This presentation was given by a grade 4 teacher from the Calgary Science School during the GEOEC conference, 2010.

1. Endangered Species
of Alberta
Greg Neil
Calgary Science School

2. Presentation Synopsis...
Discussion on Inquiry
Inquiry Rubric
Overview of Endangered Species Project
Project Evaluation
Questions... Points to consider!

3. Questions to consider?
What is inquiry?
What constitutes strong inquiry?
What criteria can be used to assess
strong inquiry?

4. A great starting place is the
Inquiry Rubric!
http://www.galileo.org/research/publications/rubric.pdf

8. !

9. Challenge: How to teach the strand of
the Grade 4 Social Studies curriculum
“the land”, in a meaningful way that
captures the imaginations and
enthusiasm of students.
Solution: Create an “Inquiry project”
that provides an opportunity for
students to identify with the Alberta
landscape, through the lens of at risk
animals or plants in the province!

10. Planning in IO

11. Inquiry begins with a question,
so what was our question?
“Should we care if we permanently lose some
or all of the endangered species in Alberta?”

12. A good place to start an
inquiry project is with an
equally good story, or
movie!
View the “Lorax”

13. The Learning Begins:
We needed to figure out a way
of classifying the major animal
species in Alberta.
As a result, the first task was for
students to identify and
understand the unique
characteristics for each of the six
natural regions.
We used the Alberta Heritage
Website to help us.
http://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/map.htm

14. We also made
playdough relief
maps of the
regions!

15. The second task was to
identify and classify as
many of the major animals
and plants in Alberta by
natural region.

16. Watch “Working on Animal
Research” Video

17. Getting Experts Involved!
Watch “CEI” video
Cochrane Ecological Institute
http://www.ceinst.org/

18. More Experts (Encouragement)
Leanne Allison - Filmmaker

23. Step 2: Now we needed to
figure out which animals and
plants were Endangered,
Threatened or Sensitive Species
and find a practical way of
indicating their status on our
Chart. We decided to highlight
the animals in three
corresponding colors.
Red: Endangered
Yellow: Threatened
Blue: Sensitive or Vulnerable

25. The research begins!
At this stage, students chose
one of the animals or plants
from the list that were classified
as sensitive, at risk or
endangered and began a
detailed investigation leading
to a research report!

26. The Rough Draft - Track Changes

27. Assessment

31. The Podcast
Watch “Student Sample Podcast”

32. Watch “Student One Year Later”
Student Perspective - One year later...

33. q’s on project?

34. Evaluate the project using rubric using
the 1 category...
Can you identify or suggest strengths
or improvements based on the Inquiry
Rubric.
Would this Rubric be useful in
evaluating your own practice?

35. Thanks! Please check out our blog!
http:/calgaryscienceschool.blogspot.com/