Room 16 Bus Adventures in Costa Rica

Objectives:

1. Students will become familiar with their research projects.
2. Students will decide bus tour criteria.
3. Students will begin to research their regions.

Materials:

• Teacher will need:
  A map
  copies of region information
  chalk
• Students will need:
  pencils

Introductory set:

1. Welcome students to "Room 16 Bus Tours Agency" for Costa Rica.
2. Explain that we will be embarking on bus tours all around Costa Rica with the students as the tour guides. Relate being a tour guide to when I was a tour guide on the previous Friday in our mock Monteverde Rain Forest tour.
3. Explain that I want the students to become experts on their regions for the international day coming up.

Sequence of Instruction:

1. Ask class if they were going to visit a region in Costa Rica, what types of things would they want to know. Ask if they were going to tell a friend about the region, what types of things would they want to tell the friend about the region.
2. Write down responses on the chalkboard.
3. Explain the procedure for bus tours.
   a. Students will be put in tour guide teams.
   b. Students will be assigned jobs for each team. (ticket taker, writer, fact finder, editor, props manager, and task master)
   c. Students will be given the research material on regions to pull important facts from.
   d. Students will have the week to prepare (no school on Friday). They can use whatever materials, props, and resources they think will be necessary to give a good tour guide of their region.
   e. When they come to class on Monday, we will arrange the room like we did when we flew to Costa Rica and we will act like we are on a bus as our peer guides tell us about their region.
   f. To get on the bus, students must present 2 raffle tickets to ticket taker.
   g. Students who can not handle the bus ride will be left at the bus stop!
4. Assign students to groups and allow students to pick jobs.
5. Once in groups, ask what region students would like and appropriate materials to pull facts from.

Closure:

1. Ask for questions.
2. Review procedure again.
3. Write down student's regions and jobs in record book.
4. Allow students the reminder of time to get started.
5. Help groups get started.
   

Evidence of Learning:

1. Teacher will explain project to students and go over the procedure thoroughly for clarification of responsibilities. Teacher will ask questions to check understanding of responsibilities.
2. Students will decide what they would like to know about the regions being researched. Teacher will look for participation by most of the class for ideas of what to research as well as assess the quality of questions. Teacher will help with questions if needed.
3. Teacher will walk around room and make sure students have jobs, are beginning their research, and ask for any questions. Teacher will look for at least 1 or 2 facts founds by groups to get started.
   

Reflection:

1. Do students understand research project?
2. Do they seem interested?
3. Are students working in groups that they can handle socially?
4. Are students satisfied with their jobs?

Adaptations:

By adding a props manager and ticket taker, I have eliminated the stress of some students not wanting to do anything. The ticket taker still has a responsibility to the group and can still feel like part of the group. By having props manager, I have provided a job for students who would rather draw or make things rather than write a report.