Budding Scientists
Question: Besides being wet, what do Maine’s seacoast, the Great Coral Reef of Australia, the Florida Keys, Alaska’s Glacier Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico at Louisiana have in common? Answer: All are sensitive marine ecosystems. What's more, all are fair game for analysis by the budding scientists in Diane Gifford’s fifth-grade class at St. Thomas Aquinas School in Dallas, Texas.

In the process of studying sensitive marine environments, students learn how dynamic ocean systems contribute to a healthy world. Then they use their expertise to develop a proposal for international agreements for protecting these ecosystems.

Background
Diane has been teaching fifth grade for the last three years at St. Thomas Aquinas School, a kindergarten-through-eighth grade independent Catholic school. She enjoys collaborating with two other fifth-grade teachers. The three are reconfiguring their classes to divide subject matter and teach each other’s students for part of the day.

When she took the Intel® Teach Program training, Diane knew she wanted to develop a science unit. She first planned to focus on weather, but switched to oceans—a critical and international concern--when she decided to develop a unit from scratch. "Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet" has students act in a simulation as if they are marine ecologists who testify for the health and protection of a specific ecosystem.

Diane used the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards (TEKS) as a guide for planning instruction and developing her assessment tools. She also made great use of online science labs and Web sites such as NASA’s TOPEX satellite site (http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov), where students can study images of ocean surfaces and floor topography taken from space.

Threaded throughout students' studies are a series of labs that Diane developed from Internet sites, particularly those offered through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory site at the National Aeronautic and Space Agency (NASA). The unit also inspires students to pursue challenging questions, such as: How does the deep Japan current affect the climate in San Francisco? Is it the same as Washington D.C.’s climactic relationship to the Gulf of Mexico? Does human behavior in Australia affect coral formation in the Great Barrier Reef?

What Technology Adds
When teaching a unit like this one, Diane works closely with her school's technology specialist who teaches the computer skills that support academic work. If Diane asks students to write book reports, for example, the technology specialist can teach them how to present their reports as slide shows. "Technology lets kids develop their own professional presentations," Diane says.

One activity in the oceans unit is having students develop brochures to showcase key information they have gathered. Using desktop publishing software to create brochures offers students "another avenue for expressing themselves." There's more to the assignment than a nice presentation, however. Writing brochure copy "causes students to be really concise and to the point. They have to get to the essential points. Knowing how to summarize is a huge skill to have," she points out.

Laying the Groundwork
Teaching the oceans unit effectively takes time, Diane admits. She recommends allowing plenty of time for student research—"a month at minimum." As a foundation, students also need instruction in research methods. "Teach research methods in advance, and point kids to the best (Web) sites." During lab activities, she recommends using a projector to show students how to navigate on a Web site to find the information they need.

Lab work adds another layer to student understanding. Diane has students do experiments involving salt and how salinity changes the freezing temperature of water. "Kids were fascinated with that. They got a sense of the difference between 32 and zero degrees Fahrenheit (the points at which plain and salt water freeze)."

Next time she teaches the unit, she plans to allow more time at the end, so that students can make formal presentations about their research.

What's Next
Parent donations have allowed Diane to order a digital camera. To get students up to speed using it, she plans to have each one take a turn as "cameraman for the day." A collage of student photos will be posted on the Web. "Never give up on technology," she recommends. "Computers will help you accentuate work in all subjects."

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