Re: California: Board OKs Darwin challenge - Alex Branning Responds

Deadrat wrote:
<alex.branning@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1143317380.430653.185940@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
So many of the responses to my posts are asking the same questions that
I've already supplied answers to.

No Alex, you have avoided answers.


1) No, we do not have a new lesson plan for the class - we'll let the
teachers decide how best to educate their students.

So you're withdrawing your program from Lancaster, I take it.


The key to any curricula is a lesson plan. This has several well
defined parts. Here is an example I wrote several years ago when I was
Director of Educational Programs at a small natural history museum in
California:

A Sixth Grade Curriculum

An example of our multiple curriculum standards approach is taken from
the following Sixth Grade science standards;

Earth Sciences (major focus)

Plate Tectonics
1.F "Students know how to explain major features of California
geology (including mountains, faults, volcanoes) in terms of plate
tectonics.

2.A "Students know water running downhill is the dominant process in
shaping the landscape, including California's landscape.

2.B "Students know rivers and streams are dynamic systems that erode,
transport sediment, change course, and flood their banks in natural and
recurring patterns.

2.D "Students know earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and
floods change human and wildlife habitats.

Physical Science (Heat)

3.A "Students know energy can be carried from one place to another by
heat flow or by waves, including water, light, and sound waves, or by
moving objects.

3.D "Students know heat energy is also transferred between objects by
radiation (radiation can travel through space).

4.A "Students know the sun is the major source of energy for
phenomena on Earth's surface; it powers winds, ocean currents, and
the water cycle.

4.B "Students know solar energy reaches Earth through radiation,
mostly in the form of visible light.

4.E "Students know differences in pressure, heat, air movement, and
humidity result in changes in weather.

Life Sciences (Ecology)


5.A "Students know energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is
transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis
and then organism to organism through food webs.

5.B "Students know matter is transferred over time from one organism
to others in the food web and between organisms and the physical
environment.

5.D "Students know different kinds of organisms may play similar
ecological roles in similar biomes.

5.E "Students know the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can
support depends on the resources available and on abiotic factors, such
as quantities of light and water, a range of temperatures, and soil
composition.

Resources

6.B "Students know different natural energy and material resources,
including air, soil, rocks, minerals, petroleum, fresh water, wildlife,
and forests, and know how to classify them as renewable or
nonrenewable.

6.C "Students know the natural origin of the materials used to make
common objects.

Investigation and Experimentation

7.G Interpret events by sequence and time from natural phenomena (e.g..
relative ages of rocks and intrusions).

7.H Identify changes in natural phenomena over time without
manipulating the phenomena (e.g.. a tree limb, a grove of trees, a
stream, a hill slope).


These sixteen standards requirements (many related to one another)
represent about 50% of the grade level totals and are addressed in a
single visit as follows:

Before the field trip, Teachers have started the identification of
common household materials, and their origins (e.g. aluminum=bauxite,
and plastic=petroleum). The students will collect aluminum, and
plastic waste from their homes to be brought to the Museum recycling
center on their field trip (6.B, 6.C).

The students then move into groups of twenty to maximize the contact
between the students and the Museum staff and facilitate flow. For
purposes of this narrative we will "follow" a single group for the
1.5 hour program. Approximately 45 minutes are spent in each area; the
Collections Room, and the Discovery Trail. The students enter the
Museum Collections room. There Docent provided content introduces the
bird, insect, and mammal mounts. The entire collection area is focused
on the Orange County environment through time. The Docent
points out the many preditor/prey relationships. These specimens, in
addition to skeleton mounts, and fossils partially satisfy Life
Sciences 5.B, and 5.D. The students who wish to may hold a live snake.
During a "free" time all students are encouraged to see, and feel
many of the fossil and mineral specimens. Scattered throughout the
Museum's Collection Room are Discovery Boxes, small, hands-on
experiential selections such as bear's fur, fossil shells, bones,
wildlife photos and so forth.

Following the Collections Room the students are gathered together for
the Discovery Trail. The Discovery Trail is an approximately 200
meter nature walk. The first station on the trail are large sandstone
blocks that have been installed in front of the Museum.

These specimens hold a variety of vertebrate and invertebrate fossils
and show a high degree of stratification (7.G). The Museum setting is
at the inland mouth of a coastal canyon transecting the San Joaquin
Hills. The San Joaquin Hills are Miocene marine sandstones and gravels
that were uplifted by tectonic movement in the Pliocene. The canyon
was formed by water flowing across the landscape as the hills were
uplifted, and has had multiple infilling and scouring episodes since
forming (1.F, 2.A, 2.B, 2.D, 7.H).

The trail moves from a Coastal Sage Scrub / Grasslands habitat and to a
Riparian Habitat before returning to the Museum. Because of seasonal
variation and varying wildlife visitation, the Discovery Trail is
always a fresh experience. There are over twenty native plants, many
which were important to Native Americans for food, medicine, and
shelter (related to History/Social Science 6.1.1-3). Some of the
medicines that were discovered by Native Americans (e.g. aspirin from
Salix-willow trees) are still used today. Several plant species have
interesting textures and/or smells which are related to their
ecological relationships with other plants and animals including
insects (5.B). The plants within a
habitat can be shown to actively compete for resources; light, water,
and nutrients. Sun light is the energy source for all photosynthetic
organisms (3.A, 3.D, 4.A, 4.B, 5.A).

The Discovery Trail moves down into the stream bed [steep stairs!]. We
feel a change in both the temperature and humidity, and see that there
is a marked change in the plant and animal species present (5.D, 5.E).
Soil building and removal episodes are clearly visible in the stream
banks (7.H, re-enforce 2.A, 2.B, 2.C).

Animals commonly detected or observed are raccoons, coyotes, rabbits,
ground squirrels, and bobcats as well as a number of birds, insects,
and reptiles. Animals not directly observed are detected by signs such
as tracks and scat. The scat, and occasional carcass are important
observational lessons in animal behavior (i.e. coyote territorial
marking) and is a direct referent to the propagation of mass and energy
through the environment (3.A, 5.A, 5.B).


2) I have never pretended to be a scientist or teacher - I am a
concerned citizen trying to do something good for our students.

You are an ignorant phony.

You are about to be a discredited phony.

.

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