Last updated: January 15, 2021
Lesson Plan
George Washington Carver - An Original Conservationist: Introduction
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- Grade Level:
- High School: Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade
- Subject:
- Science
- Lesson Duration:
- 30 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 9-10.L.6, 11-12.L.6
- Additional Standards:
- NGSS (MO CLEs): HS-LS2-7. Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
HS-LS2-3, HS-LS2-6, HS-LS4-6 - Thinking Skills:
- Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words.
Essential Question
Written by the park's 2020 Teacher Ranger Teacher, this ecology 5 lesson unit explores George Washington Carver's work at Tuskegee Institute, where he taught agricultural methods that were mutually beneficial to farmers and the land, while exploring current issues in natural resource conservation.
Objective
Select from the following:
Lesson One, The Man, The Scientist, The Artist, which explores George Washington Carver's contributions to ecology.
Lesson Two, Sharing the Soil, teaches soil conservation.
Lesson Three, The Importance of Composting, includes compost in a bottle.
Lesson Four, Alternative Uses for Everyday Products, includes student research into creative uses for agricultural crops.
Lesson Five, Welcome to the 21st Century, explores practical ways to address current issues in ecology
Background
My name is Gloria. I have been a science teacher in Southwest Missouri since 2004. Over that time, I have taught a plethora of different courses including basic Physics, Biology, Introduction to Biology (for students with special needs), Forensics and Ecology.
I was offered the position of Teacher-Ranger-Teacher, Are You A Teacher - Teachers (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov),which gave me the chance to work with the National Park Service and more specifically the George Washington Carver National Monument (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) in Diamond, Missouri. The goal of the Teacher-Ranger-Teacher program is to connect teachers with the national parks and to support teachers in the development of a curriculum specific to the park with which they are associated.
George Washington Carver was an interesting man and an important national, historical figure. Although a leading figure in the African American community at the start of the Civil Rights era Carver saw himself as a humanitarian rather than a civil rights leader. Raised by the owners of his mother, an enslaved woman named Mary, Carver was brought up in the post-civil war Midwest.
Struggling through the discrimination that was rampant in the Reconstruction Era, Carver none the less was able to secure for himself a college education and become an agricultural instructor at the newly formed Tuskegee Institute. Carver’s goals while working at Tuskegee were to develop and teach agricultural methods that would improve the lives of the poorest farmers who tended to be African American. Carver’s history and faith led him to a love of the land and a dedication to finding ways to create mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and the land.
Preparation
There are five lesson topics and you will need to access these on the National Park Service website for Educators, Teachers (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov), where you may also download them.
This project is designed to accommodate all teaching styles. I completely understand the need to adapt different activities based on length of class periods, number of class periods available for such a project or fully integrated into a curriculum. To that end the project is designed to be taught one of three ways:
Option 1: Each activity can be taught completely independently. Each activity can be completed by student groups or on their own. They can be assignments done as worksheets or mini-projects (option 2). This will allow you the teacher to pick and choose what you want to incorporate without having to worry too much about adapting the instructions or format as it is already done for you. Also, each topic is not dependent on a full understanding of previous topics within the project so feel free to pick and choose what works best for you.
Option 2: Each activity can be easily turned into a mini-project. Instead of a worksheet, students will create a poster, a brochure, a pamphlet or a presentation. Instructions have been provided for creating a physical product. Also, the structure of the activity will make it easy if you would rather have them create a digital presentation.
Option 3: If you would like to complete the entirety of the project you can do so in a Problem Based Learning format. Most topics have both a lab/activity and a mini-project. The mini-projects can be assigned to different groups and then presented to the class or community members as a complete overview of Carver’s life and work.
Materials
Lesson Hook/Preview
Do you need engaging lessons that make ecology relevant to the lives of your students while also exploring the contributions of the famous scientist from Missouri, George Washington Carver? You have found them!
Procedure
There are five lesson topics and you will need to access these on the website, where you may also download them.
Please note that the labs may be very long term. Check the teacher instructions to make sure that you start the lab early. Creating compost will take several weeks so completing the lab set up before starting the lab is important so that students reach the conclusion at the appropriate time.
NOTES:
- The “Compost in a Bottle” lab should be started 3-4 weeks before you plan to get to that topic. It will have to be checked on weekly (depending on which version of the lab you choose to do).
- Topic 5 is designed as a culminating event. It can be done completely separately from this unit if you choose. However, if you plan on working through the unit I would advise you to do each topic as a mini-project (Option 2) not as a Problem Based Learning Project as that will give students two large projects to complete.
Assessment Materials
Assessment is built in to each lesson.
Supports for Struggling Learners
Each of the five lessons contain accommodations for struggling learners.