Goal Research, Design and Construct a Protective Container for Shipping a Potato Chip
Unit Overview / LEADERSHIP is a project-based unit that culminates in two projects, both of which require students to utilize standards-based skills from four academic areas: Science, Math, Reading Language Arts, and Social Studies. The unit can be adapted to pacing requirements: it can be completed as a whole or split into two parts.
The first project, which includes the last two days of the first week, and half a day the following week, is Ship the Chip. Ship the Chip is a standards-based project. The goal of the project is to have students apply skills they have learned in standards-based classroom instruction to research, design, and build a small shipping package capable of protecting fragile cargo. Career links include engineering, packaging, shipping, and public relations. The project requires students to use the Engineering Design Process, the Number System, writing to communicate learning, recognition of technologies used in antiquity, recognition of leadership skills, and to demonstrate an awareness of cultural perceptions.
The second project requires students to create an electronic poster using Glogster, which is an online digital poster creator. The project is standards-based and takes place on the last day-and-a-half of the second week of the project. This project will require students to use the following standards-based skills from the four curricular areas: reflect upon their leadership skills, solve real world problems with rational numbers, distinguish and communicate the unintended consequences of the Internet, recognize how any technological development can have a widespread influence, and appropriately present their findings. The project concludes with a classroom presentation by each group in which they describe their findings.
Unit Essential Question(s) / What are the tools and procedures needed to test a prototype?
What is the Engineering Design Process and how do you use it?
What are evidences of successfully applying the Engineering Design Process?
What are the intended benefits of your packaging design?
What are the unintended consequences of your packaging design?
What technologies or tools can you implement to meet your needs within this project?
How does examining technologies Ancient Egyptians used to meet their needs help your thought process towards building a successful package?
What is our cultural perception of the USPS?
How might other cultures’ perceptions of their national postal service differ from ours?
How do I calculate the total cost of creating a package to ship a chip? How can I make my package less expensive?
What are the characteristics of a good digital leader?
How can you digitally communicate with others?
What skills are needed to give a successful presentation?
Culminating Events / Project 1: Ship the Chip. This project will take place on the last two days of the first week of the unit and the third day of the second week. Three classroom days will precede the project. Standards-based instruction should be emphasized in preparation for this project. Students will be expected to utilize the following skills in completing the project:
· Science skills: use of the engineering design process, selecting appropriate tools, model building and testing, distinguishing between intended and unintended consequences.
· Math skills: use addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of multi-digit rational numbers to calculate the cost of producing the package to ship the chip.
· ELA skills – Internet research techniques, determining the credibility of a source
· Social Studies skills: recognizing technology as any tool developed to meet our needs, understanding that cultural perceptions can change based one’s place in the world
The project requires students to research, design, build, test and rebuild a small shipping package to protect a potato chip (or other fragile cargo) that will be sent through the mail. The project also requires students to research packaging and shipping, document their design process, present their final product and complete a reflective writing.
Grouping – Students will be assigned to groups of four at the beginning of the project. Since the project is trans-disciplinary, one student from each group will receive special instructions from each content area. This student is responsible for carrying the instructions back to the group and communicating the instructions.
Project 2: Glogster This will be a 1 ½ day project. One day will be spent planning and creating a digital poster, Glogster. The remaining half-day will be used for presenting the Glogsters to the class. Before students begin creating their presentation, they will watch “Junk Sculpture Presentation” (see resource folder) to demonstrate incorrect presentation skills, such as failing to make eye contact and using poor voice quality. The teacher will hold a class discussion to point out the mistakes that were made in the video. Teachers will reiterate the main three skills that students must remember during an oral presentation: maintain good eye contact, speak clearly, and speak loudly enough for everyone to hear. Students will be given time for practicing before the presentations.
Being a responsible Digital Leader is the main focus of the second project. In order to be successful, students will incorporate the following skills into completing and presenting their Glogsters:
· Science skills: identifying benefits and unintended consequences of technology
· Math skills-solving real-world problems with rational numbers
· ELA skills – Presentation Skills
· Social Studies skills: identify the effects of technology on a society
Grouping- Students will be paired with a student that was not in their previous group. Pairs will consist of a girl and a boy; otherwise, the pairs will be random and not based on ability. Students will work together to create a digital poster depicting the characteristics of a digital leader. A presentation of the Glogsters will be completed at the end of the project. Students will be expected to speak clearly, make eye-contact with the audience, and have correct information.
Common Assessment / / STEM Project Rubric / Project Title: Ship the Chip
Student Name: ______
Date: ______
Advanced / Proficient / Needs Improvement
Math
Components
Evaluating Expressions
20% / Total cost of the final product is calculated with no more than 1 mathematical error. / Total cost of the final product is calculated with no more than 2-3 mathematical errors. / Total cost of the final product is calculated with 4 or more mathematical errors.
Science Components:
The Engineering Design Process
30% / Finishes project on time. Provides complete documentation (15/15 steps) of three cycles of the EDP. Design has at least one functioning door to allow repeated access to chip. / Finishes project on time. Provides complete documentation for 12/15 steps of three cycles of the EDP. Design has at least one functioning door to allow access to chip. / Finishes the project on time. Provides complete documentation for 10/15 steps of three cycles of the EDP. Design has at least one door to allow one-time access to the chip.
Social Studies
Component
Cultural Perception of the USPS
20% / Answer 5
contemplation questions displaying a comprehensive understanding of our cultural perception of the USPS in comparison to other countries’ cultural expectations in nations with less developed infrastructure, if Ship the Chip is an adequate assessment of the USPS, and recognition of alternative ways to send and receive mail. / Answer 4
contemplation questions displaying a comprehensive understanding of our cultural perception of the USPS in comparison to other countries’ cultural expectations in nations with less developed infrastructure, if Ship the Chip is an adequate assessment of the USPS, and recognition of alternative ways to send and receive mail. / Answer 3
contemplation questions displaying a comprehensive understanding of our cultural perception of the USPS in comparison to other countries’ cultural expectations in nations with less developed infrastructure, if Ship the Chip is an adequate assessment of the USPS, and recognition of alternative ways to send and receive mail.
ELA Component
United State Postal Service Research
Using more than one internet source to answer a question
15% / 9-10 questions are answered correctly with details / 7-8 questions are answered correctly with details / 7 questions are answered correctly with details
ELA Component
United State Postal Service Research
CITING SOURCES
15% / Complete URL is listed for 9-10 questions. (If someone types the URL into the address bar, it will take he/she directly to the answer that is written on the paper.) / Complete URL is listed for 7-8 questions. (If someone types the URL into the address bar, it will take he/she directly to the answer that is written on the paper.) / Complete URL is listed for <7 questions. (If someone types the URL into the address bar, it will take he/she directly to the answer that is written on the paper.)
/ STEM Project Rubric / Project Title: Glogster
Student Name: ______
Date: ______
Advanced / Proficient / Needs Improvement
Math
Components
Evaluating Expressions
20% / Calculated technological growth correctly on 5 of the computers. / Calculated technological growth correctly on 4 of the computers. / Calculated technological growth correctly on 3 or less of the computers.
Science Components:
The Engineering Design Process
30% / Creates a list of at least 10 unintended consequences of the internet and represents 4 on Glogster and discusses 3 during presentation. / Creates a list of at least 8 unintended consequences of the internet and puts 3 on Glogster and discusses 2 during presentation. / Creates a list of at least 7 unintended consequences of the internet and puts 2 on Glogster and discusses 2 during presentation.
Social Studies
Component
Outcomes of technological advancements in Ancient Egypt
20% / Identify 6 outcomes of the Ancient Egyptian’s technologically advanced boats and agricultural proficiency. These outcomes should be related to Ancient Egypt’s culture of building astonishing monuments, pyramids, temples, etc. and their economic successes that allowed for such building accomplishments. / Identify 4 outcomes of the Ancient Egyptian’s technologically advanced boats and agricultural proficiency. These outcomes should be related to Ancient Egypt’s culture of building astonishing monuments, pyramids, temples, etc. and their economic successes that allowed for such building accomplishments. / Identify 3 outcomes of the Ancient Egyptian’s technologically advanced boats and agricultural proficiency. These outcomes should be related to Ancient Egypt’s culture of building astonishing monuments, pyramids, temples, etc. and their economic successes that allowed for such building accomplishments.
ELA Component
Presentation Skills-
Eye Contact
15% / keeps eye contact with audience most of
the time; only glances at notes or slides / makes infrequent eye contact; reads notes
or slides most of the time / does not look at audience; reads notes or
slides
ELA Component
Voice Quality
15% / speaks clearly; not too quickly or slowly / speaks clearly most of the time; sometimes
too quickly or slowly / mumbles or speaks too quickly or slowly
Unit Objectives / I can use the engineering design process.
I can select tools and procedures for building and evaluating a prototype.
I can identify the steps of the engineering design process.
I can identify benefits and unintended consequences.
I can identify design constraints.
I can use the scientific method.
I can identify the steps of the scientific method.
I can use rational numbers to solve a real world problem.
I can use good voice quality and make eye contact while giving a presentation.
I can recognize a given leader’s impact on world history.
I can recognize a given technological advancement’s impact on a particular society.
Strands (main ideas taught in unit)
ELA / Reading Informational Text, Writing, Speaking and Listening
Math / The Number System
Science / Embedded Technology and Engineering
Social Studies / Culture, Economics, Geography, Government, History
Vocabulary
ELA / · Credibility- being believable or worthy of trust
· Source- the person, text, etc. that supplies information
· Imagery- the use of words in order to form metal images in the mind of the reader
· Cyberbully- a person who intentionally harms someone’s character online
· Climax- the turning point of the plot
Math / STEM Math IA
· Integer-the set of whole numbers and their opposites
· Absolute Value -the distance a number is from zero on a number line.
· Positive -numbers greater than zero.
· Negative -numbers less than zero.
· Additive Inverse- one of a pair of numbers whose sum is zero; the additive inverse of -5 is +5
STEM Math IB
· Product -the answer to a multiplication problem
· Quotient -the answer to a division problem
· Greatest Common Divisor - the largest integer that divides without remainder into a set of integers
· Greatest Common Factor - greatest common divisor: the largest integer that divides without remainder into a set of integers
· Least Common Multiple - the lowest quantity that is a multiple of two or more given quantities (e.g., 12 is the lowest common multiple of 2, 3, and 4).
Science / · criteria – a standard
· design constraint – a design requirement
· protocol – a detailed plan for doing something
· prototype - a model that can be tested
· bias – error caused by favoring one outcome over another
Social Studies / · archeologist—a studier of prehistory based on artifacts, monuments, and inscriptions
· hieroglyphics—pictographic scripts used particularly by Ancient Egyptians
· ancient—very distant past or no longer in existence
· polytheism—belief in multiple gods
· caste —hierarchical system of dividing a given society
Key Questions
ELA / Math / Science / Social Studies
What are the steps of efficiently searching the Internet for information?
How can you determine the amount of credibility a source provides?
What is the technique for citing an Internet source?
What are the characteristics of a Digital Leader? / How do I calculate the cost of the final product?
How do the changes I make impact the final cost?
How can I use rational numbers to describe the growth of technology? / What are the tools and procedures needed to test a prototype?