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The unit below is being used with sixth grade students to address goals in Science and Language Arts. The unit begins in the early spring and will last about four to six weeks. Students will rely on working in collaborative groups in order to share information and problem solve. Students will be studying about food and nutrition. As a result, they will create a health and fitness program which they will carry out and share with other interested viewers.
Students are read an article with statistics about children's health on the decline, and how 60% of Americans are overweight. The class discusses why the American publics' health is being adversely affected and brainstorm a list of causes. The teacher then asks students if they see any correlations between this article and the decrease in the number of physical education days taught by the P.E. teacher.
As a result of the discussion, the class has created a list of items adversely effecting health and physical fitness. Some of the items include: video games, late dinners, after school snacks, and limited public recreation centers to name a few.
The students then talk about the referendum and what another year might look like for them. The class is concerned and wants to know how they will be effected. The failed referendum means that there would be no more recess, except 15 minutes at lunchtime, and P.E. only twice a week with the Physical Education teacher.
Being survivors, our class has decided to work with what they can control and that is themselves. They cannot control the referendum, but they can plan a way to become healthier and more fit.
The class then begins to think of ways to persuade other students in the school and around the world to take more control of their lives and become healthier. Their "Challenge" is to develop the ideal health and fitness program and to display it so others may use it and give them feedback on how successful they were with following it.
"Won't we need to have facts if we want them to believe us?" and "How can we create a health plan?" are among some of the comments that are heard in the classroom. A list of topics to search is created and ideas of helpful people are also added to this list. Based on the discussion, four general topics are singled out:
1) Obesity and nutrition
2) Exercise and fitness level
3) Health and different cultures
4) Health and life expectancy
As a result, the class begins to form groups of 4, as the teacher monitors to make sure no one is left out. After everyone is in a group, each student picks a number 1-4. These numbers directly correlate to the topics above. Example: #1 is in charge of finding information on obesity and nutrition.
Library time and Language Arts time are set aside to gather information for two class periods. Some of the sources the students will be able to use are encyclopedias, C.D. ROM, Almanacs, magazines, and the internet.
Due to the high demand to search the internet, students sign up for a 30 minute block of time when they may search with three other people who have the same job. Students must have their internet search plan approved by a teacher before going on-line. After an hour, the students are called back to the group. The class is then divided by research topic (ex. all the #1s meet in one corner, all the #2s in another corner,etc.) Each group writes down their findings on a piece of chart paper, along with questions they still might have.
Using the questions that were raised, the students begin another search but with more direction. If students still cannot find answers they are informed about "Ask an Expert" . Using two class periods, students will then reenter the process of searching for information, making sure to utilize all available resources again in the library.
Students will be able to use the library after these two additional research days, however, they will be spending more time as a group creating their health and fitness plan. Students will need to check the e-mail for any responses they might have received from the experts and/or other classrooms from around the world.
As information is received regarding different lifestyles/cultures and their fitness level, the class creates a chart.
The class has taken over this idea of following a health plan, and would like to ask that their partner classrooms, found via the internet, also try out their health plans and let them know how they felt after trying to follow it for two weeks.
"Who's plan would we have them use?" asked one child.
"Well they're gonna pick ours because ours is really easy to follow," said another girl in a confident voice.
"This is a very interesting dilemma," says the teacher, "because if you are putting all this time in, everyone's plan should be available to our "connected" classrooms. If we display all of the plans, then they can choose which one they would like to follow.
"We'll have to persuade them if we want ours to be used!" shouts a student from the back with a touch of sarcasm. The whole class groans because they are quite familiar with having to write essays, however, this time is different. They know that if we have eight different health plans and we want people from different countries to try out our health plan, then we need to be very persuasive.
Students will then publish their health and fitness plan, along with their persuasive essays promoting their plan.
As a result, the students have completed their health plans which include: a one week menu with three meals and two healthy snacks planned per day. In addition, students will keep a journal while carrying out their fitness plan. The journal is a self-evaluating tool where students record how they are feeling and if they think this plan is effective. In order to keep students "honest," parents will be asked to sign the journals.