Instructional Activities Three 50-min periods
Introduction:
The purpose of the Summit is to achieve a deeper understanding of oceanic CO2 systems from the different research groups’ points of view. In the Summit, participants systematically question and examine issues and data related to the big question and articulate short- and long-term goals for oceanic CO2 concentrations. The group conversation assists participants in constructing meaning through disciplined analysis, interpretation, listening, and participation.
There are many different ways of holding a mock summit in your classroom. We have adapted the summit suggestions below from helpful sites such as The Paideia Project (http://paideia.org/), but encourage you and your students to creatively implement this lesson to suit your needs and background. More suggestions are also given in the Accommodations section of this lesson.
ADVANCED PREP
- Gather images and information to show students that high level leaders participate in global summits. They should also be able to see the types of reports that result from global summits. We have gathered a few such items that are good examples.
- Depending on how you would like your students to present (using butcher paper, preparing formal posters, completing One Page White Papers, or preparing powerpoint presentations), gather needed materials for students (e.g. paper, markers, computers, etc.).
- Having students prepare lab reports or presentations can also be a good way to help students synthesize learning from multiple lessons. However, we have found that having students record necessary items (listed below) on a poster, in addition to working through the activities below, successfully prepares students and allows for data to be easily referenced during the discussion/debate.
LESSON PLANS
Day 1 - Summit Prep (One 50-minute class period with previous homework, or Two 50-minute class periods)
1. Have students complete the warm up questions in their lab notebook. Warm up questions:
- "What is the main, big picture question of this unit? (Answer: What effect does the increasing atmospheric CO2 have on the ocean and its subsystems?)
- What question and subsystem did you study in your group?" (Answers vary)
2. Now that students have been brought back to the high-level purpose of this unit, share with them the main purpose of this lesson. Example script:
- Now that we have begun to answer our main question, we will begin exploring what (if anything) we should do in response. We will do this through presenting and listening during both scientific presentations and a mock global summit.
- Before preparing for the Summit, we must ensure we are ready to work with our group. Spend time synthesizing what you have learned from your experiment(s) with what you have learned through online research. Use this student guide and worksheet to help you connect your research data with the big picture of this unit. All of this will help you plan for the Summit. (This worksheet can be completed for homework or completed individually in the computer lab.)
3. Once students have completed the worksheet, they should join their Interest Group to prepare a large poster. The poster should be easy to read throughout room and should contain the following information:
- Title of their interest group and members' names
- Investigative question
- Hypothesis
- Data summary and experimental results displayed in a table and/or graphic
- Statement of whether or not their hypothesis is supported by data (Claim - Evidence - Reasoning statements accomplish this task nicely)
- Group recommendations for short- and long-term response/action
4.
Students should practice their presentation within their interest group prior to presenting for the entire class. Remind students of presentation norms, such as having every group member participate (see Day 2, Lesson Specifics, below, for more information on norms and presentation guidelines). Have the group plan on a clear and concise, 3 minute presentation. In research we use this format often and call these presentations "lightning talks" or the "3 minute thesis." For a terrific demonstration of how to share a lot of science in only 3 minutes, see this
article and video.
Day 2 - Interest Groups Present Posters (One 50-minute class period)
ADVANCED PREP
- Arrange the group presentation order so that similar content and/or interest groups present in a logical order.
- Arrange the classroom desks in a horseshoe or circle to facilitate future discussion. Interest groups should sit together.
- Pedagogy for facilitating whole class discussions are included below. To learn more strategies for whole-class discussions, please visit the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research's (NWABR) website: https://www.nwabr.org/teacher-center/education-strategies
Lesson Specifics:
1. If students were not able to practice their presentation yesterday, give them 3-5 minutes at the beginning of the class to practice. Share with them the presentation order.
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Reference data (yours and/or others') to support reasoning.
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Give thoughtful consideration of the topic.
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Provide relevant and insightful comments.
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Speak at an appropriate level to be heard.
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Stay on topic and focused on the discussion.
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Talk to/with the other students (not the teacher).
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Share "air time" equally with others.
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Be respectful of others - listen carefully; speak to ideas, not the personality.
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No side conversations
3. Interest groups should next present their poster to the entire class. Each presentation should be only 3 minutes. Each member of the interest group should be responsible for part of the presentation. Possible structure:
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First group member to present:
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1. Title of interest group and members' names
2. Investigative question
3. Hypothesis
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Second group member to present:
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4. Data Summary and Experimental Results
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Third group member to present:
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5. Claim – Evidence – Reasoning
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Fourth group member to present:
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6. Group recommendations for short- and long-term response and/or action.
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4. Audience members should either take notes in their lab book or they can use this
note taking sheet for each interest group. The audience should listen to presenters and take notes only (no class discussion during presentations). There will be a formal round for questions at the end of all presentations. The audience should note which questions arise in their minds during the presentation and prepare to ask after all groups have presented. Their notes should be part of their evaluation. A second form of evaluation is to use your class roster to keep track of students' oral contributions. You can define what you are looking for in column headings and use tick marks to record each student’s oral contributions during presentations, during class questions, and during the Global Summit Debate (Day 3). Oral contributions can include but are not limited to: speaking to point, asking a question, answering another student’s question, referring to evidence, etc. You can also use
this evaluation template for tracking students' level of participation and scores/grades.
5. Have students next complete rounds of questions. Probing questions, if used correctly, should result in all parties thinking more deeply and critically about the issues at hand. For this type of ocean systems presentation, we recommend first having the students ask "clarifying questions." Next students should ask probing "extension questions." This will help students seek more detail and achieve a higher level of understanding. If needed, read more on how to ask good questions, so that you can model these questioning techniques with your class. The hope in this lesson is that the students are the ones asking good, probing questions. To help you, we've compiled this short list of websites with examples:
Changing Minds, University of Nebraska at Lincoln -
Types of Teacher Questions,
Questioning Techniques for Active Learning, and the Head Guru Teacher website -
examples of probing questions.
6. To finish the day's lesson, have the students put their posters on display in the room for tomorrow's Summit.
Day 3 - Global Summit Debate and Resolution on Atmospheric CO2 (One 50-minute class period)
ADVANCED PREP
- Consider assigning a moderator to keep the discussion on track.
- Arrange the chairs in a horseshoe or circle to facilitate discussion.
- Have posters from Day 2 visible on the walls.
- Have Discussion Norms visibly posted in the classroom.
- As stated above in item #4 from Day 2, have your evaluation tracking form/method at the ready.
- Print out the worksheet for students to score their summit participation (one copy for each student).
Lesson Specifics:
1. Give each group a short amount of time to re-address their short- and long-term solutions/arguments.
2. Explain the flow of the day:
- Each interest group has 2 minutes to persuasively argue for their short- and long-term solutions before the ‘assembly.’
- After a round robin of arguments, the floor is opened to further questions and counter-arguments. Interest groups may form coalitions.
3. Ultimately, students should adopt a resolution concerning the amount of CO2 allowable in the atmosphere. They can decide if this will be a consensus model, population/vote count model, economic model (where the money rules), etc. In many science classes, we have found that the students have a good deal of experience with role playing and mock summits. Having them vote to agree on topics and methods often works best and increases students' involvement.
4. Allow time at the end of the period (at least 15 minutes) for student reflection and/or extension. This can also be saved for homework. Possible activities for this reflection include:
A. Have interest groups develop a final take on the ocean CO
2 network. They can complete a hand-drawn network, they can use cytoscape to create their own network, or
they can use these slides. If they use the slides they can draw the arrows showing connections with a + or - to show increasing/decreasing, strengthening/opposing, or positive/negative. In all cases, students should be instructed to look for reinforcing or balancing loops and/or positive or negative feedback loops.
- Interest group network diagram (possible "answer" key - please note that network diagrams are often hypotheses until they move toward being workable, confident models)
- Diatom network diagram (possible "answer" key)
B. What unanswered questions do you have? What future research or additional information is needed? Often decisions must be made on the basis of incomplete information.
C. In a perfect world, what do you believe atmospheric CO2 levels should be? What data support your contention?
D. What is the Summit-recommended atmospheric CO2 level? Is this fair to your interest group? Can your interest group compromise and live with the result?
E. What is your role in the network?
F. What actions can you take or what can you do to positively impact your network?
G. Use the carbon footprint calculators and websites from Lesson 5b to try different variations on how to best impact your network. What types of actions have the greatest impact?
H. Have students write a short position paper as themselves (not in their interest group role) as a final assessment or produce an email to a government official outlining their position.
We would greatly appreciate any copies of pre- and post-assessments that you are willing to share to help us update this module's effectiveness. Samples of student work are also helpful and inform module revisions. Please send any materials to Claudia Ludwig (
cludwig@systemsbiology.org or 401 Terry Avenue N, Seattle, WA 98109).
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