The Japanese Garden

Procedure

The students will use prior knowledge to brainstorm about what they know about Japanese Gardens. The teacher will ask "How can we build and maintain a Japanese Garden?" The teacher will write down their responses in the first column (Ideas) in the Problem-Based Learning Chart. The teacher will ask the students facts about the Japanese Garden and write their responses in the second column. Next, the teacher will ask what they would like to find out about Japanese Gardens in order to build one. They teacher will write down their responses in the third column (learning issues) in the Problem-Based Learning Chart. The teacher directs the students to the fourth column (action plan) and asks the students how they will go about answering their questions (learning issues). The teacher will write down all their responses on the chart tablet (ex. internet, cd roms, books).

The teacher will set up video conferencing unit and test the day before the link. The students will listen to a horticulturist in Japan named Cacuchi through teleconferencing. He will give instructions about the building of the Japanese Garden. The students will ask questions about the garden.

The students will then assemble into previously designated cooperative learning groups. The teacher instructs each group to gather information and research specific areas (learning issues) through books, web sites and cd roms. The teacher needs to set up the WWW link in the classroom before the link to insure the tech will work before the actual link not during the link.

The students will have an on-going link (video conferencing) with Cacuchi to ask questions and issues that may arise. They will video conference with Cacuchi once a week for six weeks. Each session will last approximately 1/2 hour. Each group will then gather the materials needed to build the Japanese Garden. The horticulturist also has a web site (http://www.ceres.dtt.ne.jp/~cooci/garden/) about Japanese Gardens. The students will work directly from this web site to build the Japanese Garden.

The students will work cooperatively to determine the size of the garden, clear the land by weeding and removing rocks and decide which plants will be included in the garden. The students will build the Japanese Garden. The students will also study and determine the placement of rocks in the garden and materials needed to build a bamboo fence. The students will build the fence after researching and conferencing with Cacuchi . The students will also refer to his web site which gives specific instructions about building a

Japanese fence.

The horticulturist (Cacuchi) will discuss the basic principles of the garden and how it is constructed in such a way as to represent the world. The students will then answer all the questions in the third column (learning issues) of the Problem-Based Learning Chart with the teacher. Through this process, the students will keep an on-going journal with questions and reflections. The teacher will assist students at the end of the project in the construction of the web pages which will document the class project.