July 17 MSTF Spider Silk

CURRICULAR GOAL
Produce a curriculum project (4-5 days of students’ in-class work) that translates the research done by this research group into a novel set of activities and thinking that are appropriate for your students.

We have send 3 labs, 3 lesson plans for the labs, and the State Standards for the labs via e-mail attachments.

Each lab is progressive and builds on the other starting out with the Measurement Lab, then the Indicator Lab, and finally resulting in the Spider Webbing Analysis Lab

The following aspects of the curriculum must be addressed in writing:

1. Big Idea and Concepts: Describe them.

The main idea or concept of our project is not to test spider webbing. Testing spider silk is just a tool or process to reach the real goals of the project. The real goals of the project is to subject students to several concepts that could be foreign to them.
Goal 1: Train the students to think outside their normal thought parameters. This not just a plug and chug lab, you will have to think!
Goal 2: To expose students to the real world of science verses impractical science for sake of a grade only.
Goal 3: Give the students at least a small view of real research at the top level (cutting edge research)!

Then:
a. An in-depth discussion of the particular aspects of the ASU research you selected to model with your students over 4-5 days.

Objective aspects (quantitative):
3 labs (send via e-mail), written assessment(still working on the assessment), and 3 short reports (send via e-mail). I will send copies of the assessments, copies of the student work as is appropriate, and pictures of the students in the lab.

Subjective aspects(qualitative):
Slide show/discussion (still working on the slide show), power point/discussion, and possibly a tour of the NMR lab(if I can get by the red tape and paper work).

b. Describe how you are translating these aspects of ASU research into appropriate student activities and thinking.

Dr. Yarger (project director) and Janelle Jenkins (graduate assistants) have been very helpful in translating the research to the level that the average high school student can comprehend. We have tried to make the labs more appropriate for the cogitative level of the high school student by posing a problem at their level and allowing them to solve that problem at their level. Using pictures (power point/slide show), since students are more visually oriented, with a discussion or just a question/answer period. Hands on with the 3 labs should engage most students, which should be interest based verses grade based.

2. Objectives, AZ state standards, Assessments

c. The specific objectives for student learning. (I gave you the ones that are generated from the literature on how people learn (recall the green sheet).
Send via e-mail attachment.

d. The Arizona standards that the curricular project addresses
Send via e-mail attachment.

e. Copies of the learning assessments to be given to students, assessments aligned with your specific objectives and the Arizona state standards.

The assessments will be developed later on in the school year. Depending on many variables that can only be determined in the future. Such as: supplies, student pretest, time permitted depending on the calendar schedule, curriculum covered, and curriculum that needs to be covered, review time etc.
The assessment will include 3 lab reports, 3 short informational reports (one page), a test that includes objective multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and one essay question.

3. A Full Description of each activity

g. So that another teacher of your class could do something similar with his/her students.

Send via e-mail attachment. *note: description of the indicators in lab 2 is on a separate e-mail attachment.