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Geography
Students use knowledge of geographic locations, patterns and processes to show the interrelationship between the physical environment and human activity, and to explain the interactions that occur in an increasingly interdependent world. Benchmark A: Identify on a map the location of major physical and human features of each continent. Indicators: Location1.Place countries, cities, deserts, mountain ranges and bodies of water on the continents on which they are located. 2. Use coordinates of latitude and longitude to locate points on a world map. Benchmark B:Define and identify regions using human and physical characteristics. Indicator: Places and Regions 4. Identify and describe a variety of physical and human regions by
analyzing maps, charts and graphs that show patterns of characteristics that
define regions. Explain how the environment influences the way people live in different places and the consequences of modifying the environment. Indicator: Human-Environmental
Interaction 5. Describe ways human settlements and activities are influenced by environmental factors and processes in different places and regions including: a. Bodies of water; b. Landforms; c. Climates; d. Vegetation; e. Weathering; f. Seismic activity. Benchmark D: Explain reasons that people, products and ideas move from place to place and the effects of that movement on geographic patterns. Indicator: Movement 9. Identify and explain the primary geographic causes for world trade including the uneven distribution of natural resources. Social Studies Skills and
Methods Students collect, organize, evaluate and synthesize information from multiple sources to draw logical conclusions. Students communicate this information using appropriate social studies terminology in oral, written or multimedia form and apply what they have learned to societal issues in simulated or real-world settings. Benchmark A: Analyze different perspectives on a topic obtained from a variety of sources. Indicator : Obtaining
Information 1.Use multiple sources to define essential vocabulary and obtain information for a research project including: a. Almanacs; b. Gazetteers; c .Trade books; d. Periodicals; e. Video tapes; f. Electronic sources. Benchmark C: Present a position and support it with evidence and citation of sources. Indicators: Communicating information 5. Complete a research project that includes a bibliography. 6.Communicate a position on a topic orally or in writing and support the position with evidence. Benchmark D: Work effectively in a group. Indicator: Problem
Solving 7. Work effectively to achieve group goals: a. Engage in active listening; b. Provide feedback in a constructive manner; c. Help establish group goals; d. Take various roles within the group; e. Recognize contributions of others. Information Literacy Guideline Effective school library media programs provide information literacy skill instruction. Information literacy is the ability to locate, process, evaluate, and utilize information. School library media programs provide information resources in a variety of formats and readability levels. The school library media specialist teaches students how to access use and evaluate information resources efficiently and ethically based on academic or personal need. This instruction should be correlated to specific academic content standards and taught as an integrated process. Benchmark B: Students evaluate and select school library media books and materials in multiple formats. (Library Collections) Indicator: 2. Use a variety of library material formats as part of the research process. Benchmark D: Students identify the steps in a recognized research model. (Research Methods) Indicators: 6. Understand how to access INFOhio electronic resources at school and from home. 9.Take notes, organize information into logical sequence, and create draft product e.g. report, research paper, presentation,etc. 10.Continuously make lists of resources using a standard bibliographic format. |
Social Studies Lesson Plan Bernie Greaves -
teacher The 5 Themes of Geography John Greaves -
librarian 6th
Grade Lesson Summary: Briefly describe the procedures and purposes of the lesson. § Students will work in groups of 3-5 students to plan a world tour based on a group mission statement. § Each group will choose at least three continents from which to select their countries for research. § Each student in the group will select 2 countries/places (states, cities, territories, etc. to research. § Students will relate the characteristics of their 2 selected countries/places to the 5 Themes of Geography. § Students will use INFOhio electronic resources and other resources to gather information. §
Groups will compile and present their research
to an audience.
Include an estimate of the time needed for instruction. § 18-22 days for instruction, research, and group collaboration. § 4-5 days for the presentation of the final projects. Commentary: Time frame will depend on several factors, including computer availability and ease of operation, abilities of students/classes, absenteeism, compatibility within groups, unexpected changes to the school day schedule.
Identify strategies to pre-assess student knowledge of the selected standard(s), benchmark(s) and indicator(s). Data from pre-assessment helps educators select specific instructional strategies and determine appropriate complexity and pacing for the lesson. Pre-assessments may be as informal as a reflection on students’ prior learning, a conversation about concepts or warm-up problems at the beginning of class that are not scored. They may be more formally structured, such as a quiz or an assigned writing topic. § Students have completed an in-depth study of the 5 Themes of Geography and have been assessed with a unit test as well as small group activities for each of the 5 Themes of Geography. Scoring Guidelines: Define scoring guidelines for the pre-assessment, which may take the form of teacher judgment, a checklist or another scoring format. Scoring guidelines should reveal whether or not student has met the indicator or benchmark so that instruction can be modified and targeted to learners accordingly. § Students scored 75% or better on a combination of scores from a unit test over the 5 Themes of Geography as well as the small group activities for each of the 5 Themes. Students whose combined score is less than 75% will receive additional small group instruction about the 5 Themes of Geography as well as close teacher monitoring during the instruction of this lesson to ensure that they are accurately relating the characteristics of their countries to the 5 Themes of Geography. § A checklist will be provided to determine students’ research skills and presentation abilities/aspirations. § The teacher has observed the students in various small group activities throughout the school year and is aware of small group dynamics within each class. In addition, students have demonstrated increasingly more appropriate choices in small group selections as well as shared responsibilities within their groups. Teachers should conduct ongoing teacher assessment and student self- assessment throughout instruction. These can be planned or conducted as opportunities for observation or reflection arise. If planned, describe here. § Students will be given checklists to self-monitor their application of the 5 Themes of Geography in their project, and the timeliness and completeness of their individual and group progress. The teacher will be assessing these checklists also. § The teacher and librarian will conduct ongoing informal observations of students’ progress during research instruction and gathering. Post-Assessment: Identify strategies to assess student learning as a result of the lesson. Data that results should help to plan subsequent instruction. § Teacher observation of completed projects and group presentations as well as scoring rubrics will be used to assess student learning. § A checklist will be given to assess students’ skill/comfort levels in accessing research information. Scoring Guidelines: Define scoring criteria for the post-assessment, which may take the form of a rubric or another scoring format. Scoring criteria should reveal whether or not student has met the indicator or benchmark so that instruction can be targeted accordingly. If possible, assessment and scoring criteria should be developed to reflect student process as well as product. § Students will receive five major grades for this project: one grade each for their two countries/places research (the completed “Information Gathered Pages”), one grade for their works cited entries, one grade for their group participation and presentation of their final product, one grade for their “research/project folder.” Three separate rubrics will be used for scoring. Instructional Procedures: Describe the instructional steps that will be taken to implement the lesson. Day 1: 1. Introduce the concept of a world tour. 2. Brainstorm ideas for different reasons to tour (music, other arts, aid/relief, exploration/discovery, research, historical interests, wildlife, education, architecture, peace-keeping, environmental interests/concerns, sports/hobbies, etc. 3. Pass out the introduction page, “Introduction To World Tour 2004.” Read it, discuss and explain the main points of this project: § This will be a group project—3-5 students/group § Each group is to plan a world tour. Each group will determine what reason they will be touring—what type of group are they? § Groups will formulate a mission statement (to be finalized in their English classes) indicating the purpose for their tour. § Each group will determine where they will tour based on their mission statement. (Refer to brainstormed ideas from #2 on the previous page.) § Each group must select at least 3 continents to “travel” to, and each person in the group will select 2 countries/places to research within the continents their group has selected. Each continent selected by the group must be represented by at least one country/place. § Students will research their chosen countries/places by relating characteristics of their countries/places to the 5 Themes of Geography (Location, Place, Region, Movement, and Human-Environment Interactions) and according to the specifications of checklists and assessment rubrics. § Students will include a works cited page. § Groups will determine the format for a group presentation of their completed research, i.e., PowerPoint presentation, video presentation, news conference format, interview/talk show format, TV travel show format, or other format with teacher approval. § Each group will design a world tour tee shirt to represent their group’s tour. There will be a tee shirt contest to select: (a) the most original, (b) the most informative, (c) the most eye-appealing, and (d) the most neatly made tee shirts. § Research will be conducted in school, during class time. However, students may choose to do additional research outside of class time or the school day. § Students will be assessed individually on their research for their two countries/places. Groups will be assessed on their presentations. Separate assessment rubrics will be used. 4. Students complete “Checklist for Research Skills.” 5. Homework:
Read the introduction page again. On
the back of the introduction page student lists ideas for the project and
whom he/she would like to work with in the class. (Review criteria for selecting
groups—compatibility, able to meet to work outside of school if necessary,
similar interests, similar work ethic and goals, etc.) Also, a 2-pocket,
pronged “research/project folder” is due tomorrow. (This was assigned a week
ago to ensure that students had enough time to get this.) Day 2: 1. Pass out “Information Gathered Pages”. Read and discuss. 2. Pass out assessment rubrics. Read and discuss. 3. Read and discuss the “Student/Parent Contract” (on the reverse side of the assessment rubrics). As it is read, students check off the appropriate boxes and sign at the bottom. Discuss. 4. Homework: Discuss project with parents. Parents read and sign the “Student/Parent Contract.” Day 3: 1. Assign “continents” worksheets for partners to complete. Encourage students to use a variety of reference sources in the classroom. 2. While students are working on continents worksheets, conference with individual students about their ideas and group choices. 3. Pass out “The 5 Themes of Geography” study sheet for students to keep in their “research/project folder.” 4. Homework: Continents worksheets due on Day 10. Day 4: 1. Divide students into groups or students may choose their own groups depending on the class and students. Guide students who have difficulty selecting a group. 2. Read and discuss the “Requirements and Checklist for World Tour 2004.” 3. Instruct groups to brainstorm ideas for their tour and explore maps, atlases, textbooks, and other print material in the classroom for a basic tour plan. 4. Homework: Students decide what places they will be researching. Day 5: 1. Groups meet and finalize their tour destinations. 2. Groups complete the “World Tour 2004 Continents and Places” graphic organizer about their tour and keep this in their “research project/ folder.” Day 6: 1. Introduce mission statements with examples. 2. Explain the “Mission Statement Rubric” to students. 3. Each
group will write a rough draft mission statement for the purpose of their
tour. Provide a form for this. 4. Homework: Final copy of mission statement due on Day
8. Day 7: 1. Librarian will meet with the students in the classroom to instruct the students on MLA format for filling out source card information for their research. 2. Explain copyrights and plagiarism. 3. Homework: Complete source card information worksheets. Final copy of group mission statement due tomorrow. Day 8: 1. Collect groups’ mission statements. 2. Librarian will meet with the students in the computer lab to begin research instructions: § Use an overhead screen and LCD projector, to explain how to access INFOhio electronic resources. § Pass out INFOhio and SIRS Discoverer information handouts. Ø Days 9 - 18: Classes will meet in the library or
computer room to conduct individual research and to receive additional
instruction using the Internet or other resources as needed. Day 9: Homework: Continents worksheets (from Day 3) due tomorrow. Day 10: Collect continents worksheets (from Day 3). Day 12: 1. Pass out progress checklist (“Project Check List # 1”) for students to complete to determine what they have accomplished and what they still need to do. 2. Conference with students to determine how they are progressing based on their checklist responses. 3. Homework: The first set of completed “Information Gathered Pages” to be completed by day 14. Day 13: Homework: The completed first set of “Information Gathered Pages” due tomorrow. Day 14: 1. Collect first set of “Information Gathered Pages.” 3. Provide examples and a checklist (“Format for Group Presentation”) for groups to determine what format their final presentation will be. 4. Conference with groups to approve their final presentation formats. Day 15: 1. Pass out “Exploring the Continents” packets to groups. Explain that this is the format for their group world map. Review the instructions with the class. Inform students who researched islands that are not included in the “Exploring the Continents” packet that they will have to draw the islands on their map. Remind them to draw the islands in scale to the continents. 2. Pass out map rubric and discuss. 3. Pass out “Group Planner for World Tour 2004.” Have groups start to fill in job assignments. Day 17: 1. Librarian will meet with students to instruct them about how to set up their works cited page. Pass out the works cited handout and the works cited page rubric. 2. Pass out second progress checklist (“Project Check List #2”) for students to complete to determine what they have accomplished and what they still need to do. 3. Pass out the tee shirt rubric and discuss. 4. Pass out the “sloppy-copy” pattern for the world tour tee shirt for groups to design. 5. Conference with students to determine how they are progressing based on their checklist responses. 6. Students who have completed their research should work on their group’s world tour tee shirt and map. 7. Homework: The second set of completed “Information Gathered Pages” is due on day 19. Day 19: 1. Collect the completed second set of “Information Gathered Pages.” 2. Pass out “Giving Oral Presentations” handout and discuss. 3. Groups begin to put together their final presentations. 4. Groups work on maps and tee shirts. Day 20: 1. Groups continue to work on their maps, tee shirts, and final presentations. Day 21: 1.
Pass out “Group Final Presentation Checklist” for
groups to complete. 2. Pass out final individual checklist for students to complete. 3. Homework: Complete the project. 4. Note: Students begin their 11-day Spring break
tomorrow. Day 22: 1. Groups finalize any last minute details for their presentations. (If groups are prepared, presentations can start today.) Ø Days 23-26 Groups present their projects! (Collect all “research/project folders” on Day 23.)
Describe how instruction can be differentiated according to learner needs, to help all learners either meet the intent of the specified indicator(s) or, if the indicator is already met, to advance beyond the specified indicator(s). 1. For special needs students with low reading skills lower level reading materials should be provided. In addition, these students may need to research only one country/place, rather than two. 2. Partnering low ability students to work together to complete the research for one country/place. Depending on their success, they could then work together to research a second country/place. 3. Partnering low ability and average ability students to work together to complete the research for each country/place. 4. For students with attention/focusing difficulties, continuous teacher/librarian-monitoring throughout the research class periods and close proximity to the teacher/librarian to keep the student(s) focused. 5. For students who have eye-hand coordination difficulties or other writing problems, provide an “Alpha Smart” for their written responses. Also, setting up the “Information Gathered Pages” with text form fields that allow the student to use a computer to directly type-in their research findings on the “Information Gathered Pages” is helpful for these students. 6. One-on-one guidance during research for unmotivated students. 7. Visually decreasing the amount of research needed by folding over, cutting apart, or simply covering portions of text on the “Information Gathered Pages” for students with attention/focusing difficulties, and unmotivated or frustrated students. 8. Encouraging students to be creative with the format of their final presentations provides opportunity for students to go beyond the general requirements.
These are ideas for all students to continue learning on this topic -- in class or outside of class. § Students create their ideal place, indicating how the characteristics of their created place connect to the 5 Themes of Geography. § Students hypothesize how the places they toured would be different if the “human-environment interactions” (one of the 5 Themes of Geography) within those places were different. § Students determine their own “regions” (one of the 5 Themes of Geography) for the world and identify the characteristics that they used to determine those regions.
Describe work that will be assigned to students outside of the classroom. § Students write ideas for their tour. § Have parents read and sign student/parent contract. § Continue using INFOhio resources, as well as other resources at home to complete the research for the project in order to meet deadlines. § Complete source card information. § Use completed source card information to write a “Works Cited” page. § Complete and check “Information Gathered Pages” before deadlines. § Complete continents worksheets. § Complete world map. § Complete tee shirt. § Students will need to meet outside of school to practice their final presentation.
Tell how the lesson can be integrated with other content areas to strengthen student learning. Math Connections: § After students plan the sequence of stops on their tour and the mode of travel, they then calculate the distance they will travel and determine the travel expenses of the tour. § Students find alternate routes and modes to travel and calculate those expenses. § Students determine the exchange rate between U.S. dollars and the currency of the places they will tour. English/ Reading Connections: § Students write a travel journal of their tour. § Students create travel brochures for their tour. § Students compile a dictionary of basic English words and their equivalent in the language of the places they tour. § Students write to penpals in the places they tour. § Students read a biography about a significant person from a country/place they researched. § Students write a press release about their tour. Science Connections: § Students research the different types of vegetation that are native to the places on their tour. § Students research the various native/endangered/or extinct animals of the places on their tour. § Students investigate environmental concerns of the places on their tour. § Students compare/contrast the climates of the places they toured with the climate of where they live. § Students conjecture what effects global warming would have on the places they toured.
For teachers List the materials needed for the teacher. § Overhead projector and screen § Answer keys for continents worksheets (for Day 3) § Mission Statements overhead transparency (for Day 6) § LCD projector and screen (for Day 8) §
INFOhio and SIRS Discoverer handouts (For Day
8) §
Works cited page overhead transparency,
handout, and rubric (for Day 17) §
An actual world tour tee shirt as an example
for the students (for Day 17) §
Final assessment rubric For students List the materials needed for the students. § Research/project folder § All handouts, graphic organizers, checklists, and rubrics listed in each day’s lesson plan and at the end of this entire lesson plan. § Source card worksheets for citing their sources of information. § Markers, colored pencils, scissors, pens, pencils, erasers, glue, paper for their group map and tee shirt § Computers with Internet access (Students in our school are required to have a school-authorized personal password in order to access the Internet on school computers.) § Reference and trade books § Maps § Whatever additional materials groups will need for their final presentations—video camera, poster board, PowerPoint software, props, etc.—depending on the format of their presentation
List key terms that need to be defined prior to or as part of instruction. § The 5 Themes of Geography § Absolute location § Relative location § Human-Environment Interaction: § Modify § Adapt § Depend § Region § Place: § Human/cultural characteristics § Physical/natural characteristics § Movement § Mission statement § Sources of information § Reliable sources of information § Works cited § Works cited page
Suggest ideas for integrating technology into the lesson. This project relies heavily on integrating technology. Students are instructed in accessing information from the Internet, in particular INFOhio and |
