Al Kennedy Alternative High School

Water Studies

http://blogs.slane.k12.or.us/kennedy/

My name is Vickie Costello

Unit Plan Summary:Students demonstrate critical thinking by discovering the interconnectedness between water quality, dam placement, mining and salmon habitat. Using technology in the field, and real time data from the internet, they will be asked to determine if the critical resource of water will be safe and sufficient to support the predicted population in the Coast Fork Willamette watershed. Working as self-directed learners, students move from the water cycle to calculating the usage of the City and the rural populations.

Essential Question

Will your grandkids go thirsty in our watershed?

Unit QuestionsHow does it get here?How much water do we use now? Will we use?Is our water source safe?How have European Americans impacted the local water?

What is the water cycle for Cottage Grove? What watershed do we live in and what does it look like?Do our hills help collect water? (inquiry)How much water does CG use?How many water rights are in effect outside of CG within our watershed?What is the projected population growth for CFW watershed?How is water quality tested?What is our water quality index?Are we in violation of the Clean Water Act?What macro invertebrates do we have locally? What have European Americans done to the water supply?

Extensions: Model stream flow gradient model impact on erosionWhat is our water used for? crops/irrigation? Water usage? Camping usage?Are our wetlands growing or diminishing? Can we repair wetland/riparian?Provide samples of improvements to CCR (content/graphics)Can the town of CG flood again? Where?

Content Questions

Benefits of Using Project Approaches, Ongoing Assessment, and CFQs in My Unit

• Students collaborate with peers to collect data (using technology) to understand the health of their watershed.

• Students look at real time data to gain a historical perspective of local water volumes.

• Students will improve writing and thinking skills through peer assessment and reflection.

• Public publishing on the school’s website of the answer to the essential question will improve the quality of student work.

By Using Project Approaches, Ongoing Assessment, and CFQs

My Students Will: Experience gathering data and correlating

it to real-world quality definitions Self-assessment skills will assist students in

time management and successful delivery of the final product

Celebrating success with tasks and highly engaging activities in each unit will maintain strong collaboration

Gauging Student Needs Assessment

I will use my Essential and Unit Questions to: • Find out what students understand about water

as a vital resource

• Gather information on higher-order thinking and 21st century skills:

• By assessing and evaluating information

• By understanding the interconnectedness between systems

..\Assessments\Sample of formative assessment or mind map.docx

Gauging Student Needs Assessment

What I will learn from the assessment

• Mind maps from the Seeing Reason tool will demonstrate a growth in student understanding

• Student assessment of accountability will show their awareness and set high expectations in the beginning

What my students will gain from the assessment

• Meta-cognition of their own growth in understanding a complex issue

• A chance to monitor and improve collaboration and accountability

My Goals

• Create structure to improve my water studies unit and aid assessment

• Find ways to get my students to do more higher-order thinking

• Add more math into my integrated curriculum

• Add engaging activities that support scientific inquiry

Let’s Have a Great Year!