BHA Middle Schools Students Learn About Biomes Through Unique Project
At Benton Hall Academy, learning isn’t always relegated to one subject area at a time. Recently, students learned science, social studies and language arts through an interdisciplinary project focused on the subject of biomes. Led by educator Denise Johnson, seventh and eighth-grade students researched a specific biome and shared their new-found information with each other through an adventure travel advertising campaign.
American scientist and textbook author, Neil Allison Campbell, defined biomes as the world’s major communities, classified according to the predominant vegetation and characterized by adaptations of organisms to that particular environment. In completing their project, students explained what a biome is; identified the differences between the following classifications: desert, forest, grassland and tundra, and described the plant and animal life of each biome. Finally, in order to demonstrate what they had learned, they developed a presentation promoting that the rest of the class travel to their biome.
Ms. Johnson has over 30 years of classroom experience, 22 of them teaching at BHA. She chose this project for her students as a culminating activity to show understanding of ecosystems as learned this fall in Environmental Science studies. “I designed the Biomes assignment to allow students the freedom to choose their own way of showcasing new knowledge,” Ms. Johnson said, “In the end they strengthened their understanding of the subject, demonstrated their individual creativity, and enjoyed the learning experience.”
A unique aspect of a BHA education is that instructors have the ability to recognize and adapt to the different academic levels of their students. As students worked throughout the six weeks, Johnson noted that due to their varied abilities, some needed to work in teams to complete the project. In that case, rather than researching and writing about two destinations, they agreed to focus on one location for their presentation and they limited it to ecological points of interest. Although some students were relieved when told they could limit their project to one destination, others went ahead and completed the project with two locations.
In the end, all of the students had the opportunity to vote for their favorite adventure travel location. Who won the most votes? Evan M.’s Power Point presentation, A Travel Brochure About Spain and Its Many Wonders, was the winner! “I enjoyed the whole process and appreciated showing the audience what I learned,” Evan M. said.
BHA Middle Schools Students Learn About Biomes Through Unique Project
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Interdisciplinary projects are great learning tools for many reasons; they prepare students for the “real world” where work is not always divided into school-based subject areas; they help learners to develop broad-based skills such as critical thinking, communication and analysis, and they instill a passion for learning. “Project-based learning is beneficial to all students because they are graded on a broader scale that includes all of the skills they have mastered, not just the specific information,” Ms. Johnson said.
An interesting outcome of the biomes project according to Ms. Johnson was that some students expressed an interest in becoming an Adventure Tour Guide. Who knows where a BHA student might lead us somewhere in the future?
Benton Hall Academy is conveniently located at 5555 Franklin Rd., Nashville and is a school that is dedicated to ensuring that children who learn differently are educated with compassion, where children who struggle academically and socially are inspired to discover their strengths and maximize their potential, and where children who have been on the outside looking in are invited to belong. BHA is proudly accredited by NCA & SACS, an accrediting division of AdvancED. For more information on Benton Hall Academy, contact us at 615-649-5591 or check out our website at https://www.bentonhallacademy.org/
