Lesson Title

Locomotion in the Ocean

Grade/Subject

Grade 4 / Science

Lesson Objective(s)

Content Objectives

- Research the way an animal that lives in the ocean moves about

- Explain and demonstrate that animal’s locomotion

Technology Objectives

- Use the Internet to find examples of movies that show sea life locomotion

- Use modeling clay to make a model of a chosen animal

- Use ‘stop-motion’ techniques to make an animated movie showing the locomotion of the animal

Correlations to National/State/District Curriculum

(be specific – grade, subject, letter/number)

•NJCCCS 5.7: All students will investigate the diversity of life.

•Indicator 4: Identify and describe external features of plants and animals that help them survive in varied habitats

Technology Materials Needed

(include hardware and software)

Hardware

- Internet-capable, multimedia workstation

- Digital camera

- Tripod

- VCR

- Blank video tapes

- Television

- Connection/presentation device

Software

- Resources list (Word document)

- Quicktime Pro

Other Materials Needed

- Clay

- Wire

- Butcher paper

- Magic markers

- Cellophane tape

- Poster board

Time Required

5 weeks at 1 full hour per class, per day

Procedure (number steps)

1. Introduce project, rubric, and journal aspects; students are paired by teacher; dyads discuss briefly, then choose an animal as a subject

2. Research begins: students gather examples of illustrated locomotion (movies, text descriptions) from Internet research

3. Introduce ‘stop-motion’ animation techniques and using Quicktime Pro to render still images into a movie

4. Students create background scenery for their animation, with appropriately-scaled props, using butcher paper and magic markers, as well as what they know about sea life and depth layers in the ocean

5. Students create their clay-and-wire models for the animation

6. Filming begins: the animation frames are created by making digital photographs of the model set against the background. When the sequence is completed, the images are downloaded to a project folder in a computer.

7. Sequencing, timing, and looping of the animation begins: students use quicktime pro to make the project as realistic as possible.

8. Final production begins: narration, music and titles are added to movie, and movie is recorded on a video tape for presentation

9. Presentation of movie by dyad

Assessment

A project rubric will be used to communicate criteria and assess animation projects

Which multiple intelligences were addressed?  How were they addressed?

•Naturalistic: appreciate and describe similarities and differences in methods of sea life locomotion

•Logical/mathematical: measure and scale their models for anatomical appropriateness of feature and locomotion

•Linguistic: read about sea life, keep a journal of project progress, devise a narration track for the finished quicktime

•Spatial: visualize and create clay models and backgrounds

•Interpersonal: mutually assign roles and rehearse the animation with dyad partner

•Musical: add music track to quicktime movie finished project

Short Description of How This Lesson Addresses the Concepts of Constructivist Learning Theory

This project, in the process of its unfolding, is a model constructivist activity. The students will first Encounter and identify the instructional task as the teacher introduces it and the rubric. They will Explore and get directly involved with sea life and animation techniques. They will formulate an Explanation of an undersea method of locomotion. They will Elaborate and expand on the concepts of locomotion to apply their understandings to methods of locomotion that animals and humans use on dry land. The performance task of the animation project will allow the teacher to Evaluate and assess the understandings uncovered.