PBL Snow Project

Topic: Hazardous Weather



Part 1:  Driving question: What are your three initial driving questions?

    • 1 - What safety precautions should one take when a hurricane is about to hit?

    • 2 - How should a school determine whether or not they should cancel school due to snow?

    • 3 - How can we track the weather patterns during the changing seasons?

  • What is your one, final driving question?

How should a school determine whether or not they should cancel school when it snows?


  • Background information of this driving question:

    We are working with grade 2, targeting science related standards of weather and incorporating PBL with it. The project will require the teacher to provide background knowledge to the class concerning the issue - snow and it’s effects. The students then will use this knowledge to brainstorm their ideas in how they will present their conclusions. Students may research salt and it’s benefits with the road, the best line of travel to reach the school, etc. There are a lot of options for students to be creative, and requires intense thinking. The students will also use this knowledge in the real-world, which is important too. Students will present their conclusions based on evidence at  the end of a couple days work with a poster or slideshow.


  • Why do you think this is a good driving question?

For a class to be able to answer this question they are going to have to study the weather when it’s cold and snowing outside.  Then they need to gain knowledge about what the standards are for what their school zone constitutes as a day that is too cold for the students to be outside waiting for the bus.  By gaining knowledge about these two things they can then see how much time in advance the school district has to have in order to prepare for an event that might result in school being canceled.  Which would include things like salting the roads.  This issue is very important to students because they are going to need to know if there is a snow day with enough time ahead of school’s start time, in order for them to not show up at school.  Also parents have to find places for their students to stay if they have to go to work and can’t stay home with them to take care of them.  There are going to be a lot of different factors that go into canceling school so these students could come to different conclusions by using the different evidence they find.  By doing their research the students will be able to back up their conclusions with their own evidence to support the conclusion they come up with.  Also they will be able to use a presentation to show the path they took through finding all of this evidence and how they aligned it all when it came together.  



Part2: Grabber

  • What is your grabber?

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2017/01/06/metro-nashville-schools-close-early-due-snow/96238786/

An article/video about how a school in Tennessee decided to have school when it snowed, and there was a bus accident with injuries that led to parents being very upset. This will potentially show students that snow is relevant to today’s safety within schools, and trigger their interest in helping the problem.


  • Why do you think this grabber is beneficial and how it  align with your driving question?

I think the story grabs the students attention because it is an area they can all relate to because most of them ride the bus to school so this subject does pertain to them. I think that it is also a high emotion situation because the it talks about the school bus wrecking due to the snow and that could be a situation any of the students could potentially be in. Since the article is from a news channel in Tennessee it supports the authenticity of the article. The students would be introduced to the article and then come up with their own opinion on if they think the school should have had school and then support their opinion with evidence and make a presentation to present to the class.


  • Culminating activities: List all your activities here:

  1. Introduction:

    After the grabber, it is my responsibility to introduce the students to the season winter and snow. The students will learn the basic properties of snow itself. I will do this by providing a picture to show its properties and how it forms to precipitate to the ground. From there, students will learn how it can become potentially dangerous -  it is slippery and can develop into large amounts which stops people from being able to move their cars easily. From there, I will introduce topics in which prevent the dangers of snow: salt, snowplows, and what precautions people should take when it snows.


2. Discussion

         After the lecture, students will be asked if snow impacts their life in anyway. During the discussion, students will  be talking about the dangers of snow, safety precautions, the effects of salt and snow plowing with large amounts of snow. Students will be sharing their thoughts on snow and what part snow has played in their life, if any at all.This is when students will brainstorm and come up with their ideas in which why/when school should be cancelled. They will also learn from other’s ideas to develop and support their claim.


3. Group Work

    The students will get into groups of 4 that the teacher has assigned with people that are going through the same thought process and coming to similar conclusions about this topic.  They will culminate their ideas together to come to what they feel is the best conclusion to the driving question. Students will collaborate and brainstorm together to gather the best evidence that supports their claim.  Once they have come to that conclusion the students will create a poster to present to the class to convince the others in the class that their conclusion is correct.  When they are presenting they are going to use evidence from what they have learned to support their claim.


4. Presentations

    Now students are ready to present their conclusion. They will do this in front of the class as a group. There will be a question/answer time after each presentation so students can share their opinions. This is when we will follow the rubric and grade their work.  Each student will be expected to contribute to each part of presenting their work.


  • Why do you think this is a good activity for PBL? Authentic?

The activity is authentic because each student can think about their own experiences in regards to snow while applying their new knowledge to snow. They would then have the opportunity to defend their solution to the problem or any ideas they come up with for their presentation. It does require student collaboration because they are trying to share their ideas and find a solution they all came up with and support. We can judge what the students have learned from this activity by the evidence they use to support their claim. The rubric we create for the project will also set standards that the students know they will have to meet for the project.


  • How will I judge what students have learned from the activity?

    We will know that the students have learned from the activity when they present to the class and offer accurate evidence to support their claim as to when school should be cancelled. It is also important that students within the class are learning from each other in the discussion, their groups, and class presentations. The rubric will also show how well the students displayed their knowledge.































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