Place-based Science for Educators: Module 3
Part 3: Assignments
Please complete the assignments below prior to our class on Tuesday, July 16 at 3:00PM.
Assignment A: Third Site Visit and Wonder Journal Entry
We’re going to return to our wonder journal sites again, this time with a different lens. Follow the directions below or the printable directions HERE:
Step 1: Grab a smartphone or camera, a notebook, and any other gear you need, then head back to the same place you visited last time, starting with the spot that marks the “center” of your site.
Step 2: Like last time, spend fifteen or twenty minutes exploring your site. Try to uncover something new — something you missed in previous visits. Jot your findings in your notebook, and make note of anything you might want to photograph or sketch.
Step 3: Spend about 20 minutes taking photographs of your site. As you go, consider what you learned in this module and ask yourself: what story am I telling with each photograph? How can I use perspective, scale, and lighting to highlight my subject? Try to get at least three photos you are excited about. (To encourage yourself to take photographs rather than snapshots, consider taking ONLY three photographs that you carefully compose.)
Step 4: Take 20 to 30 minutes to sketch at your site. Consider what you learned in this module about sketching; your goal is to slow down and notice new things as you sketch. Try to end up with one or two sketches you are excited about — or at least okay with!
Step 5: Share one sketch and one photograph on the relevant slide in your online Course Notebook. (Obviously you may have to take a photo of your sketch to share it; that’s fine.) Include a caption for each that explains what your subject is and why you chose it.
Assignment B: Place Plan Progress
By our next live session, please draft Stage 2 (Inventory and Narrowing) and Stage 3 (Endpoint) in your Place Plan. A couple notes:
1) Your Place Plan should already be shared in our Google Sheet, so no need to add another link. You do not need to add anything to your Google Slideshow for this assignment; just add to your place plan. The directions on Slide 11 in your Course Notebook (Place Plan Progress) are redundant at this point; my apologies!
2) The goal of Stage 2 is to help you choose a realistic and worthwhile way to integrate place into your classroom. By the end of this stage, the hope is that you will have settled on a concrete idea you’re excited about.
3) In Stage 3, I’m asking you to start designing a summative assignment/project/experience for the idea you’ve chosen. It is absolutely okay if your work in stage 3 is still very much in draft form by the time we have class.