Project Title: True Cost of Cellphones
Mission:
Help protect gorillas from the impact of mining to make cell phones.
Culminating / Take Action Project
Create a mural to raise awareness about gorilla conservation.
What Kids Learn
Gorillas are amazing animals that share 98% of their DNA with people. They are loving, caring, empathetic, and highly endangered. Many people are unaware that our cell phones play a significant role in threatening gorilla habitats and populations. Coltan, a key mineral, is extracted from mines that are destroying gorilla habitats. In this project, students explore why gorillas live in groups, how they benefit their ecosystem, and where in Africa they live and why.Â
Students explore maps, geography, and fossils to help them learn about the long history of gorillas on Earth and how, despite millions of years of existence, they are still threatened. Then, students learn more about mining fossil fuels and minerals, as well as the impact of mining on gorilla ecosystems. The project concludes with students taking a virtual field trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they meet the director of GRACE, a gorilla orphanage, who educates students about the local, community-run efforts in place to support Grauer’s gorilla conservation. To cap their project, students produce a mural that combines empathy and public interest to raise awareness about gorilla conservation.
Overview
Life Habit Focus: Empathy
Subject: Earth Science, life science, ELA
Grade: 3-5
Topic: Species in groups, fossils and earth's layers, and mapping geographic feature
Project preview
Project Materials (Available with your Membership)
Project Materials
Aligned Standards
Common Core Reading (CCSS):
- Reading Informational Text R1 – R6
- Reading Literature Standard R.L 4, 5, 6Â
- Writing Standards W. 2 & 6 for grades 3-5
- Listening and Speaking Standards SL. 1-6 for grades 3-5
NGSS Standards:
Performance Expectations (PE):
- 3-LS-1. Construct an argument that some animals form that help members survive.
- 4-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and that their uses affect the environment.
- 4-Ess2-2. Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features. DCI: Maps can help locate the different land and water features areas of Earth.
- 5-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.Â
Science and Engineering Practices (SEP):
- Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions.
- Constructing explanations and designing solutions in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to the use of evidence in constructing explanations that specify variables that describe and predict phenomena and in designing multiple solutions to design problems. Identify the evidence that supports particular points in an explanation. (4-ESS1-1)
Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI):
- LS2D: Social Interactions and Group Behavior. Being part of a group helps animals obtain food, defend themselves, and cope with changes. Groups may serve different functions and vary dramatically in size (Note: Moved from K–2).
- ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems. Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments.
- ESS3.A: Natural Resources Energy and fuels that humans use are derived from natural sources, and their use affects the environment in multiple ways. Some resources are renewable over time, and others are not.
- ESS1.C: The History of Planet Earth. The presence and location of certain fossil types indicate the order in which rock layers were formed. (4-ESS1-1) atmosphere.
Crosscutting Concepts (CC):
- Cause and Effect: Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change.
- Science Addresses Questions About the Natural and Material World. Science findings are limited to questions that can be answered with empirical evidence.
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