Environmental Exploration

To commence our environmental unit, we began to explore different environmental issues. The objective is to determine one problem that peaks our interest, which we will ultimately look for a solution towards. To get a look into the different environmental problems, we watched short videos, such as the one seen below about saving coral reefs.



The videos gave us some insight about what is going on in our world, and we got to choose the ones that captured our interests most. We would then do further investigations into each of these. I decided to learn more about the issue with the coral reefs, and also looked into waste management problems and using alternative forms of energy. For each topic we identified the issue and then found a credible source relating to the article to learn more, which we used "Diigo" to annotate.

Finally we created a concept map that would help stir up ideas for solutions, although we would not necessarily be creating our own solution to these problems.

The general dilemma I found from my explorations with coral reefs was that over 25% of the world’s coral reefs have been lost, and these reefs account for ⅔ of the emitted oxygen on our planet. Clearly this is a huge mess for our civilization, which is why people have been looking for solutions. We learned about marine biologist David Vaughan's solution, which was basically fostering the accelerated growth of coral reefs. In an article from Oregon State I learned more about the problem and was then able to decipher some of the problems that account for the overarching problem, as seen in my concept map below.

Creating concept maps is a great way to discover issues that add to bigger problems, but with more feasible solutions. For example, it would be a much smaller task to deal with the the problem of over-fishing than the loss of coral reefs in general, although the solution to the sub-problem would help lead to a solution for the overall problem.

My second investigation involved waste management. The problem in that area is that frequently used products take long periods of time to decompose, leaving the Earth with lots of waste. An article from LibreTexts had some enlightening ideas that complemented the initial video I watched about the topic. 

This diagram is slightly different, because it describes problems that stem off of the waste management ordeal. Still, these are smaller tasks that can be taken on to help the environment and help with other issues as well.

My final research topic was alternative forms of energy. Energy is costly and limited, therefore an alternative source is investigated that captures energy from the wind. I got to see these neat machines that look like trees, that capture energy from the wind around them. After the video captured my interest, I found an article from CNN that allowed me to fully understand the problem and the different sources of energy we use today.

Self-Evaluating

One key difference between NEW core and other classes is the concept of self-grading. This involves students reflecting on their works and efforts and giving themselves a grade. What usually occurs, is we generate a claim about what grade we deserve, and support it with evidence and reasoning. Our teachers can then accept this claim, or provide a counterclaim. Throughout grading periods we store all our evidence in a document with evaluations that we have provided, and comments from our teachers.

This whole effort to self-evaluate is proven to advance students academically by huge standards, and is important in the growth of students and their abilities. Some key questions for students to consider in evaluating themselves, from John Hattie, Professor of Education at Auckland University, New Zealand, are as follows:

• Are you satisfied with your learning?
• Are you satisfied that you demonstrated your knowledge and skill?
• How does your work compare to the expectations on the rubric?
• With which parts of the assignment (project, performance, etc.) were you most satisfied?
• How closely does your work on this assignment (project, performance, etc.) reflect your learning?
• Why do you think this assignment worked for you?
• Were there any parts that didn’t work?
• How did you do the assignment/project? Be specific.
• Were the strategies that you used effective in helping you reach your goals?
• What learning strategies were helpful? Explain.
• What would you have to add to learn more, do better, etc.?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your effort?
• Did the amount of time, effort and strategies used help you reach your goal?
• If you were to do this over, how could it be improved?
• What can a teacher do to help you?
• What can I do to increase the value of this assignment/project, etc.?

Hoglund, Bob. "Students Learn Through Self-Evaluation and Creating Their Own Goals and   Expectations." Hattie Research Choosing Excellence (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.