How will the use of biofuels impact world hunger?
1. Detailed description of the context and learners (ex: grade level, course, number of students, gender mix)
This question is designed for a general education Algebra 1 class in a high-needs rural school with a mixture of high school freshmen and sophomores, and up to 20% of students have IEPs. We anticipate 20-30 students, with a relatively equal number of boys and girls.
2. Description of the driving question including a detailed explanation of how the driving question is ill-structured, authentic, meaningful, interdisciplinary, and appropriate
Ill-structured: This question has multiple solution approaches. For instance, students can investigate land usage, crop efficiency, production of biofuels, world hunger, supply chain losses, and more.
Authentic: This question deals with the harsh realities of hunger as well as the contemporary technological advances of biofuels.
Meaningful: World hunger is one of the great challenges of our time. This question relates the contemporary development of biofuel in the context of the food supply.
Interdisciplinary: Both mathematics and understanding of science and social studies will be required to answer the question effectively.
Appropriate: This is an appropriate question for this age group to learn to use mathematics to evaluate the ethics of a given position. Algebra 1 standards include the ability to understand and produce graphical representations of mathematical information, which is a central element in this question.
3. Detailed description of how the driving question relates to the curriculum and specific examples of how you will keep the students focused on the question
Communication Standard: “Students should read text, data, tables, and graphs with comprehension and understanding.” Students will be required to conduct research in order to develop perspectives on the driving question. This research will include graphical representations of numerical data, including pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs, scatterplots, and many other graphical representation types. These graphs could communicate data on biofuel production, land usage, world hunger, food supply, supply chain, climate change, and data comparisons for these elements in different parts of the world.
Representation Standard: “The language of mathematics is expressed in words, symbols, formulas, equations, graphs, and data displays.” Students will be required to represent their findings graphically, using multiple representation types, including but not limited to scatterplots, line graphs, bar charts, pie charts, and others.
Regardless of the stance that students take, they will need to support their views using data, charts and graphs. Ideally they will create charts and graphs based on data they have found and use them as a communication tool when presenting their ideas to the class. It is also possible that they will find charts and graphs they can use through online resources.
Students will be asked to revisit the driving question at the start of every class. The driving question will be posted at various places throughout the classroom to keep students focused on it.
Additionally, the teacher can use funneling questions to keep students focused on the project when they get stuck. Examples of a funneling question include:
- Is the same land used to grow biofuel crops as food crops?
- Does the production of biofuel take away from food production?
4. Detailed description, with examples, of how the driving question is open-ended, allowing for different investigative questions
Students may choose to focus on these issues, among others, on their path to answering the question:
- Current world food scarcity/hunger
- Land usage
- Crop yields
- Food supply chain
- Biomass land requirements
- and many more.
The students could take differing positions on the question depending on what data they find most compelling. For instance, one group could argue that by reducing climate change, the net effect of biofuels on the food supply is positive because climate change has an adverse effect of land use for crops. Another groups could argue that using food for mobility instead of consumption will reduce the amount of food available and increase world hunger.
5. Detailed description, with examples, of how the unit is focused on biofuels
The question specifically asks about the relationship between biofuels and hunger. The word “biofuels” is in the question. Students will have to think about the production of crops from biomass. They will need to investigate what biofuels are and how they are created in order to answer the driving question.
6. Detailed description, with examples, of how the unit is grounded in real life and work beyond school
The question is specifically designed to help broaden students’ understanding of the world and the critical contemporary issue of hunger. For example, some middle class students may have never really considered the impact of the American lifestyle on the developing world.
Students are also developing twenty-first century skills of critical thinking, collaboration, and communication of a complex issue.
This question is designed for a general education Algebra 1 class in a high-needs rural school with a mixture of high school freshmen and sophomores, and up to 20% of students have IEPs. We anticipate 20-30 students, with a relatively equal number of boys and girls.
2. Description of the driving question including a detailed explanation of how the driving question is ill-structured, authentic, meaningful, interdisciplinary, and appropriate
Ill-structured: This question has multiple solution approaches. For instance, students can investigate land usage, crop efficiency, production of biofuels, world hunger, supply chain losses, and more.
Authentic: This question deals with the harsh realities of hunger as well as the contemporary technological advances of biofuels.
Meaningful: World hunger is one of the great challenges of our time. This question relates the contemporary development of biofuel in the context of the food supply.
Interdisciplinary: Both mathematics and understanding of science and social studies will be required to answer the question effectively.
Appropriate: This is an appropriate question for this age group to learn to use mathematics to evaluate the ethics of a given position. Algebra 1 standards include the ability to understand and produce graphical representations of mathematical information, which is a central element in this question.
3. Detailed description of how the driving question relates to the curriculum and specific examples of how you will keep the students focused on the question
Communication Standard: “Students should read text, data, tables, and graphs with comprehension and understanding.” Students will be required to conduct research in order to develop perspectives on the driving question. This research will include graphical representations of numerical data, including pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs, scatterplots, and many other graphical representation types. These graphs could communicate data on biofuel production, land usage, world hunger, food supply, supply chain, climate change, and data comparisons for these elements in different parts of the world.
Representation Standard: “The language of mathematics is expressed in words, symbols, formulas, equations, graphs, and data displays.” Students will be required to represent their findings graphically, using multiple representation types, including but not limited to scatterplots, line graphs, bar charts, pie charts, and others.
Regardless of the stance that students take, they will need to support their views using data, charts and graphs. Ideally they will create charts and graphs based on data they have found and use them as a communication tool when presenting their ideas to the class. It is also possible that they will find charts and graphs they can use through online resources.
Students will be asked to revisit the driving question at the start of every class. The driving question will be posted at various places throughout the classroom to keep students focused on it.
Additionally, the teacher can use funneling questions to keep students focused on the project when they get stuck. Examples of a funneling question include:
- Is the same land used to grow biofuel crops as food crops?
- Does the production of biofuel take away from food production?
4. Detailed description, with examples, of how the driving question is open-ended, allowing for different investigative questions
Students may choose to focus on these issues, among others, on their path to answering the question:
- Current world food scarcity/hunger
- Land usage
- Crop yields
- Food supply chain
- Biomass land requirements
- and many more.
The students could take differing positions on the question depending on what data they find most compelling. For instance, one group could argue that by reducing climate change, the net effect of biofuels on the food supply is positive because climate change has an adverse effect of land use for crops. Another groups could argue that using food for mobility instead of consumption will reduce the amount of food available and increase world hunger.
5. Detailed description, with examples, of how the unit is focused on biofuels
The question specifically asks about the relationship between biofuels and hunger. The word “biofuels” is in the question. Students will have to think about the production of crops from biomass. They will need to investigate what biofuels are and how they are created in order to answer the driving question.
6. Detailed description, with examples, of how the unit is grounded in real life and work beyond school
The question is specifically designed to help broaden students’ understanding of the world and the critical contemporary issue of hunger. For example, some middle class students may have never really considered the impact of the American lifestyle on the developing world.
Students are also developing twenty-first century skills of critical thinking, collaboration, and communication of a complex issue.