We are a 4th grade class at Whittier Elementary in Clinton, Iowa. My nineteen 4th graders and I participated in the 2020-2021 Sea Turtle Project along with educators around the country. We partnered with a 4th grade TAG group led by Gail Jung in Hudson, WI as well as a class of 4th graders and their teacher, Greg Gaiera, at Union Street Charter School in Arcata, CA.

Students investigate, propose, and take actions on develop solutions to eliminate/reduce the amount of plastic being consumed by sea turtles. They will communicate their findings and work with professionals in the field doing work to save sea turtles and clean the ocean water.

Task: Build a prototype or create a solution(locally or globally) that demonstrates how we can help sea turtles reduce the amount of plastic they are consuming.

ISTE Standards for Students

Digital Citizen

2b Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology, including social interactions online or when using networked devices.

Knowledge Constructor

3a Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.

Creative Communicator

6d Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.

Global Collaborator

7c Students contribute constructively to project teams, assuming various roles and responsibilities to

Language Arts 4th Grade Standards

RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

RI.4.10 By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4–5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

W.4.2a Introduce a topic clearly and group related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.

W.4.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

W.4.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

W.4.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.

W.4.6 With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others

SL.4.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

Next Generation Science Standards

3-5-ETS1-1. Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

3-5-ETS1-2.

Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Social Studies Standards

SS.4.2 Use supporting questions to help answer the compelling question in an inquiry.

SS.4.3 Cite evidence that supports a response to supporting or compelling questions.

SS.4.5 Identify challenges and opportunities when taking action to address problems, including predicting possible results.

Clinton County Conservation Board

While having an understanding of the issues of the world is extremely important, it is also important for my students to see the connection to home. Being able to partner with the class in California really made the plight of the sea turtles more real for them. They needed to see the relevance to their lives here in Iowa. One way we could do that was to invite Mark Roberts, Environmental Education Coordinator, from the Clinton County Conservation Board to Zoom with us. He was able to share with us the effects of trash in the Mississippi River and its surrounding bodies of water and what we can do to help our local wildlife.

To begin our unit, we introduce the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. We use the slide show below to start a conversation about the goals. Students chose a goal they wanted to investigate further and created either a slideshow or presentation about the goal. They presented their goal to the class.

We have a makerspace in our room with a variety of supplies that are available. There is always a supply of cardboard, paper, craft sticks, hot glue, and many other things. Students used those supplies to create their prototypes of their machines.

Our culminating activity was to create a model of a solution to help lessen the problems that are caused by garbage ending up in the ocean. Students worked in groups of 3 or 4 to design a solution. They then worked together to build it and ended by presenting the project to our partner classes via Zoom. They came up with very creative ideas from posters to spread the word, to designing reusable shopping bags, and robotic machines to be used in the oceans to clean up trash. The were able to demonstrate their understanding of the sea turtle problems and how to solve it using the LAUNCH design process.