Lesson+2+-+Socratic+Seminar

Asking essential questions and dialoguing:
Begin the launch of this project by introducing students to the concept of "sustainability". One way to engage students, activate prior knowledge, and pre-assess students' conceptual knowledge is to do a "Science Talk" or "Socratic Seminar". Before you begin the a "Science Talk" or "Socratic Seminar", share an article, piece of artwork, or video with students. For the purposes of this talk, share with students articles that introduce them to various view points around how our National Parks should be utilized. Listed below are articles to consider:
 * Snowmobiles in Yellowstone: An American Right or Wrong?
 * New York Times Article - Red Rocks of Nevada Smudged by Less Colorful Graffiti
 * Saunders, S. & Easley, T. (July 2006). //Losing Ground: Western National Parks Endangered by Climate Disruption//. [[file:nationalparkspreservationproject/NRDC.pdf|NRDC.pdf]]

Allow students to read these articles for homework the day prior or give them some time to read independently. Then, move students into a circular configuration and pose the question below. Allow the students to talk and discuss the question without teacher input. However, you may need to prompt with further questioning. Some questions to ask for this initial phase are as follows:
 * 1) **What is the value of our national parks?**
 * 2) What does it mean to sustain our natural and cultural resources? What are the consequences if we don't?
 * 3) What natural resources and cultural resources are we trying to sustain?
 * 4) Who are we sustaining our natural resources for?
 * 5) Should we sustain our National Parks?

Developing Academic Language:
It would be valuable in the beginning of this project to keep track of content vocabulary. Consider starting a wiki page for students to post and share new vocabulary and images to support their understanding (See Resources B - Academic Language for examples of student vocabulary posting) or visit The Visual Thesaurus website to explore ways to represent new content vocabulary.