Drake University

Science Methods Course

Caitlin McClow
Angela Hasley

MISSION POSSIBLE


LESSON PLAN
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

This lesson plan concentrates on recycling, waste, and conscience consumerism.

Student Outcomes Expected

At the completion of the unit, students will be able to:

  • Become familiar with the vocabulary
  • Use cooperative strategies
  • Use deductive and inductive thinking skills to come to a conclusion
  • Collect and analyze data to solve a problem

    • Emphasis Level

    Upper elementary, grades 3-6.

    Materials

  • Paper Bags
  • Carboard Boxes (such as cereal boxes)
  • Styrofoam cup
  • Aluminum Foil
  • Glass jar
  • Newspaper
  • Plastic milk jug
  • Scissors
  • Tape of all kinds
  • Markers, colored pencils, etc.
  • Case file folders

    • Safety

    Safety concerns are explained extensively in writing within student directions throughout the activity. One of the hazards is glass. The students will be working with glass, so it will be important to check them for chips and cracks, and give students fair warning about the dangers. The other hazard is that children will be working with scissors, which can pose to be a potential safety concern.

    Activities

    Discrepant Event:

    Teachers enter with costumes and perform skit to introduce Mission Possible. Students will be randomly be assigned to a group. They receive a piece of paper with a city name on it (London, New York, Tokyo, and Paris). The city names are located around the room, and that is where the groups meet. Each group then decides their individual roles:

    Private Eye: Responsible for reading everything given to the group and for keeping all the clues within the case files.

    New York Times Reporter: Responsible for writing down all the evidence gathered and telling the class the mystery the group solved and what they learned about their mystery!

    Evidence Examiner: Responsible for gathering equipment for the group.

    The goal of each group is to unscramble a word:

  • New York= REUSE
  • London=RECYCLE
  • Tokyo= REDUCE
  • Paris= REFUSE

    They will be using the scientific method to answer proposed questions and to perform assigned tasks (see the 7 Objective attachments). After each task (or objective) is completed their group receives a clue. This clue is a letter for their word which, in essence, is helpful in solving their mystery. The more objectives completed the closer they are to solving their mystery (or finding what word their letters make). The student knows from the start that to unlock this mystery is to save the enviroment! And that their groups' responsibility is to solve one of four mystery words. In short, these words are actions that they can do to save the envirorment.

    Conclusion

    Once the mystery word is discovered (unscrambled), each group decides which objective best describes your word.
  • New York= Objective #4
  • London= Objective #5
  • Tokyo= Objective#6
  • Paris= Objective#3

    Then, as a class, each group tells the objective that best describes their mytery word, and then tells them what tasks they did to complete their specific objective. After every group is finished, we will give them more facts that we have found (see bulletin boards) and tell them that our goal was to become familiar with the four R's, and answer any questions they might have

    Background

    This is a discovery lesson designed to introduce the Four Rs Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Refuse. All of these are important so students understand how to be responsible consumers, begin understand the impact of garbage, and serve as a starting block for a lesson on reducing waste.

    Resources


    Evaluation Techniques

    Observe the students participation in cooperative groups for social skills. Check the Students activity sheets before giving them their next task to ensure correct completion of the task. Finally, guide the class discussion to determine the students understanding of the MISSION.

    Now you can explore our attachments

    OBJECTIVES