Soil Quality; The Difference a Zip-Code can Make
This project will end in a compilation of all student work being presented at a "Soil Quality Presentation" that the entire community is invited to. The flyer that I created for this presentation is under the "About" tab titled "Unit PSA".
The idea is to have the students take their learning to the streets and find where soil "in"-justice may be occurring. They will find and take soil samples from an area outside of their comfort zone (upper middle class to upper class suburban neighborhoods in the Glen Ellyn, IL area) where they believe soil quality, and therefore social and environmental inequality occur, is poor. They will bring these samples back to the classroom and analyze all aspects of the soil to use in comparison to a control soil (store bought, pulverized, fertilized, "perfect" soil) and samples of soil from their own backyards. The students will cumulatively, and cross class period, label where ALL the samples were taken from on a topographic/geographic map of the area. A clear road/city map will be used as an overlay so that they can see zip-code/township/county/city/etc. lines as well as major roadways and other areas of interest. The students can even locate and label main causes of possible and known pollution and contamination.
The students will then contemplate WHYs and HOWs associated with the differences in the soils. They will engage in social action and public awareness as they put all their learning and data collection/findings together to pull together a demonstration day/presentation of soil quality and why it's important.
This final project will be assessed based on the rubric located in the "Assessment" tab under the "curriculum" pull down menu.
I believe this unit, and its final project is extremely comprehensive and lives up to Frieres Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It is in this book, released in 1970, that Paulo Freire first suggested that privileged individuals must recognize their privilege and use it to help the oppressed before we, as humans, can ever truly be free of oppression at a social level. I believe that we must educate children in a way that shows them that they can be their own tools of change, leading them to discover their own empowerment, regardless of their level of privilege or oppression.
As always, take this lesson with a grain of salt! I am not you, nor am I your studetns. USe this unit and its lessons only as a platform upon which you can build your own units and lessons. All studetns are individuals and come from different backgrounds. You, as their teacher, have the power to help them investigate the world around them. All the good and the bad that they are exposed to feeds their knowledge and helps to mold them into the adults they will bcome. Help them to see that htey are bigger than the problems that face them. Introduce them to the idea of empowerment and teach them to cross social lines and ignore rules that would otherwise keep those of priviledge and the oppressed apart. Remove the fear associated from the opposing group(s) and let them see for themselves that change can, and should, happen. Empower them to find social and individual peace so that they can engage and encourage future generations to do the same.
The idea is to have the students take their learning to the streets and find where soil "in"-justice may be occurring. They will find and take soil samples from an area outside of their comfort zone (upper middle class to upper class suburban neighborhoods in the Glen Ellyn, IL area) where they believe soil quality, and therefore social and environmental inequality occur, is poor. They will bring these samples back to the classroom and analyze all aspects of the soil to use in comparison to a control soil (store bought, pulverized, fertilized, "perfect" soil) and samples of soil from their own backyards. The students will cumulatively, and cross class period, label where ALL the samples were taken from on a topographic/geographic map of the area. A clear road/city map will be used as an overlay so that they can see zip-code/township/county/city/etc. lines as well as major roadways and other areas of interest. The students can even locate and label main causes of possible and known pollution and contamination.
The students will then contemplate WHYs and HOWs associated with the differences in the soils. They will engage in social action and public awareness as they put all their learning and data collection/findings together to pull together a demonstration day/presentation of soil quality and why it's important.
This final project will be assessed based on the rubric located in the "Assessment" tab under the "curriculum" pull down menu.
I believe this unit, and its final project is extremely comprehensive and lives up to Frieres Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It is in this book, released in 1970, that Paulo Freire first suggested that privileged individuals must recognize their privilege and use it to help the oppressed before we, as humans, can ever truly be free of oppression at a social level. I believe that we must educate children in a way that shows them that they can be their own tools of change, leading them to discover their own empowerment, regardless of their level of privilege or oppression.
As always, take this lesson with a grain of salt! I am not you, nor am I your studetns. USe this unit and its lessons only as a platform upon which you can build your own units and lessons. All studetns are individuals and come from different backgrounds. You, as their teacher, have the power to help them investigate the world around them. All the good and the bad that they are exposed to feeds their knowledge and helps to mold them into the adults they will bcome. Help them to see that htey are bigger than the problems that face them. Introduce them to the idea of empowerment and teach them to cross social lines and ignore rules that would otherwise keep those of priviledge and the oppressed apart. Remove the fear associated from the opposing group(s) and let them see for themselves that change can, and should, happen. Empower them to find social and individual peace so that they can engage and encourage future generations to do the same.