Conserving Natural Resources
Here is a short story about how our project started...
In the fall, our grade level began working on a PBL project on energy conservation. We talked a lot about different natural resources and the importance of conservation. It was in that spirit that we decided we would go completely paperless for an entire month. At the end of each week, we graphed the paper that we saved by completing assignments online. It just so happened that we had our district benchmarks in the middle of our paperless month. As we were checking over our assessments, one student commented about how the amount of paper that was used for the benchmarks completely counteracted all the paper that we had saved. This observation was immediately followed by, "Ms. Wright, why don't we write to the district to ask them to put our assessments online!" There was an overwhelming sense of pride, quickly followed by panic on my part! However, I swallowed my fears and we began a long journey of learning about how paper is made, how paper is recycled, the importance of conservation, the process of making our benchmarks, the types of technology available in our district, and ways technology can replace (mostly improve) our old paper and pencil learning. Together, we have learned so much and I wouldn't trade that for anything!
Here is a short story about how our project started...
In the fall, our grade level began working on a PBL project on energy conservation. We talked a lot about different natural resources and the importance of conservation. It was in that spirit that we decided we would go completely paperless for an entire month. At the end of each week, we graphed the paper that we saved by completing assignments online. It just so happened that we had our district benchmarks in the middle of our paperless month. As we were checking over our assessments, one student commented about how the amount of paper that was used for the benchmarks completely counteracted all the paper that we had saved. This observation was immediately followed by, "Ms. Wright, why don't we write to the district to ask them to put our assessments online!" There was an overwhelming sense of pride, quickly followed by panic on my part! However, I swallowed my fears and we began a long journey of learning about how paper is made, how paper is recycled, the importance of conservation, the process of making our benchmarks, the types of technology available in our district, and ways technology can replace (mostly improve) our old paper and pencil learning. Together, we have learned so much and I wouldn't trade that for anything!
-Ms. Wright
