My Annotated Bibligraphy Science Rocks

The Chesapeake Bay

This unit will discuss the Chesapeake Bay and its importance to our area.  The students will be given the opportunity to complete and share illustrations, writings, and cooperative group activities.  The students will also complete Webquests along with a reading guide to ensure that valuable information is being gained throughout the unit.  The students will take picture walks through vividly illustrated trade books.  The students will also share in a final culminating activity where they will prepare and taste seafood from the Chesapeake Bay. 

I was careful to select trade books that met the reading levels of all my students.  I selected books with vivid pictures that allow the students to imagine while viewing pictures of the Chesapeake Bay.  As I stated in a earlier blog, many of my students do not have the opportunity to travel to the Chesapeake Bay, so these trade books are an instrument of travel.  The Cheseapeake Bay trade book offered pictures and maps that could easily be copied and displayed in the classroom.  The picutres could also be used in the area of written expression.  The students can reflect on a picture and explain what they have learn by writina response in his/her writing journal.  The trade book Awesome Chesapeake provides the students with pictures of all the sealife found in the Cheasapeake Bay.  For my student that read above grade level this book provides information about the water, web life and opportunities for the students to get involved in restoring the Chesapeake Bay.

The Seashore can be used by the students who are on or below grade level.  This book describes the not only the sea animals found near the bay, but plants as well.  One extension for students who may  needs to be challenged is present them an opportunity to describe the flow of energy from plants and animals by using poster board and markers.  The above grade level students can then present the finish product to the class.  This will be a visual presentation of what was learned through independent research.  At the end of the book there is a glossary and food web that the students can use to build vocabulary knowledge.  The index in the back of the book has words that are easy to read making research less stressful for the students.  The book is written in chapter book format, however; the colorful pictures will offer struggling readers a chance to use pictures clues to decode some words.  One chapter allows the students a chance to connect with a trip to the beach.  Most of our students have visited a beach but, now that can make the connection that the beach is a part of the Chesapeake Bay in some areas.

In conclusion picture books can be an assett to student who are reading on, above or below grade level.  Picture books can provide information about a unfamiliar topic, expose students to new vocabulary, and develop language skills of the students who may be struggling. Exposing students in inner city schools to pictures and other tangible objects enhances the learning experience.  I bought in fishing poles, net, and a crab cage and we went on an imaginary fishing and crabbing adventure.  This activity will be appreciated by students of intermediate grades as well.  I described above the books that provided pictures of the Chesapeake Bay, the Susquehanna River and the beaches in our area.  Each book includes facts about the bay and the plants and animals found around the Chesapeake Bay. 

            Our classrooms are becoming more and more diverse for this reason I have included two books that embrace diversity.  Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and crab cakes later) describes fun times at an African American relative’s house through the eyes of two young girls.  Meet Naiche takes the reader on a journey of day to day life along the Chesapeake Bay.  Our literature centers and libraries can serve as comfort zones for our students who may be new to an area or country.  In each book the author describes how the characters feel while sharing with friends and families.  Often students from different cultures feel left out and unwelcome in our classroom, helping them to understand and embrace their culture and help overcome many learning obstacles Meet Naiche describes how he feels when he is looked at strange by people who do not speak his language.  This is a perfect example, or lesson that we can use in our classroom for out Hispanic or Spanish speaking students.  It is our job as educators to ensure that all our students fell welcomed and valued in the classroom community.     

Meet Naiche can also dispel a stereotype that many of our students believe and that is that all Native Americans live on a reservation.  In this book a young Native American boys shares his school, friends, family and experiences in a town near the Chesapeake Bay.  The book mentions the Potomac River that flows in the Chesapeake Bay this is another learning opportunity.  The teacher can create a list of rivers that flow into the Chesapeake Bay.  After reading this story they can add the Potomac River to the list.  The author tells this story using a writing technique called flashback.  This can also be a teachable moment.  Explaining and describing how an author can use flashback to tell a story, offers the students a new skill in written expression.  Naiche the main character describes his room, pets and what he enjoys doing during the day.  As Naiche describes his parents jobs and hobbies our students can visualizes the similarities and differences he/she may have with Naiche.  This is another teachable moment the student can use a T-chart or Venn diagram describing how he/she is like Naiche and how they are different from Naiche. 

            St Ignatius Catholic Church was founded in Port Tobacco, Maryland which is a town along the Chesapeake Bay.  My students have discussed St Ignatius during religion lessons.  Some of my students also have brothers who attend St Ignacious catholic school in Baltimore.  By sharing and reading this in Meet Naiche our students can now make a connection with a place and its relationship to a saint discussed in class previously.  Making connections between books and real life events is important for students who may be struggling readers.  This gives them a chance to extend and build on prior knowledge.  The pictures in Meet Naiche offers students a vivid look at the life of Native Americans.  Meet Naiche show families walking, climbing, and eating together.  This book should be added to the classroom library.  Students could take this book home and share with parents, this may be motivation to plan a family outing.  This book describes the importance of cultural heritage and family tradition. 

            Written in Bone is a book that my students who enjoy scary movies or fossil digging.  This book like most of my books included, can be used by students who are reading above below or on grade level. Most of the pictures included provide captions that are easy for struggling readers to comprehend.  For students that are reading above grade level this book describes where certain fossils were found in advanced vocabulary terms.  This book is listed in chronological order the findings in different areas across Maryland.  I think this book could be used during a cooperative learning experience.  Students could be paired together to complete a reading guide task, graphic organnizer, or a timeline.  Written in Bone can also be used across the curriculum, meaning it can be used for social studies, science, and language arts.  The pictures of the archaeologists digging may even spark the interest of the student.  The students may decide to become an archaeologists scientist, or historian.

            The websites I mentioned in my blog and some that I just reviewed to assist students while completing reading guides were easy to read.  I also included websites that use kid friendly language.  I was careful to include pictures and links to all that I thought students would enjoy viewing.  Our students are growing up in the digital age so we must provide them with opportunities to use web applications and other forms of technology during lessons.  We must also encourage them to research and explore at home as well as in school, by doing this we are creating life-long learners.   The Webquest I included shows students how they can explore an estuary.  The Webquest also provides extension opportunities for the students and parents as well.  As educators we must seek out opportunities that offer parents a chance to become involved.  This Webquest can be completed at home, by the students as extra credit the teacher could offer the parents a chance to reflect and answer question about the Webquest. 

http://cte.jhu.edu/techacademy/fellows/kelly/webquest/intro.htm and http://www.glencoe.com/sec/science/webquest/content/chesapeakwatershed.shtml are both Webquests that allow the students to gain information about the Chesapeake Bay while completing a task.  Webquests are a great way to motivatre the students.  Webquests are interactive and allow the students to complete a specific task while gaining knowledge.  In order to keep all our students motivated we must differentiate instruction, Webquests offer students a way to activate his/her imagination, along with focusin on a task.  For advance learners Webquests can activate higher order thinking skills.  Some students also enjoy working in cooperative groups and Webquests allow this to happen. 

      In conclusion my unit on the Chesapeake Bay will offer increase awareness and knowledge in the value of living so close to the Bay.  Our students can begin to appreciate the benefits of living close to this estuary.  They will gain an understanding of why crabbing and fishing is so important to some people that live near the Chesapeake Bay.  Finally, I hope that the students who share this unit are ready to explore and spread the word that Science Rocks, especially if you live near the Chesapeake Bay.

Bibliography

Bennett, K. (2006). Chesapeake Bay. New York: Children's Press.

Farrell, R. (2008). All ABout Drawing: Sea Creatures and Animals. Irvine, California: Walter Foster Publishing.

Howard, E. F. (2001). Aunt Flossie's Hats (and crab cakes later). New York: Clarion Books.

Johansson, P. (2008). The Seashore: A Saltwater Web of Life. Berkeley Heights, New Jersey: Enslow Publishers.

Kaupp, M. (2006, November 27). Estuaries. Retrieved March 3, 2012, from Welcome to Estuaries: http://estuary-webquest.tripod.com/

Media, B. W. (2009). Restore America's Estuaries. Retrieved March 24, 2012, from http://www.estuaries.org/: http://www.estuaries.org/top-10-estuary-facts.html

Museus, S. D., Palmer, R. T., Davis, R. J., & Maramba, D. C. (2011). Special Issue: Racial and Ethnic Minority Students' Success in STEM Education. ASHE Higher Education Report, , 130.

Slovacek, S. P., Whittinghill, J. C., Tucker, S., Rath, K. A., Peterfreund, A. R., Kuehn, G. D., et al. (2011). Minority Students Severely Underrepresented in Science, Technology Engineering and Math. Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research , 5-16.

Tayac, G. (2002). Meet Naiche: A native bot from the Chesapeake Bay area. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words Publishing, Inc.,.

Thiry, H. S. (2011). The Role of Student-Advisor Interactions in Apprenticing Undergraduate Researchers into a Scientific Community of Practice. Journal of Science Education and Technology , 771-784.

Walker, S. (2009). Written in Bone. New York: Carolrboda Books.

Teaching and Sparking interest in the Bay

Using the web to teach about the Chesapeake Bay

http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/ches.html

http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/issues/communities/history/

I will use these two websites to enhance and expose my students to pictures and information about the Chesapeake Bay.  As I stated in a previous blog, field trips in urban schools districts are often too expensive for the students.  Even when there are funds available lack of parent involvement means that the teacher will have to take the students alone, and this is a huge responsibility.  The Chesapeake Bay is 200 miles long and includes 150 rivers and streams.   Having the students create a visual of the Chesapeake Bay using poster board will allow them to plot the beginning and end of the bay.  The students can then trace the path of the rivers that flow into the bay. 

The Awesome Chesapeake is a book that provides pictures and facts about the Chesapeake Bay.  This book will be displayed in the unit library.  This book has vivid pictures and illustrations that offer students with an easy to understand guide to the Chesapeake Bay.  The book describes the fish and other sea life that lives in and around the bay.  This book can be used as the students explore the bay by using the web. 

http://www.vims.edu/bayinfo/faqs/estuary_size.php

Since the Chesapeake Bay extends to Virginia,

In Virginia, they are discussing and including the Chesapeake Ba in lessons and field trips.  I have copied the article from the website for your convenience

How big is the Bay?

by David Malmquist |  April 24, 2009

How does Chesapeake Bay compare in size to other estuaries?

Many sources describe Chesapeake Bay as the world’s third-largest estuary. Others consider it the second largest. We’ve even seen it described (incorrectly) as the largest estuary in the world. It has also been described as the largest estuary in the United States.
So what’s the real answer? That depends, of course, on how you define an estuary, how you measure its size, and how you apportion its boundaries if it is shared by multiple nations.

What is an estuary?

An estuary is typically defined as a coastal water body where a river mixes with the sea. Scientific definitions typically add several additional criteria, stating that an estuary and its waters must also be:

• semi-enclosed
• open to the ocean
• brackish
• affected by tides.

Based on these criteria, notable estuaries in North America include Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and San Francisco Bay. These criteria exclude other possible candidates, such as the Mississippi Delta (not enclosed), the Gulf of Mexico (not enclosed, not brackish), Puget Sound (not brackish), the Gulf of California (not brackish), and Hudson Bay (not brackish, not enclosed). Other waterbodies, such as James Bay, remain debatable.

How to measure an estuary’s size?

There are at least 3 different ways to measure an estuary’s “size:” surface area, shoreline length, and volume. Size estimates are also confounded by differing estimates of where any particular estuary “begins” or “ends”. Is this determined by a certain salinity value, the reach of tidal action, local geography, or some combination of these factors?

The (qualified) answer

Based on surface area, the Gulf of St. Lawrence is clearly the largest estuary in North America, covering 60,000 square miles (155,000 km²) compared to 4,480 square miles (11,600 km²) for Chesapeake Bay. The Bay, with a convoluted, fractal coastline of 11,684 miles, may well rank first based on this criterion; a quick measurement of the Gulf of St. Lawrence’s shoreline using Google Earth produced a length of 1,994 miles.
The question we have is this: if Chesapeake Bay is the third largest estuary in the world, as some sources claim, what other estuary besides the Gulf of St. Lawrence rounds out the triumvirate?

http://www.newalbanyschools.us/newsroom/?p=169

In New York students are being exposed to hands-on projects that require higher order thinking skills to complete a task.  Hands-on science experiments has many benefits when it comes to improving minorities interests in  STEM classes and careers.  I will give you some on the benefits,
1.  Students feel a sense of accomplishment after completing a task
2.  Students gain knowledge that can be transferred to other classes
3.  Students retained more information about a subject when there are opportunities for hands-on exploration, in my opinion
4.  Students who are kinesthetic learners enjoy the opportunities for movement and creativity
5.  Lastly, experiments make learning fun and exciting and this is helps to create lifelong learners.

The University of Maryland(Baltimore County) UMBC
had a conference addressing the issue of Minority specially women in the mathematics field.  I have attached the information from the website below:

Infinite Possibilities for Minority Women in Mathematics

Leaders across the country have called for the country to produce more scientists, engineers and mathematicians. Yet, despite the fact that minorities comprise the fastest-growing groups in the country, they are the least represented in science and engineering careers.

In mathematics, the disparity is particularly acute for underrepresented minority women. They account for less than 2 percent of all doctoral degrees awarded in mathematics each year, as well as less than 1 percent of incoming freshman majoring in the field.
“Changing those numbers goes beyond ‘the right thing to do,’” says Freeman Hrabowski, president of UMBC. “Minority women account for a growing proportion of college-ready students. Increasing their representation in mathematics is critical if the United States is to remain competitive on a global scale.”
To that end, on March 30 and 31, UMBC will host the fourth Infinite Possibilities Conference (IPC) for minority women in mathematics and statistics. The conference is designed to promote, educate, encourage and support minority women interested in the mathematical sciences.

“It can be very isolating, and easy to feel that you don’t belong in mathematics,” says Tanya Moore, one of the conference founders. “We wanted to give people an opportunity to see women all over the country just like them.”

Sue Minkoff, the local organizing chair for the conference and an associate professor of mathematics and statistics at UMBC, says the event is designed to connect aspiring and early-career mathematicians with mentors and role models, who can address concerns the women may have about differences between themselves and traditional mathematicians.
“IPC provides students at the high school, undergraduate and graduate levels with opportunities to interact with peers and more established female mathematicians in a supportive and collegial atmosphere,” she says.

Hosting the conference also supports UMBC’s overall mission. “We hope that hosting the conference here at UMBC will help us in our continued efforts to recruit minority women in mathematics and statistics at the faculty, graduate and undergraduate levels,” says Nagaraj Neerchal, professor and chair of UMBC’s department of mathematics and statistics.

Erika Camacho, an assistant professor of mathematics at Arizona State University and a slated speaker, says the conference provides a strong sense of community and belonging that is currently missing for women of color in STEM fields at most places. It allows women to become catalysts of change by supporting each other.

The agenda for the 2012 conference includes keynote speakers, research talks, poster sessions and panel discussions, ranging from advice for graduate studies to navigating paths beyond the degree.

The day before the conference, there will be a short course in mathematical biology, funded by the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute collaborative diversity program and organized by the Institute for Math and Its Applications at the University of Minnesota. There will also be a special program for high school students and teachers on Saturday.
(3/29/12)
UMBC can be considered a leader and pioneer in the area of improving and closing the gap between minorities in STEM, classes and careers. 

http://www.estuaries.org/top-10-estuary-facts.html  students gain information about in estuary complete a graphic organizer.  By completing the graphic organizer while visiting the website the students are taking notes and gaining knowledge in a fun and creative way.  Graphic organizers allow students to put meaning into what they are learning. Graphic organizers can be used for any topic and subject, while completing a graphic organizer about estuaries the students become experts on a topic, and in this case estuary experts. 


 





http://www.estuaries.org/restoration-video.html--students watch a video explaining the importance of estaury restoration.




http://estuary-webquest.tripod.com/id1.html fun Webquest that aloows students to collect information about estuaries.  If you use a Webquest in the computer lab, the students are working on the same project, but creating different views and opionions about the topic. Some Webquests engaged higher oreder thinking skills.  In this case some students may need to be paired with a partner to make sure the tasks are being completed.  This is a Webquest that most of my students could complete independently or in a group.  I will pair students in groups to complete this Webquest this allows for cooperative learning opportunities.  Students can also use a thinking map, while completing the tasks on thisWebquest, thinking maps allow the studets to scaffold information about the Chesapeake Bay as it relate to other estuaries. 

http://www.chesapeakebay.net/blog/post/five_signs_of_spring_in_the_chesapeake_bay_region

This website shows students vivid pictures of the wildlife along the Chesapeake Bay.  These pictures can be used to show students how wildlife interacts with one another along the Bay. 
If last week’s sixty-degree days weren’t enough to convince you that winter has bid us farewell and spring is just around the corner, these harbingers of the changing seasons surely will! Take a look around your  backyard, community or local park for these five telltale signs of spring in the Chesapeake Bay region.

1. Spring peepers are peeping

(Image courtesy bbodjack/Flickr)
If you happen to live near a pond or wetland, you may be accustomed to hearing a chorus of “peeps” in early spring. The northern spring peeper is one of the first to breed in spring. This small amphibian’s mating call is described as a “peep,” but it can be almost deafening when hundreds of frogs sing in one location.

2. Daffodils are blooming

(Image courtesy bobtravis/Flickr)
These yellow beauties are the first bulb plants to pop up each March, sometimes emerging through melting snow and always signaling warmer weather ahead. Any gardener will tell you there’s no way to tell exactly when daffodils will bloom, but they seem to pop up almost overnight. A website tracks photos and reports of the first daffodil sightings each year around the world.
If you can’t get enough of these buttercup blooms, head over to the American Daffodil Society’s National Convention in April in Baltimore.

3. Bees fly in

(Image courtesy Martin LaBar/Flickr)
Where there are flowers, bees should follow – but native bee populations have fallen rapidly in recent years. Find out how you can make your yard a bee haven and help give bees a home! (Don’t worry – most of the Chesapeake Bay watershed’s native bees don’t sting!)
A bee-friendly backyard will benefit you and your garden: bees pollinate plants and crops, a service that’s worth millions each year to our economy.