1. By: Ashley Zeek PROJECET-BASED LEARNING

2. Curriculum-Framing Questions Essential Question: What is the life cycle of plants?Unit Questions: 1. What are the steps to growing a plant?2. How can we classify plants?Content Questions: 1. What is a seed?2. What is a bud?3. What are the parts to a fully grown plant?

3. Role of the Teacher The teacher acts more as a facilitator or guide. It is my job to make sure that the most meaningful learning takes place inside my classroom, and I plan to teach your children, as well as let them learn to figure things out on their own. They may do this in groups or as individuals, and they will ultimately become better students who understand and appreciate the learning process a great deal better.

4. Role of the Parent You can help your child with this particular unit by studying/reviewing with him or her every night while at home. I also suggest you plant a seed that will spring into a flower so that your child can make correct observations and relate what we do in class to what really happens in the “real” world. I strive the importance of this connection so I encourage every family to participate in this project with their child at home. Taking pictures of the flower at different stages is also a very good idea.

5. Role of Student The students will be working in groups for this plant life-cycle project. Each group of students will be given a separate plant to choose from, and will do their project on that particular plant. Students will be recoding their observations, comparing their plant with other groups, making predictions as to what will happen to their plant/how fast it will grow, etc. The students will create a portfolio to turn in at the end of the unit, so I advise students to keep everything they use in one location so that it can easily be turned in and graded.

6. Benefits of the Unit The benefits of this unit are endless. The students will learn about pollination, seed fertilization, fruit setting, seed development, seed dispersal, germination, and growth. They will have a general understanding of how a plant’s life cycle plays a role in their own lives.

8. SC.1.8 Recognize daily changes in weather, including clouds, precipitation, and temperature.

10. What is PBL? Project-Based LearningI believe project-based learning is vital to the success of students today in our society. Children learn best working in smaller groups because they feel more comfortable asking questions that they might be too embarrassed to ask in front of a whole classroom of students. I believe that when kids are able to learn in a hands-on manner, they better retain the information and actually get more out of it by actually “experiencing” the concepts directly with their own hands, as opposed to just learning the information from a text book. I also like how the grading system works, so that students can make the connection to the real-world, and not simply just be doing work to complete an exam, or make a certain grade on an individual project or paper. Instead, it teaches and motivates children to work together and see that learning IS and can actually be fun! Project-based learning is very important and I plan to use it in my classroom very soon when I become a teacher because of all the benefits it entails for our future generation. Students will essentially be studying the life cycle of plants during this unit.

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13. aezeek@crimson.ua.edu