2016-2017 Projects

5. Outdoor Learning Space - Tree Trunk Chairs

1. OUTDOOR LEARNING SPACE:

Teams of students worked together to create proposals for a possible outdoor learning area that could be added here at Wilson. Students presented these to all the parents during our first Showcase Night, as well as the authentic audience of school/district administrators, in order to gain approval for one of the projects.

2. HEALTHY BODY AND MIND:

Students worked individually or with a partner on a problem, issue, or topic, relevant to the students lives which connected to the human body or mind. The chosen topics needed to have a research component as well as an appropriate experiment that would help the kids deepen their understanding. Students then had to present their final product to an authentic audience. Some students presented to a panel medical professionals including a nurse, doctor, EMT, caregiver, etc. Other students presented to health classes here at Wilson. The most unique presentations were probably the two boys who created a children's book related to their topic, DNA, and then read it to young students at a nearby elementary school.

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3. GENERATION BEYOND STUDENT VIDEO CHALLENGE:

Working in small groups, students were encouraged to stretch their imagination and skills to show how they would design a habitation module that will dock with NASA’s Orion spacecraft to one day carry astronauts to Mars. Orion is NASA’s first spacecraft designed for long-duration, human-rated deep space exploration. They had to present their Mars Mission habitation module through a one- to two-minute video, which included a visual representation of the habitation module. This video was then submitted to a national contest.

4. ANIMAL STUDY:

This project began with a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo's Education Center, to learn about various reptiles and arachnids that are in the indoor animal collection. We learned about what each of the animals need to survive and what it takes to take care of them in captivity. From there, students worked alone or in small groups, researched, created a formal product, and made a presentation to try and persuade the class to choose their animal, which they felt should be adopted by the class.

5. HUMAN RIGHTS:

For this independent project, students had to choose a human rights issue that was of interest to them, conduct research, and then create their own webpage that explained what the issue is, where it occurs, why it is an issue, and what can be done to help. The goal was for students to learn compassion for people around the world, while also continuing to develop their research and writing skills.

Topics Included:

                • Child Labor
                • Child Soldiers
                • Human Trafficking
                • Domestic Violence
                • Water Shortage
                • Prisoner's Rights
                • Etc.

6. SERVICE PROJECT

Students were given the task to complete a service project that would make Wilson a better place. First, as a class, students brainstormed things they would improve about Wilson. They came up with 131 ideas and then grouped based on interest. Next, the students had to find a way to prove it was an issue. Some groups interviewed administration, some groups went around the school and took pictures, and some groups surveyed students and staff. Students then had to come up with an action plan and put that plan in motion. Listed below are the action plans:

  • Random Acts of Kindness: handed out fortune cookies, cookies, and put memes on lockers
  • Phones: hung up signs that informed students about the negatives of phone usage and sponsored a face-to-face day, encouraging all students to put their phones in their locker for the day
  • Pencils: held a pencil drive, collected over 700 pencils, created two "free pencil" buckets in the library and office
  • Cleanliness: hung up reminder signs in all of the bathrooms, created and distributed 20+ bottle/can recycling bins to classrooms
  • Bullying: hung up interactive signs with different bullying, friendly teasing, harmful teasing scenarios on them
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7. ENTERTAINMENT PROJECT:

This project began with acting auditions, where students had a class period to learn a script and act it out. The purpose of these auditions were for the students to showcase their acting skills to their peers so that they could group up. Once students got into groups, they then individually wrote their own unique script for a play, keeping in mind the special attributes of their group members. When script writing was complete, students then got back into groups and decided on the best script to move forward with. After the script was revised, students then started practicing and memorizing the script, as well as creating set backgrounds and props.

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8. BioBLITZ PROJECT:

Students were grouped into small teams, then given specific ecosystems at the Rahr Memorial School Forest to study, research, and identify as many of the plants and animals found there. They did extensive preliminary research to figure out what could possibly be found in these Wisconsin habitats, then spent a day at the Forest collecting data, photographing, and videoing what they found. Back in the classroom then, the groups created websites for the 6th grade BioBlitz project that is used in the district before they attend camp in the fall.

9. WATERSHED PROJECT:

Students spent a few weeks during class on the banks of the Little Manitowoc River catching, identifying, and inventorying macro-invertebrates as part of our water quality monitoring project. We also performed various tests with the water from the river in order to determine the health of this water that winds through our neighborhoods.