Online

 Projects,  Collaboration  Sites  and  Publishing  Opportunities  

Lesson  Idea  Name:      Sunlight  &  Seasons    
Content  Area:    Science  
Grade  Level(s):      2ND    

Content  Standard  Addressed:  S2E2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to develop an
understanding of the patterns of the sun and the moon and the sun’s effect on Earth.  
 
Technology  Standard  Addressed:    2.  Digital  Citizens  –  Students  recognize  the  rights,  responsibilities  and  
opportunities  of  living,  learning  and  working  in  an  interconnected  digital  world,  and  they  act  and  model  in  
ways  that  are  safe,  legal  and  ethical.    
 
Selected  Online  Project/Collaboration  Site/Publishing  Opportunity:      Journey  North  
 
URL(s)  to  support  the  lesson:      https://journeynorth.org/sunlight-seasons
 
Describe  how  you  would  incorporate  an  Online  Project/Collaboration  Site/Publishing  Opportunity  in  your  
classroom:      
I  would  incorporate  Journey  North  into  my  classroom  by  having  them  use  it  to  complete  an  activity  about  
seasonal  changes.  The  students  in  my  classroom  would  be  asked  to  pick  a  location/area  that  Journey  North  
has  on  their  site.  Journey  North  allows  the  users  to  track  and  post  about  their  findings.  This  means  that  the  
students  are  able  to  see  up  to  date  information  about  the  weather  and  seasons  of  specific  areas  around  the  
world.  For  this  particular  lesson,  the  students  will  just  be  specifically  learning  about  and  tracking  their  area.    
 
The  students  will  use  journey  North  to  look  at  their  environments  weather  and  seasonal  patterns.  Journey  
North  allows  the  students  to  comment  on  one  another’s;  postings  and  discoveries  which  is  a  great  way  for  
them  to  collaborate  with  each  other.  The  students  will  be  responsible  for  tracking  the  weather  around  them  
every  day.  They  will  be  able  to  document  the  sunlight  and  seasonal  changes  over  a  two-­‐week  period.  They  
can  post  their  findings  on  the  website  to  share  with  all  users.    
What  technologies  would  be  required  to  implement  this  proposed  learning  activity  in  a  classroom?        
In  order  to  complete  this  activity,  the  students  in  the  class  will  need  some  sort  of  technology  like  a  laptop,  
computer,  or  iPad  that  is  connected  to  the  school  WIFI.  They  will  also  need  to  be  able  to  access  the  Journey  
North  website.    
Describe  how  the  following  features  are  addressed  in  this  learning  experience  (note:  all  of  them  may  not  be  
addressed  in  the  project,  but  most  should  be  if  you  are  reaching  a  high  LoTi  Level).  
a.   Collaboration  with  peers,  near-­‐peers,  mentors  outside  their  classroom  and  often  beyond  their  
school:    Collaboration  with  be  happening  with  both  peers  in  and  out  of  their  classroom.  This  is  because  
Journey  North  is  a  collaboration  website  where  the  students  are  allowed  to  post  their  discoveries  and  
have  other  users  reply  to  the  posts  or  ass  to  them.    
 
b.   Student-­‐centered  learning  and  knowledge  creation  (creating  original  data  and  or  producing  original  
products  as  a  result  of  engaging  in  a  project):    The  students  are  creating  original  data  by  tracking  the  
different  sunlight  patterns  and  seasonal  changes  and  posting  them  online.    
 
 
c.   Higher-­‐order  thinking:  The  students  are  using  higher-­‐order  thinking  because  they  are  to  be  thinking  
like  a  scientist  would.  They  are  to  take  pictures,  document,  and  study  the  weather  and  seasonal  
patterns  throughout  the  two-­‐week  period.  By  having  the  students  do  something  more  rigorous  and  
engaging  they  are  thinking  more  critically  than  they  would  if  they  were  just  doing  a  traditional  hand  
written  assessment.    
 

Spring  2018_SJB  
 Online  Projects,  Collaboration  Sites  and  Publishing  Opportunities  
d.   Students  publishing  their  original  work  to  others  who  will  use/care  about  their  product:  The  students  
will  be  publishing  their  work  to  the  Journey  North  website  where  other  students  will  be  analyzing  it.  
The  other  students  will  be  able  to  compare  the  two  or  more  sets  of  data  with  each  other.    
 
Bloom’s  Taxonomy  Level(s):        
 

☒    Remembering            ☒    Understanding            ☒    Applying              ☒    Analyzing                ☒    Evaluating              ☐    Creating  

 
Levels  of  Technology  Integration  (LoTi  Level):    
 

☐    Level  1:  Awareness                ☐    Level  2:  Exploration                  ☐    Level  3:  Infusion                ☐    Level  4:  Integration  
 

☒    Level  5:  Expansion                  ☐    Level  6:  Refinement            

 
Universal  Design  for  Learning  (UDL):    
This  lesson  has  Universal  Design  for  Learning  by:  
•   Allowing  students  to  use  technology  as  a  form  of  assessment.    
•   Allowing  the  students  to  collaborate  with  each  other.    
•   This  activity  will  have  rules  and  guidelines  for  the  students  to  follow.    
•   All  of  the  students  will  be  able  to  post  their  data  findings.    
Lesson  idea  implementation  and  Internet  Safety  Policies:      
I  would  only  allow  the  students  to  use  the  Journey  North  website.  I  would  also  send  home  a  permission  slip  to  
the  students’  parents/guardians  to  sign.  The  slip  would  be  to  inform  the  parents  about  what  the  activity  
involves  and  information  on  the  website  that  we  will  be  using.    
Reflective  Practice:    
I  feel  like  the  activity  that  I  created  would  positively  impact  the  students  learning  because  they  are  able  to  
express  themselves  in  a  cool  and  unique  way.  The  students  are  able  to  think  of  the  weather  in  a  new  way  
because  they  are  acting  as  scientists.  To  further  extend  this  lesson  I  would  have  the  students  draw  examples  
of  the  weather  and  the  seasonal  changes  over  time.  I  could  also  have  them  study  and  document  the  weather  
in  a  different  location.    
     

Spring  2018_SJB