Teaching Sose: Lesson And Content Review

TEACHING SOSE: LESSON & CONTENT REVIEW

QSCC/ONTARIO SYLLABUS

In the Queensland Syllabus of Studies of Society and Environment the presentation activity focused on the strand of Systems, Resources and Power 3.1: Students make inferences about interactions between people and natural cycles. The lesson would be appropriate in the Ontario Syllabus working into the grade three curriculums about communities with the specific expectation that students describe some possible relationships between communities and natural environments.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The learning outcomes were achieved through the unit and they were expressed in the activity presented. To satisfy the Ontario curriculum it would better serve the outcome if the focus was more on a group of people and their effects rather then focusing on individuals.

PRODUCTIVE PEDAGOGY & AIMS

The aim of the lesson was to provide a fun and interactive way for students to understand the cyclic nature of pollution and the environment. Student teachers in the class gained experience in a whole class activity using different multiple intelligences as a method to help alternative learners in their future classrooms. The presentation showed others a creative way to use Gardner's Multiple Intelligence in a unit. Linguistic Intelligence was shown in the activity presented because students had to use spoken language and terms to express how they in character were affected by the pollution, and they had to remember and express the cyclic nature of food chains and therefore express how they would be affected even if it was not first hand. The presentation was effective to show how Gardner's can work within a unit, however, a more appropriate activity could have been chosen to show explicitly how the different intelligences can be developed in the classroom. Perhaps it would have been more effective to follow the activity by the personal journal log to have others have a more first hand experience with the multiple intelligences.

Intrapersonal and Interpersonal intelligence was covered in the personal journal entry and the information reports when students would be asked to write about their feeling and fears about pollution. They were asked to write about their feelings on polluting our planet from the intentions, motivations and desires of other people to their own feelings, fears and motivations. The personal journal entry also asked students to look at their daily life and the pollution they contribute to the environment and they were asked how they might be able to change aspects of their lives to help protect our planet.

Blooms Revised Taxonomy was also presented to the class during the presentation in terms of how the six lessons in the unit were proposed in order, they went from information is presented going from the known to the unknown. The beginning lessons ask students to remember and understand about littler and pollutions while the calumniating activities require students to apply and analyse their knowledge and understanding of pollution, its effects on the environment and ways to reduce the problem.

RATIONALE

The presentation on protecting our planet was designed to further students understanding about how pollution affects every aspect of our environment and the food chain. The humans created the various pollutants and through the presentation it was clear to see that humans paid the price in the end. The statistics presented n the introduction was designed to give students an understanding of pollution on a grandeur scale. That the county they live in and the world are all being negatively affected by pollution. The activity takes the large scale pollution problem and allows student the chance to see that not only big companies and industries are responsible, each individual human has a responsibility to our planet.

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS

The presentation worked very well with the class and everyone enjoyed themselves and was able to talk about what was happening to their Ð''character' being affected by the pollution. The activity should possibly have been expanded have it more information based. The pollutants could have been described in more detail and depth, and the effects on each Ð''character' thereafter could then have been expanded on. The presentation was to show the cyclic nature of our human pollution affecting the rest of the food chain and in the end harming humans. In order to make the activity more about the students and there actions more appropriate pollutants could have been chosen. Instead of an oil spill a plastic bag could have been thrown into the ocean, or a soda bottle could have been improperly discarded. This would have provided students with a more personal sense of responsibility and shown that even small pollutants have very large effects. Key skills we wanted the students to acquire were those similar to the Australian Ministers for Education stated in Marsh, "we wanted to equip students with the tools necessary to exercise judgement and responsibility in matters of morality, ethics and social justice" (Marsh, p.21). The school environment is not only responsible for teaching from textbooks, rather the school and its professionals have a responsibility to its students to prepare them with life skills that will promote lifelong learning. The skills and concepts we focus on throughout our activity revolve around living a healthy lifestyle and caring for the environment.

Cross-Curricular Links

The Ð''How to Save Our Planet' activity has strong cross-curricular links that relate to Level 3 English Strands in the Queensland Syllabus of Studies of Society and the Environment. Ð''Speaking & Listening' Cr 3.1, and Ð''Reading and Viewing' Cr 3.2 strands are used throughout the lesson when students use critical thinking to Ð''construct positive or negative representations of people, places, events, and things.' Students critically assess the actions of humans and the effects that they have on themselves and the environment. Through the use of a range of linguistic skills students will learn how to recognize, express and critically assess what they see happening in their environment on a daily basis.

Extension Activities

What Went Well

As a group we all agree that the activity was well planned and organised. The sequencing was effective