Tool 2c
Write the Culminating Task
Tool Purpose
Support you to write your local culminating task materials using the Anchored Inquiry Learning (AIL) instructional model.
What’s Included
This tool includes resources for drafting your culminating task including:
Lesson type overviews for Culminating Task lesson
Slide templates customized with routines for the Culminating Task Lesson
Student handout templates, portrait and landscape
Community Tool to help students gather diverse perspectives from community members
Superpower Tool to help students identify their individual strengths and take on different roles in the final project
Find additional support in the Tool 2a resources: AIL Writing Guidance and the Pathway Lesson Plans.
Importance for Unit Design
In the second half of the Climate Education Pathways unit, students explore climate change solutions. While the second half of the base unit focuses on carbon drawdown solutions at a global scale, this teacher-designed culminating task enables students to engage with climate solutions in their own lives or communities. Participating in individual or collective community efforts helps students develop a sense of agency for change.
The Culminating Task Lesson allows students to apply their revised model, explanation, or design ideas to explain a related phenomenon or propose a solution to a relevant problem associated with societal issues.
Culminating Task lesson routines:
Navigate between lessons to maintain coherence
Exploring a phenomenon or problem (sometimes)
Gather evidence through planning and conducting investigations
Generate an AEMS (explanation, model, argument, or solution) from evidence
Understanding for Action to plan for or carry out solution-oriented actions
Reflect and Connect on learning progress and process (often)
Student Experience
Students share stories of their experiences during a localized culminating task. They describe the impact these tasks have when they can connect to their personal interests and make a community impact.
Superpower Tool in Action
Brian (Salmon Pathway) describes how he integrated the Superpower Tool into his culminating task, helping students identify their expertise and decide on roles in the class's restoration project.