Kids as Airborne Mission Scientists

Go public! Presenting your results
Related subject area: science

Overall problem: Where are the active lava flows located on the Kilauea volcano?

Relationship of problem in this lesson to overall problem: Students have been working through a process to identify issues, research information, explore new scientific concepts, gather and analyze data, and summarize findings. During this lesson students complete the research cycle by going public with their findings. This session provides students with an opportunity to summarize the work they have done in KaAMS and share it with others. At this point they can describe how they researched the issues, what they learned, and their answer to the overall problem. 

Estimated time required:  1 to 2 class periods (without class time for preparing final project)

Student outcomes/objectives:

  • A final product that exemplifies the scientific process, content covered in this unit, and conclusions to the problems encountered.

Note: Up to this point, students have been working in groups to document their investigations during throughout the unit. It is your option to allow class time for students to create a poster, website, multimedia project, or scientific report that presents their findings and the work they did to reach those conclusions or assign final project preparation as homework.

Prerequisite skills or knowledge:

  • Analysis of the remote sensing data
  • Simple internet skills
  • Final project assessment rubrics
  • Skills required to meet the project demands, e.g., visual design for posters, html skills for web project, writing skills for scientific reports, etc.
  • Basic presentation and explanation skills

Teacher preparation:

  • Print Student Journal / Activity sheets for these activities.
  • Provide appropriate materials for poster construction or to develop specified final product.
  • Bookmark websites with tips and suggestions from real-world presenters on making good posters for poster sessions.
  • Print rubrics being used to assess projects and presentations.
  • Schedule presentation session, space required, etc.
  • Invite parents and guests to the presentation sessions.

Student reflection and assessment: Student reflection activities  |  Assessment

Education standards supported by this lesson:

National Science Education Standards | Project 2061 Benchmarks

National Standards for School Mathematics | National Technology Standards | National Geography Standards

Cross-curricular connections to support National Education Standards for this lesson:

math | technology | geography

Teacher activities

 

Student activities

FRAME the lesson by explaining to students that they have completed their investigations and analyzed the NASA data. It is time for them to "Go Public!" and present their results.

Establish a process for ordering presentations and providing feedback to each group:

  • Establish a critique group for each presentation. The critique group will complete the project rubric while others in the class observe, ask questions, etc. during presentation.
  • Ask visitors, such as other teachers, administrators, or parents, to attend presentations. They will use the rubrics to assess the presentations.
    

Student activity:

  • Collaborate with teacher to establish a process for final project presentations.
 
INFORM students that they will be given class time to create their final project or should be making final preparations to present their projects to the public (It is possible that students have been working on these projects all along or outside of class).

Teacher note: One option is to have each student on the team take responsibility for presenting the knowledge/skills/findings associated with each of the following:

  • Aeronautics scientist
  • Remote sensing scientist
  • Volcanology (science)

Refer students to the activity sheets in their journals to help organize their projects.
See Activity sheets: Final project organization (GP-1,1A,1B,1C) and Final project design (GP-2)

   

Student activity:

  • Students work in their teams to make final preparations for their presentation.

    See Activity sheets: Final project organization
    (GP-1,1A,1B,1C) and Final project design (GP-2)
 
EXPLORE content by finalizing projects.

Distribute appropriate assessment rubrics to help students design appropriate projects and to meet project expectations. Here are sites with sample rubrics for assessing:

  • Posters
    • #1 Example of an astronomy poster rubrics
    • #2 Generic example or research poster
    • #3 Generic example or research poster (more details than #2)
  • Websites or hyperstudio projects
    • #1 Web page design
    • #2 Hyperstudio project
  • Scientific reports
    • #1 Research report rubric
    • #2 General report assessment
    • #3 Research paper assessment
  • Overall large projects
    • #1 Year end project scoring (lit rev - presentation)
    • #2 Steps to the research cycle
  • Presentation skills
    • #1 Oral participation rubrics
    • #2 Discussion of results

Teacher note: The best practices for using rubrics as assessment tools is to share them with your students prior to beginning projects, papers, etc.

Remind students to use their reflection journals to help create their final project.

 

   

Student activities:

  • Students investigate methods for producing and presenting the final project.
  • Students review assessment rubrics to help them prepare their final project.
 
TRY having students present their projects, describe the investigation, and receive feedback from 'guests' or classmates.

Prompt each group, one at time, to present their final project being sure to address the overall problem:

  • Where are the active lava flows on Kilauea?
  • How did you go about investigating this question (what steps did you take)?
  • What did you learn during the process?

Review each project and solicit feedback from the class.

Summarize unit projects.

    

Student activity:

  • Each group presents final projects and class provides feedback to other's projects.

 

 
Student reflection activities:

In their journals, have the students write responses to the following:

  • What would you name as your favorite experience in your work with KaAMS?
  • Would you be interested in planning an actual remote sensing mission?
  • What would you want to investigate?

Assessment

  • Check the key contents to be covered in the presentation. 
    • Problem definition 
    • Key questions to investigate
    • The characteristics of aircraft and remote sensing instrument
    • Plan for the investigation 
    • The process of data collection 
    • The process of data analysis 
    • Investigation results 
  • Check the evidence supporting investigation results. 
  • Check the evidence of collaborative working as a team during project.

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Ideas for math lesson connections:

  • Students can use a variety of charts, graphs, and representational tools in their presentations to show important relationships, organize their thinking, and support their conclusions.

Related National Education Math Standards:

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Ideas for geography lesson connections:

  • Students can use a variety of charts, graphs, and representational tools in their presentations to show important relationships, organize their thinking, and support their conclusions.

Related National Education Geography Standards:

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Ideas for technology lesson connections:

  • Students practice Internet search strategies and learn to use presentation, authoring, and word processing applications to aid them in their presentations.

Related National Education Science Technology Standard:

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rev.16 APR 01