Journey to the Center of the EarthSchool Environment Narrative
Mountain Ridge High School is a part of the Deer Valley School District. Mountain Ridge is a very competitive school which offers 21 Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment courses. There are also honors level classes for freshmen and sophomores who are unable to take the Advanced Placement classes yet. The school has a population of about 2,410 students with a faculty of about 97 members. Mountain Ridge also provides an inclusive classroom setting for students with IEPs and 504 plans. The school has about 9.8% below poverty level and do not have access to some resources at home. Within the student population there are 76% Caucasian, 3% African American, 5% Asian, 12% Hispanic, .7% American Indian or Alaska Native, .4% Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander, and 3% two or more race categories. |
The students in the class have been provided iPads to use for any classroom project. We will be focusing on the sophomore class curriculum for the project which are required to complete World History, English Language Arts, and Algebra. The school has about 1,500 iPads for the student population to use with the expectation to have Ipads for each student in the 2015-16 school year. The school also provides desktop computers in the form of computer labs that teachers must reserve to use. In the library, the students may use the computers both before and after school until about 5 o’clock. Each teacher is provided a school laptop. Every classroom has a mounted projector as well as a Smartboard that teachers are encouraged to use everyday. The classroom also has a television with acess to cable and a DVD/VCR player.
Mountain Ridge needs this project to encourage technology use among the almost 10% of students who live below the poverty line. It is imperative that as much hands on training is provided for the disadvantaged students attending this school. Every student should have the ability to learn no matter the economic gap between peers. This project will give every student to learn new skills on how to use different types of technology regardless of their familiarity with the gadgets or internet.
The history of technology gives the students an idea of how far along the world has come and the advancement of technology should help students come up with new and exciting forms of technology. The gadgets that will be needed to complete these assignments are iPads and camcorders. The students are already provided with iPads but there will be apps needed to complete the assignment. The students will need to purchase apps that pertain to their chosen technology, purchase the novel on their iPads, and apps that will allow the student to present their topic in a non-traditional and exciting way.
For each subject area (History, Language Arts, and Math) the project will allow students to fully participate and increase their understanding for impact technology has on multiple aspects in their lives. In the World History classroom the students will be given the opportunity to pick a type of technology that was used during the 19th century and use any type of technology from the present to make a presentation. The students will have to determine if the technology in The Journey to the Center of the Earth was accurate for the time. In the Language Arts classroom the students will be analyzing the book itself. They will determine the themes and influences that are portrayed in the novel. Math will look at the idea of cryptology that is found in the book. They will have to make their own coded message and decode their peer’s messages.
Biographical description of Applicant
Nancy Neff is currently a third year student at ASU West and enrolled in the iTeach program to earn her bachelor’s degree in secondary education with a focus on mathematics. Her education includes an Associate is Liberal Arts and five years as a tutor for SES. Her long term goal is to become a high school math teacher in a school that shares her philosophy. She believes the world is a plethora of knowledge and it is her goal to find innovate and engaging ways to bring it into the classroom.
Why is the Project Needed?
The project creates an opportunity for students to implement technology and the internet in a creative and educational way. Students get a chance to work with their peers and create a video journal, vine, YouTube video, weebly, and other forms of social media to present information in a novel way. Also, this project will give students the chance to expand their knowledge of creating videos and using the internet for educational purposes.
The implementation of the common core standards in schools all across America has changed the way school districts ensure students are college and career ready. Schools curriculums are now emphasizing that students think critically and collaboratively. This project will give students a chance to explore concepts and really immerse themselves in the content so that they can emerge with a full understanding that lasts beyond a unit test. The project allows students to think outside the box and apply their own unique talents in a collaborative environment which is also emphasized by the common core standards.
The project gives students an opportunity to gain deeper understanding of technology and the internet. It is important that students see it as a resource for their academic career and not just a form of entertainment. The advancement of technology has given students more resources and information than any other time in history but without proper training into its usage or awareness of its abilities, the students cannot fully benefit from it.
Impact on Students
Teenagers today spend a great deal of their free time on their smartphone or a computer to use social media or entertainment. The potential of the devices as an instrument for learning is often forgotten or poorly used. Students will be taught to correctly use information from the internet instead of cutting and pasting information from the first links that showed up in a search, without any attempt to interpret, analyze or even read the text material being pasted. They will learn how to communicate with their peers via the internet while getting deeper understanding of the material.
It is also important for 21st century students to be effective in their online communication in a variety of genres and formats. Most communications and group collaborations today occur through some form online document sharing such as Google Drive, dropbox and video chatting websites. Students will learn how to use these tools by working on a project simultaneously online and discussing project direction, roles within the group, and the final product. The opportunity for students to learn how to use new websites and software on their computer will also positively affect their confidence in being able to use various gadgets.
Finally, this project creates multiple inputs of information for the students so they get a chance to gain a deeper understanding of the material covered. Students will have a chance to gain deeper understanding of the topics covered by exploring information from various resources, synthesizing the information, and reporting it in a creative way. This creates deeper learning because students must apply the concepts learned from each subject in a meaningful and detailed project that is teacher and peer reviewed.
Impact on Teachers
Using project based learning provides a break from the usual lecture and worksheet routine in most classes. It is also a chance for teachers to really highlight a topic and skill that he/she feels is important for students to master. The collaborative environment between students and teachers will create a fruitful and positive relationship between participating members.
The widespread use of standardized tests has forced middle and high school teachers to focus mainly on procedural and memorization skills at the cost of deeper understanding by the students. Teachers are usually asked to focus on their content area and the high stakes test so much that there remains little time for teachers to help students make connections between subjects and to explain the bigger picture of what they are learning.
This project will help create a collaborative and positive environment for all the teachers involved. Teachers will be able to put their skills and thoughts together to create a unique learning environment through this project. If teachers know what another teacher is covering then they can help students make connections across different subjects.
Learning Goals and Outcomes
Our main goal is to have students fully embrace the spirit of adventure that influenced Jules Verne's novel as well as understand the complicated mathematical and historical nuances that often prevent most teenage readers from fully comprehending the text. The preferred outcome would be that the students find a fun and unique way of engaging with the text by integrating current technology into a story that was told over 100 years earlier and thus "modernizing" the text for today's audiences.
Description of Project-Based Learning Unit
The majority of the project would be based around the novel Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. This seminal book, released in the 19th century, concerns the adventures of two scientists who use coded messages left behind by an ancient race to find the location that takes them directly to the center of the earth. In that same vein, we have come up with a project that would attempt to mimic that same spirit of adventure while introducing a technological aspect that would both involve the students and make the entire project relevant to their life in a new and unique way. This is an ambitious and long project that will require funds obtained from a grant as well as significant out of class time for the students involved. Nonetheless, we feel that the learning experience of participating in this project will undoubtedly be worth the extra effort needed from the school and the students.
The project will cover three different school subjects: English Language Arts, World History and Mathematics. The majority of the technology and half of the project will be focused on English language arts, while math and history will compose most of the written and presentation sides. In essence, the children will re-create the novel in the modern world by creating a cypher in math that needs to be decoded. The code will reveal a location and time period that students must create an electronic report depicting the time period, scientific advancements during that period, and important sights in their location. Then the students will electronically document their journey whilst simultaneously reading the book and using reading logs that explore the book.
Math is an integral part of the original novel, and it will be integrated into the lesson in a novel way. The novel has the main characters deciphering a codex or cypher that tells them the secret into journeying into the center of the earth. In that same spirit, the math students will get into small groups of three that will create their own codex using an imitation legacy machine that will “crunch” numbers to help create a code. Afterwards, each group will exchange their codes with another group. This will allow the students to get a chance to decrypt a puzzle that they have never seen before, similar to the book. The encryption box the students will create will be aided by iPad tablet, which will be their main technological resource for this section.
Activities
The goal of this project is to have students research information, synthesize information and relay information in a creative and collaborative manner while meeting the standards for the three content areas. The detailed goals and desired outcomes are broken down into the three subject areas so that each teacher can fully focus on the required material that needs to be covered for his/her content area. However, the overarching theme of creating a successful project using cryptography, technology, history, language arts, and sources is present in all three content areas. The length of the project will be twelve school days. Each content area in the project has an overview outline of the activities and how to ensure connection between each content area below.
Mathematics
The math standard for the project based learning is HS.A-APR.B.2. Know and apply the Remainder Theorem: For a polynomial p(x) and a number a, the remainder on division by x – a is p(a), so p(a) = 0 if and only if (x – a) is a factor of p(x). The objective is, “students will be able to apply the Remainder Theorem to create an encryption box for another group.”
Math Questions
What equation did you use for your encryption?
What will each number output represent in terms of a letter from the alphabet?
How does the Remainder Theorem apply to your encryption creation?
Lesson Plan
Cryptography is used in our everyday lives but we hardly see it or understand it. Today, most of our technology uses some basic form of encryption to hide sensitive information in e-mails, websites and social media. Cryptology is defined as the science of making communication incomprehensible to all people except those who have a right to read and understand it.
The students will think about all the different ways encryption is used in society and then, as a class, students will share their ideas while the teacher prompts, labels and paraphrases each idea mentioned. Afterwards, the teacher will share videos of the different ways cryptography is used while the students take notes.
Teacher will review the vocabulary words for the unit by providing examples for each word and having students draw a symbol for each word. The teacher will then go over the three main types of cryptography, which includes: the shift cypher system, modular arithmetic, and mono alphabetic substitution ciphers. The students will then practice each type of cryptography via worksheets with text that must be deciphered in a similar way from the examples modeled by the teacher.
Vocabulary Needed for Project
· Code is a set of information that will allow words to be changed to other words or symbols, For instance, a code for the word “rifle” may be “escargot.”
· Plaintext - the message that you wish to put into a secret form.
· Cipher is the method for altering the plaintext
· Cipher text is the secret version of the plaintext
· Key is information that will allow someone to encipher the plaintext and also decipher the cipher text.
· Cryptology is defined as the science of making communication incomprehensible to all people except those who have a right to read and understand it.
The teacher will connect the idea of encryption the book, Journey to the Center of the Earth, by reading the pages going over how the code was deciphered by the explorers. Students will actively listen and write down important details from the reading. Then students will discuss the meaning of the code, how the code works and how the code was broken.
Students will work in groups of three and the teacher will assign the groups for the project. Then, each group will decide what type of code they will use for their project from the codes discussed. The group planning should take up one whole class period and it may extend into half of another depending on the level of difficulty students are having. The teacher will offer advice and ideas for students throughout this period. The teacher will not create the entire encryption for the students since the group must use their own innovation and it is a part of their formative assessment.
Then students will create their own unique encryption box using a shoe box, construction paper, a cardboard cylinder, and writing materials. This is the most elaborate part of the project and it counts as the summative assessment for mathematics since the code must work in order for the next part of the project to take place. Once I review each group’s encryption box and ensure I can decrypt it, each group will trade their encryption box with another group. The students will have one whole class day to find the destination of their journey and create a unique video about their travels which will include specific information.
Language Arts
The standard that will be most touched upon for English is standard ELA-RI-11-12.7: Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats as well as in words to address a question or solve a problem. Students will be able to use different media formats to answer the who, what, when, where, why, and how of a location that will be given to them via math students encryption codes, as well as analyze the book Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.
Language Arts Questions
What are some of the themes of Journey to the Center of the Earth?
What were some interesting things that the “journey” to a different place revealed?
How can media be used to document a journey or adventure?
Lesson Plan
Many students are asked to write essays and answer long test questions about what they learned and how they can apply it. This project will be very new in that a student will instead actively document what they are doing with the project using the technology that is given to them as a means of applying what they have learned and showing that they can write with a deft hand as well as be fun and creative. There are many students who, if they were to write a paper, would not be able to express what they want to say completely, and this project would give them a new way to let them explore the subject. Diverse learning methods are what keeps educators in business, and this new proposal is very diverse and can be done by any student, regardless of how they write.
English Language Arts will contain a large amount of reading and will serve as the "main course" of this project based learning assignment. The long term goal will be to complete a reading of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, which will be done over the course of two-three weeks within the project's time. During the time that the students are reading the book both in-class and outside of class, there will be a long running vocabulary list that they will have access to, and they will also be filling out a reading log each time that they read. The reading log will be simple: write a small summary of the events that happened within the chapters they read, label some of the things that the characters said that might reveal bits of who they are, and point out any vocabulary words that might be found in the chapter(s).
The final two sections of the English Language Arts section will go hand in hand. The students will be put into groups of three, with a few exceptions that may have four, and will then receive an encrypted message that was done by different groups in the seventh grade Math classes. It is then the job of the group to decipher that encryption code, which they will get a full class day to do, and write down the location that the cipher is to reveal. Once they have the location written down and a copy turned into the English Language Arts teacher, the project truly begins. The groups will receive an Apple iPad that will help them document a journey to the place that was within their individual cipher. The documentation is very important; they will not only need to list how they got to the place where they are going, but they need to also list any items that they are taking on the trip, what those items will be used for, and keep a running list of those items and any other supplies for the purposes of keeping a "budget".
The total assessment for the unit will be the collected version of the documentation described previously. Using the iPad, each member of the group will be able to document their journey however they see fit; they can use Twitter to make various tweets and take photos and video, they can use Vine to make quick videos that show off where they are going, or they could even use Facebook and Instagram to post photos with captions so that other students can comment on them. However they choose to document the journey, it must be cobbled together, which they can do via a slideshow, Powerpoint, Prezi, or even use digital scrapbook software that would be made available to them in a list by the English Language Arts teacher. The project will mainly be based on if the students put forth the time and effort to document the journey. If a project uses social media, photographs with captions, and is put together in a slide-show or scrapbook format, then that will be enough to earn a good grade. Failure to cooperate on a final presentation or inadequate forms of documentation will earn a poor to failing grade. The goal of the ELA section of the project is that students learn to use language and technology in order to document a journey into a (possibly) unknown place, all while reading and writing about a book which does the very same thing but in a very different time.
Assessment
The main form of assessment will be rubrics that guide all of the main projects of the different subjects. The history portion will have a compare and contrast presentation that examines Industrial Revolution technology and lifestyle and analyzes that in the context of Jules Verne’s novel and its accuracy. The math students will have to create a cryptographic sequence that is properly aligned to a rubric that is given to them, and they will be graded primarily based on the success of the encryption box. Lastly, the English language arts section will follow both a rubric and formative assessment; the rubric will detail the individual parts that students will need in order to gain the best score possible on their reading logs for the book, Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Students will work in their group of three to document their “journey” to the location indicated by the decoded message. The formative assessment will be the digital journey video which will be graded on how complete, organized, elaborate, and creativity. They will also be graded on the effectiveness of their chosen media to depict their journey, be it a video journal, blog, a movie or other media. Students will be graded by their peers on how much each student contributed and what they contributed to the project. The teachers will use these peer reviews and their own observations throughout the lesson to come up with each students grade.
Technology Support
The faculty of the school, as well as the superiors not only in administration at our school, but administration across the District board will support this project and proudly accept the technology that his proposal would grant. They understand that the potential uses for the technologies not just in the upper grade classrooms, but in schools all across the district. Tablets are extremely useful as a learning tool, as a technology tool, and as a tool to help aid students in their everyday schooling.
Sustaining the Project After the Proposal Period
The project will continue on with the next classes in the next year, but the subject matter of the project may change; maybe another book is used instead of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. The tablets use will be expanded; daily lesson plans will be planned around use of the tablets in the class, and the projects in history and math will become more technologically based and have a learning outcome that is still aligned with their standards as well.
Budget
The project requires thirty iPads which would be given to each student to find information, organize their report, and communicate with peers. One camcorder will be needed for each group to create their video journal of their journey. The one chosen for purchase is popular for its reliability and picture clarity. Finally, the project requires classroom supplies such as boxes, construction paper, glue, and markers for the encryption box. The total cost for all the items required is $13,626.70
Innovation
The project is original in its ability to bring three content areas into one project. The students are asked to use their numerous other talents to create a unique project that reflects their learning of the material. This project will also keep students engaged since it incorporates technology throughout the entire lesson. Finally, it will transform the way teachers help students learn new material and concepts. Teachers will have a chance to create deeper understanding of the material through this project for many years.
Mountain Ridge needs this project to encourage technology use among the almost 10% of students who live below the poverty line. It is imperative that as much hands on training is provided for the disadvantaged students attending this school. Every student should have the ability to learn no matter the economic gap between peers. This project will give every student to learn new skills on how to use different types of technology regardless of their familiarity with the gadgets or internet.
The history of technology gives the students an idea of how far along the world has come and the advancement of technology should help students come up with new and exciting forms of technology. The gadgets that will be needed to complete these assignments are iPads and camcorders. The students are already provided with iPads but there will be apps needed to complete the assignment. The students will need to purchase apps that pertain to their chosen technology, purchase the novel on their iPads, and apps that will allow the student to present their topic in a non-traditional and exciting way.
For each subject area (History, Language Arts, and Math) the project will allow students to fully participate and increase their understanding for impact technology has on multiple aspects in their lives. In the World History classroom the students will be given the opportunity to pick a type of technology that was used during the 19th century and use any type of technology from the present to make a presentation. The students will have to determine if the technology in The Journey to the Center of the Earth was accurate for the time. In the Language Arts classroom the students will be analyzing the book itself. They will determine the themes and influences that are portrayed in the novel. Math will look at the idea of cryptology that is found in the book. They will have to make their own coded message and decode their peer’s messages.
Biographical description of Applicant
Nancy Neff is currently a third year student at ASU West and enrolled in the iTeach program to earn her bachelor’s degree in secondary education with a focus on mathematics. Her education includes an Associate is Liberal Arts and five years as a tutor for SES. Her long term goal is to become a high school math teacher in a school that shares her philosophy. She believes the world is a plethora of knowledge and it is her goal to find innovate and engaging ways to bring it into the classroom.
Why is the Project Needed?
The project creates an opportunity for students to implement technology and the internet in a creative and educational way. Students get a chance to work with their peers and create a video journal, vine, YouTube video, weebly, and other forms of social media to present information in a novel way. Also, this project will give students the chance to expand their knowledge of creating videos and using the internet for educational purposes.
The implementation of the common core standards in schools all across America has changed the way school districts ensure students are college and career ready. Schools curriculums are now emphasizing that students think critically and collaboratively. This project will give students a chance to explore concepts and really immerse themselves in the content so that they can emerge with a full understanding that lasts beyond a unit test. The project allows students to think outside the box and apply their own unique talents in a collaborative environment which is also emphasized by the common core standards.
The project gives students an opportunity to gain deeper understanding of technology and the internet. It is important that students see it as a resource for their academic career and not just a form of entertainment. The advancement of technology has given students more resources and information than any other time in history but without proper training into its usage or awareness of its abilities, the students cannot fully benefit from it.
Impact on Students
Teenagers today spend a great deal of their free time on their smartphone or a computer to use social media or entertainment. The potential of the devices as an instrument for learning is often forgotten or poorly used. Students will be taught to correctly use information from the internet instead of cutting and pasting information from the first links that showed up in a search, without any attempt to interpret, analyze or even read the text material being pasted. They will learn how to communicate with their peers via the internet while getting deeper understanding of the material.
It is also important for 21st century students to be effective in their online communication in a variety of genres and formats. Most communications and group collaborations today occur through some form online document sharing such as Google Drive, dropbox and video chatting websites. Students will learn how to use these tools by working on a project simultaneously online and discussing project direction, roles within the group, and the final product. The opportunity for students to learn how to use new websites and software on their computer will also positively affect their confidence in being able to use various gadgets.
Finally, this project creates multiple inputs of information for the students so they get a chance to gain a deeper understanding of the material covered. Students will have a chance to gain deeper understanding of the topics covered by exploring information from various resources, synthesizing the information, and reporting it in a creative way. This creates deeper learning because students must apply the concepts learned from each subject in a meaningful and detailed project that is teacher and peer reviewed.
Impact on Teachers
Using project based learning provides a break from the usual lecture and worksheet routine in most classes. It is also a chance for teachers to really highlight a topic and skill that he/she feels is important for students to master. The collaborative environment between students and teachers will create a fruitful and positive relationship between participating members.
The widespread use of standardized tests has forced middle and high school teachers to focus mainly on procedural and memorization skills at the cost of deeper understanding by the students. Teachers are usually asked to focus on their content area and the high stakes test so much that there remains little time for teachers to help students make connections between subjects and to explain the bigger picture of what they are learning.
This project will help create a collaborative and positive environment for all the teachers involved. Teachers will be able to put their skills and thoughts together to create a unique learning environment through this project. If teachers know what another teacher is covering then they can help students make connections across different subjects.
Learning Goals and Outcomes
Our main goal is to have students fully embrace the spirit of adventure that influenced Jules Verne's novel as well as understand the complicated mathematical and historical nuances that often prevent most teenage readers from fully comprehending the text. The preferred outcome would be that the students find a fun and unique way of engaging with the text by integrating current technology into a story that was told over 100 years earlier and thus "modernizing" the text for today's audiences.
Description of Project-Based Learning Unit
The majority of the project would be based around the novel Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. This seminal book, released in the 19th century, concerns the adventures of two scientists who use coded messages left behind by an ancient race to find the location that takes them directly to the center of the earth. In that same vein, we have come up with a project that would attempt to mimic that same spirit of adventure while introducing a technological aspect that would both involve the students and make the entire project relevant to their life in a new and unique way. This is an ambitious and long project that will require funds obtained from a grant as well as significant out of class time for the students involved. Nonetheless, we feel that the learning experience of participating in this project will undoubtedly be worth the extra effort needed from the school and the students.
The project will cover three different school subjects: English Language Arts, World History and Mathematics. The majority of the technology and half of the project will be focused on English language arts, while math and history will compose most of the written and presentation sides. In essence, the children will re-create the novel in the modern world by creating a cypher in math that needs to be decoded. The code will reveal a location and time period that students must create an electronic report depicting the time period, scientific advancements during that period, and important sights in their location. Then the students will electronically document their journey whilst simultaneously reading the book and using reading logs that explore the book.
Math is an integral part of the original novel, and it will be integrated into the lesson in a novel way. The novel has the main characters deciphering a codex or cypher that tells them the secret into journeying into the center of the earth. In that same spirit, the math students will get into small groups of three that will create their own codex using an imitation legacy machine that will “crunch” numbers to help create a code. Afterwards, each group will exchange their codes with another group. This will allow the students to get a chance to decrypt a puzzle that they have never seen before, similar to the book. The encryption box the students will create will be aided by iPad tablet, which will be their main technological resource for this section.
Activities
The goal of this project is to have students research information, synthesize information and relay information in a creative and collaborative manner while meeting the standards for the three content areas. The detailed goals and desired outcomes are broken down into the three subject areas so that each teacher can fully focus on the required material that needs to be covered for his/her content area. However, the overarching theme of creating a successful project using cryptography, technology, history, language arts, and sources is present in all three content areas. The length of the project will be twelve school days. Each content area in the project has an overview outline of the activities and how to ensure connection between each content area below.
Mathematics
The math standard for the project based learning is HS.A-APR.B.2. Know and apply the Remainder Theorem: For a polynomial p(x) and a number a, the remainder on division by x – a is p(a), so p(a) = 0 if and only if (x – a) is a factor of p(x). The objective is, “students will be able to apply the Remainder Theorem to create an encryption box for another group.”
Math Questions
What equation did you use for your encryption?
What will each number output represent in terms of a letter from the alphabet?
How does the Remainder Theorem apply to your encryption creation?
Lesson Plan
Cryptography is used in our everyday lives but we hardly see it or understand it. Today, most of our technology uses some basic form of encryption to hide sensitive information in e-mails, websites and social media. Cryptology is defined as the science of making communication incomprehensible to all people except those who have a right to read and understand it.
The students will think about all the different ways encryption is used in society and then, as a class, students will share their ideas while the teacher prompts, labels and paraphrases each idea mentioned. Afterwards, the teacher will share videos of the different ways cryptography is used while the students take notes.
Teacher will review the vocabulary words for the unit by providing examples for each word and having students draw a symbol for each word. The teacher will then go over the three main types of cryptography, which includes: the shift cypher system, modular arithmetic, and mono alphabetic substitution ciphers. The students will then practice each type of cryptography via worksheets with text that must be deciphered in a similar way from the examples modeled by the teacher.
Vocabulary Needed for Project
· Code is a set of information that will allow words to be changed to other words or symbols, For instance, a code for the word “rifle” may be “escargot.”
· Plaintext - the message that you wish to put into a secret form.
· Cipher is the method for altering the plaintext
· Cipher text is the secret version of the plaintext
· Key is information that will allow someone to encipher the plaintext and also decipher the cipher text.
· Cryptology is defined as the science of making communication incomprehensible to all people except those who have a right to read and understand it.
The teacher will connect the idea of encryption the book, Journey to the Center of the Earth, by reading the pages going over how the code was deciphered by the explorers. Students will actively listen and write down important details from the reading. Then students will discuss the meaning of the code, how the code works and how the code was broken.
Students will work in groups of three and the teacher will assign the groups for the project. Then, each group will decide what type of code they will use for their project from the codes discussed. The group planning should take up one whole class period and it may extend into half of another depending on the level of difficulty students are having. The teacher will offer advice and ideas for students throughout this period. The teacher will not create the entire encryption for the students since the group must use their own innovation and it is a part of their formative assessment.
Then students will create their own unique encryption box using a shoe box, construction paper, a cardboard cylinder, and writing materials. This is the most elaborate part of the project and it counts as the summative assessment for mathematics since the code must work in order for the next part of the project to take place. Once I review each group’s encryption box and ensure I can decrypt it, each group will trade their encryption box with another group. The students will have one whole class day to find the destination of their journey and create a unique video about their travels which will include specific information.
Language Arts
The standard that will be most touched upon for English is standard ELA-RI-11-12.7: Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats as well as in words to address a question or solve a problem. Students will be able to use different media formats to answer the who, what, when, where, why, and how of a location that will be given to them via math students encryption codes, as well as analyze the book Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.
Language Arts Questions
What are some of the themes of Journey to the Center of the Earth?
What were some interesting things that the “journey” to a different place revealed?
How can media be used to document a journey or adventure?
Lesson Plan
Many students are asked to write essays and answer long test questions about what they learned and how they can apply it. This project will be very new in that a student will instead actively document what they are doing with the project using the technology that is given to them as a means of applying what they have learned and showing that they can write with a deft hand as well as be fun and creative. There are many students who, if they were to write a paper, would not be able to express what they want to say completely, and this project would give them a new way to let them explore the subject. Diverse learning methods are what keeps educators in business, and this new proposal is very diverse and can be done by any student, regardless of how they write.
English Language Arts will contain a large amount of reading and will serve as the "main course" of this project based learning assignment. The long term goal will be to complete a reading of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, which will be done over the course of two-three weeks within the project's time. During the time that the students are reading the book both in-class and outside of class, there will be a long running vocabulary list that they will have access to, and they will also be filling out a reading log each time that they read. The reading log will be simple: write a small summary of the events that happened within the chapters they read, label some of the things that the characters said that might reveal bits of who they are, and point out any vocabulary words that might be found in the chapter(s).
The final two sections of the English Language Arts section will go hand in hand. The students will be put into groups of three, with a few exceptions that may have four, and will then receive an encrypted message that was done by different groups in the seventh grade Math classes. It is then the job of the group to decipher that encryption code, which they will get a full class day to do, and write down the location that the cipher is to reveal. Once they have the location written down and a copy turned into the English Language Arts teacher, the project truly begins. The groups will receive an Apple iPad that will help them document a journey to the place that was within their individual cipher. The documentation is very important; they will not only need to list how they got to the place where they are going, but they need to also list any items that they are taking on the trip, what those items will be used for, and keep a running list of those items and any other supplies for the purposes of keeping a "budget".
The total assessment for the unit will be the collected version of the documentation described previously. Using the iPad, each member of the group will be able to document their journey however they see fit; they can use Twitter to make various tweets and take photos and video, they can use Vine to make quick videos that show off where they are going, or they could even use Facebook and Instagram to post photos with captions so that other students can comment on them. However they choose to document the journey, it must be cobbled together, which they can do via a slideshow, Powerpoint, Prezi, or even use digital scrapbook software that would be made available to them in a list by the English Language Arts teacher. The project will mainly be based on if the students put forth the time and effort to document the journey. If a project uses social media, photographs with captions, and is put together in a slide-show or scrapbook format, then that will be enough to earn a good grade. Failure to cooperate on a final presentation or inadequate forms of documentation will earn a poor to failing grade. The goal of the ELA section of the project is that students learn to use language and technology in order to document a journey into a (possibly) unknown place, all while reading and writing about a book which does the very same thing but in a very different time.
Assessment
The main form of assessment will be rubrics that guide all of the main projects of the different subjects. The history portion will have a compare and contrast presentation that examines Industrial Revolution technology and lifestyle and analyzes that in the context of Jules Verne’s novel and its accuracy. The math students will have to create a cryptographic sequence that is properly aligned to a rubric that is given to them, and they will be graded primarily based on the success of the encryption box. Lastly, the English language arts section will follow both a rubric and formative assessment; the rubric will detail the individual parts that students will need in order to gain the best score possible on their reading logs for the book, Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Students will work in their group of three to document their “journey” to the location indicated by the decoded message. The formative assessment will be the digital journey video which will be graded on how complete, organized, elaborate, and creativity. They will also be graded on the effectiveness of their chosen media to depict their journey, be it a video journal, blog, a movie or other media. Students will be graded by their peers on how much each student contributed and what they contributed to the project. The teachers will use these peer reviews and their own observations throughout the lesson to come up with each students grade.
Technology Support
The faculty of the school, as well as the superiors not only in administration at our school, but administration across the District board will support this project and proudly accept the technology that his proposal would grant. They understand that the potential uses for the technologies not just in the upper grade classrooms, but in schools all across the district. Tablets are extremely useful as a learning tool, as a technology tool, and as a tool to help aid students in their everyday schooling.
Sustaining the Project After the Proposal Period
The project will continue on with the next classes in the next year, but the subject matter of the project may change; maybe another book is used instead of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. The tablets use will be expanded; daily lesson plans will be planned around use of the tablets in the class, and the projects in history and math will become more technologically based and have a learning outcome that is still aligned with their standards as well.
Budget
The project requires thirty iPads which would be given to each student to find information, organize their report, and communicate with peers. One camcorder will be needed for each group to create their video journal of their journey. The one chosen for purchase is popular for its reliability and picture clarity. Finally, the project requires classroom supplies such as boxes, construction paper, glue, and markers for the encryption box. The total cost for all the items required is $13,626.70
Innovation
The project is original in its ability to bring three content areas into one project. The students are asked to use their numerous other talents to create a unique project that reflects their learning of the material. This project will also keep students engaged since it incorporates technology throughout the entire lesson. Finally, it will transform the way teachers help students learn new material and concepts. Teachers will have a chance to create deeper understanding of the material through this project for many years.