tables showing the results of last years and this years adoption money collection.

Ø      Create 2 graphs showing the same results

Ø      Label their graphs with their own unique names for the entire graph, and both axes.

Ø      Answer ‘what if’ and other questions given by the teacher

Ø      Create at least 3 critical thinking questions of their own for their classmates to answer using their spreadsheets and graphs created.

Ø      Answer at least 3 critical thinking questions created by their classmates by using their spreadsheets and graphs.

 

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM:

 

THE PROBLEM TYPE

            Last year when the students collected money for the adopt-a-whale project they only gave themselves a month to collect the money.  The way that they raised the money was by recycling cans and bottles and putting the money in a bank of sorts.  Because of the way they collected the money, a month was not a suitable amount of time.  By manipulating the data in their spreadsheets, the class can figure out approximately how many cans and bottles they need to collect in order to reach their goal of 25.00 by the end of the month or decide to give them some more time to collect their goal money amount.  The key is, the teacher will not mention any way that they can ‘fix’ this problem.  It will be up to the students to collect the data and find a suitable solution to the problem.  Another problem that arises in graph creation is the lack of labels.  Many times students forget to label the axes and the graph itself.  These labels are important to remember if the observer is going to understand the graph.  By using excel to create their graph, students will be prompted to label both axes and the graph itself.  This will hopefully stay in the brains of my students so that when they create graphs by hand that maybe they will remember being prompted on the computer program and so they will use their labels.  Sometimes when students see the procedure in action (as in on a computer screen) it helps them to remember.  This project can only help in the process of creating graphs which these students will do throughout their schooling careers.

 

HOW THIS PROBLEM MANIFESTS ITSELF IN MY SPECIFIC FIELD AND IN THE CONTECT FOR WHICH I HAVE CHOSEN TO CREATE THIS LESSON OR ACTIVITY

                        Last year the third grade class collected bottles and cans to raise money to adopt a whale.  The problem that occurred was that the class tried to collect the money in a matter of a month.  One of two things needs to be done.  I would like the class to figure out which.  First we could take some more time to take up our collection.  Second we could just make sure that we collect more money in the allotted one month’s time.  There are other solutions, but these are up to the kids to figure out.  Another problem is that the kids usually don’t know how, or forget how to label the graph and axes of a graph.  When a graph is created with Excel, it prompts the user to create a title for the graph and the axes.  By creating graphs this way students may be more apt to remember labels and learn how to read graphs.  I think by creating these graphs on their own, it gives them ownership of their work and they think it’s neat because it’s on the computer.

 

RATIONAL THAT THE PROBLEM EXISTS AND IS TRULY A PROBLEM ASSOCIATED WITH ‘LEARNING’

 

            I think that children forget about the axes being labeled and the graph being labeled because it’s just not fun for them to make these graphs that they have been told to make.  I think if they use a computer program that helps them to create this project that they will enjoy it more.  Although this first lesson is in term of the adopt-a-whale program, I think that future lessons could center around child-based ideas.  In this way the children can decide what they would like to graph and put into the bi-weekly newsletter.  I think, once taught how to use the program, that students will find things that interest them and they will enjoy plotting the data and seeing the graphs they can create.  I think the old way of teaching graphs is exciting for some students who ‘get it’.  I think it can be terribly frustrating for those students who don’t.  By giving them ownership of it, I think it prompts children to better understand it.  Because I am a special education teacher, I have to make use of many different techniques to teach certain things.  What one child understands, another is completely oblivious to.  By having the children work in groups, each group could come up with a better way to graph the information, another part to graph, or even another subject to graph.  By giving the students a sort of open ended lesson, it gives students a chance to explore.  Once the students are taught how to plug in information and use graphs, one never knows where their minds will take them. 

 

DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED SOLUTION AND ORIGINAL MATERIALS:

 

  1. Tell students about the adopt-a-whale program that we participate in every school year.  Show the students the website.  Decide upon a whale.  Decide upon which adoption package we would like and how much it will cost.  After all of this has been decided and a whale has been chosen, we will complete the adoption process after the lesson. 
  2. Tell students about last year’s program and how the money was raised to adopt the whale.  Ask the students what problems they think that last year’s class encountered and how we think they could do things differently to help.
  3. After briefly discussing options the class will be directed to look up at the TV monitor.  The teacher will show a graph created by last year’s class.  The teacher will go through the steps the class took to create this graph (if the class did not create a graph then it will be a teacher made graph).  The teacher will go step by step with the class to show them what needs to be done to create a spreadsheet first and ultimately a graph.  The teacher will do this by asking students to sit in front of computers and work together to create last years graph all over again.  Because of limited computer access, students may have to take turns doing certain steps.
  4. After the steps of creating a spreadsheet and graph are taught, students will have a chance to ‘play’ and create their own type of spreadsheet using the adopt-a-whale program as a subject.  This part of the process is completely up to the students.  What they want to graph, etc.  The one task the students must complete using their spreadsheet and graph is a way to save enough money in enough time to adopt their whale.  Another task would be to answer the questions that follow and create questions to be answered after some time of collecting money and data for their charts.

By creating these graphs on Excel, students will be able to see where last year’s students went wrong in collecting bottles and coin.  The students will also get to see what a ‘good’ graph looks like (including labels).  This begins to help solve the problem of students continually forgetting to label their graphs.  By being in contact with this project each day to record their results, hopefully they will realize what they need to do to reach their goal amount of 25.00 in the time given, and they will also realize that without labels for their axes and graphs, that their graphs will make no sense to us, the viewers.  Their graphs will have to make sense in order for us to put it in the newsletter.  We want our readers to know completely what the graph represents.

ASSESSING THE STUDENTS’ PROJECTS

 

____both axes labeled {10 points}

____graph has a title {10 points}

____at least one formula is used {10 points}

____3 questions created (at least 1 is a critical thinking question){25 points}

___3 questions are answered using the graph created {25 points}

___information has been manipulated to find answers to unknown questions {10 points}

___A solution has been discovered on how to have enough time to save the money needed to adopt a whale. {10 points}

 

THEORETICAL FOUNDATION

            Because I have used Excel as a mindtool I believe that I have created a constructivist activity.  The students, in this activity, will be creating graphs from information given, and from information obtained.  They will also be using their knowledge of graphs and math to create a better way to collect money for the project.  They will be creating questions with and for their classmates to answer, as well as answering questions written by their peers. 

            I believe this project is also a collaborative project because the students will be working in groups of 4 to 5 students.  Together they will create graphs, questions and answers.  By working in groups the students can bounce ideas off of each other and come up with even better ideas than maybe they could alone.

 

REFLECTIONS

            By doing this project I learned that even on a third grade level I can work with some programs and use them as more than a tool for myself to ‘show’ the kids.  I learned how to use excel in a workshop last semester.  I had used excel before to create spreadsheet type lists and such.  I never realized that information contained in the spreadsheet could be transformed into a graph (pie, bar, line, etc).  In this project I will have the children create the information and the graph.  I hope that the students will become more aware of labels on graphs.  In my fourth grade experience I found that many times students failed to create a title for their graphs and forgot or didn’t know how to label the axes on their graphs.  Because Excel prompts the user to create a graph title and label the axes.  I hope that with the creation of this project and others like it that students will remember their titles and labels and be able to use their work to answer questions that they have.  I hope that they will be able to manipulate data in order to make predictions and see what the outcomes might be.  I think that this is a doable project and I look forward to trying it with my 3rd graders this year.  I hope to have my students come up with other ideas that we can use as a class to create other projects. 

Because I am a special education teacher I may need to make some modifications in this lesson.  Some students may need an example of work before they can begin.  Requirements may also vary due to learning differences in the classroom. 

 

LIST OF REFERENCES

 

http://www.coe.missouri.edu/~jonassen/ - Jonassen’s personal website

 

www.whaleadoption.com – The adopt-a-whale site where our whale will be adopted from

 

Jonassen, D. H. (2000). Computers as mindtools for schools: Engaging critical thinking. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Evaluation of Peer Products
At each point that one of the four course projects are due, each student will be asked to evaluate the products of 2-3 others in the group (depending on the number of students in the course). You will use the project rubric and report rubric to guide your evaluation. When you've completed the evaluation, you will locate the course discussion forum and post your written evaluation of the project on your groups' discussion forum (each group will be provided a separate forum for this).