South Carolina ETV

South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

Totally Awesome Answers to Wacky Wonders (Grades 6-9)

Master Teacher

Betty Ann Martin

Overview

This lesson is designed to introduce students to a creative way to present research findings. Through the video, students will be exposed to reports that will stimulate their curiosity and motivate them to research other questions on their own. Students will work with a partner to gather information on a question from two sources using a computer program and the Internet. They will then write a report with visuals to air on closed-circuit TV for the school.

SC Science/ Math/ Reading / English / Language Arts Standards Met Science Achievement Standards:

Inquiry Skills: Area B: Understandings about Scientific Inquiry—Strands: 1-6

Area C: Abilities of Technological Design—Strands: 2 a, b, c

Math Achievement Standards Met:
Area VI: Probability and Statistics—Strand: C

Reading/English Language Arts
Achievement Standards:

Area: Reading/Literature—Strand: B
Area: Speaking—Stands: A,B,E
Area: Writing—Strands: A,B,C

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

identify the purpose of expository writing
identify and paraphrase the main idea
identify three key topics to focus their research on
prepare a clear, interesting research report from two sources
present their research findings using visuals

Materials

One set per student:

color-coded cards

For the teacher:

color-coded cards on overhead transparency for teacher demonstration
overhead projector

Web Applications Used

Publication
Investigation
Communication
Simulation/Demonstration

ITV Series

Inquiring Minds (classroom edition #530), Lesson 1, "Why Does Fluoride Prevent Cavities?," and Lesson 2, "What Is a Computer Virus"

Vocabulary

expository writing
fact
main idea
cue cards

Previewing Activity

Prepare your color-coded cards using the information on Activity Sheets 1A, 1B, and 1C for use with Viewing Activity 1. Put the question in each heading on a separate card and each bulleted fact on an individual card.

Then introduce the video "Why Does Fluoride Prevent Cavities?" and lead the students in a discussion of what reporters have to do before getting in front of an audience to report facts. Discuss the different types of writing such as fact, fiction, expository, narrative, descriptive, realistic fiction, and science fiction. Review the words listed under Vocabulary.

Focus for Viewing

To give students a specific responsibility while viewing, distribute the the cards that you created from Activity Sheets 1A-1C. Tell students to raise their hands when they hear a question asked, so you can stop the video to give them time to find the card that expresses that question. Tell them to listen for the facts given to answer each question, then raise their hands when they hear the fact so you can pause the video to give them time to find the appropriate card and arrange it to show the facts that support the main question. Model this using the overhead projector.

Tell students that at the end of the video, they should be able to identify the main facts about the topic that were explained in the answers. Also, have them look for ways or visuals that were used to make the report interesting.

Viewing Activity 1

Start the tape "Why Does Fluoride Prevent Cavities?" at the beginning. Remind the students to listen for the main ideas, supporting facts, key words and interesting visuals.

Pause the tape where the narrator says, "So how does fluoride keep all of this from happening? And what is fluoride anyway?"

Ask the students, "What was the narrator's purpose for asking those questions?" Find the cards with those questions on them and place them in front of you side by side. Demonstrate on the overhead. Ask students to identify the key words in those questions. Circle them on the overhead.

Resume the video. Tell students to listen for the answer to the question and to be able to restate it in their own words. Pause at the end of the explanation, and check for understanding. Place the fact cards under the question card. Demonstrate on the overhead.

Fast forward to the part where the narrator is holding a glass of water and says, "Great story, Mike, but let's get to the meat of the matter. How does fluoride actually prevent cavities?"

Pause the tape before the narrator starts to brush his teeth. Let the students find the card with that question on it and have them place it beside the others. Demonstrate on the overhead. Have students identify key words. Circle them on the overhead.

Play the video again after asking them to listen to how using fluoride in toothpaste is different from the fluoride in drinking water. Match the fact cards to the question card. Pause the tape after the stars appear between the teeth. Match fact cards under the card with the main idea.

Begin the video again after telling the students to listen for problems that people still have to face even if they use fluoride. Turn off the video at the end of the segment and have students identify the reason that people need to brush frequently. Put cards in place. Demonstrate. Circle key words. Look at color- coded cards and relate the colors to topics and subtopics used in outlines and textbooks.

Viewing Activity 2

Now have students watch, "What Is a Computer Virus?" Tell them that they will again be expected to identify the types of questions asked, the number of facts given to answer each one, the main idea of each question, and the way the report was made interesting with prompts or visuals.

On the back of their cards, they are to write the main idea and supporting facts as they hear them. Emphasize that this is to be done with key words.

Ask the students to raise their hands when they see or hear a component so that you can stop the video and allow them time to write the information down.

Resume playing the video and stop at the point where the narrator asks, "How can a computer get sick?" Let the students write that question on one of the heading cards.

Start the tape again and stop when the narrator says, "That's exactly what a computer virus is. It's a few lines of instructions written in binary code." Have students write the key words on cards to go under the first heading. The key words are Virus, Binary Code, and Instructions

Start the tape again and stop at the point where the narrator asks, "How did it get into my computer and why is it threatening to destroy everything in sight?"

Let the students have time to write that question down as the second main heading on the card provided.

Start the tape again. Stop after the narrator says, "a few lines tacked on to the beginning or end of some other program." Students write this on cards.

Start the video again. Stop when the narrator says, "When you run the program, the viruses are carried out too." Students make cards.

Start the video again and stop when the narrator says, "The virus orders the computer to give the virus information on its surroundings." Students make cards.

Resume playing the video and stop when the narrator says, "Instructs the computer to make a virus copy, and insert it in other programs in the system." Students write on cards.

Start video. Stop when the narrator says, "Virus instructs the host computer to erase disks, destroy programs, randomly rearrange data." Students write on cards.

Start the video again. Stop when the narrator asks, "What can be done?" Students will write the key question on a heading card.

Start the video again. Stop when the narrator shows the antiviral program box and states, "It works very much like our own immune system does." Students make a card.

Restart the video and stop when the narrator says, "These traces are called viral signatures. They are like a fingerprint." Help students shorten this idea by using the key words: searching file, viral signature.

Restart the video. Stop the video where the narrator says, "Which is why it is important to keep up with the latest versions of antiviral software out there." Students write on cards.

Restart the video. Stop where the narrator says, " Practice safe computing." Students write on cards.

Restart the video and stop when narrator says, "Avoid promiscuous downloading computer programs over the telephone lines." Students write on cards.

Restart the video. Stop where the narrator says, "Unusual error messages and reduced space in memory." Students write on cards.

Resume playing the video and stop where the narrator says, "Keep an archive of clean backup files." Students write on cards.

Restart the video. Stop where the narrator says, "Religiously scan borrowed disks for viruses before you use them." Students complete cards.

Take time to circle key words. Shorten phrases. Look at ways the information was presented to make it interesting. Use the the overhead transparency cards made from Activity Sheet 2A, 2B, and 2C throughout the lesson to help demonstrate the process.

Post-Viewing Activities

1. To prepare students to do research, have them, in groups, list questions that younger children might like to find answers to, such as "Why do leaves change colors?" or "Where did my cut go?" or "Why do some cuts leave scars?"

2. Put the students in pairs and have them choose the question that they will be responsible for researching.

3. Have the students fill in the research grid with the questions to answer and the key words that will help them locate answers for their research report.

Action Plan

1. Working in pairs, have students use the key words to do an Internet search to locate information on the chosen topic that you have approved.

2. Have students, working in pairs, use additional software such as an encyclopedia CD-ROM to locate information on the chosen topic.

3. Have students record the information for each fact on an index card. Then, have them circle key words on the index cards. Next, have them write those key words on cue cards for the use in the video report.

4. Have students prepare visuals to go along with the report, such as an activity or song, charts, graphs, pictures etc.

5. Have students present their report in a creative way on closed-circuit TV for the student body.

6. Bring in local feature reporter or author to speak with students about their careers and to demonstrate that what they have learned in this lesson has real-world applications.