Understanding Blackacre—Field Study Activities/Tasks

Tasks and Knowledge-Work Planner
This activities section features 22 student tasks. The designers of the handbook realize the danger of presenting a limited set of projects since there have been hundreds and hundreds of tasks over the past 20 years in which teachers and students alike have participated. Due to limited space, we could feature only some of the favorites. These lessons are divided into three categories: Understanding a Homestead, Understanding a Natural Area, and Understanding Where You Are. We have devoted four pages to each activity presented:
(1) The Task Description; (2) Knowledge-Work Planner; (3) Sample Open-Response Items and Appropriate Children’s Literature; and (4) A Photo-Ready Student Activity Page.

The Task Description is an overview of the work that students and teachers do. There are five components to this page:
- Task—The title of the lesson
- Task Description—A one- or two-sentence description of the lesson
- Additional Information and Resources—Additional information or resources that relate to the lesson
- Materials—The minimum list of materials to complete the lesson
- Background—The necessary knowledge that teachers should have before undertaking the lesson
The Knowledge-Work Planner is a graphic for the lesson and a worksheet to help the participating teachers ensure the work completed on the field trip is an integral part of the daily curriculum. The Knowledge-Work Planner includes the following:
- Core Content—Two to three words taken directly from the Kentucky Core Content for Assessment
- The Graphic Tree—The Graphic Tree is one strategy used to envision possibilities that extend the student learning that is central to the work. We have included ideas that connect the work at Blackacre to your school, your classroom, and your community.
- Standards—We believe that each of the lessons could have an impact on each of the instructional areas. This section allows you to record specific Performance Standards, supporting skills, or bullets from the Kentucky Core Content for Assessment.
- Student Products—Each lesson has a plethora of possible student products. What will be the product from the lesson?
- Assessment—How will you assess the student learning?
- What Next?—Where does this activity fit in your thematic units? Where does this activity lead you?
Sample Open-Response Items and Appropriate Children’s Literature—This page is photo-ready, with sample open-ended response (Thinking Beyond) questions that could be reproduced and given to students. Each page also includes suggestions for several books that students could check out of the library to extend their learning.
A Photo-Ready Student Page—Most tasks have a full page that is ready to be copied. This page supports the work of the student.

A Natural Plan: Knowledge Work at Blackacre
The work planned for students at Blackacre is designed to be authentic, motivating, and culminating in tangible products or meaningful outcomes. These characteristics represent attributes of knowledge work. The following is an example of a Blackacre study described through the attributes of knowledge work.

Task: Habitat Comparison
Task Description: Students will collect information and make observations comparing the forest, meadow, and pond habitats, including plants, animals, light intensity, and soil conditions.

Performance Standards and Core Content for Assessment: The student produces evidence that demonstrates an understanding of organisms and their environments, such as the interdependence of plants or animals in an ecosystem, and populations and their effects on the environment. (Life Science, Grade Four)

Organization of Instruction and Performance Tasks: The habitat comparison is one of three activity rotations used to keep groups small (approximately 16 per group). The students are provided data collection charts for each habitat with corresponding word banks of related vocabulary. Students are instructed on ways to use the chart: how to record characteristics of each habitat and the possibilities for sketching and labeling. The students then hike to each area to make firsthand observations. Students are challenged along the way to think of the kinds of relationships that make up each habitat and what the ramifications would be if some aspect of the habitat were missing. The lesson culminates in a comparison of data from each habitat and students’ sharing examples of interdependence of life.

Student Products, Exhibitions, and Performances: The Habitat Comparison lesson will result in the completion of data-collection charts and journal entries to be used in the development of the following:

Informational writing about habitats
A diorama showing elements of a habitat with accompanying oral or written report
A poster demonstrating the interdependence of plants and animals and their habitats

Clear, Concise Expectations: The orientation starting off the day will be the point at which students will receive instructions and expectations for each session. Within each session, the introduction of the activity will include the goals for that specific session. Before the trip students should read “Guidelines of Blackacre” and “Rules for State Nature Preserves.”

Support for Risk-taking: Students will have the opportunity to develop their own product at school after completion of the required product at Blackacre.

Affirmation of Performance: Students’ success in each session can be affirmed by their accurate completion of charts or journals, and by the review and evaluation of any products or outcomes. The last session of each field study is a wrap-up in which students share new learning and demonstrate the ability to make connections with prior knowledge.

Affiliation: The success of each field study is based on the teamwork of Blackacre staff and the classroom teacher. This affiliation helps to shape a learning experience that is relevant to the students and supportive of the classroom curriculum.

Novelty and Variety: Each session is presented at different locations on the Preserve that are appropriate to the content of each session.

Choice: As students gather information, they may use charts, journals, and/or labeled sketches to record new learning. In the follow-up work, students will have a variety of ways they can demonstrate their knowledge.

Authenticity: Students will be placed in the actual setting they are studying. Tasks will be experiential, with connections made to prior knowledge.

Understanding a Natural Area

Understanding a Homestead

Understanding Where You Are

To access the entire Blackacre curriculum, Understanding Blackacre: A Knowledge-Work Guide, click here.