High Tech High - Project Based Learning

San Diego Bay Field Guide

Overview

This project integrates biology, math, and the humanities in a study of the biogeography of San Diego Bay. The essential question for the project is, "How can we be better environmental stewards of San Diego Bay?" Eleventh grade students in the core academic classes of biology, mathematics and humanities at High Tech High conduct an environmental assessment of the fauna along the intertidal zone of San Diego Bay. Using extensive GIS-assisted analysis of species abundance and diversity, students consider human impact upon different sites within the Bay. Students establish a faunal baseline, chart changes over time and measure the abundance and diversity for comparison between sites. To provide a complete picture of their fieldwork, the student-produced Field Guide includes, not only scientific studies, but also creative writing, photographs, and histories of human habitation, industrial development, environmental measures, mapping and other changes to the Bay. Student research is used by the City of San Diego, the State of California, and environmental and other groups to help evaluate the health of the Bay and seek solutions to improve its ecology.

Products

Students will produce the following:

  1. Field Guide
    1. table of contents
    2. fauna
      1. introduction to biology
      2. taxonomy
      3. evolution
      4. dichotomous tips
      5. species descriptions
    3. biodiversity & biogeography
      1. geography
      2. history of mapping
      3. biogeography
    4. places and spaces
    5. summative analysis
      1. biodiversity
      2. collapse factors & place
    6. glossary
    7. reference
  2. Field Guide Community Event
    1. Welcome and Introduction
    2. Field Guide Purpose
    3. Selected Presentation of Content
    4. Question and Answer
    5. Expert Panel Feedback
    6. Community Open Forum

Learning Goals

Students will understand:

  1. How active concern and awareness can improve our environment
  2. How the study of ecology can inform our decisions
  3. How biology means more than the study of the human body
  4. How to interpret and record baseline measurements
  5. How mathematics can be used to locate place in the environment
  6. How mathematics can be used to analyze, compile and represent field data
  7. How mathematics can be used to calculate and predict tides
  8. How the Industrial Revolution and Westward Expansion dramatically changed our natural environment
  9. How changes in values and religious ideas can result in very different approaches to the treatment of our environment
  10. How the tradition of America's nature writers can inform our perspectives and decisions
  11. How the principles of holism (connection, complexity and compassion) can be used to make environmental decisions and laws

Students will be able to:

  1. Produce a Field Guide that identifies species, quantifies faunal baseline, and charts changes over time
  2. Produce a Field Guide that integrates perspectives from the humanities through reflections, creative contributions, and the development of conclusions and recommendations

Content: Topics Addressed

Throughout the project, students learn about:

Biology

  1. Species identification
    1. Semi-permeable membranes regulate cellular interaction with surroundings
    2. Enzymes are proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions
    3. Cells can be prokaryotic or eukaryotic
  2. Evolution of animal taxa.
    1. Pairs of chromosomes separate and segregate in meiosis
    2. Only certain cells undergo meiosis
  3. Species abundance and diversity
    1. Biodiversity is sum total of different kinds of organisms
    2. Effects that cause changes in an ecosystem
    3. Causes of population fluctuation
    4. Cycling between abiotic resources and organic matter in the ecosystem
    5. Ecosystem stability is due to producers and decomposers
    6. Loss of energy in food web
    7. Physiological and evolutionary adaptation
  4. Evolution
    1. Natural selection acts on the phenotype rather than the genotype
    2. Heterozygous can carry and maintain lethal alleles
    3. Mutations are constantly being generated in a gene pool
    4. Variation results in some having a chance to survive
    5. Evolution is the result of genetic changes in constantly changing environment
    6. Natural selection determines the differential survival of groups of organisms
    7. Genetic diversity allows more to survive in changing environments
    8. Genetic drift
    9. Speciation via reproductive or geographic isolation
    10. Relationship between fossil evidence and evolution
    11. Range of evidence for predicting probable evolutionary relationships
    12. Molecular clocks, to estimate time scale of evolutionary relationships
  5. Animal Physiology
    1. Homeostasis
    2. Integration of organ systems
    3. Role of nervous system in communication within and with surroundings
    4. Feedback loops of the nervous and endocrine systems
    5. Role of neurons in transmitting electrochemical impulses

Pre-Calculus

  1. Mapping Techniques
    1. Evolution of cartography
    2. Law of sines
    3. Law of cosines
    4. Unit circle
    5. Geographic Information Systems
  2. Species Distribution
    1. Data collection and analysis
    2. Right triangle trigonometr
    3. Using Microsoft Excel to graphically represent data
    4. Distribution curves and standard error
    5. Surface area of 3-D objects
  3. Tide Chart
    1. Trigonometric functions
    2. Wave periods and amplitudes
    3. Functional modeling

U.S. History

  1. Significant events in the founding and expansion of the nation
    1. Exploration and contact
    2. Colonization
    3. Westward expansion
    4. Civil War and Reconstruction
    5. Immigration
    6. Economic development and industrialization
    7. Urban growth
  2. Significant events and philosophical and religious ideas
    1. Enlightenment and Age of Reason
    2. Role of religion
    3. Political formation and the Constitution
    4. Great awakenings, Civil War revivals, social gospel
    5. Mormon exodus
    6. Imperialism
    7. Religious pluralism
    8. Materialism
    9. Environmentalist

English Language Arts

  1. Reading
    1. Word analysis and vocabulary
    2. Reading strategies: prediction, questioning, summary, and clarification
  2. Reading Comprehension
    1. See organizational patterns, arguments, and positions advanced
    2. Define features of different types of public documents
    3. Clarify facts presented in consumer, workplace, and public documents
    4. Make reasonable assertions about the author's arguments
    5. Critique validity and truthfulness of arguments set forth in public discourse
  3. Writing
    1. Demonstrate command of standard English
    2. Practice and refine steps of the writing process
    3. Produce coherent, focused and reasoned texts
    4. Narrate events and locate scenes
    5. Provide descriptions and sensory details documents
    6. Use strategies to organize and record information
  4. Literary Respons
    1. Respond to historically or culturally significant works
    2. Analyze characteristics of poetry, reflections, and essays
    3. Analyze textual meaning for commentary on life
    4. Analyze recognized works of American literature
    5. Analyze the clarity and consistency of political assumptions
  5. Listening and Speaking
    1. Listen with attention and understanding
    2. Deliver focused and coherent presentations
    3. Recognize strategies used to inform
    4. Use effective and interesting language
    5. Use rhetorical devices and structure
  6. Deliver multimedia presentations:
    1. Produce presentation combining text and image
    2. Select appropriate medium
    3. Use selected medium carefully
    4. Test for audience response and revise

Standards Addressed in San Diego Bay Field GuideProject

Relevant California Biology/Life Science Standards:

Cell Biology
The fundamental life processes of plants and animals depend on a variety of chemical reactions that occur in specialized areas of the organism's cells. As a basis for understanding this concept:
  1. Students know cells are enclosed within semipermeable membranes that regulate their interaction with their surroundings.
  2. Students know enzymes are proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions without altering the reaction equilibrium and the activities of enzymes depend on the temperature, ionic conditions, and the pH of the surroundings.
  3. Students know how prokaryotic cells, eukaryotic cells (including those from plants and animals), and viruses differ in complexity and general structure.

Genetics
Mutation and sexual reproduction lead to genetic variation in a population. As a basis for understanding this concept:

  1. Students know meiosis is an early step in sexual reproduction in which the pairs of chromosomes separate and segregate randomly during cell division to produce gametes containing one chromosome of each type.
  2. Students know only certain cells in a multicellular organism undergo meiosis.

Ecology
Stability in an ecosystem is a balance between competing effects. As a basis for understanding this concept:

  1. Students know biodiversity is the sum total of different kinds of organisms and is affected by alterations of habitats.
  2. Students know how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity, introduction of nonnative species, or changes in population size.
  3. Students know how fluctuations in population size in an ecosystem are determined by the relative rates of birth, immigration, emigration, and death.
  4. Students know how water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle between abiotic resources and organic matter in the ecosystem and how oxygen cycles through photosynthesis and respiration.
  5. Students know a vital part of an ecosystem is the stability of its producers and decomposers.
  6. Students know at each link in a food web some energy is stored in newly made structures but much energy is dissipated into the environment as heat. This dissipation may be represented in an energy pyramid.
  7. Students know how to distinguish between the accommodation of an individual organism to its environment and the gradual adaptation of a lineage of organisms through genetic change.

Evolution
The frequency of an allele in a gene pool of a population depends on many factors and may be stable or unstable over time. As a basis for understanding this concept:

  1. Students know why natural selection acts on the phenotype rather than the genotype of an organism.
  2. Students know why alleles that are lethal in a homozygous individual may be carried in a heterozygote and thus maintained in a gene pool.
  3. Students know new mutations are constantly being generated in a gene pool.
  4. Students know variation within a species increases the likelihood that at least
    some members of a species will survive under changed environmental conditions

Evolution is the result of genetic changes that occur in constantly changing environments. As a basis for understanding this concept:

  1. Students know how natural selection determines the differential survival of groups of organisms.
  2. Students know a great diversity of species increases the chance that at least some organisms survive major changes in the environment.
  3. Students know the effects of genetic drift on the diversity of organisms in a population.
  4. Students know reproductive or geographic isolation affects speciation.
  5. Students know how to analyze fossil evidence with regard to biological diversity, episodic speciation, and mass extinction.
  6. Students know how to use comparative embryology, DNA or protein sequence comparisons, and other independent sources of data to create a branching diagram (cladogram) that shows probable evolutionary relationships.
  7. Students know how several independent molecular clocks, calibrated against each other and combined with evidence from the fossil record, can help to estimate how long ago various groups of organisms diverged evolutionarily from one another.

Physiology
As a result of the coordinated structures and functions of organ systems, the internal environment of the human body remains relatively stable (homeostatic) despite changes in the outside environment. As a basis for understanding this concept:

  1. Students know how the complementary activity of major body systems provides cells with oxygen and nutrients and removes toxic waste products such as carbon dioxide.
  2. Students know how the nervous system mediates communication between different parts of the body and the body's interactions with the environment.
  3. Students know how feedback loops in the nervous and endocrine systems regulate conditions in the body.
  4. Students know the functions of the nervous system and the role of neurons in transmitting electrochemical impulses.
  5. Students know the roles of sensory neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons in sensation, thought, and response
  6. Students know the individual functions and sites of secretion of digestive enzymes (amylases, proteases, nucleases, lipases), stomach acid, and bile salts.
  7. Students know the homeostatic role of the kidneys in the removal of nitrogenous wastes and the role of the liver in blood detoxification and glucose balance.
  8. Organisms have a variety of mechanisms to combat disease. As a basis for under-standing the human immune response:
  9. Students know the role of the skin in providing nonspecific defenses against infection.
  10. Students know the role of antibodies in the body's response to infection.
  11. Students know how vaccination protects an individual from infectious diseases.
  12. Students know there are important differences between bacteria and viruses with respect to their requirements for growth and replication, the body's primary defenses against bacterial and viral infections, and effective treatments of these infections

Relevant California History Standards:

11.1 Students analyze the significant events in the founding of the nation and its attempts to realize the philosophy of government described in the Declaration of Independence.

  1. Describe the Enlightenment and the rise of democratic ideas as the context in which the nation was founded.
  2. Examine the effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction and of the industrial revolution, including demographic shifts and the emergence in the late nineteenth century of the United States as a world power

11.2 Students analyze the relationship among the rise of industrialization, large-scale rural-to-urban migration, and massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe.

  1. Know the effects of industrialization on living and working conditions, including the portrayal of working conditions and food safety in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.
  2. Describe the changing landscape, including the growth of cities linked by industry and trade, and the development of cities divided according to race, ethnicity, and class.
  3. Trace the effect of the Americanization movement.
  4. Discuss corporate mergers that produced trusts and cartels and the economic and political policies of industrial leaders.
  5. Trace the economic development of the United States and its emergence as a major industrial power, including its gains from trade and the advantages of its physical geography.

11.3 Students analyze the role religion played in the founding of America, its lasting moral, social, and political impacts, and issues regarding religious liberty.

  1. Describe the contributions of various religious groups to American civic principles and social reform movements (e.g., civil and human rights, individual responsibility and the work ethic, antimonarchy and self-rule, worker protection, family-centered communities).
  2. Analyze the great religious revivals and the leaders involved in them, including the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, the Civil War revivals, the Social Gospel Movement, the rise of Christian liberal theology in the nineteenth century, the impact of the Second Vatican Council, and the rise of Christian fundamentalism in current times.
  3. Cite incidences of religious intolerance in the United States (e.g., persecution of Mormons, anti-Catholic sentiment, anti-Semitism, persecution of the Native Americans).
  4. Discuss the expanding religious pluralism in the United States and California that resulted from large-scale immigration in the twentieth century.

11.4 Students trace the rise of the United States to its role as a world power in the twentieth century.

  1. Describe the Spanish-American War and U.S. expansion in the South Pacific.

11.5 Students analyze the major political, social, economic, technological, and cultural developments of the 1920s.

  1. Discuss the rise of mass production techniques, the growth of cities, the impact of new technologies (e.g., the automobile, electricity), and the resulting prosperity and effect on the American landscape.

11.6 Students analyze the different explanations for the Great Depression and how the New Deal fundamentally changed the role of the federal government.

  1. Discuss the human toll of the Depression, natural disasters, and unwise agricultural practices and their effects on the depopulation of rural regions and on political movements of the left and right, with particular attention to the Dust Bowl refugees and their social and economic impacts in California.
  2. Analyze the effects of and the controversies arising from New Deal economic policies and the expanded role of the federal government in society and the economy since the 1930s (e.g., Works Progress Administration, Social Security, National Labor Relations Board, farm programs, regional development policies, and energy development projects such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, California Central Valley Project, and Bonneville Dam).

11.8 Students analyze the economic boom and social transformation of post-World War II America.

  1. Describe the significance of Mexican immigration and its relationship to the agricultural economy, especially in California.
  2. Discuss the diverse environmental regions of North America, their relationship to local economies, and the origins and prospects of environmental problems in those regions.
  3. Describe the effects on society and the economy of technological developments since 1945, including the computer revolution, changes in communication, advances in medicine, and improvements in agricultural technology.

11.9 Students analyze U.S. foreign policy since World War II.

  1. Examine relations between the United States and Mexico in the twentieth century, including key economic, political, immigration, and environmental issues.

11.11 Students analyze the major social problems and domestic policy issues in contemporary American society.

  1. Trace the impact of, need for, and controversies associated with environmental conservation, expansion of the national park system, and the development of environmental protection laws, with particular attention to the interaction between environmental protection advocates and property rights advocates.
  2. Analyze the persistence of poverty and how different analyses of this issue influence welfare reform, health insurance reform, and other social policies.

Relevant California English Language-Arts Content Standards:

Reading

1.0 Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary Development
Students apply their knowledge of word origins to determine the meaning of new words encountered in reading materials and use those words accurately.

Vocabulary and Concept Development
1.1 Trace the etymology of significant terms used in political science and history.
1.2 Apply knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon roots and affixes to draw inferences concerning the meaning of scientific and mathematical terminology.
1.3 Discern the meaning of analogies encountered, analyzing specific comparisons as well as relationships and inferences.

2.0 Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials)
Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. They analyze the organizational patterns, arguments, and positions advanced.

Structural Features of Informational Materials
2.1 Analyze both the features and the rhetorical devices of different types of public documents (e.g., policy statements, speeches, debates, platforms) and the way in which authors use those features and devices.

Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text
2.2 Analyze the way in which clarity of meaning is affected by the patterns of organization, hierarchical structures, repetition of the main ideas, syntax, and word choice in the text.
2.3 Verify and clarify facts presented in other types of expository texts by using a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents.
2.4. Make warranted and reasonable assertions about the author's arguments by using elements of the text to defend and clarify interpretations.
2.5 Analyze an author's implicit and explicit philosophical assumptions and beliefs about a subject.

Expository Critique
2.6 Critique the power, validity, and truthfulness of arguments set forth in public documents; their appeal to both friendly and hostile audiences; and the extent to which the arguments anticipate and address reader concerns and counterclaims (e.g., appeal to reason, to authority, to pathos and emotion).

3.0 Literary Response and Analysis
Students read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science. They conduct in-depth analyses of recurrent themes.

Structural Features of Literature
3.1 Analyze characteristics of subgenres (e.g., satire, parody, allegory, pastoral) that are used in poetry, prose, plays, novels, short stories, essays, and other basic genres.

Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text
3.2 Analyze the way in which the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life, using textual evidence to support the claim.
3.3. Analyze the ways in which irony, tone, mood, the author's style, and the "sound" of language achieve specific rhetorical or aesthetic purposes or both.
3.4. Analyze ways in which poets use imagery, personification, figures of speech, and sounds to evoke readers' emotions.
3.5. Analyze recognized works of American literature representing a variety of genres and traditions:

  • Trace the development of American literature from the colonial period forward
  • Contrast the major periods, themes, styles, and trends and describe how works by members of different cultures relate to one another in each period.
  • Evaluate the philosophical, political, religious, ethical, and social influences of the historical period that shaped the characters, plots, and settings.

3.6 Analyze the way in which authors through the centuries have used archetypes drawn from myth and tradition in literature, film, political speeches, and religious writings.
3.7 Analyze recognized works of world literature from a variety of authors:

  • Contrast the major literary forms, techniques, and characteristics of the major literary periods
  • Relate literary works and authors to the major themes and issues of their eras.
  • Evaluate the philosophical, political, religious, ethical, and social influences of the historical period that shaped the characters, plots, and, settings.

Literary Criticism
3.8 Analyze the clarity and consistency of political assumptions in a selection of literary works or essays on a topic (e.g., suffrage, women's role in organized labor). (Political approach)
3.9 Analyze the philosophical arguments presented in literary works to determine whether the authors' positions have contributed to the quality of each work and the credibility of the characters. (Philosophical approach)

Writing
1.0 Writing Strategies
Students write coherent and focused texts that convey a well-defined perspective and tightly reasoned argument. The writing demonstrates students' awareness of the audience and purpose and progression through the stages of the writing process.

Organization and Focus
1.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the elements of discourse (e.g., purpose, speaker, audience, form) when completing narrative, expository, persuasive, or descriptive writing assignments.
1.2 Use point of view, characterization, style (e.g., use of irony), and related elements for specific rhetorical and aesthetic purposes.
1.3 Structure ideas and arguments in a sustained, persuasive, and sophisticated way and support them with precise and relevant examples.
1.4 Enhance meaning by employing rhetorical devices, including the extended use of parallelism, repetition, and analogy; the incorporation of visual aids (e.g., graphs, tables, pictures); and the issuance of a call for action.
1.5 Use language in natural, fresh, and vivid ways to establish a specific tone.

Research and Technology
1.6 Develop presentations by using clear research questions and creative and critical research strategies (e.g., field studies, oral histories, interviews, experiments, electronic sources).
1.7 Use systematic strategies to organize and record information (e.g., anecdotal scripting, annotated bibliographies).
1.8 Integrate databases, graphics, and spreadsheets into word-processed documents.

Evaluation and Revision
1.9 Revise text to highlight the individual voice, improve sentence variety and style, and enhance subtlety of meaning and tone in ways that are consistent with the purpose, audience, and genre.

2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)
Students combine the rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description to produce texts of at least 1,500 words each. Student writing demonstrates a command of standard American English and the research, organizational, and drafting strategies outlined in Writing Standard 1.0.

Using the writing strategies of grades eleven and twelve outlined in Writing Standard 1.0, students:
2.1 Write fictional, autobiographical, or biographical narratives:

  • Narrate a sequence of events and communicate their significance to the audience.
  • Locate scenes and incidents in specific places.
  • Describe with concrete sensory details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene and the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of the characters; use interior monologue to depict the characters' feelings.
  • Pace the presentation of actions to accommodate temporal, spatial, and dramatic mood changes
  • Make effective use of descriptions of appearance, images, shifting perspectives, and sensory details.

2.2 Write responses to literature:

  • Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the significant ideas in works or passages
  • Analyze the use of imagery, language, universal themes, and unique aspects of the text.
  • Support important ideas and viewpoints through accurate and detailed references to the text and to other works.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the author's use of stylistic devices and an appreciation of the effects created.
  • Identify and assess the impact of perceived ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the text.

2.3 Write reflective compositions:

  • Explore the significance of personal experiences, events, conditions, or concerns by using rhetorical strategies (e.g., narration, description, exposition, persuasion).
  • Draw comparisons between specific incidents and broader themes that illustrate the writer's important beliefs or generalizations about life.
  • Maintain a balance in describing individual incidents and relate those incidents to more general and abstract ideas.

2.4 Write historical investigation reports:

  • Use exposition, narration, description, argumentation, exposition, or some combination of rhetorical strategies to support the main proposition.
  • Analyze several historical records of a single event, examining critical relationships between elements of the research topic.
  • Explain the perceived reason or reasons for the similarities and differences in historical records with information derived from primary and secondary sources to support or enhance the presentation.
  • Include information from all relevant perspectives and take into consideration the validity and reliability of sources.
  • Include a formal bibliography.

2.6 Deliver multimedia presentations:

  • Combine text, images, and sound and draw information from many sources (e.g., television broadcasts, videos, films, newspapers, magazines, CD-ROMs, the Internet, electronic media-generated images).
  • Select an appropriate medium for each element of the presentation.
  • Use the selected media skillfully, editing appropriately and monitoring for quality.
  • Test the audience's response and revise the presentation accordingly.

Written and Oral English Language Conventions
The standards for written and oral English language conventions have been placed between those for writing and for listening and speaking because these conventions are essential to both sets of skills.

1.0 Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Students write and speak with a command of standard English conventions.

1.1 Demonstrate control of grammar, diction, and paragraph and sentence structure and an understanding of English usage.
1.2 Produce legible work that shows accurate spelling and correct punctuation and capitalization.
1.3 Reflect appropriate manuscript requirements in writing.

Listening and Speaking
1.0 Listening and Speaking Strategies
Students formulate adroit judgments about oral communication. They deliver focused and coherent presentations that convey clear and distinct perspectives and demonstrate solid reasoning. They use gestures, tone, and vocabulary tailored to the audience and purpose.

Comprehension
1.1 Recognize strategies used by the media to inform, persuade, entertain, and transmit culture (e.g., advertisements; perpetuation of stereotypes; use of visual representations, special effects, language).
1.2 Analyze the impact of the media on the democratic process (e.g., exerting influence on elections, creating images of leaders, shaping attitudes) at the local, state, and national levels.
1.3 Interpret and evaluate the various ways in which events are presented and information is communicated by visual image makers (e.g., graphic artists, documentary filmmakers, illustrators, news photographers).

Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication
1.4 Use rhetorical questions, parallel structure, concrete images, figurative language, characterization, irony, and dialogue to achieve clarity, force, and aesthetic effect.

1.5 Distinguish between and use various forms of classical and contemporary logical arguments, including:

  • Inductive and deductive reasoning
  • Syllogisms and analogies

1.6 Use logical, ethical, and emotional appeals that enhance a specific tone and purpose.
1.7 Use appropriate rehearsal strategies to pay attention to performance details, achieve command of the text, and create skillful artistic staging.
1.8 Use effective and interesting language, including:

  • Informal expressions for effect
  • Standard American English for clarity
  • Technical language for specificity


1.9 Use research and analysis to justify strategies for gesture, movement, and vocalization, including dialect, pronunciation, and enunciation.
1.10 Evaluate when to use different kinds of effects (e.g., visual, music, sound, graphics) to create effective productions.

Analysis and Evaluation of Oral and Media Communications
1.11 Critique a speaker's diction and syntax in relation to the purpose of an oral communication and the impact the words may have on the audience.
1.12 Identify logical fallacies used in oral addresses (e.g., attack ad hominem, false causality, red herring, overgeneralization, bandwagon effect).
1.13 Analyze the four basic types of persuasive speech (i.e., propositions of fact, value, problem, or policy) and understand the similarities and differences in their patterns of organization and the use of persuasive language, reasoning, and proof.

2.0 Speaking Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)
Students deliver polished formal and extemporaneous presentations that combine traditional rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description. Student speaking demonstrates a command of standard American English and the organizational and delivery strategies outlined in Listening and Speaking Standard 1.0.
Using the speaking strategies of grades eleven and twelve outlined in Listening and Speaking Standard 1.0, students:

2.1 Deliver reflective presentations:

  • Explore the significance of personal experiences, events, conditions, or concerns, using appropriate rhetorical strategies (e.g., narration, description, exposition, persuasion).
  • Draw comparisons between the specific incident and broader themes that illustrate the speaker's beliefs or generalizations about life.
  • Maintain a balance between describing the incident and relating it to more general, abstract ideas.

2.2 Deliver oral reports on historical investigations:

  • Use exposition, narration, description, persuasion, or some combination of those to support the thesis.
  • Analyze several historical records of a single event, examining critical relationships between elements of the research topic.
  • Explain the perceived reason or reasons for the similarities and differences by using information derived from primary and secondary sources to support or enhance the presentation.
  • Include information on all relevant perspectives and consider the validity and reliability of sources.

2.3 Deliver oral responses to literature:

  • Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the significant ideas of literary works (e.g., make assertions about the text that are reasonable and supportable).
  • Analyze the imagery, language, universal themes, and unique aspects of the text through the use of rhetorical strategies (e.g., narration, description, persuasion, exposition, a combination of those strategies).
  • Support important ideas and viewpoints through accurate and detailed references to the text or to other works.
  • Demonstrate an awareness of the author's use of stylistic devices and an appreciation of the effects created.
  • Identify and assess the impact of perceived ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the text.

2.4 Deliver multimedia presentations:

  • Combine text, images, and sound by incorporating information from a wide range of media, including films, newspapers, magazines, CD-ROMs, online information, television, videos, and electronic media-generated images.
  • Select an appropriate medium for each element of the presentation.
  • Use the selected media skillfully, editing appropriately and monitoring for quality.
  • Test the audience's response and revise the presentation accordingly.

2.5 Recite poems, selections from speeches, or dramatic soliloquies with attention to performance details to achieve clarity, force, and aesthetic effect and to demonstrate an understanding of the meaning (e.g., Hamlet's soliloquy "To Be or Not to Be").