Standard II

   When designing our Rock and Mineral unit, Mrs. Auler and I took our students' needs, the Michigan Curriculum Framework, and the available technology into consideration.  It was key that we introduced basic information about rocks and minerals, the rock cycle, and the identification of minerals and mineral properties to the students per the curriculum guidelines for our grade level, but we also wanted to incorporate varying technology as well.  We knew that we could sign up for about two hours per week of lab time per class, so we also had to center our lessons around this time crunch.  Our first step was to survey our students about their experiences with technology, although Mrs. Auler was already familiar with their ability levels on the computers.  We also sent home permission slips to take digital photos of the students and use samples of their work within this portfolio. 

   Utilizing the background knowledge we learned from the survey and prior knowledge in general, Mrs. Auler and I started to outline our lessons in coordination with the science standards and benchmarks.  Since graphical organizers are touched upon in the curriculum, we thought it best to create a diagram of the entire rock cycle which the students could use as a reference tool throughout the unit if they wished.  We first introduced the idea of the Rock Cycle by using a PowerPoint presentation created by the Michigan Office of Geological Survey on the Michigan Rock Cycle.  By connecting Mrs. Auler's laptop to an LCD projector, we were able to present the Rock Cycle right in the classroom.  Mrs. Auler also had ideas regarding a Pet Rock project that she had done with previous classes and we wanted to make a mineral class book highlighting 24 of the most common minerals.  Therefore, we chose Kidspirations for our web, Microsoft Word for our Pet Rock journals, and KidPix for the mineral pages.

   Our other two lessons within the unit centered around a two-part web quest that was created by Mrs. Auler and myself.  We searched for student-friendly websites about rocks and minerals that would be useful for the research we wanted the students to be viewing.  We also wanted to integrate the Social Studies, so we searched for rock and mineral history about Michigan and nearby communities.  This research was also based around the Social Studies standards and benchmarks for Michigan, as well as the science curriculum.  Then we created worksheets based around the websites we found and separated the web quest in two portions: one centered around general information about rocks and minerals and one centered on minerals and how they are used as natural resources.  In all we built five lessons based on time constraints, the 5th grade science curriculum, and technology.

Exhibits:

• Unit Plan Overview
• Web quest lessons
• Daily Schedule
• Student Technology Survey
• Permission Slip

Cassandra Golembiewski
Student Teaching

University of Michigan- Dearborn
Garfield Elementary School
Wyandotte, Michigan
5th Grade Science
Unit Topic: Rocks and Minerals

II. Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences.
Teachers plan and design effective learning environments and experiences supported by technology.

Teachers:

1. Design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners.
   
2. Apply current research on teaching and learning with technology when planning learning environments and experiences.
   
3. Identify and locate technology resources and evaluate them for accuracy and suitability.
   
4. Plan for the management of technology resources within the context of learning activities.
   
5. Plan strategies to manage student learning in a technology-enhanced environment.