Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities

Lesson Idea Name: Worms and How They Impact Our Environment
Content Area: Science
Grade Level(s): 2nd Grade
Content Standard Addressed: S2E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather,
plants, animals, and humans cause changes to the environment.

Technology Standard Addressed: Knowledge Constructor: Students critically curate a variety of resources
using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning
experiences for themselves and others

Selected Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity: Journey North

URL(s) to support the lesson: S2E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather,
plants, animals, and humans cause changes to the environment.

Describe how you would incorporate an Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity in your
classroom.
Students learn a lot about how plants, and animals impact our environment whether it is a good or bad
impact. The students will be learning about worms and how worms impact their environment good and bad.
Students will be learning how they move around and what to look for when looking for an earthworm.
Journey North will be useful when the students are doing discovery learning on the background of the
earthworm. The children can read about the earthworms and their migration cycle. The students will use
Journey North again later when they learn more about Earthworms.

Students will be invited to explore on Journey North and find out any information they can on earthworms on
the Journey North website. It is important they get this information so they can share with their classmates
when they are asked what they learned. The information the teacher gathers will be put into a bubbl.us all
about earthworms. The students will each put an idea into place so that they all have been represented. Next
the teacher will have a lesson outside of the school and take the kids on an adventure. The children will be
asked to use the shovel given to dig and see if they can find any worms. When worms are found, the students
can then report the sighting to the Journey North website where other peers and schools can see where they
found the worms.
What technologies would be required to implement this proposed learning activity in a classroom?
Technology needed for the learning activity using Journey North, will be an iPad. The students could also use
a computer of any kind to reach the website. Most classrooms are more likely to have a class set of iPads
rather than having enough computers for their students.
Describe how the following features are addressed in this learning experience (note: all of them may not be
addressed in the project, but most should be if you are reaching a high LoTi Level).
a. Collaboration with peers, near-peers, mentors outside their classroom and often beyond their
school: The collaboration with peers happens in the class and when they are exploring to find the
earthworms. Not mentioned in the project, but there are safe collaborations with students from other
schools, teachers and scientists.
b. Student-centered learning and knowledge creation (creating original data and or producing original
products as a result of engaging in a project): Students explore to find the worms and they are
producing their own data of where the earthworms are found. Their data is being shared with people
on Journey North.

Spring 2018_SJB
 Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities
c. Higher-order thinking: Students engage in higher-order thinking when they are asked prompted
questions by the teacher such as predicting where the worms may be. Also using previously learned
knowledge and applying it to what they are learning now.
d. Students publishing their original work to others who will use/care about their product: Students
will be posting their findings where they first saw the earthworms. They will be sharing this
information on the Journey North website where other schools can compare findings.
Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):
☒ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☒ Evaluating ☒ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration
☐ Level 5: Expansion ☒ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

Engagement: Engagement in the lesson comes from the students getting to explore the website, but then
getting to pick out facts that they found interesting to share with their peers. They also get to explore for the
worms on their own while they are outside and then publish their own findings for peers, teachers, and
scientists to see.
Representation: Students are at will of their own to choose what type of information they would like to share
with the class. Each student’s interesting fact is acknowledged, and peers respond to the information they
share.
Action and Expression: Students are exploring for worms outside. They are putting in action to find the
worms so that they are able to report their findings on Journey North to get feedback from other schools,
peers and scientists. The children feel that their findings are important when other people start sharing their
thoughts with those students.
Lesson idea implementation and Internet Safety Policies: When using any kind of technology, the students
are at a risk of their privacy getting into the wrong hands. The teacher’s main job is to protect the children’s
identity and ensure safety to that child. When we are working on the website, to ensure that the child’s work
is protected, the website has a password page to make sure only those who need to access the information
can. Always making sure that teachers have consent from parents before they post anything on to a website
such as Journey North is very important. Keeping copies of those pages in the class will be easy to send one
home to receive permission from the parents. Inform parents and administrators of what the class is doing
before they do it.
Reflective Practice: This lesson was within a unit and did not cover a whole unit. We talked about
earthworms and how they impact our environment. We looked into the life of an earthworm and researched
earthworms on Journey North. We posted our findings on the page so that others could benefit and then we
move onto other animals and how they impact the environment. We will talk about how cows, chickens,
horses, flowers and trees and how they impact our environment.

Spring 2018_SJB