Loerwald PBL

Our second grade classes did a culminating PBL about breathing/lungs/health/diaphragm.  Our team (music, art, pe and science) worked together to create their own project about what they learned in all of our classes.  Each class came up with a different way to present their information.  It was really interesting to see how students chose to showcase their learning.

Mrs. Loerwald's class had lots of great questions including:

DIAPHRAGM:

How do you know if you're using your diaphragm correctly?  or wrong?  How do you know if your diaphragm is working or not?

What happens if you have no diaphragm?  Does everyone have one?

Why do your shoulder go up if you're not using the diaphragm?

VOICE BOX:

If you can use it wrongly, you might not sing anymore?  Does everyone have one?  What does it look like?  How do you know if your voice box is helping you sing?  Where do your vocal chords end - how long or big they are?  Can you sing without your voice box?

LUNGS AND BRAIN:

Can people have live without lungs or do they have to have them?  What do the lungs do?  Where do your lungs end?

Does your brain give mail or messages to your lungs for how to sing?  

What would happen if you have no lungs or diaphragm?

From there students were given information that helped them answer their questions.  Students really struggled to read the information and to understand what it was saying.  I found it was too much for them and instead chose to answer their questions myself to help end the unit.  It wasn't the perfect or ideal way to do it, but I felt that they needed to have closure on it even if it wasn't ending the ideal or perfect way.  After all their learning is more important compared to pushing the issue.  Not to mention it took us several more classes than anticipated.