Running Head: ASSIGNMENT 3A-PROJECT BASED ACTIVITY 1

Assignment 3A-Project Based Activity

Bjorn Hansen

National University
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Looking at the California Common Core State Standards for high school science I

noticed that there is a bigger emphasis of reading and writing in the subject of science instead of

the actual content of what is taught. I feel that this will be helpful for students as they further

their education in college. I decided to focus on a standard that I felt is very necessary for

students to learn in order to succeed in a future of science. I picked standard 7 under the section

of Research to Build and Present Knowledge. The standard is stated as follows, “ Conduct short

as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated

question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize

multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.”

(California Department of Education, 2013, p. 88). It is very important for students to be able to

correctly find resources to use to answer questions presented to them or ones that they have

thought of themselves. They need to be able to find and use credible sources correctly to back up

what their writing is about.

An activity that I came up with would be for students to pick a scientific topic that they

like and ask a question about it. For example, I really enjoy scuba diving, but have noticed that

there seems to be a decreasing amount of kelp along the Southern California coast. I may ask

what are the causes to this action, and research it in order to find an answer. Once the students

have picked a topic and a question I would bring the students to the library/ computer lab to learn

about how to use a database to find credible sources to use. This lesson would be done either by

the librarian, if available, or myself. During this lesson I would point out the importance of using

credible sources to back up opinions, and also emphasis how to correctly cite these sources to not

plagiarize someone else’s work.

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Once the students have done their research they must write a paper that shows what they

have learned about their problem. They will do peer editing to ensure that students have cited

their facts, and adequately answered their question before submitting their final version to me.

This is intended to be a very long assignment, maybe over the course of a month to get students

familiar with how everything should be done.

After the paper is submitted the students will be assigned to do an experiment/set one up

about their chosen topic. If the experiment would take months to conduct it may be best for the

student to explain the experiment in great detail. This would include the materials needed the

variables being used and altered, and what the purpose of the experiment is with their hypothesis.

This will give students the chance to figure how a scientist operates. They will see the challenges

that one might face. After the experiment is done the students will need to do an in class

presentation. The purpose of this presentation is for students to be able to explain their problem

and experiment. This is done on a daily basis in the scientific community. The students will

discuss the problem that they picked and the experiment they picked. They will discuss the

process of the experiment and how what they did in their experiment either supported or

contradicted their hypothesis.

Overall the standards that are in place now are placing a greater emphasis on scientific

skills rather than content. This means that instead of shoving more and more content at our

students we will be teaching them how to use the content. How will they find it themselves, what

can they do with it? I think this is a great thing for our future students and I cannot wait to

implement this type of learning in my classroom.

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Reference:

California Department of Education. (2013, March 13). California Common Core State

Standards: English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and

Technical Subjects. Retrieved March 21, 2018, from

http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf