California Academy of Science Curriculum

Class project (Curriculum Construction)- Winter 2011 - Project collaborators: Angela Pan Wong & Isabel Cheng

Skills: content development, curriculum writing

This is a service project designed in collaboration with the California Academy of Sciences aimed to engage 5th graders in scientific inquiry. In this two-week unit, designed to accompany a visit to the Academy, students will explore concepts of photosynthesis, plant adaptation, and plants’ role in the environment. By having students keep journals of their investigations and continuously reflect on and refine their ideas, the unit is structured to have students actively engage in the process of scientific-inquiry.

Each lesson builds up to the final project, where students work in small groups to create a brochure for the Cal Academy’s Living Roof exhibit. While the content of the brochure will be science based, the project is interdisciplinary, involving reading comprehension, note-taking, writing skills, and art. It is our hope that the experience will leave students with a greater appreciation for the natural world, a deeper understanding of the connectedness of all species, and a broad scientific literacy foundation.

My role in this process involved helping to develop the curricular rationale, craft learning goals and enduring understandings, and outline the structure of the entire unit. I wrote lessons 6 & 7, designed the project packet, and worked with my teammates to produce the final product.