At the beginning of the lesson, Mr. Fennell divided the students into their research groups. He had materials prepared for each groups to aid them in developing and answering a research question.

He told each group that they needed to be well trained on their groups of organisms. He expalined that "you get out of the research projects what you put into them." With these statements he helped students create ownership of their project by referring to it as "their organisms" and helped students see that they were responsible for putting effort into the project to understand the project and to do interesting research.

Next, he began the lecture to the Woody Plants groups as the other groups worked individually on their project. He told the students he would be "hitting them with lots of information" and to ask questions. He asked for their undivided attention so that "everyone could succeed." Again, he gave reasons for his requests that directly affect the students (i.e. so everyone can succeed.)

He then checked out woody plant guides to the students. They either covered the books or began to read about woody plants. The class was fairly queit. Some students were reading or covering their books. Others were just watching.

The classroom seemed to be a cooperative classroom, that is, the students and the teacher seemed to be working together. For example, Mr. Fennell asked one student if he wanted to take his make-up quiz now or later...he gave students independence in completing their work.

He explained that their project is to develop a question to answer about woody plants. The lab they would do today would be an example of how to do field observations, and it would help them develop a question.

The students are also able to work on the projects independently outside of class. Mr. Fennell gave them the option of checking out the equipment whenever they want to.

Mr. Fennell briefly explained the lab. Several students asked questions. Most of his answers were that they would see it all more clearly when they did the lab in the field. So the class went outside to do plant canopy transects.

While outside, the class encountered some ants they had studied earlier. He asked the students what kind of ants they were and what characteristics tell them that.

They began the transect study. He told the students, "Now is the time to really plug in so you don't have as many questions when you get out into the field." Again, he made listening meaningful to them...it would help them in the future.

After the class completed the lab outside, they returned to the classroom. They discussed what they had done in the lab. They began to discuss the purpose of analysis for the lab--to determine the characteristics of plant communities. But the bell rang before the class could discuss this.

The class atmosphere was very relaxed, and the students seemed to be comfortable asking questions. I don't know what the students who were not in the Woody Plants group were actually working on. For the last 30 minutes, most of them were talking, until Mr. Fennell asked them to get back to work.

I observed the beginning stages in the development of their own research questions...learning techniques for research. Mr. Fennell continually explained why the techniques they were learning would help them with their own projects. This helped give the class a direction and unity as the Woody Plant research projects progressed.

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I went and observed one Saturday for a bird workshop that Mr. Fennel held for the students that were going to do the bird study for their transect project. (Sorry, I don't remember the date, but it was early on in the semester.) The reason why the workshop was held on a weekend was because in order to observer birds, you either have to go early in the morning or in the evening to watch the birds when it's not as hot outside, and the birds are active. We met at the bird observatory at 7:00 in the morning. There were interested parents and students in the group. Mr. Fennel explained why they were up so early and issued out field guilds and binoculars for the semester to pairs of students that were working on the project together. Previously in class, the students were taught how to use field guilds. Mr. Fennel explained to the students how important it is to be quiet when bird watching, and that they are more likely to see more birds when they are out with their partners only instead of being in such a big group. Mr. Fennel pointed out where several things were in the area (such as restrooms) in case the students were going to do their transect study at the same location. Mr.Fennel also explained different bird calls that could be used to attract birds or irritate them. As he was explaining how to use the field guild and the binoculars, we heard distinctive bird calls, and he took the chance to point out the direction of the bird and recognition of the call. The students then pointed their binoculars towards that direction. Mr. Fennel then told them what kind of bird it was and had the students identify it also in their field guild. More examples like this occured in the parking lot, and then we moved on to different area to see different birds that would be in different environments. We went next to the water, and observed wading birds and also through the trail in the woods. When Mr. Fennel saw a bird that he wanted to point out, or when a student saw an interesting bird, he would have them identify it in their field guilds, and then confirmed their identifications. He also pointed out different adaptive habits for the birds and their behaviors. Mr Fennel also pointed out how to estimate distances and check to see how accurate they are. The student complained about the time they had to wake up adn the time they will have to wake up for other observation dates for their project, but none the less they were very eager to learn. There were some discussion between group partners of where they might want to do their transect study.

I observed Planet Earth on Wednesday, September 27, from 10:30am-12:05pm. When I arrived in the classroom the students were working in small groups trying to finish something due later that day. One of the first things I notice was there were nine computers in the classroom. Mr. Fennell was helping students set up the computers. On the board was both a agenda for the day and a long term adgenda that covered a two week span. Also the wall and cabinets are covered with posters. There is hardly a bare space in the whole classroom. Research material are layed out on the counter tops for the students. Some of the students were working at the computers, other at their desks. Mr. Fennell made sure that everyone who needed a computer had one and gave the students a 30 minute time limit to finish their introductions. Mr. Fennell asked the students if they had any quick questions before he began "confrencing". Mr. Fennell conferenced with four groups individually, asking the class between groups if they had any quick questions. During this time most students were on task, but a few were not. Some students are working independently and others in groups. Some groups are helping each other. When the 30 minutes is up Mr. Fennell tells the students to turn their introductions in to the box. He tells them that if it is saved on a disk or a hard drive just to tell him where it is saved and he'll look at it. Mr. Fennell asks the students to return to their normal seats. Next he returns one of the students previous tests and offers them the oppertunity to see their six weeks grade. He asks the students to check his math while he gives out the six weeks grades. Mr. Fennell has to ask to have everyone's attention. He tell the students if they have an individual question about their test to make an appointment, but if it is an understanding question, and they still do not understand after the explaination, then feel free to ask. Mr. Fennell has to ask one student to put some playing cards away before he goes over the test. Mr. Fennell goes over the answers to the exam. Most students are not paying attention. After going over the exams, Mr. Fennell picks them up and tells the students that they have the rest of the time to work on their debate preps. He tells the students that each group will need to turn in a preliminary witness list at the end of the period. He assigns each group a computer. There are three groups (Pros, Cons, and Senators). Mr. Fennell reminds the students that each group needs to work independently. While the students work on the debate prep, Mr. Fennell helps two students resolve some computer problems. As time goes on fewer and fewer students are on task. Mr. Fennell reminds the students that they need to stay on task. Mr. Fennell goes around the room to check on the groups progress. Students begin to pack up a few minutes before the bell and they leave when the bell rings.

The class started by Mr. Fennell asking the students to sit in their assigned seats, as opposed to their group seats. During this time he explained the use of visuals in their presentations for the next week. He said they had to be professional and insisted that they needed visuals so as not to bore their audience. [During this time there was a student who was playing around with chairs on the right side of the room. Mr Fennell simply smiled and said that one chair would be sufficient, he then quietly looked at the student until the student settled down] He asked the students to bare in mind who their target audience was going to be. He offered to make overheads of anything the students wanted. He explained the agenda for the day, the students were going to work on their proposals for the forthcoming debate to be held next week. During this class time Mr. Fennell was going to go to each student individually and see how each student was progressing. He called them "interviews", which I felt was interesting.

After Mr. Fennell explained the visuals and informed the students, he allowed them to get into their groups. In their groups the students interacted well with each other. They seemed to ask each other about the project they were working on. And they discussed, very well I might add, what they were going to present to the class. It took me a while to figure out what the project was actually about, after some listening and observing, I figured out that the students were discussing theories that may have caused the demise of the dinosaurs. The group nearest to me was discussing volcanos and craters.

From the time they got into groups (10:30) until about 11, the students were quietly reading articles, that Mr. Fennell had laid out on one long counter. The number of articles was large, it completely covered the counter (and it was a large counter). The students would independently get up and walk to the counter and chose articles to take back to their tables for quiet reading. And I mean it was very quiet in the class. I didn't really head over to the counter to see how the articles were arranged, but the students didn't seem to have a problem finding articles. There was also about three or four computers in the class which students were using to find articles and pictures as well.

During this time Mr. Fennell went to each group and gave them a list of all the topics they had to cover. After going to each group he began his "interviews". As opposed to calling the students up to his desk (which is what I had expected him to do) he instead went to the students. Mr. Fennell explained that he would visit the "witnesses" first. After a while I figured out that there were different roles for the students. The majority were witnesses, then there were lobbyists, reporters, and finally senators. I couldn't accurately figure out what these roles really entailed but I did figure out that the witnesses had to explain to the senators their findings and back up their arguments during the debates. They also had to be prepared for any questions that may come up in their "area of expertise" as they called it.

During the interviews, Mr. Fennell got an idea of exactly where the students were in their research. He gave a lot of positive feedback. One student in particular he kept telling him that he had a "good start". He had to have used the word good about 4 or 5 times during the interview. I think it really made the student feel good. All of the students seemed to be working really well and it seemed to me that no one in the class was without guidance.

At around 11, while Mr. Fennell was interviewing, the students got loud. But they were discussing the articles they had read, and their projects. There was some "this article is boring" exclamations, but I expected as such. Particularly the group that was in front of me, they seemed to have broken up their joint "testimony" pretty well. They were doing volcano theory, one student was to discuss the formation of volcanos and the other was to discuss the affects of an erupting volcano on environment. When Mr. Fennell got to this group for interviews, he talked to them about their visuals. One of the volcano theorists gave Mr. Fennell a description of what he wanted on his overhead. Interviews of the lobbyists and reporters would continue the next day, and on thursday the witnesses should have a list of their refrences ready to present to Mr. Fennell in the next interview which was on thursday as well.

I'm not exactly sure how the students were assigned their theories or whether they picked them. One student asked Mr. Fennell if he could claim that God destroyed the dinosaurs. Mr. Fennell said that that Would be a theory and he could claim it as long as he could come up with some evidence or proofs to back up his argument. Mr. Fennell also stressed that the groups talk to other groups so they can be sure that their "testimonies" would not overlap too much or even contradict each other too much.

At the end of the class the students were allowed to check out articles by signing their names on a folder that was on the counter. Mr. Fennell also told the students that they could save pictures or files on the computers if they wanted to as long as they told Mr. Fennell where they saved it.

This class seemed very well organized and the students were involved in the assignment. Not a single student was left out of it, they were all working during this time. The debates, which I hopefully will be able to see next week, seemed like a fun way for the students to present information to their peers. I felt that the same amount of information could be relayed to the students in this environment, as in a direct instruction class. But in this class it is the students teaching each other. It was great.

The first thing I noticed as I walked into the room was all the stuff everywhere. The posters and articles on the walls, the specimens in jars, and the stuffed cat on the wall. I also noticed a very large amount of copies of articles that the students could check out for use in their project. There were a number of computers all hooked up to the internet which the students seemed to have no trouble using.

As the bell rang to start class, the students had already organized themselves into their groups. Mr. Fennel took attendence and asked the students some questions about how far along everyone was, and reminded them that the debate was set only a week away so they should be pretty close to wrapping up their research and getting their presentations together and practicing them. He then let them go and do whatever they needed to. Two groups left the room to do research elsewhere. Three groups went to the computer to find pictures for their presentation which Mr. Fennel said they would save to his laptop for use during the presentation. The other groups were looking at the articles that were available in the classroom. Mr. Fennel went around the room and met with the groups checking their progress and providing helpful suggestions where neccesary. The whole period went along like this until the end when he brought them all together to hand out some sheet of paper that the school was sending to all parents. When the bell rang he told them he would see them tommorrow and they left.

I observed Mr. Fennell's class again the following week at the same time of day. This time the students were having the first day of the debate. All the chairs and tables were moved to one side of the room. In the middle there was this area with 3 benches (a long tables put together) where the counsel and the senators sat. One bench was for the senators, one for the pro side and one for the con side. The benches were set up surrounding a podium for the speakers. They were holding a special senate meeting to decide whether or not to have a large anti-asteroid missle defense system employed. This day they had opening statements from the two parties. They each had a speaker go up and give a speech about why they were arguing for their side and what they would be presenting as evidence or witnesses for the senate.

Everyone was dressed appropriately. Many of the students were wearing suits and ties or skirts. If they weren't wearing a suit they were still dressed nicely. One student had a tie but didn't tuck in his shirt. The senate leader (who really got into is role) looked at him and turned around to the rest of the class and said that "For the date you are scheduled to speak, I ask that you dress appropriately and this includes tucking in your shirt" I'm paraphrasing of course, but this is roughly what he said and then he gave a glance at the student with the untucked shirt, as if too say yeah that means you too.

There were about two or three expert witnesses that followed the opening statements, they all were for the pro side, I assume that the con side would argue the next day. They were kept on a very strictly enforced time limit, and they had presentations prepared either using a computer (Powerpoint) or overhead projection slides. They seemed very prepared for their roles. The most prepared student was the senate leader. He asked very appropriate questions and took notes during each student's presentation. He also kept order and kept the debate moving along on schedule.

This debate was also being videotaped. The camera was place between the senate bench and the podium, a little bit off to the side. Mr. Fennell was controlling it. The students who were not involved in the debate today. Sat in the chairs at the back of the room and seemed to be very attentive and seemed to be listening to the debate closely. Mr. Fennell had told them that they should be taking notes. I'm not sure if any one was actually taking notes but a few had their notebooks out. All their backpacks were off the tables, a request that was made by Mr. Fennell in an attempt to make the room look a little more "professional."