Second grade cultivating genius and science "How do plants get light?"

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DQ: How do plants get lightThis is a lesson that can be used with second grade science around the time or before the students conduct the investigation on whether plants need light to survive. The students will learn to work collaboratively and trust their own experiences about plants and engage in a modeling activity. This lesson has been edited to add the Cultivating Genius Framework by Gholdy Muhammad to the lesson. Pursuits addressed : Intellectuality, skills  

Material Type: Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

Kindergarten science lessons with Cultivating Genius Framework "What are the needs and wants of this classroom community?"

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This lesson incorporates the pursuits from Cultivating Genius (framework by Gholdy Muhammad) to a science lesson that can be taught during the science lesson for kindergarteners on 'wants and needs'. Or what living things need to survive. K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to surviveThe Pursuits addressedIdentity is addressed in this lesson as students are thinking about what they need to learn and how it is similar and different from that of their peers. They are thinking about their individual role in helping the community reach the goal of everyone learning and why everyone learning is important to them. Intelligence is addressed as students are assessing their own skills and knowledge and putting it to an action of making their classroom community a better place. Joy is a pursuit addressed in this lesson as students will feel a strength in their own ability to change the community in a positive way for everyone, respecting the different needs of each student in the classroom and working towards a shared goal.

Material Type: Learning Task, Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

First grade science lessons with Cultivating Genius Framework "Mae Among the Stars "

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This lesson can be taught for first grade during the unit on patterns in space.This lesson can be added to Amplify’s Spinning Earth: Investigating Patterns in the Sky unit. It can be used with Lesson 2.1 after watching Zoom Out to Space videosChapter 2 Driving Question: Why was it daytime for Sai when it was nighttime for his grandma?The pursuit of Identity can be addressed throughout this unit. It is defined by Gholdy Muhammad as "Who you are, who others say you are and who you desire to be". Students see that a woman and person of color was able to fulfill her dreams of becoming an astronaut despite having this dream dismissed by a teacher. She took her parents' advice. She dreamt of being an astronaut, she believed she could do it, and she worked hard to achieve this goal.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

Third Grade science lessons with Cultivating Genius Framework "How was the search for where monarchs migrate an international effort?"

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This lesson can be added to the study of the life cycle of the monarch butterfly, specifically when it’s time to release your classroom monarchs in the fall. If your class isn’t studying monarchs, but the monarch migration is observed in your area, this is a lesson that could be used to find out more.The pursuits addressed are skills and intellectualism. The skills in this case are reading a map and gathering details from a text. Intellect is the practice of using skills to increase the understanding of the world around you, the practice of reflecting on how one uses a skill. According to Gholdy Muhammad in Cultivating Genius, Intellectualism is knowledge of people, places, things and concepts and the ability to put this knowledge into action. As learning takes place, one asks, “What am I becoming smarter about?” The students are using the pursuit of intellectualism to discover how science research works to discover new things about the world around them. 

Material Type: Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

Third grade Cultivating Genius Framework science "How is conserving monarchs important to the preservation of the culture of Mexico? "

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Details: This lesson can be added to the study of the life cycle of the monarch butterfly, specifically when the children are learning about monarch migration. It is suggested to use this lesson after Monarch Butterflies Lesson 1. Pursuits: Identity is questioning who you are, how others see you and who you want to become. Students will learn about each other and further define their own identities in relation to their culture, their families and their culture. Skills are writing, collaborating with others, and reading informational texts Criticality: Students are deepening their understanding of the intersections of a group's culture with the economic and land-use expectations of the economic powers of the world. In this case the people in the lesson chose to follow their traditions and culture  over these expectations and found an alternative path to support themselves economically. 

Material Type: Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

fourth grade lesson 3 Cultivating Genius Framework science: How does transferring energy affect our health?

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This is lesson three for fourth grade on energy and  the community effects of coal power plants in Chicago and the community action that ensued.Pursuits addressed Criticality: The capacity and ability to read, write, think, and speak in ways to understand power and equity in order to understand and promote anti-oppression. joy: This is important because as you are struggling with ending and easing oppression, there is joy in coming together and creating change as a community.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

fourth grade cultivating genius framework with science: How does transferring energy affect out health?

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This is lesson two for a fourth grade energy unit. The set  of  three lessons explores the effects of coal fire power plants in Chicago and the community action generated to close the plants. Identity can be defined as a  question of who you are, who others say you are and who you desire to be. Criticality is the capacity and ability to read, write, think, and speak in ways to understand power and equity in order to understand and promote anti-oppression. 

Material Type: Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

Lesson 1 fourth grade Cultivating Genius framework science How does transferring energy affect our health?

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This is a collection of three lessons that  can be added to the lessons about energy for fourth graders after the students have created a model of the concept of transfer of energy, before or after they have discussed renewable energy as an option. Skills could be reading a map or a graph and gathering useful information, discussing it and coming up with what the information meant. Intelligence was another pursuit. Intelligence meant more than knowing things. It meant knowing things and being able to apply it to the real world as useful information and action. As you learn something, you are also aware of yourself and those around you. Knowledge is intelligence when it can be used for good in the community. It can be useful for everyone and your job is to help apply it and share it with others with this in mind. Write these two pursuits on the board and a quick definition or a student created definition.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

fifth grade Cultivating genius framework science exploring careers

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Students learn about an astrophysicist that is working in science to open possible ideas for themselves in science careers. Pursuits addressed: Identity-Students will learn about people who they can relate to who are currently working in STEM related careers and study possible STEM related careers that could be meaningful to their own lives/cultures.Skills-The students will research scientists who they can relate to culturally who are working on STEM related careers and then write letters to these scientists in a way that is interesting, genuine, authentic, and allows them to use their own voice.Intellect-Students will choose which scientists they would each like to study by finding scientists who they can relate to culturally who are currently working in STEM related careers and showing examples of Black Excellence.Details: This lesson can be added to 5th Grade Amplify Patterns of Earth and Sky: Analyzing Stars on Ancient Artifacts, with Lesson 2.1 after looking for patterns, making observations, and reflecting on the Model. Explain to the students that this is exactly what astrophysicists do.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

fifth grade Cultivating Genius framework science: Constellations: A Global Perspective

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Details: This lesson can be added to 5th Grade Amplify Patterns of Earth and Sky: Analyzing Stars on Ancient Artifacts, with Lesson 2.1 after looking for patterns, making observations, and reflecting on the Model.Pursuits addressed: Identity-Students will learn about constellations from their own cultural perspectives and recognize that people from all over the world have stories related to the stars in the sky.Skills-The students will research constellations from a cultural perspective and create a class book to share with the rest of the school about constellations and their stories from around the world.Intellect-Students will interview their families to find out if their families have any constellation stories or information related to their cultures.Criticality- Students will understand that there are more than Greek and Roman names and stories for the constellations. The stories  are told and retold  by those in power.  

Material Type: Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

1rst grade Cultivating Genius Framework science "How do human interactions negatively affect sea turtles and how can we help the turtles and other animals survive? "

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Details: This lesson can be added to the Amplify first grade science unit: Animal and Plant Defenses: Spikes, Shells, and Camouflage. It can also be used with any unit on animal defenses and structures.Amplify Chapter 3 Driving Question: How can Spruce the Sea Turtle’s offspring survive where there are sharks?  Pursuit addressed:Toward the pursuit of Skills: Students participate in a class reading of an informational text. Students use the information outlined in the text to develop their knowledge of plastic pollution and its negative impact on sea turtles and the environment. They then use this knowledge to inform others or take other steps to help with reducing plastic pollution.Toward the pursuit of Intellect: In this lesson students learn about a topic that affects the environment and specifically how plastic waste affects sea turtles which they have been studying.  They can better understand an environmental problem and turn their understanding into action.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

Kinder Cultivating Genius framework science "What do plants need to survive?"

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This lesson is for kindergarteners as they study the needs for survival of plants and animals. The students gather information about an invasive species that changes the soil so that plants have a more difficult time getting nutrients. They learn what they can do to help in preventing the spread of these species.  Pursuits addressed: Identity: This lesson addressed the 'who you desire to be' part of Identity. The scientist that is spotllighted in this video is a non-traditional scientist who is African and studies worms. Students who are of African descent or African American and any student who may feel that the doors to science careers may be closed to them due to the color of their skin, may feel encouraged by this video to nurture the possibility of being a scientist. The fact that this scientist studies something that many students may be interested in may foster new ideas that scientists can be people who spend a lot of time outdoors looking at interesting things. Intelligence: This lesson gives students real-world knowledge and some tools to make a difference in their community with this knowledge. It has immediate implications in the students' lives. 

Material Type: Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

Grade 2 Cultivating Genius/Science: "How do seeds get planted in nature?"

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This lesson will ask students to think themselves as 'joy' dispersers, likening themselves to the different ways that seeds are dispersed. They will model both and reflect on how they 'spread' joy. One of the pursuits the people in these black literary societies worked towards was intellectualism. This means that they learn something but what they learned doesn't just sit there. It is used to change things, to see things differently or to get to know others and themselves. Another pursuit was joy. In this lesson, they will discuss how to spread joy from one person to the next so it will grow.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin