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Wild Flower Project


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Keywords: Classification, Science, Biology, Project, Wild Flowers
Subject(s): Biology, Earth Science, Life Science, Science
Grades 9 through 12
School: Johnson High School, Austin, TX
Planned By: Laura Johnson
Original Author: Laura Johnson, Austin
Class 1
Introduction (10- 15 min) - Thought Provoking Question - What makes a wild flower, wild? Students will be given note cards to write a short answer to the question. They will be asked to partner up compare answers. They then must create a new definition as to what they think a wild flower is. Each group will then share their answer with the class and we will come up with a class definition.

Explore - (10 - 20 min) students will use computers and the internet to look at various kinds of native texas wild flowers.

Types of Flowers - http://www.lone-star.net/wildflowers/sightings.htm
When flowers are in bloom - http://pages.prodigy.net/jospencer/

Explain - (20-30 min) Students will focus on the structure and function of wild flower plant parts brought in by the teacher, through dissection, observation and reporting.

Class 2
Elaborate - (10-15 min) Students will be assigned the wild flower project. Their goal is to explore the community surrounding the school, their neighborhoods and the city to find as many different kinds of wild flowers as possible. They will photograph the flowers in their natural state and then collect specimens to be brought back to the school to be pressed, laminated and then identified based on the characteristics of the plant. Each species is worth 5 points and the number of different kinds of families is worth 10 points. Their goal is to reach 100 points or more.

Elaborate 2 - (20 min) Powerpoint presentation of the characteristics of wild flowers and how to identify a wild flower versus a store bought flower.

Class 3
Closure - (90 min) At then end of the project the students will be required to create a digital presentation of their work to be presented to the class. Each presentation should last about 7 to 10 minutes. This is where the students really get to be creative.
Presentations could include the following:
- music video of wild flower adventure and discoveries
- movie of wild flower adventure and discoveries
- powerpoint of wild flower adventure and discoveries

Ideas:
-digital nature sketches of the flowers (just like Darwin did of the finches on Galapagos)
-music
-photography
-graphics
-animation
-digitalart collage
-digital created poster
-digitally created book

-anything goes as long as it's a digital presentation and is approved by the teacher.
Comments
In order for my class to successfully complete this project a lot of technology is needed that is currently unavailable inside my class. In order to inspire the different types of creativity each of my students possess, they would need access to many differnt kinds of technology (art programs like photoshop, digital drawing pads, digital cameras, digital camera recorders, computers or laptops, music programs, ect. Our school is a Title 1 School in Texas and doens't have the financial capability of bringing all of this technology to one type of class.
Cross-Curriculum Ideas
English classes could read Charles Darwin's 'Origin of Species' and analyze how Darwin went through his process of collecting, identifying, and analyzing different types of organisms.

Math - Graphing - Students could learn about the different types of graphs to represent data analysis of the types of flowers they aquired and in which areas most flowers were dominant in.
Follow-Up
Collection of different kinds of plants (hornworts, mosses, algae, vascular, horsetails, lycopods, ferns, seed plants, conifers, cycads, ginkos, gnetophytes, flowering plants).
Links: "Link to When Wild Flowers Bloom"
"Link to Types of Wild Flowers"
Materials: Early Composition, Pro Composition, Music, Video Tools, Animation, Screen Capture, Worksheets, Clip Art, Slideshow, Web Page, Authoring and Publishing, Podcasting, Database, Spreadsheet, Art Tools, Word Processor, Office Suite, Early Learning, High, Flash/USB Drives, Mice, Large Pro Monitors, LCD Monitors, Bags and Cases, Headsets, Keyboards, Power, Computer Accessories, Cables, Memory Cards, Batteries, Tripods, Camera Bags, Camera/Video Accessories, Printers, Microscopes, Wacom Tablets, DVD/VCR Players, Televisions, Electronics, PA Systems, Microphones, Digital Voice Recorders, Projector Screens, Portable, Projectors, Point and Shoot, Wildlife, Digital Cameras, Video Cameras, Sound Libraries, Midi Instruments, Internet Services, Student Resources, Assessment, Integrating Technology, Dyslexia
Other Items: 10 Computer or Laptop, $600.00 each, total of $6000.00
10 Photoshop liscense, $300.00 each, total of $3000.00