The Use of Haiku and Portfolio Entry to Teach the Change of Seasons

Abstract

One of the major misconceptions among students of all ages is the cause of the change of seasons. A middle school science teacher and a professional geologist teamed up to construct a combined “hands-on/minds-on” lesson to demonstrate the cause of the change of seasons. Two writing exercises were employed to further cement the lesson and allow assessment of student comprehension. The “hands on” activity required the students to maneuver a globe at a constant 23.5 degree tilt around a stationary light source and then draw the pattern of light as it reflected on the globe. The students were encouraged to visualize how the Earth's relative position to the sun affects the change of seasons. They then wrote a five-sentence portfolio entry upon reflecting on their newly learned concepts. In an additional “minds on” activity, the students constructed a three-lined science poem (haiku). Evaluation through rubric scoring indicated that 82% of students significantly improved their conceptual understanding of seasonal change through the use of haiku. Additionally, it appears that differing levels of knowledge, (per Bloom's Taxonomy) were assessed with each technique, as the haiku appeared to represent higher order thinking due to the synthesis skills that were required for its completion.