Day: May 11, 2022

Special E-Port Mini Research Posting

Hello Everyone,

As we finish this unit on “Getting Our Needs Met,” we have learned about many of the ways humans create and use knowledge and interdependent systems to get their needs met. We have talked about financial literacy, economics, geology, chemistry, natural resources, resource management, being a responsible consumer, and how Indigenous Peoples are using their traditional knowledge to help protect our lands and the resources we rely upon.

This has covered a LOT of territory, and some of us are more interested in some topics than others! So, here is an opportunity to finish the unit with some mini research on a topic of interest.

Step One:  Choose a topic from our unit. Keep it small. Use the ORCAS Footprints Books (the ones in the classroom and in Ms. D’s EPIC Books List) as a guide. The topic needs to be connected to our unit statement about how humans use a variety of tools, systems, and scientific knowledge to get their needs and wants met.

Step Two:  Read ONE book. Yes, only one! I recommend using only one book because we are limiting our time for research. Focus on BOOKS rather than randomly going on the internet. You may use the Orcas Footprint Books in the classroom, library books I have provided in the bins, or the booklist on EPIC. One book is enough. If you have time, you can follow up your book with any related video on TED Ed, particularly the Earth School Videos we have already been watching.

Step Three:  Work with partner or alone? If you have a partner, you each still need to do your own writing, but each of you could read a separate book and compare notes, helping one another with the e-port questions (see below). If you are working alone, you only need to read one book. Again, let’s keep this project brief.

Step Four:  Take some notes while reading, so you remember what you want to write about.

Step Five:  Meet with your partner or start answering the questions on your own. Questions can be answered in the E-Portfolio. Please title the e-port something about your topic — you choose! Answers need to be longer than one paragraph, for sure, otherwise you are not showing what you know from the reading.

EPORT Questions:  (Please ask Ms. D if you are unclear on these – we went over ALL of this in class, but please ask if it doesn’t make sense!)

1. How does your topic show how humans create or use knowledge, tools, interdependent systems to get their needs and wants met?

2. What new things did you learn from your reading? What are your new questions now?

3. What ACTION could you personally take with this new knowledge.

DUE DATE:  Let’s try to have this e-port done no later than Friday, May 27th.

MACC Mall Project!

As a culminating project in connection with our unit on “Getting Our Needs Met,” we will actively apply financial literacy, economics, and resource management to the selling of a product at MACC MALL!

Students will:

  • Get a Business Permit: Work independently or with a partner. Some students working with a partner may be choosing to make their own product, but working with someone to receive support from a fellow classmate during the process. Others are working with a partner to produce one item. Ms. D’s permit office will provide you with permission for whichever you decide to do.
  • Create a draft plan of a product: Using the ADST design cycle, brainstorm ideas, then narrow it down to one product. Draw a picture in your journal of the product, and list the potential supplies needed.
  • Get a patent at the Patent Office:  Ms. D will provide patents and product approval to students as they report to the Patent Office.
  • Receive $100 Start Up Money, Set Up Budget:  Each student receives $100 in start up funds from the bank. They will keep track of their spending in their journal or in Excel (may be easier in a journal, as we don’t always have a computer available during building time.)
  • Purchase Supplies: Go to Ms. D’s store, and she will provide you with supplies at a cost. Menu of costs is on the whiteboard. Please do not buy new things for this project. If you bring crafty items or recyclables from home, please show them to Ms. D for price determination. Using scissors, markers, pencils, glue sticks you own, and storage boxes is free. Hot glue guns, tacky glue, hole punches, and special cutters can be rented for a flat fee on the menu board.
  • Make a prototype: Build a prototype, show it to peers, and receive feedback. Also, get it approved by the patent office. Make adjustments if needed, as per the ADST design cycle.
  • Make more product!  Start mass production so you can sell it at MACC MALL.
  • Advertising and Packaging:  You will need some ads to help sell your product, and you may want something for your display. Creating these comes out of your budget. Set a price that is a whole number under $10.
  • Sell your items at MACC MALL:  We will have multiple classes come through. They will receive 10 tickets each, and each ticket represents $1.
  • Did you make a profit?  Similar to Cookie Mining, did you make a profit?
  • REFLECT:  After the process, write an eport entry to reflect, and Ms. D will respond with assessment.

CRITERIA — Students will be able to:

  • Use communication skills with the Patent/Building Permit Offices, fellow MACC Mall Participants, Ms. D’s Store, and their partners successfully to get their needs met.
  • Apply the ADST design cycle, which includes brainstorming/ideating, prototyping/creating, and adjusting ideas as needed before you get to the final product.
  • Keep an organized budget and make independent decisions successfully to not go beyond their $100 start up and to try and make a profit.
  • Apply financial literacy and math skills in that budget successfully.
  • Use creative and critical thinking skills to think about their potential audience of consumers and to create a product that appeals to that audience.
  • Communicate about their product using visual media of their choice and writing conventions effectively.
  • Reflect on the experience, relating MACC Mall to our understanding about how humans use a variety of tools and systems to get their needs and wants met.
  • Participate in MACC Mall independently without production help from home, finishing the majority of construction in the classroom so Ms. D can comment and help with the process.

WHEN IS THE PRODUCT DUE:

We will try to finish the products by end of May, but Ms. D will also monitor production and set an appropriate date for MACC Mall with classes when we are closer to completion. (We can’t have a store without finished products!)