Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities

Lesson Idea Name: Migration of the Monarch Butterfly

Content Area: Science
Grade Level(s): Kindergarten
Content Standard Addressed: CD-SC3.4a Observes, explores and describes a variety of animals and
plants. Describes their basic needs and life cycles.

Technology Standard Addressed: Knowledge Constructor

Selected Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity: Online Project

URL(s) to support the lesson: https://journeynorth.org/monarchs

Describe how you would incorporate an Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity in your
classroom: I would incorporate Online Projects into my classroom by using Journey North, a website that
allows students to assume the role of scientists and track animal migration and seasonal changes. The project
I will be doing is having the students and I study and research the migration of Monarch butterflies. Using
Journey North, we are able to not only Track migration on real-time migration maps but Scientists rely on the
help of citizen scientists to understand the monarch’s conservation needs. This lets the students take on a
role of a scientist but also really actually make an impact.

Not only can we see their migration with this project, we can learn about what they eat, the life cycle of the
Monarch Butterfly and any other information we can find. With this project, because it is Spring, the students
can even look for Monarch Butterflies, either on the playground or at home with their parents. If they see
one, they can take a picture and send it in for the scientist and talk with the scientists as well. Overall, Journey
North is an awesome source for students to get involved and and feel like real scientists. It is also a very safe
and website for the students to use.

What technologies would be required to implement this proposed learning activity in a classroom?
Students would need some sort of computer or tablet to access the website. They also need to make sure
that they have wifi to access the website too.

Describe how the following features are addressed in this learning experience (note: all of them may not be
addressed in the project, but most should be if you are reaching a high LoTi Level).
a. Collaboration with peers, near-peers, mentors outside their classroom and often beyond their
school: The students are able to work with their peers and then talk to actual scientists about the
Monarch butterflies. Journey North allows you to see anyone’s research as well.

b. Student-centered learning and knowledge creation (creating original data and or producing original
products as a result of engaging in a project): Students will be doing their own research and recording
their own data about the butterflies.

c. Higher-order thinking: First, the students will be collecting their own data and importing it onto the
website. They will then be looking and comparing other students data to their own.

Spring 2018_SJB
 Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities
d. Students publishing their original work to others who will use/care about their product: The students
will be reporting their data they collect to a central online data base. Scientists and other students
around the world will be able to see the data.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☒ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☒ Evaluating ☐ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration
☒ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

Engagement: The students will feel engaged by researching data about the Monarch Butterflies and feeling
like actual scientists. They will also be able to go outside and search for their own Monarch butterfly.
Representation: For students with hearing problems, they do not need to hear anything because the
butterflies do not really make a noise. They will only need to look for them and research them from the
website. They will represent their data that they collected by reporting it to a central data base.
Action and Expression: The students will be able to go outside and physically look for the butterflies. They will
then take action to report their finding into the data base.

Lesson idea implementation and Internet Safety Policies: According to Journey North, they are a well-
developed website for Elementary students. I will allow the kids to browse the site and find anything they can
on Monarch Butterflies. After doing some research, the class and I will work together to report their findings
into the data base. I will make sure that the students data does not contain their name or anything else that
could give the child away. A really cool feature is that the students can still talk to scientists without having to
put their actual name, they can remain anonymous.
Reflective Practice: This is such a great lesson for students because they get to act like scientists and collect
their own data by researching a specific animal. They can see other students data as well and compare it to
their own and speak to the actual scientist who are researching the Monarch Butterflies. To extend the
project, I could let the students choose their own animal that they would like to collect data on or even have
a real scientists come in and talk about what they do.

Spring 2018_SJB