Designing a Home for Our Crayfish
Julie Engelking
Grade 3 teacher
Horizon Elementary School
Hanover Park, IL
School District U-46
This learning activity was developed as a part of the requirements
requirements for the Aurora University/
District UU-46 graduate credit course Design Problem Based Learning: OEDC 6047 Summer
2006, under the guidance of instructor Richard Levine
What is the project?
The students will be designing a home for the
crayfish that will be coming to our class.
They will need to learn about the things that
will make a crayfish comfortable outside of
its natural habitat. They will be making a
poster designed to show their learning. They
will present their findings to their classmates
and their first grade buddies.
State Goals
Language Arts
ƒ 3A. Use correct grammar,
spelling, punctuation,
capitalization and
structure.
3C. Communicate ideas in
writing to accomplish a
variety of purposes.
ƒ 4B. Speak effectively using
language appropriate to
the situation and audience.
ƒ 5A. Locate, organize and
use information from
various sources to answer
questions, solve problems
and communicate ideas.
State Goals
Life Science
ƒ 12A.1a. Identify and
describe the component
parts of living things.
ƒ 12A.1b Categorize living
organisms using a variety
of observable features.
ƒ 12.B.1a Describe and
compare characteristics of
living things in relationship
to their environments.
ƒ 12.B.1b Describe how
living things depend on
one another for survival.
Crayfish
ƒ What do we need to make a comfortable
crayfish home?
ƒ Where is it’s habitat?
ƒ What does it eat?
ƒ What are it’s predators?
ƒ What does it look like?
Interdisciplinary Consideration
This activity is for my third grade classroom
and will be using several subject skills.
Language/Reading
Writing
Science
Timeline
This unit will cover five weeks. We will begin
the week before the crayfish arrive and
continue our study during the four weeks the
crayfish are with us.
The students will give their presentations the
last two days of the unit.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Knowledge
Students will recall the information learned about a crayfish using their own words.
Comprehension
Students will understand the elements needed to keep crayfish living.
Application
Students will apply concepts through diagrams, charts and writing.
Analysis
The students will compare the different elements needed to keep the crayfish alive.
Synthesis
Students will make a poster including the elements needed to make a comfortable home
for the crayfish. The students will present their work and discuss why they choose
those items to be included in the habitat.
Evaluation
Students will justify the best home for the crayfish with support as to why this is the best
home.
Technologies
The children will use technology to:
ƒ Gather information/look on the given web
sites and print articles containing information
ƒ Make the product/print pictures to use on
poster
ƒ Read diagrams
Managing Student Groups
The teacher will assign the small groups to
work together.
The students will work together to decide what
roles they each will have.
The teacher will guide carefully each group as
this will be the first time the students will
work in this way. This will be done by
conferencing often.
Learning Tools
Conceptual/Language Readiness: Students will be
given mini lessons on how to use the printed
research.
Technical Readiness: Students will be given teacher
supervision and direction while using technology
during this project because they are developing
technical readiness.
Research Skill Readiness: This will be the students
first experience looking for important information
so this process will need to be modeled for them.
Checkpoints
ƒ At the end of each week the students will
complete an activity to show the knowledge
gained. (life cycle chart, categorizing,
drawing and labeling, and writing a short
paragraph).
ƒ The students will also conference with the
teacher every other day to show progress.
Research
The students will be given specific web sites to use
for their research.
The school library will provide an area with books on
this subject available.
The students will use textbooks on crayfish.
The students will observe the crayfish as they are in
the classroom.
Assessment
The students will give presentations and present their
posters at the end of the unit.
My assessment will include rubrics for the following:
1. Finished poster products
2. Presentation of information
3. Ability to work with a group
Students will fill out a checklist for themselves as to how they
worked in a group and did their research.