Student Handout – PBL Activity - What Can I Do to Conserve?

Purpose: Based on GPS this activity will increase student’s knowledge and awareness of the
conservation of water, air, and soil. Students will use the information gained from research to
create a VoiceThread project and graphical representation of results.

Overview: You will be working in groups of 3-4 students. Together you will explore a track about
conservation of water, air, and soil. You will use this information to create a VoiceThread with
one idea of conservation of each water, air, and soil. You will respond to other group
VoiceThreads with your opinion on whether or not you could commit to their conservation ideas.
You will then compile data and create a graph in Excel that will be uploaded to the end of your
VoiceThread project. Finally, you will go out and apply the conservation ideas.

Part I

Go to: (http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar/ ) enter: 418523 in the view track # box. Click

view in frames. You will view each website in the frame of the track in order. At each website,
participate in the activities and read the information. Individually, list three realistic ideas of
conservation that you are capable of doing from each website. At the end discuss these ideas as
a group and come up with more of your own. Finally, pick one idea for each water, air, and soil.

Part II

Once your teacher has divided you into groups, visit http://voicethread.com/. Your teacher will
walk you through setting up an account. You will view the tutorials and look at sample
VoiceThreads.

Part III

Log into the VoiceThread accounts that you created with your teacher. Your group will create a
new VoiceThread to present your ideas of conservation. You will have a title slide, a slide for
each water, air, and soil, a slide for the graph, and a slide with references. Make your
VoiceThread attractive with graphics and fonts. On each slide for water, air, and soil list the
conservation idea your group likes best. Make sure it is a realistic idea that you and your
classmates could commit to. You must use audio on each slide.

Part IV

Visit other group’s VoiceThreads and respond to their conservation ideas. You will respond to
each idea with, “I can commit to this”, “I may be able to commit to this”, or “This is not a realistic
solution and I cannot commit to this”. This must be done individually and you must use audio on
at least one response per group. You may use text for the other responses. Please remember to
be respectful in your responses.

Part V

Compile the data you receive about commitment into an Excel spreadsheet. List the options as
“commit”, “may commit”, or “cannot commit”. Do this for each water, air, and soil. Create a bar
graph from the data. Save the graph and upload it to VoiceThread. Apply the graph to the graph
slide. Respond to the Voicethread with a summary of how realistic your conservation ideas are.

Part VI

Go out and apply the conservation methods you responded you could commit to!