Unit Overview

 

My Science Fair

 

 

Participants

Participants were all fourth and fifth grade students at our school, except one class of fourth graders for whom the project was optional (Below Basic and Far Below Basic learners). The participants  included resource students, GATE students, and students of our general demographic make up which includes 63.5% Hispanic, 28.5% white, 3.7 % black, 2.1% Asian, 1.0% American Indian, 0.7% Filipino, and 0.5% Pacific Islander. The total number of students participating was approximately 170.

Major Goals

The major goals of this unit are as follows:

Technology

Academic

Time Line

This project was assigned 3 months prior to the scheduled science fair to allow for experimentation to be completed. However the actual in class lessons were conducted once every two weeks over this period of time encompassing 6 lessons for a period of 1 hour, not including presentation of the projects by students which took two weeks, 4 days per week, one hour each class period. In addition there were two teachers evaluating the student presentations simultaneously in different classrooms; One fourth grade teacher and myself, a four/five combination class teacher.

Assessments

Assessment is ongoing through bi-weekly conferencing with the students. In addition the following rubrics were used to assess student work.

Science Fair Grading Sheet Language Arts and Science Standards Grade 5

Science Fair Grading Sheet Language Arts and Science Standards Grade 4

Judges Scoring Sheet

California Standards fourth Grade

To see how these standards correlate to National Standards in Language go to http://ncte.org/about/over/standards/110846.htm

 

Language Arts

2.0 Reading Comprehension
2.4 Evaluate new information and hypotheses by testing them against known information and ideas.
2.5 Compare and contrast information on the same topic after reading several passages or articles.
2.7 Follow multiple-step instructions in a basic technical manual (e.g., how to use computer commands or video games).

 Writing Strategies

1.1 Select a focus, an organizational structure, and a point of view based upon purpose, audience, length, and format requirements.
1.6 Locate information in reference texts by using organizational features (e.g., prefaces, appendixes).
1.7 Use various reference materials (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus, card catalog, encyclopedia, online information) as an aid to writing.
 

 Writing Applications

2.3 Write information reports:
a. Frame a central question about an issue or situation.
b. Include facts and details for focus.
c. Draw from more than one source of information (e.g., speakers, books, newspapers, other media sources)

Listening and Speaking Strategies

Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication
 

1.5 Present effective introductions and conclusions that guide and inform the listener's understanding of important ideas and evidence.
1.6 Use traditional structures for conveying information (e.g., cause and effect, similarity and difference, and posing and answering a question).
1.7 Emphasize points in ways that help the listener or viewer to follow important ideas and concepts.
1.8 Use details, examples, anecdotes, or experiences to explain or clarify information.
1.9 Use volume, pitch, phrasing, pace, modulation, and gestures appropriately to enhance meaning.

 Speaking Applications

2.2 Make informational presentations:
a. Frame a key question.
b. Include facts and details that help listeners to focus.
c. Incorporate more than one source of information (e.g., speakers, books, newspapers, television or radio reports).
 

California Science Standards fourth Grade

To see how these standards correlate to National Science Standards go to http://books.nap.edu/html/nses/html/

 

a. Differentiate observation from inference (interpretation) and know scientists' explanations come partly from what they observe and partly from how they interpret their observations.

c. Formulate and justify predictions based on cause-and-effect relationships.

d. Conduct multiple trials to test a prediction and draw conclusions about the relationships between predictions and results.

Language Arts Standards Fifth Grade

To see how these standards correlate to National Standards in Language go to http://ncte.org/about/over/standards/110846.htm

 

Listening and Speaking Strategies
 

1.4 Select a focus, organizational structure, and point of view for an oral presentation.
1.5 Clarify and support spoken ideas with evidence and examples.
1.6 Engage the audience with appropriate verbal cues, facial expressions, and gestures.

1.8 Analyze media as sources for information, entertainment, persuasion, interpretation of events, and transmission of culture.

Speaking Applications

2.2 Deliver informative presentations about an important idea, issue, or event by the following means:
a. Frame questions to direct the investigation.
b. Establish a controlling idea or topic.
c. Develop the topic with simple facts, details, examples, and explanations

Reading Comprehension

2.4 Draw inferences, conclusions, or generalizations about text and support them with textual evidence and prior knowledge.

Writing Strategies

Research and Technology
 

1.3 Use organizational features of printed text (e.g., citations, end notes, bibliographic references) to locate relevant information.
1.4 Create simple documents by using electronic media and employing organizational features (e.g., passwords, entry and pull-down menus, word searches, the thesaurus, spell checks).
1.5 Use a thesaurus to identify alternative word choices and meaning

Word Recognition
 

1.1 Read aloud narrative and expository text fluently and accurately and with appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression.

Vocabulary and Concept Development

1.2 Use word origins to determine the meaning of unknown words.
1.3 Understand and explain frequently used synonyms, antonyms, and homographs.
1.4 Know abstract, derived roots and affixes from Greek and Latin and use this knowledge to analyze the meaning of complex words (e.g., controversial).
1.5 Understand and explain the figurative and metaphorical use of words in context.

Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials)

Structural Features of Informational Materials

2.1 Understand how text features (e.g., format, graphics, sequence, diagrams, illustrations, charts, maps) make information accessible and usable.
2.2 Analyze text that is organized in sequential or chronological order.

Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text
 

2.3 Discern main ideas and concepts presented in texts, identifying and assessing evidence that supports those ideas.
2.4 Draw inferences, conclusions, or generalizations about text and support them with textual evidence and prior knowledge.

Expository Critique
 

2.5 Distinguish facts, supported inferences, and opinions in text.

Writing Strategies

Organization and Focus
 

1.1 Create multiple-paragraph narrative compositions:
a. Establish and develop a situation or plot.
b. Describe the setting.
c. Present an ending.

Create multiple-paragraph expository compositions:
 

a. Establish a topic, important ideas, or events in sequence or chronological order.
b. Provide details and transitional expressions that link one paragraph to another in a clear line of thought.
c. Offer a concluding paragraph that summarizes important ideas and details.

Research and Technology
 

1.3 Use organizational features of printed text (e.g., citations, end notes, bibliographic references) to locate relevant information.
1.4 Create simple documents by using electronic media and employing organizational features (e.g., passwords, entry and pull-down menus, word searches, the thesaurus, spell checks).
1.5 Use a thesaurus to identify alternative word choices and meanings.

Evaluation and Revision
 

1.6 Edit and revise manuscripts to improve the meaning and focus of writing by adding, deleting, consolidating, clarifying, and rearranging words and sentences.

 Writing Applications
 

2.3 Write research reports about important ideas, issues, or events by using the following guidelines:
a. Frame questions that direct the investigation.
b. Establish a controlling idea or topic.
c. Develop the topic with simple facts, details, examples, and explanations.

Science Standards Fifth Grade

To see how these standards correlate to National Science Standards go to http://nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/html/overview.html

 

Investigation and Experimentation

b. Develop a testable question

c. Plan and conduct a simple investigation based on a student-developed               question  and write instructions others can follow to carry out the procedure.

d. Identify the dependent and controlled variables in an investigation

e. Identify a single independent variable in a scientific investigation and explain  how this variable can be used to collect information to answer a question about the results of the experiment.