| The human body is by far the most fascinating and complex machine ever created. It is no wonder it is included in the fifth grade science curriculum, to develop awareness and greater understanding among the students of their body.; A unit on the human body was implemented in a fifth grade inclusion classroom, located in a suburban school approximately 20 miles southeast of a major city. The class comprised of eleven students; six girls and five boys. Five of the students have an Individual Education Plan (IEP), and also receive additional services.; The unit lasted twenty-five days and focused on eight major content goals. The overall goal of this unit was for students to demonstrate their understanding of how different body systems work together. Through various hands-on activities of creating models, conducting research, and experiments to come to reasonable conclusions, the students have shown tremendous growth in their understanding.; There was ongoing student assessment throughout this unit. These included a pre/post assessment (content), pre/post attitude survey, observations, teacher journal, students' science journals, and circus assessment. The culminating activity required the students to design, and construct a game board.; The students were quite unfamiliar with the design challenge activity. However, they "rose to the occasion" and were very receptive as it was explained to them. The specifications for the design challenge were: it had to be a game board; must measure between 40 centimeters and 50 centimeters; must include at least ten challenges to demonstrate the participants' knowledge of the parts, and interconnectedness of the human body systems. The project constraints were: the students could only use materials supplied by, or approved by the teacher, and the design, construction, and testing had to be completed in four class periods (80 minutes period). The students' mastery of their first design challenge was evident as they completed this successfully, along with their design portfolios.; The unit strongly focused on the integration of science, mathematics, and technology. The students mostly used the metric system of measurement throughout this unit as this was also our math focus. I was also amazed at how well the students had adapted to working in groups, both homogeneously and heterogeneously.; I am very pleased with the tremendous strides these fifth graders had taken because many people had doubted their ability. I thank them for making this a wonderful learning experience for themselves, and for me as a teacher. |
