Growing Green

End goal:

Create a final project that can be in the form of: a written report, a video, a blog, a pamphlet, or a community presentation.

Sections/Topics to cover in final project:

(These are the same sections as the ones provided below with URL sources.)

For this final project you have been provided with a substantial amount of information (found at the bottom of this page), however, it is up to you 

to determine how you will use the infomation to complete the task. Regardless of what format you choose to use, you must include the following requirements:

1. ·         What is sustainable gardening and why should we care?

2. ·         Environmental biology

3. ·         Chemistry in the garden 

4. ·         Biology in the garden

5. ·         Edmonton community resources

6. ·         Aboriginal perspectives

7. ·         How can you help create a culture of sustainable gardening in your community? (This is meant as your own reflection after reading through all the other sections provided.) Consider: at least one practical strategy for community engagement that could be used for implementing a sustainable garden in your community (e.g. school, community, city), why you think and feel this is the best strategy, approximately what resources and timeframe are we looking at to achieve it and what is the initial step that we need to take? Lastly, share what your team's big dream is for sustainable gardening.

• For items 1 to 4: provide sufficient background information, address potential challenges/barriers that might be encountered when designing and implementing the garden, and provide potential solutions to work towards solving those challenges.

• Incorporate sources from items 5 and 6 into your answers.

Steps to get you to the end goal:

Step 1: Meet your team of three.

Get to know each other. Some teams work best by having a selected leader, others by sharing all the decisions equally. Discuss with your team which way works for everyone. Exchange contact information and meeting times.

Step 2: Create a schedule.

Discuss with your team how often you should meet to ensure that you will finish the project on time. Divide up tasks as appropriate and decide on reasonable deadlines. The tasks you need to accomplish will be explained in the next few steps.

Step 3: Read through the resources provided in the sections provided below.

The sections have been linked to the units you will be covering in Science 10 and it is advised that you read those units in your textbooks as further information for your project. It would also be a good idea to read the sources under a section when it is also being covered in class. This will help keep you on track as well as help you to connect all the information together. See the Relation to Curriculum tab if you would like to see how each section relates to what you are learning in class in more detail.

Step 4: Choose at least three sources from each section to use in your final project.

You may use information outside of the sources provided, however, this is not required. Remember to keep track of which sources you use so you can cite them later on in your project. For the "Edmonton Community Resources” section, email your contacts early on in the project so they have time to get back to you and you can follow up with additional questions.

Step 5: Choose which form you would like to use for your final project.

These are the different forms your final project can become:

• Written report (between 1800-2500 words)

• Video (between 12-15 mins)

• Blog (at least two original posts per section/topic, i.e. no reposts/reblogs but you can definitely use links and elaborate on them)

• Pamphlet (to cover at least two 8.5x11" sheets, double-sided)

• Community presentation (between 20-25 mins)

Consider: what tools do I need to create it? How should we split up the work as a team? Are there things we need to organize ahead of time or ask for help (e.g. if you are doing a community presentation you might need time and help to set up a time/location to present at)? Is this the best way that everyone on my team will feel comfortable creating? Are we following the marking rubric (see Evaluation tab)?

Step 6: Prepare a class presentation and present it!

Your presentation should be between 10-12 mins long. You can cover whatever content your team believes is important or what you found most interesting.

Step 7: Complete the “Peer Assessment” form.

You can find this in the Evaluation tab. This will help you improve your teamwork skills. Reflect on what went well and what did not and how you can improve on it in the future.