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PBL Unit Name: Landscaping with Geometry
Facilitator Name: Cassandra Haynes
School Practicum Location: Decatur Central High School-Indianapolis, IN
Grade: 9th-12th
Subject(s): Mathematics
Course Name: Geometry
PBL Unit Description & Content Topics Addressed: Students use the concept of volume to design a landscape for clients to build in their back yard that fits a predetermined budget.
A. Learning Goals: Content Knowledge & Skills Addressed (Standards)
G.TS.5: Solve real-world and other mathematical problems involving volume and surface area of prisms, cylinders, cones, spheres, and pyramids, including problems that involve algebraic expressions.
G.TS.6: Apply geometric methods to solve design problems (e.g., designing an object or structure to satisfy physical constraints or minimize cost; working with typographic grid systems based on ratios).
B. Authenticity & Relevance (Real-World Connections) : Students design a landscape for given clients. This is relevant to students as many families in low income areas have at least one construction or landscaper working within them. This allows students to connect ideas familiar to them with mathematics.
C. Driving Question: How can we as landscapers design the ideal garden plan for our customers so that we stay within the budget?
D. Entry Event: This event involved students watching a video of the clients telling them what they are going to be doing for their project as well as their own client specific needs. The client explained where they want the gardens to be, in general, as well as other specifics of what they want. In other words, like a fire pit or fencing around a bush. They will also specify the kinds of plants they want and what kind of sunlight conditions they need. They also specified that they want their gardens all to be raised bed gardens.
E. Benchmarks & Scaffolding: Students were asked to turn in rough drafts of their landscape designs intermittently as well as during practice presentations.
F. End Products: Students have a garden plan drawn using the outlined paper provided, through an app using a blueprint, or through an app utilizing pictures of the yard. Apps that could be used are as follows: Notability, Book Creator, Pro Landscape Contractor, Pro Landscape Home, SpruceStudents had to make a 2 minute sales pitch to the clients stating why their landscape design was the best as well as details about the budget, a landscape design, a budget, and their work calculating the materials needed in the budget.
G. Formative & Summative Assessment Activities:
Formative
Journal/Learning Logs: The students will write a small journal entry over what they have learned and how to apply it to their landscape designs every day in class in addition to how they have split the workload with their group members. The entries will take less than 5 minutes to complete and will serve as the closure sets during the project.
Notes: The students will take notes every class. They will be told when to take notes over subjects, and worksheets will be used when necessary.
Preliminary Plans/Outlines/Prototypes: Before students are allowed to draw their first draft of the landscape, they must have chosen the shapes that they will use as displayed within a rough draft landscape as well as have proof that they are researching supplies.
Rough Drafts: There will be several rough drafts of the landscape designs and presentations submitted throughout the experience for teacher and peer review so that students can get written feedback on their projects. This feedback will include the budget portion as well as the diagram portion.
Summative
Other Product(s) or Performance(s), with rubric: A landscaping plan will be presented with the cost of the project estimated. In addition, students will be making a 2-minute persuasive presentation about why their product is the superior one.
Oral Presentation, with rubric: Students will be required to make a two-minute presentation, either through video or through physical presentation. All presentations will be recorded so that the top 10 presentations can be presented to the clients.
Peer Evaluation: Students will evaluate their group members based upon helpfulness. Students will also evaluate each other’s presentations based upon the rubric standards during practice presentations.
Self-Evaluation: In the form of the presentation as students will be required to convince the audience why their landscape plan is the superior one. They will also reflect each day through their journal as to how they will use the mathematics learned in this landscape design.
H. Rubric: Landscaping with Geometry Rubric
I. Employability (21st Century) Skills Addressed:
Collaboration
Presentations
Critical Thinking
J. Community Partners:
Michael and Dawn H.- Clients for the Landscape Design; they chose the one to implement into their own yard.
Michael M- A business professional that taught the students how to give a sales pitch and how to make a budget.
K. Inquiry: Groups of students will have to learn how to make landscape designs as a company; they will have to use listed shapes and meet all of the wishes of the clients. They also will have have to learn how to make a presentation, or sales pitch, that states their reasonings for choosing their design, supplies, and explaining the cost of the landscape. Finally, they will have to say whether or not they were able to stay within budget. Their final projects will be evaluated by the student teacher, and the top ten best projects will be evaluated by the business professional and the clients. They will also be graded on their collaboration skills as well as the correctness of their mathematical calculations.
L. Student Voice & Choice: Students could choose where the gardens went as long as the placements adhered to customer wishes. In addition, they could choose how to present the project as well as how to make the landscape design.
M. Required Materials and/or Tools: Student iPads or computers, access to apps or technology to design online or record, pencils, paper, calculators, and worksheets are also needed.
N. Examples of Student Work: This student work example shows a student who created an infographic as their teaching method. It depicts well-organized information with cited information. It explains the misconception, the correct understanding, and gives real life examples to support the correct understanding of the misconception.