ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

In completing an analysis of need for this instructional unit, I identified several gaps between “what is and what needs to be” in my classroom. In analyzing data collected from the North Dakota State Assessment tests from 2003-2004, 33% of the 8th grade students are partially proficient and 8% are novice in Content Standard 1(Reading): Gather and Organize Information. Research also indicates that many of our students are performing below proficiency in meeting several technology standards. I have found these same needs to be present in the 6th grade classroom. With this unit of study on the quality of water, I hope to challenge the students to collect data with probes and share that data by writing it in clear, concise paragraphs in addition to using tables and graphs.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding:
I want students to understand what constitutes “healthy water.” I also want students to understand that not all water filters filter out the same impurities.Goal(s):
Students will understand the characteristics of healthy water. Students will differentiate between the different types of water filtration methods.
  

Questions Answered

Essential questions:
1. How can you tell if this water sample is healthy?
2. How would filtering this sample of water make it healthier and which filtration
method would you use on each sample? Why?
3. Would you drink this water? Why or why not?
Objectives:
Using multiple resources, students will do research to define what is “healthy water” by identifying 3 components that are present in healthy water. Students will be able to manipulate the computer probes by hooking them up to the computer and reading the results after testing the water samples. Students will be able to collect data from the computer probes and present the information in table/graph form. Students will construct a “simple” filter by using a variety of suggested materials to test the water samples for measurement of dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, and bacteria. Students will be able to recognize the differences in water filtration methods and use those methods to filter water samples.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding?
  Traditional quizzes

What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding?
  Classroom discussion with academic prompts

What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?
  After testing the water samples with probes before and after filtration, the students will prepare a computer generated graph/table that reflects their findings.

What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect?
  Classroom observations, work sample, journal entries, rubric assessment

Instructional Strategies

Students will use both inquiry-based and problem-based learning. Since most of us take healthy water for granted, the students will use multiple resources to explore what qualities are needed for water to be healthy. After collecting the water samples from different sources, such as tap water, well water, free standing water, and bottled water, the students will test each sample and compare those findings to the other samples. The students will be testing for measurement of dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, and bacteria. Each sample will then be filtered to see if the quality of the water can be improved, and students will explore which filtration method is the most effective. The students will be using a carbon filter, the distillation process, and a “simple” filter constructed from a variety of materials. The students will be working in small groups.