Back to STEM PBL Units
PBL Unit Name: Developing Engaging Stories-Bike Safety
Facilitator Name: Jasmine Garcia
School Practicum Location: Lynhurst 7th and 8th Grade Center-Indianapolis, IN
Grade: 7th
Subject(s): Physical Science
Course Name: 7th Grade Science
PBL Unit Description & Content Topics Addressed: The project centers around student groups creating a comic strip that will incorporate one of Newton's Laws of Motion and bike safety tips. Students will learn about Newton's 3 laws of motion and a variety of bike safety tips throughout the unit. Students will also learn about the elements in a story to help them develop a comic strip. They will use their content knowledge to create a comic strip that includes at least one of Newton's laws of motion.
A. Learning Goals: Content Knowledge & Skills Addressed (Standards)
7.PS.4 Investigate Newton’s first law of motion (Law of Inertia) and how different forces (gravity, friction, push and pull) affect the velocity of an object.
7.PS.5 Investigate Newton’s second law of motion to show the relationship among force, mass, and acceleration.
7.PS.6 Investigate Newton’s third law of motion to show the relationship between action and reaction forces.
B. Authenticity & Relevance (Real-World Connections): The authentic issue being addressed is the number of bicycle accidents in Marion County. Many young adults are unaware of important basic safety skills for cyclists. The purpose of the PBL project is for students to educate other young adults and community members regarding bike safety and Newton's laws, in a fun and creative way.
C. Driving Question: How can we as comic strip creators, develop creative storylines that incorporate bike safety and physical science, to educate the Indianapolis community?
D. Entry Event: I launched my project by creating a comic strip gallery walk in my classroom on the first day of PBL. I posted comic strips throughout the classroom to activate student inquiry and engagement. I gave students an opportunity to explore the comic strips around the room (gallery walk).
Once students had an opportunity to explore the comic strips, I brought the class back together and had a small discussion about the observations they made. I then introduced the driving question to the class. Students were then informed that they will be creating a comic strip via Canva (digital platform) that will incorporate at least one of Newton’s Laws of Motion using a creative storyline. They will also be responsible for embedding 1-2 bike safety tips into their comic strip. Their comic strips will be fun and creative, yet will serve as a way to educate individuals about physical science (Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion) and bike safety. I then showed my students the video created by my community partner posing the challenge to them before presenting the driving question to all of them.
After introducing the driving question, I then passed out and went over the rubric with my students. A Need-To-Knows (NTK’s) activity followed thereafter. And lastly, we discussed the Group Huddle Contract, which is a form that helped guide collaboration and participation throughout the PBL unit.
E. Benchmarks & Scaffolding:
Newton’s Laws Comic Strip Examples | This is a document containing examples of comic strips which include Newton's laws of motion. These were solely provided to each group for reference and to help the students develop ideas. Bike safety tips are not included in the examples provided.
F. End Products: The end product that students had to produce was a comic strip (either paper or digital format).
G. Formative & Summative Assessment Activities:
H. Rubric: Developing Engaging Stories-Bike Safety Rubric
I. Employability (21st Century) Skills Addressed: The 21st Century Skills addressed in this project were collaboration skills and presentation skills.
J. Community Partnerships:
Damon Richards- program director of Bike Indianapolis (INDYCOG), a nonprofit whose mission is to advocate and educate the community of Indianapolis to cycle safely and happily.
K. Inquiry: Students were given the choice to choose either a digital platform (Canva) or a paper template to create their comic strips. Their comic strips needed to include bike safety tips and at least one of Newton's laws of motion.
L. Student Voice & Choice: Students were given the choice to choose either a digital platform (Canva) or a paper template to create their comic strips. Their comic strips needed to include bike safety tips and at least one of Newton's laws of motion.
Students voted in their groups which law of motion they wanted to include in their storyline. Groups had the liberty to choose their own storyline, characters, and setting for their comic strips.
M. Required Materials and/or Tools: Students will need a Chromebook/computer to access Canva (only if a group decides to create a digital comic strip). A paper comic strip template will be needed for drafts of the comic strips. Lastly, to help support students with the elements of a comic strip, a template will be needed to help scaffold. A group roles sheet, a reviser check-in form, and a reporter sheet will be needed to help support the daily tasks for group members during PBL work time as well.
All resources can be found within a single file labeled "Required Materials" under the Benchmarks and Scaffolding section above.
N. Examples of Student Work: A sample product has been attached below.