Renovation for the Nation Lesson 2

This lesson is the second of three lessons to be conducted over a two-week period and will take two full class periods and one full week to conduct an experiment. This lesson should be incorporated on Tuesday and Wednesday of the first week.

Today, you will:

Guide class discussion on measurement and experimental design.
Review the Case Study Samples with the class.
Use the Evaluation worksheet in the Student Planning Guide - Day 2.
Define how your class will complete the process.

Divide into groups
Split class in half
Conduct experiment as an entire class

Students will design an experiment and measurement.
Students will implement their experiments.
Observe and collect data throughout the week.

Preparation

Review the Experimental Design section and the Evaluation Worksheet section in the Student Planning Guide Day -2. The guide will help students understand experiment design and ways to measure their experiment.
Review the Case Study Samples.
Have students bring their Student Planning Guide Day 1 from the previous day
Decide how to manage the experiment development. You may consider:

Breaking class into small groups, with each group doing their own experiment.
Break class into two groups, with one group doing an experiment related to what they eat, and one group doing an experiment related to how they move.
Keep class in large group and do two experiments: one related to how they eat and one related to how they move.

Review National Science Standards Met by Renovation for the Nation and the Assessment at the end of this lesson and decide which assessment strategies you will use.

Activities

Convey to the students that they will be designing an experiment to change behavior, knowledge or attitudes toward movement and nutrition. Use the Student Planning Guides to guide students in selecting the problem they want to study and in the step-by-step process that will help them design their experiment. Use the Evaluation Worksheet in the Student Planning Guide -Day 2 to help students define:

What they are measuring: Attitudes? Behavior? What is eaten at lunch? What is eaten at every meal?
Who and where they are measuring: Themselves?
How they will measure: Questionnaires? Interviews? Observation?
Students need to do two measures: one before the experiment and one after the experiment. Help them understand that, in order to measure if their treatment is effective, they will need to compare before and after.

Have students refer back to their Student Planning Guides review their Brainstorming ideas and incorporate the Evaluation Worksheet of the Student Planning Guides into the process.
Students will conduct their experiment and use the measurements they've created.

Approximate time needed for study is one week, recommended schedule Wednesday through Wednesday.

Assessment

Graded Summative Assessment

If you need a graded assessment, there are at least two opportunities for grading in this activity.

Participation grade: Give grades based on class discussion.
Participation grade: Give grades based on group discussion.