ESL Teaching Tools for Environmental Science

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ESL Teaching Tools for Environmental Science

• Sarah ODonnell
• Cheryl Lechtanski
• North Plainfield High School

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Objectives

• Share a number of teaching tools
• Currently in use at North Plainfield High School
• Aligns with the Sheltered Instruction Observation
  Protocol (SIOP) model

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Our Application of the SIOP Model

• Content (science) and language objectives
• Building background
• Scaffolding
• Verbal, e.g., questioning
• Procedural, e.g., partnering
• Instructional, e.g., graphic organizers
• Variety of activities

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Current Applications

• Environmental Science course
• Sheltered
• Non-sheltered

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Webquests

• Virtual Tours ( http//www.efieldtrips.org )
• Examples

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Field Trips

• Raptor Trust (Millington, NJ)
• http//www.theraptortrust.org

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Games

• Food Chain Game
• Crossword Puzzles
• Water Pollution

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Games

• Food Chain Game (based on Loch Ness)
• http//www.3dlochness.com/schools-info.htm

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Games

• Crossword Puzzles
• Water Pollution Crossword Puzzle
• (http//www.puzzlemaker.com )

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Activities

• White Deer Population
• Think, Pair, Share
• Food Chains and Trophic Levels
• Draw an Atom

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Activities

• White Deer Population
• Adapted from Penn State Environment and
  Ecological Lesson Plan Series, where students
• Calculate deer population growth on a deer farm
  where harvesting occurs
• Analyze data and suggest good management
  practices

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Activities

• Think, Pair, Share
• Build an animal
• Assessment on understanding of adaptation, where
  students
• Select a biome
• Create a fictitious animal with adaptations that
  allow it to survive in the chosen biome
• List the specific adaptations and their survival
  benefits
• Present work to class

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Activities

• Food Chains and Trophic Levels, where students
• Learn new vocabulary
• Identify a list of organisms as producers,
  consumers, or decomposers

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Activities

• Draw an Atom
• Assessment on the components of an atom
• Each student draws an atom from the Periodic
  Table

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Labs

• Mark and Recapture Lab
• Dew Point Lab
• What is a Greenhouse? Lab
• pH Lab Do we have acid rain?

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Labs

• Mark and Recapture Lab, where students
• Learn concepts and vocabulary of population size
  estimation
• Apply mark and recapture procedure using peanuts,
  paper bags and markers
• Evaluate pros and cons of procedure

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Labs

• Dew Point Lab, where students
• Learn concept and vocabulary of dew point
• Measure dew point using the cold can method
• Write a summary of what they learned

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Labs

• What is a Greenhouse? Lab
• EPA Report No. EPA/600/R-93/126. U.S.
  Environmental Protection Agency
• http//www.ucar.edu/learn/1_3_2_12t.htm

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Labs

• pH Lab Do we have acid rain in North
  Plainfield?, where students
• Learn and apply pH scale
• Compare pH of tap water, rain water, cola,
  vinegar and soapy water