Learning Activity

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Expected Artifacts or Products

Using STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics), an interdisciplinary teaching method, we can integrate knowledge in five major areas through related courses to strengthen the interdisciplinary project-based learning. The purpose of STEAM education is to cultivate the ability to face real world challenges. STEAM projects combine interesting and challenging situations in students’ real lives, igniting students’ curiosity and desire to explore. Through interesting learning tasks, students concrete ideas, build prototypes, and test viable solutions.

Students and teams need to build up the ambient awareness of climate change and its impacts on their community first and then discuss viable solutions.  Next, they have to choose a solution and implement it in the format of a technical product that could meet the goals of their solution. The product is expected to be sustainable and eco-friendly.

 Example of a Product: Simen AIoT Floating Island

The Simen AIoT Floating Island utilizes renewable energy like solar energy and wind power as a power supply module. It converts rain water and desalinated sea water into readily usable fresh water for human, animal, and plant consumption. It also uses a smart chip that connects to IOT to develop an automatic watering system. Sensors help to detect soil moisture levels and monitor the crops plant growth process and progress.

To deal with the changing weather, hygro thermometers and PM2.5 sensors are installed on the floating island. When the surrounding particulate matter reaches a hazardous level to the human body, message alerts will be posted to residents to pay attention to air quality by uploading IoT data and Line Bot.

To handle a sudden approaching storm, the floating island is set up with a wind speed sensor. When wind speed reaches a certain level, the island will start the motor and return to the shore until the storm has passed.

The design concept of the floating island not only practices energy savings and carbon reduction, but also creates a coexistence with water, bringing an infinite amount of possibility to the future of floating cities around the world.

Here are some of the required materials for building a floating island:

• floating styrofoam (If students don’t have access to eco-friendly materials, they should explain why they have chosen to use those specific materials.)
• water plants: Irises, bulrush, pickerel rush, arrowhead, duckweed, watercress, blue pickerel weed, or other plants of your choice
• anchor, rope, and mooring when necessary
• green plant holders

Students and teams are encouraged to design other products to demonstrate technical solutions for combating the challenges ignited by climate change.

Global Collaborative Learning Tasks with Scaffolding and Learning Resources

Week One (Empathize): Icebreaking

Welcome to the “Fight for a Sustainable Earth: STEAM to Tackle Climate Change and Battle Global Warming” project. We are happy you joined us. We hope that we can all have fun learning how to save the planet together.

First, let’s all get to know each other.

Your mission:

Make a poster. On the poster, please show everyone some pictures of local natural sites and tell us about any negative effects of pollution, or global warming in your area.

Make a short video introducing your team and each team member. Please tell us:

1. Your team name
2. Each member’s name
3. Your school’s name
4. Your country, and
5. Each member’s hobby (hobbies)

After each team member has introduced themselves, different members should tell us a little bit about these three issues:

1. Why did you choose this project?
2. What global warming issues is your country currently experiencing?
3. What can you do to help stop the global warming issues your country is currently experiencing?

Submitting the video (assignment 1-1) and the poster(assignment 1-2):

Video guidelines:

• Less than 5 minutes
• 640 x 480 pixels
• mp4
• Less than 100 MB

1. When completed, upload your group’s “introduction” video and a picture or scan of your poster.
2. Watch each team’s introduction.
3. Choose one team and ask them a question. If you can’t think of a question, you can try asking something about their school, team or country etc. (Please use the peer evaluation or feedback system, which is attached directly to the artifacts.)
4. If you use background music in your video, please be careful. Don’t make the music louder than the team members’ voices because we might not be able to hear each member clearly.

Team Introductions Rubric

	Could Be Better	Moderate	Good	Excellent
Poster	The poster did not include information about a local natural site, nor did it include any information about local problems caused by pollution from climate change.	The poster included 1 local natural site, or 1 negative effect to a natural site caused by pollution or climate change.	The poster included 1 local natural site, and 1 negative effect to the natural site caused by pollution or climate change.	The poster included 1 or more local natural sites, and 1 or more negative effects to the natural site(s) caused by pollution or climate change.
Video	Not all students in the video introduced themselves. The required points were not covered. The video could be better visual and/or audio quality.	The students in the video did not cover all of the required points. The video was of moderate visual and audio quality.	The students in the video did not cover all of the required points. The video was of good visual and audio quality.	The students in the video covered all of the required points and it was of good visual and audio quality.

Week Two (Define): Climate Change and the Damaging Effects

Now, let’s investigate the negative impact of climate change. Did you know?

• Overpopulation contributes to climate change.
• While the global population is increasing, more and more land is needed to grow food, but much of it is polluted so much that we can no longer use it.

From the polar caps to the tropics, climate change adversely affects every corner of the earth. However, the effects are manifested differently in different places.

There are actually people in the world who believe global warming does not exist. In this activity, we will provide some facts as proof that global warming is real. We’ll do this by sharing with each other how climate change has affected our local areas.

Your mission:

Create a PowerPoint presentation introducing at least one negative effect of climate change experienced in your area. Please include information such as:

• The negative effect, and the current situation.                                            

     (ex: Increased number of tornadoes. Now, there are 30 tornadoes a year.)

• The past situation in your area.                                                              

     (ex: Until 1970, this area averaged 4 tornadoes a year.)

• What the future situation will be like if nothing is done to reverse climate change.             

     (ex: Scientists say that by 2030, the average number of tornadoes could jump to 200 a year.)

The PowerPoint presentation should be:

• 20 slides maximum
• Convert it to PDF format
• Upload the file to Wordpress website.

Our next step is to learn how climate change effects other teams, their friends, families, and communities:

1. View each team’s presentation.

Think of 2 questions to ask each team in the forum.                                                            (ex: Betty, when a tornado is coming, what do people do to be safe?)

Climate Change and the Damaging Effects Rubric

	Could Be Better	Moderate	Good	Excellent
PowerPoint	The PPT only included very little information about 1 climate change issue, and no information about the issue’s past, present, and future situations.	The PPT only included moderate information about 1 climate change issue, and little to no information about the issue’s past, present, and future situations.	The PPT included at least a simple introduction to 1 or more local climate change issues, but not much information about each issue’s past, present, and future situations.	The PPT included a thorough introduction to 1 or more local climate change issues, and information about each issue’s past, present, and future situations.

Week Three (Ideate): Discover for Yourself

We know that climate change and its adverse effects are real. We know because we viewed each team’s presentation last week.

Now, let’s do something about it!

But maybe you are asking yourself, “What can I do about climate change?”

In recent history, some new hopes for the damage to nature have come along. For example, artificial floating islands are a creative idea. It is believed that floating islands can restore ecosystems and reverse the damage humans have done to the environment. But, do scientific facts support this belief?

This week, students will investigate the feasibility of their project as tools to combat climate change. Some answers students should answer are as follows:

1. Is it possible for this product to be sustained?
2. What can this product provide for nature?
3. What difficulties might you face throughout the process of production?
4. What are some ways to ensure your product remains in working condition?
5. Which kind of environment is your product used in?
6. What are some features that can be expanded upon?

Your Mission:

1.  Research

        Use the internet to search for keywords and questions. Your local or school library can also be a great resource. If you can discover the names of experts, you could set up an interview, or send them a survey on the topic.

        Take notes on any information you discover, and move on to the next step.

Create a PowerPoint presentation with a maximum of 20 slides presenting the information you found, and provide a list of sources on the last slide. Be sure to convert it into a PDF file and upload it to Wordpress website..

Discover for Yourself Rubric

	Could Be Better	Moderate	Good	Excellent
PowerPoint	The PPT included very little information and no sources were cited.	The PPT included basic information from 1 source covering at least 1 aspect of your product.	The PPT included detailed research from at least 2 different sources covering at least 2 aspects of your product.	The PPT included detailed research from at least 4 different sources covering at least 3 aspects of your product.

Week Four (Prototype): Prototype for a Sustainable Community

With all of your materials collected, it is now time to build your prototype.

Remember the function of your product and it should be sustainable.

And don’t forget to test your product’s functionality.

Your Mission:

1. Build a complete prototype.
2. During the construction process, each team member should share their experience building the product, any problems that came up, and any ideas about construction in the Forum.
3. Create a video introducing your finished prototype.
4. Upload the video.

Conduct peer evaluation based on the rubric and provide feedback.

Build It Rubric

	Could Be Better	Moderate	Good	Excellent
Design (Prototype) Function (Prove that the product works and responds to the driving question)	No design was submitted. No proof.	The design was just a general drawing with no explanation of its parts, nor their functions.	The design included several elements, explanations of their functions, but not complete explanations of their functions.	The design included several elements, explanations of their functions, and all of the required functions were covered.
Design Creativity	No design was submitted.	The design generally resembles any other product we’ve seen.	The design included creative ways to perform some of the required functions.	The design included creative ways to perform the required functions, and new elements were added to the design that expanded the product’s functions. The design incorporated different materials and shapes, etc.
Video Intro	Not all students in the video introduced themselves. The required points were not covered. The video could be of better visual and/or audio quality.	The students in the video did not cover all of the required points. The video was of moderate visual and audio quality.	The students in the video gave a general description of each part of the product and their function.	The students in the video gave a detailed and understandable description of each part of the product and their function.
Video Quality	The video was incomprehensible.	The video file did not meet most of the requirements listed, and the video, and audio quality were not good.	The video file met most of the requirements listed, and the video, or audio quality were not perfect.	The video file met all of the requirements listed, and the video was of good visual and audio quality.

Week Five (Test): Tell the World & International Video Conference

You’ve all done a lot to arrive at this point. You have learned about something you may have never heard of before, researched, designed, and built an environmentally friendly product.

Now, sitting in front of you is the answer to the question you asked yourself up until Week 3 of this project.

What can we do about climate change? We can build different products and tell the world how and why to build them.

This week, each team will give a presentation to the public in the form of their school, or even an invited group of press, community leaders, environmental experts, etc.

Whichever group you choose to present to, the presentation should include a short talk on why your product is important for the future, the work your team put into building your product, and the function of each component of your product. Please videotape your presentation and upload the video.

Video guidelines:

• Less than 5 minutes
• 640 x 480 pixels
• mp4
• Less than 100 MB

• When completed, upload your group’s “presentation” video.
• Watch each team’s presentation.
• Please go to the Forum, choose one team and ask them one question. If you can’t think of a question, you can try asking something about their school, team, country, etc. (Please use the peer evaluation or feedback system, which is attached directly to the artifacts.)

If you use background music in your video, please be careful. Don’t make the music louder than the team members’ voices.

Tell the World Rubric

	Could Be Better	Moderate	Good	Excellent
Content	The presentation did not speak to the topic adequately. It was not clear, nor understandable.	The presentation gave general information on the topic, but it did not come from research.	The presentation gave somewhat detailed information on the topic, displayed basic knowledge of the research on the topic, and was generally understandable.	The presentation gave detailed information on the topic, displayed strong knowledge of the research on the topic, and was clear and understandable.
Presentation	The presentation was dull, and incomprehensible. It was not well-organized, and was not designed well.	The presentation was attractive, but not so easy to understand. It was not well-organized, and was not designed well.	The presentation was attractive, and easy to understand. It was well-organized, but visual components were not well done.	The presentation was attractive, and easy to understand. It had pleasing colors and was well-organized. There was excellent use of bullets, graphics, transitions, and slide effects.

It is time to meet other teams via video conferencing to present your product and provide feedback about their products.

Your Mission:

1. Choose teams to partner with and schedule a video conference. Before the conference, watch your partner teams’ video and look at their design. Provide feedback directly in the peer evaluation system.
2. During the conference, teams will provide feedback to each other regarding the products respectively.
3. After the video conference, teams should discuss the feedback they received. 
4. The feedback each team receives from the video conference is valuable for improving their products in the future.
5. After the conference, each team should carefully reflect on results or outcomes based on the attached rubric in the forum.

Video Conference Rubric

	Could Be Better	Moderate	Good	Excellent
Detailed Feedback	The team gave us no feedback.	The team gave us general feedback: “We liked your design,” “This is good,” etc.	The feedback showed basic understanding of our design. The team told us one thing that we could change to make our design better.	The feedback showed the other team studied our design and thought deeply about how well it will perform each of the required functions. The team told us what is good about our design and why. The team told us more than one thing we could change to make our design better and why.