Digital Wetlands

1. Activate prior knowledge by brainstorming all words, phrases, and ideas the students have about what they already know about the wetlands. With technology you could use programs that allow making concept maps or webbing. Students could create their own map on their computer. Give students time to create their own list before sharing. Take time to share by passing around or moving to another work station to read from someone in their group’s ideas. Then allow time to add to their concept map of words they might have thought of after seeing someone else’s ideas. Take time to do an aloud share; make sure to ask at least one person from each group.
2. Make a class concept map by using the teacher station. Start the map with using the same program with either computer with projector or computer with white board. Allow each group to collaborate and generate a list of several words, ideas, or phases that they would like to contribute to the class map. While creating the class map start pulling information from the students about making categories that each of their words might fit into. This will show the students where they will be going with their mapping. With technology you should be able to move ideas around. Rank them from most general to most specific. Place the large organizing concepts, principles, or laws on top. Then organize ideas by attributes or characteristics. Once you have generated a substantial list; use the linking tool to connect the large concepts from the top to the ideas and less general ideas. To add completeness to your map they will start to add linking words or connecting words between the ideas that create a phrase.
3. Once at your outdoor day, students can use the digital camera to take pictures of examples of what had previously been discussed during the in class brainstorming concept mapping activity. Students should also feel free to continue taking snapshots of all of the other aspects of what they have seen or learned from the day. Their scientific observation will be through the eyes of a digital lens. Students will share photos and be able to expand on what they add to their photo mapping while continuing with their experience in the wetlands.
4. Students will download their photos and place them in a photo gallery for their future project. They will be able to choose from different projects to share their knowledge of the wetlands. These projects can be done individually, partner, or group of 4 or 5.
a. Project 1 - They can continue with the concept mapping by adding and deleting words or phrases that complete their understanding of the wetlands. They can go through their photo gallery to refresh their knowledge of what they observed.
b. Project 2 – Take phrases from the concept mapping and create sentences that will become factual information to a multi-media presentation. Depending on the technology skill level of the students they can create a multi-page presentation that includes the photos they took with sentences that describe the digital information.
c. Project 3 – Students can choose from their photo gallery to create a single or multi picture collage of the wetlands. The collage should be created to a larger size and laminated for the culminating part of the project. The student should create a simulated copy of “shaking” out the words. They will be working with a small group of their peers, as in reciprocal teaching, and trying to find all the words they can from the picture collage that relate to the wetlands and what they know. They should be able to generate a similar list plus more that are from the brainstorming activity. The picture collage should be placed upon something that the student should be able to write on or around. They will use lead lines to connect what they see in the photo to the words they write along the side. Once they having “shaken” out all the words they can think of they should take the words and created and turn them into sentences. The sentences can be formed by someone using the computer workstation and typing in the sentences as they are formulated. Once the sentences have been constructed they can group the sentences with similar details to form their paragraphs.