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"Venice, Italy, has often been called the most beautiful city in the world. It may also be the most unusual. It is built on 117 small islands and is crisscrossed by some 200 canals and over 400 bridges. To get around, you may walk or take a boat, but you won't find any cars or other motor vehicles. Venice currently faces threats to its art, architecture, and history from an increasing frequency of floods. The city is sinking into the sea and the sea is rising." —from Diane Trantham's "Going ... Going ... Gondola" Lesson Plan "Can it be saved?" is the question Diane Trantham plans to pose to her gifted fourth grade students this spring as they begin to investigate how to control the city's flooding. Students will apply critical thinking and problem solving strategies as they gather and evaluate information about potential solutions to the problem facing Venice and other coastal cities worldwide. Trantham instructs her students once per week during a 75-minute block. In the first two weeks of the eight-week unit, Trantham provides students with background knowledge about Venice's history, geography, and art. Using the first part of the NOVA program "Sinking City of Venice" and several other resources, students discuss how the geography of the city makes it susceptible to flooding and how other causes—such as global warming or man-made interventions—have contributed to the famous city's flooding troubles. Armed with this background knowledge, students use a technique called Creative Problem Solving (CPS) to brainstorm potential solutions to the flooding problem. (For more information about CPS, see resources listed below.) Trantham uses the following variation of the CPS model:
In Week 3, Trantham directs students to NOVA's "Venice Under Siege" interactive to view satellite photographs of Venice and the surrounding area. The photographs help students understand the problem (Mess Finding) and collect some of the facts (Fact Finding). Students' begin to understand the causes and resulting problems, which enables them to start examining specific aspects of the problems (Problem Solving). Once students have examined the problems closely they brainstorm ideas to help stop the flooding (Idea Finding) and then evaluate those ideas (Solution Finding). With the brainstorming complete, students break into small groups and employ a criteria table to evaluate each solution for its scientific viability, potential obstacles, cost, likely acceptance by the Venetians, and implementation feasibility. Using the table they have created, students determine the solution they think is most appropriate. In Week 4,Trantham uses NOVA's video clip titled "Seeing the Gates in Action" to present the solution engineers have proposed. Students view the next segment of NOVA's "Sinking City of Venice" video and complete a hands-on pneumatics activity to explore more deeply how the proposed solution would actually work. Students then re-use the criteria table to evaluate the proposed gates solution. In Weeks 5 and 6, Trantham sets up an opportunity for student teams to take on a role (e.g. engineers and scientists, politicians, environmentalist, city planner, or art historian) and present supporting and opposing viewpoints regarding the mobile floodgates solution. After the role play, Trantham challenges students to reflect on whether an argument made changed their opinions and whether a solution exists that could address everyone's concerns. In Week 7 students explore other cities that face the same problems as Venice. Week 8 includes a time for reflection as students complete a post-assessment and evaluation form. Trantham, who has been teaching for 24 years, says that she tries to develop units that will be engaging to her students and provide opportunities for them to think critically and solve problems. Working with students at the Center for Creative Learning, a program for gifted students in the Rockwood School District, in Saint Louis, County, enables her to develop process-driven curricula. Trantham often uses video such as the NOVA programs as a way to make abstract concepts more concrete for students. "I find that the creative problem solving approach engages students and provides a framework for them to generate and evaluate ideas," Trantham says. Trantham's unit, included an extended outline and student worksheets, can be found at www.pbs.org/nova/teachers/ideas/2914_venice.html For more information about Trantham's unit, you can e-mail her at: Resources Link
CPS Model Books Eberle,
B. & Stanish, B.
CPS
for Kids: A Resource Book for Teaching Creative Problem-Solving to
Children. Prufrock Press: Waco, Texas, 1996.
Puccio, K., Kellers-Mathers, S. & Treffinger.
Adventures
in Real Problem Solving: Facilitating CPS for Primary Students. Prufrock
Press: Waco, Texas, 2000.
Treffinger, D. Isaksen, S. & Dorval, B.
Creative
Problem Solving: An Introduction, 3rd Edition. Prufrock Press:
Waco, Texas, 2000. |
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