Action Plan
My project, Geometry Goes Green, is aimed at helping sophomore math students develop a higher consciousness about being environmentally responsible. Through projects and explorations within the geometry curriculum, we will explore real-world applications that will not only deepen the students’ understanding of the mathematical concepts, but also increase their knowledge of conditions that hurt our environment along with ways in which they may help to reverse that trend. Here are some of the ways that I plan to integrate issues of environmental awareness within our geometry classes and for students to take what they are learning into their community.
We will focus primarily on three terms: reduce, reuse, and recycle. This year all freshmen and sophomore students at Carver Military Academy, which is named after botanist and inventor George Washington Carver, will have access to their own Chromebooks. As an introduction to the significance of this project, I will introduce the students to how George Washington Carver was regarded as an early leader in promoting environmentalism through his extensive research in agriculture. Since each 10th grader will have a Chromebook, this will be a wonderful opportunity for us to reduce the use of paper and provide the students with more opportunities to use technology in lieu of traditional worksheets or paper and pencil assessments.
Through the Geometry Goes Green Project, I would like to achieve the following objectives:
Through our math club, I will help facilitate a student-led recycling program within the school. Students will set up an electronic recycling station where they could collect broken electronics and take them to a nearby recycling facility. Students could also set up a donation box for old books, toys, and clothing and have a charity pick up their donations every month or two. Additionally, we will find ways to reuse paper within our school building and encourage students to use and refill reusable water bottles instead of plastic bottles.
I will search for ways to fund an environmentally informative field trip to either a local landfill, recycling center, or alternative energy plant. This field trip could not only help promote environmental awareness, but it could also provide our math department with an opportunity to professionally collaborate with other academic departments within our school and, through this effort, we could co-plan several interdisciplinary activities.
A local church recently began the installation of a “green roof”. We will closely track that project and examine the geometry involved in the architecture and construction of a green roof, how it will provide alternate forms of energy, how it will lower energy costs, and how it will collect and cleanse rainwater. Through deliberate and careful observation of this project in real time, I am hopeful that students will additionally discover the possibilities and options for them to pursue careers that will benefit the planet, conserve natural resources, or provide for more environmentally sustainable solutions in the future.
As a result of this project, participants will have a greater awareness of both local and global environmental issues. Through various real-life problems and applications, students will increase their higher-order thinking skills, their ability to analyze key problem-solving components through diverse perspectives, and connect their classroom learning with societal problems and issues. This Geometry Goes Green project will also provide an avenue for students to discuss social justice environmental issues within the classroom or through their writing. In addition to these learning outcomes, students’ behavior will become more environmentally friendly. They will develop a better understanding about how their personal actions affect the world around them. This will be reflected in ways such as students becoming less wasteful and becoming more conscious about reusing and recycling items. Students will also become more motivated to use more technology (their Chromebooks) as they strive towards a more paperless society.
At the beginning of the school year, students will be given a pre-assessment that will combine algebraic problems along with questions involving general environmental issues. Through the results of this pre-assessment, I will not only be able to recognize which algebra concepts that I will need to spiral within the geometry course, but it will also provide a springboard from which I may build upon for the environmental concepts moving forward. Through the student research and flipped classroom assignments, students will gain more knowledge on “going green” issues both locally and globally. Those concepts will be merged within the curriculum and presented within formative assessments (i.e. bell ringers, exit tickets, quizzes, etc.). At the end of the program, students will be given an assessment similar to the pre-assessment through which the same questions involving environmental issues will be presented again to see if the data provides evidence of an increase in students’ knowledge and understanding.
Our classes meet 50 minutes every day except for Wednesdays (40 minutes), therefore I will be using a flipped classroom model to increase student engagement and provide a more active learning model, especially for many of the environmental issues that will be included within the course. I have chosen this model because it will provide my students with more hands-on, in-class geometry exercises and opportunities for more differentiated instruction within the classroom. Each student will have access to his/her own Chromebooks, headphones/earbuds, and thumb drives so that more class time can be devoted to application of concepts, either individually or within a cooperative group setting. This will also allow me the opportunity to better support the individual needs of struggling learners as well as those of more advanced learners and provide them with more personalized instruction and activities.
The implementation of this big idea will require careful planning to blend the key geometry concepts with environmental concepts. As the students become more grounded with key geometry concepts, they will encounter more higher-order thinking geometry problems that will also have “going green” components. This project will also provide several opportunities for students to review and spiral statistical concepts, graphing, analyzing and evaluating data which are all very important mathematical concepts that students often forget when not granted opportunities to review. We will use graphing calculators, smart board demonstrations, and our online geometry resources to help facilitate learning.
In preparation for this project, it will be necessary for me to have the support of both the administration and the school technician in order to prepare a successful implementation. I will also formally request in writing access to the green roof project manager and architectural firm that is currently installing the green roof on the church. I will also request additional funding so that each student may have access to key components (i.e. supplies, field trip fees, bus fees, etc.) for the success of this project.
We will focus primarily on three terms: reduce, reuse, and recycle. This year all freshmen and sophomore students at Carver Military Academy, which is named after botanist and inventor George Washington Carver, will have access to their own Chromebooks. As an introduction to the significance of this project, I will introduce the students to how George Washington Carver was regarded as an early leader in promoting environmentalism through his extensive research in agriculture. Since each 10th grader will have a Chromebook, this will be a wonderful opportunity for us to reduce the use of paper and provide the students with more opportunities to use technology in lieu of traditional worksheets or paper and pencil assessments.
Through the Geometry Goes Green Project, I would like to achieve the following objectives:
- To enlighten students about becoming more environmentally responsible within their school, home, and community;
- To incorporate problem-based and project-based learning within the course by using authentic, real-life problems that will ensure that the geometry content, skills, and Common Core State Standards are maintained;
- To expose students to the increased demand and diversity of various STEM careers and where the STEM industry might offer them prospective jobs.
Through our math club, I will help facilitate a student-led recycling program within the school. Students will set up an electronic recycling station where they could collect broken electronics and take them to a nearby recycling facility. Students could also set up a donation box for old books, toys, and clothing and have a charity pick up their donations every month or two. Additionally, we will find ways to reuse paper within our school building and encourage students to use and refill reusable water bottles instead of plastic bottles.
I will search for ways to fund an environmentally informative field trip to either a local landfill, recycling center, or alternative energy plant. This field trip could not only help promote environmental awareness, but it could also provide our math department with an opportunity to professionally collaborate with other academic departments within our school and, through this effort, we could co-plan several interdisciplinary activities.
A local church recently began the installation of a “green roof”. We will closely track that project and examine the geometry involved in the architecture and construction of a green roof, how it will provide alternate forms of energy, how it will lower energy costs, and how it will collect and cleanse rainwater. Through deliberate and careful observation of this project in real time, I am hopeful that students will additionally discover the possibilities and options for them to pursue careers that will benefit the planet, conserve natural resources, or provide for more environmentally sustainable solutions in the future.
As a result of this project, participants will have a greater awareness of both local and global environmental issues. Through various real-life problems and applications, students will increase their higher-order thinking skills, their ability to analyze key problem-solving components through diverse perspectives, and connect their classroom learning with societal problems and issues. This Geometry Goes Green project will also provide an avenue for students to discuss social justice environmental issues within the classroom or through their writing. In addition to these learning outcomes, students’ behavior will become more environmentally friendly. They will develop a better understanding about how their personal actions affect the world around them. This will be reflected in ways such as students becoming less wasteful and becoming more conscious about reusing and recycling items. Students will also become more motivated to use more technology (their Chromebooks) as they strive towards a more paperless society.
At the beginning of the school year, students will be given a pre-assessment that will combine algebraic problems along with questions involving general environmental issues. Through the results of this pre-assessment, I will not only be able to recognize which algebra concepts that I will need to spiral within the geometry course, but it will also provide a springboard from which I may build upon for the environmental concepts moving forward. Through the student research and flipped classroom assignments, students will gain more knowledge on “going green” issues both locally and globally. Those concepts will be merged within the curriculum and presented within formative assessments (i.e. bell ringers, exit tickets, quizzes, etc.). At the end of the program, students will be given an assessment similar to the pre-assessment through which the same questions involving environmental issues will be presented again to see if the data provides evidence of an increase in students’ knowledge and understanding.
Our classes meet 50 minutes every day except for Wednesdays (40 minutes), therefore I will be using a flipped classroom model to increase student engagement and provide a more active learning model, especially for many of the environmental issues that will be included within the course. I have chosen this model because it will provide my students with more hands-on, in-class geometry exercises and opportunities for more differentiated instruction within the classroom. Each student will have access to his/her own Chromebooks, headphones/earbuds, and thumb drives so that more class time can be devoted to application of concepts, either individually or within a cooperative group setting. This will also allow me the opportunity to better support the individual needs of struggling learners as well as those of more advanced learners and provide them with more personalized instruction and activities.
The implementation of this big idea will require careful planning to blend the key geometry concepts with environmental concepts. As the students become more grounded with key geometry concepts, they will encounter more higher-order thinking geometry problems that will also have “going green” components. This project will also provide several opportunities for students to review and spiral statistical concepts, graphing, analyzing and evaluating data which are all very important mathematical concepts that students often forget when not granted opportunities to review. We will use graphing calculators, smart board demonstrations, and our online geometry resources to help facilitate learning.
In preparation for this project, it will be necessary for me to have the support of both the administration and the school technician in order to prepare a successful implementation. I will also formally request in writing access to the green roof project manager and architectural firm that is currently installing the green roof on the church. I will also request additional funding so that each student may have access to key components (i.e. supplies, field trip fees, bus fees, etc.) for the success of this project.