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Wipe Out Worksheets:creating collaborative

reference skills units that require higher level thinking

skills

Susan L. Garvin (susanlgarvin@cox.net)

Annie Weissman (annieweissman@aol.com)

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Understanding by Design The units were planned using the templates found in Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTigue (ASCD, 2005.) They have updated their ideas in the books The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units (2011) and The Understanding by Design Guide to Advanced Concepts in Creating and Reviewing Units (2012).

The book opens by analyzing the logic of backward design as an alternative to coverage and activity-oriented plans. The book proposes a multifaceted approach, with the six “facets” of understanding. The facets combine with backward design to provide a powerful, expanded array of practical tools and strategies for designing curriculum, instruction, and assessments that lead students at all grade

levels to genuine understanding.

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Three Stages of Designing a Unit

Stage One – Identify Desired Results

Established Goals

Essential Questions

Understandings

Key Knowledge and Skills

Stage Two – Evidence

Performance Tasks

Assessment and Reflection

Stage Three – Plan Learning Experiences

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Stage One: Established Goal

In the first step of the first stage, the planner identifies the desired results by first basing the unit on established goals. These are either national, state, or district content standards.

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Fourth Grade Biome Unit

First Step – Established goal.National Science Education Content Standard C: Life Science

Organisms and their environments: An organism’s patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism’s environment including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability of food and resources and the physical characteristics of the environment.

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Second Step: Essential Questions

The next step in the first stage is that the planner decides on the essential questions:

What is it that makes this unit worth studying? These questions are broad in nature but have specific answers. This is where the words of Bloom’s Taxonomy, especially why and how, are used.

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Essential Questions for Biome Unit

1. What is a biome and what are its characteristics?

 2. Where are the biomes on the earth?

 3. What are humans doing to change or influence the condition and future of the biomes?

4. Which biome do you live in?

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Third Step: Understandings

The third step in Stage One is to write down what understandings the students will learn. These are also broad statements.

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Understandings for the Biome Unit 

1. Students identify the characteristics of a biome.

2. Students identify the seven biomes, their characteristics, and where they are located.

3. Students understand that the plants and animals that live in each biome are interdependent.

4. Students understand that plants and animals have adapted to the biome in which they live.

5. Students understand that human activity affects the basic underlying conditions and future of biomes.

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Key Knowledge and Skills

The final step of Stage One is to break down the understandings into key knowledge and skills the students will learn from the unit.

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Key Knowledge and Skills of Biome Unit

1. Students define the key vocabulary of the unit: biome, taiga, tundra, grassland, deciduous, forest, desert, tropical, rainforest, savannah, climate, adaptation, annual, arid, atmosphere, basin, community, competition, conserve, drought, evergreen, humid, habitat, landforms, organism, perennial, prairie, species, steppe, symbiosis, and vegetation.

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Key knowledge and skills of Biome Unit

2. Students use the encyclopedia, Internet, dictionary, online catalog, and nonfiction books to research: location, climate, dominant plants, common animals and impact of humans.

3. Using Microsoft Publisher, students create a brochure on their assigned biome.

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Stage Two: Evidence

The second stage is to decide on what evidence will show that the students have acquired the understandings, key knowledge and skills, performance tasks.

The performance tasks should mirror the understandings, knowledge, and skills that have been targeted for the unit.

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Stage Two: Determine Acceptable Evidence of Biome Unit

• Performance Tasks:• Students make a brochure describing the

characteristics of their assigned biome.• Using the cooperative learning jigsaw

strategy, students present and teach their biome brochures to a small group.

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Assessment and ReflectionPart of the second stage is student self-assessment and reflection. Rubrics can either be used by the instructor to assess performance tasks or by the students to assess their performance tasks. The rubric in this unit was created on Rubistar, http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php . This is a free website at which all kinds of rubrics can be designed.

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CATEGORY 4 3 2 1

Writing - Grammar There are no grammatical mistakes in the brochure.

There are no grammatical mistakes in the brochure after feedback from an adult.

There are 1-2 grammatical mistakes in the brochure even after feedback from an adult.

There are several grammatical mistakes in the brochure even after feedback from an adult.

Content - Accuracy All facts in the brochure are accurate.

99-90% of the facts in the brochure are accurate.

89-80% of the facts in the brochure are accurate.

Fewer than 80% of the facts in the brochure are accurate.

Attractiveness & Organization

The brochure has exceptionally attractive formatting and well-organized information.

The brochure has attractive formatting and well-organized information.

The brochure has well-organized information.

The brochure's formatting and organization of material are confusing to the reader.

Sources Careful and accurate records are kept to document the source of 95-100% of the facts and graphics in the brochure.

Careful and accurate records are kept to document the source of 94-85% of the facts and graphics in the brochure.

Careful and accurate records are kept to document the source of 84-75% of the facts and graphics in the brochure.

Sources are not documented accurately or are not kept on many facts and graphics.

Graphics/Pictures Graphics go well with the text and there is a good mix of text and graphics.

Graphics go well with the text, but there are so many that they distract from the text.

Graphics go well with the text, but there are too few and the brochure seems "text-heavy".

Graphics do not go with the accompanying text or appear to be randomly chosen.

Knowledge Gained All students in the group can accurately answer all questions related to facts in the brochure and to technical processes used to create the brochure.

All students in the group can accurately answer most questions related to facts in the brochure and to technical processes used to create the brochure.

Most students in the group can accurately answer most questions related to facts in the brochure and to technical processes used to create the brochure.

Several students in the group appear to have little knowledge about the facts or technical processes used in the brochure.

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Stage Three: Plan Learning Experiences

The third and last stage is planning the learning experiences. They are made specific with the lesson plans for the unit. The dictionary lesson is to build background information, not for a particular product.

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Stage Three: Learning Experiences for Biome Unit

• The instructor reads a book and discusses the characteristics of a biome: location, climate, plants, animals, conditions, and future. S/he brainstorms identifying the seven biomes and introduces the performance tasks and rubric for the unit.

• Using a dictionary, students research key biome vocabulary words.

• Each group is assigned a biome [tundra, taiga (boreal forest), deciduous temperate forest, grasslands, savanna, desert, and tropical rainforest] to research using the encyclopedia, nonfiction books, and Internet websites. Using an Internet website, students create a map of the location of their assigned biome.

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Stage Three: Learning Experiences for Biome Unit

• Each group makes a brochure about their assigned biome. The brochure must contain information about the location, climate, dominant plants, common animals, conditions, and future of the biome.

• After the first draft, students use the rubric to rate and revise their biome brochure.

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Stage Three: Learning Experiences for Biome Unit

• Using the cooperative learning jigsaw strategy, students present and teach their biome brochure to a small group.

• The instructor leads a class discussion using key and concluding questions.

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Fourth Grade Biome Unit: Lesson One “Brainstorming”

Standards:

National Science Education Content Standard C: Life Science

 

Organisms and their environments: An organism’s patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism’s environment including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability of food and resources and the physical characteristics of the environment.

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Objectives: Lesson One “Brainstorming”

Students identify the characteristics of a biome: location, climate, dominant plants, common animals, conditions, and future.

Students understand the performance tasks and rubric required for the unit.

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Materials: Lesson One “Brainstorming”

Chart or empty board ready paper

One of the following books:

Burnie, David. Scrublands. Steck-Vaugh, 2003. 64 pp.

Kalman, Bobbie. What is a Biome? Crabtree Publishing Company, 2005. 32pp.

  Tocci, Salvatore. The Chaparral Life on the Scrubby Coast.

Franklin Watts, 2004. 65 pp.

  Worhol, Tom. Chaparral and Scrubs. Marshall Cavendish, 2007. 80 pp.

  Thirty copies of the biome brochure rubric

Visual of tundra

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Lesson One “Brainstorming”

Set: The instructor says, “There is a part of the world where it is very cold and dark in the winter, polar bears roam, and the land is flat and frozen. What one word could you use to describe this region of the world?” The instructor gives the answer, “tundra,” if no one guesses it correctly.

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Lesson One “Brainstorming”Input: Before the instructor reads sections of the book, s/he tells the students to notice the following characteristics: location, climate, dominant plants, and common animals. After the reading the instructor uses think-pair-share and asks the students to name or describe the biome mentioned in the book. The instructor records their descriptions. Using think-pair-share, the instructor asks the students to brainstorm other biomes they know. S/he records the biomes that match the ones that will be covered in the unit. The instructor adds any biomes that are missing.

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Input: Part Two

S/he explains the unit and the performance tasks. The instructor projects the board ready biome brochure rubric. S/he hands out a copy of the rubric to the students. The instructor goes over the categories and the rating system from four to one, making sure that the students understand the rubric. S/he then arranges the students into seven groups and assigns each group a biome: [tundra, taiga (boreal forest), deciduous temperate forest, grassland, savanna, desert, and tropical rainforest]. The instructor gives each group a folder and tells the students to write on the front of the folder their assigned biome, their names, and their room number. Students are then to number themselves from one to four.

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Lesson One “Brainstorming”

Guided Practice: The students meet with their groups, write their biome and room number on the folder, as well as their names next to the numbers one through four. They put copies of the biome brochure rubric in their folder. The instructor collects the group folders.

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Lesson One “Brainstorming”

Assessment: The instructor informally observes if the students can describe the characteristics of biomes and if they understand the performance tasks and rubric as explained.

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Closure: Lesson One “Brainstorming”

Closure: Using think-pair-share, the instructor asks, “What are some characteristics of biomes?”

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Additional Lessons for Biome Unit

• Lesson Two “Using the Dictionary to Understand the Vocabulary of Biomes”

• Lesson Three “Researching Biomes Using the Encyclopedia”

• Lesson Four “Using Nonfiction Books to Research Biomes”

• Lesson Five “Information and a Biome Map from the Internet”

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Additional Lessons for Biome Unit

• Lesson Six “Writing a Biome Brochure”

• Lesson Seven “Designing a Biome Brochure Using a Story Board”

• Lesson Eight “Making a Biome Brochure using Microsoft Publisher”

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Additional Lessons for Biome Unit

• Lesson Nine “Reading, Rating, and Changing the Biome Brochures”

• Lesson Ten ‘Presentation of the Biome Brochures”