A scenic representation in which sculpted figures and lifelike details are displayed.
The main project that my kids did for all of August was creating dioramas of habitats.
Dioramas are a good science projects, because they provide students hands-on learning and facilitates a design process. In this case, they apply what they know about the different habitats we as a class had discussed -- oceans, forests, deserts, ponds, grasslands, and polar habitats -- to create accurate scenes that depicted what these habitats look like.
After gathering all the necessary materials (a challenge in its own) and introducing the project, one of the first things I did was create criteria. With as much involvement as I could get from my students, we agreed upon the following:
- The diorama must have a background and a foreground that is accurate and interactive.
- The diorama must include at least two animals.
I gave the students a week to complete the project in class, but because of the slow progress I decided it would be beneficial to have them bring it home for the weekend -- big mistake. When Monday came, I had a handful of dioramas that were clearly done by the parents. I had to rethink the way of assessing their learning, and I opted for an interview style using this rubric I created:
The rubric I had created puts as much emphasis on their knowledge of their habitats as on the creation of their dioramas. I thought to link the elements of their diorama with the knowledge they have acquired in class. I also thought it would be important to discuss the components of a habitat -- food, shelter, air, and water.
There were some things that I was teaching at the same time as the interviews (interaction of living and nonliving things in a habitat) that would be unfair had I included it in the assessment so they were excluded.
Here are some of the habitat dioramas that were submitted.
"Don't try to fix the students, fix ourselves first. The good teacher makes the poor student good and the good student superior. When our students fail, we, as teachers, too, have failed."
- Marva Collins
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