Marston Middle School

Overview: The project address how industrialization both improved society and negatively impacted our surrounding communities. Students selected a category of water, air, energy, or land pollution as an area of focus and completed case studies, data analysis, PSAs, and wrote letters to legislators.

Project Initiation: The focus is how Industrialization improved society as well as the harm it caused to our local communities. Our project launch was a 25 minute video created to spark student enthusiasm and anticipation and introduce the topic. Teachers and four industry partners included video clips in the project launch video to introduce themselves, talk about their role, and to explain which activities they would be doing with students during the course of the project. Students had to complete research to learn about their topic, conduct data analysis, write letters to legislators, create case studies, and PSAs. 

Project Exploration and Development: This project incorporated, U.S. History and science. The historical content was the Industrial Revolution. Students researched inventions and explained how each changed our way of life. For data analysis, water experts conducted water testing at De Anza Cove. Air experts recorded the air quality of 3 San Diego communities, including Barrio Logan and went to Chicano Park to learn about the pollution caused by the overhead bridges. Energy & land experts also conducted data analysis. Students received an in-person visit from Rep. Sara Jacobs in response to their letters. Industry partners gave presentations to their assigned experts, lead data analysis, taught several lessons, and were panel members. The culminating project was a Google slides presentation with inventions, data analysis, case studies, a letter to a legislator, and PSA on local communities. They presented their project in front of a panel of industry partners, teachers, and high school students.

Project Revision and Exhibition: All project deliverables were graded separately, with a rubric, allowing students to improve their score and resubmit their work. I gave students verbal feedback during the entire process of writing their law proposal to their legislator of choice. Several students took advantage of the opportunity to come to tutoring every day during lunch, for a week, to revise their letter. Presentation groups were assigned in a group of four students, with one air expert, land expert, water expert, and energy expert. All students presented their work to a panel of judges of industry partners, high school students, and teachers.

Teachers and Subjects: Science- Lori Holland and Elizabeth Newlin; History- Renee Thomas and Beth bowers; Digital Media - Joe Paulson

Industry Sector: -