This document describes an assembled digital museum created using Zooburst that examines the negative impacts of human activity on the environment. The museum contains three exhibits that focus on deforestation, chemical pollutants, and species extinction. Each exhibit uses visual elements in Zooburst to depict the issue and provide explanatory text. The museum is intended to raise awareness for middle and high school students about how human actions like deforestation, pollution, and urbanization are damaging ecosystems. The document analyzes how the museum addresses various literacies like visual, digital, and scientific literacy through direct student involvement in creating the interactive pop-up book format.

1. Running head: Module 5 Assembled Museum 1
Mae Gosaynie
MED in Curriculum & Instruction
American College of Education
CI5213-21st Century Literacies
Module 5: Assembled Museum

2. Assembled Museum 2
Introduction
A museum has traditionally been defined as a building that holds within its walls objects of
interest and historical or monetary value. This definition has since been expanded to encompass
the new Twenty First Century literacies. Among those literacies is visual literacy which through
its colors, animation, graphics, and creativity grabs the attention of the observer and retains it so
that learning of new concepts may occur. In the words of Schoen (2015), “An individual must
effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media.” This museum is
such a digital visual museum in the form of a digital pop-up book where the overarching theme
of the exhibit is Man’s destructive impact on our ecosystems. The museum may be seen at the
following link: http://www.zooburst.com/zb_books-viewer.php?book=zb01_569a740954781
Labeling Tag:
Name: Human Impact on the Environment Exhibit Title: Destroying Our Ecosystems
Audience Level: Grades 6-12
Desired Outcomes: An awakening to how
destructive Man has become to the
environment.
Ability to construct 3-D pop-up book pages
through the use of Zooburst.com
Additional Resources:
Current events stories in the news
Research on statistical data of the human
impact.

3. Assembled Museum 3
Description of the components of a display in relation to the museum:
Deforestation: The cutting down of forests for the purpose of urbanization. The loss of trees and
forests results in loss of habitats for wildlife as well of reduced Oxygen levels.
Chemical Pollutants: This includes the polluting of our atmosphere from industrial wastes
released through smoke stacks, pollution of our lakes, rivers, and oceans from oil spills and other
chemical pollutants that result in eutrophication. Last, but not least this also includes the
extensive use of pesticides which have filtered into food chains and directly and indirectly
harmed wildlife.

4. Assembled Museum 4
Extinction of Species: Loss of species does not merely refer to loss of animal species that may be
keystone species to the survival of other species on earth, but it also refers to the extinction of
vegetation and herbs that may hold the secret to curing cancer one day. This also includes the
impact of invasive species which have been introduced by humans that result in loss of native
species.
Litter and Refuse: Humans in the Modern World are creating additional litter each year just by
the life styles they lead. Instead of drinking water out of a washable glass or cup as was done a
hundred years ago, they now drink water and soft drinks out of plastic bottles. Each individual
requires many of these plastic bottles and at times they neglect to recycle them. These plastic
bottles as well as many other forms of noncombustible items accumulate on our earth in
unsurmountable piles of refuse.

5. Assembled Museum 5
Identifier:
Literaci
es
Learner DI Delivery Content Level
S
T
A
V
A
D
Conte
nt
Proces
s
Produ
ct
Foundation
al
Development
al
Extende
d
Visual x x x x x x x x x
Digital x x x x x x x x x
Economi
c
Scientifi
c
x x x x x x x x x
Critical x x x x x x x x x
The new literacies being addressed in the identifier above are visual, digital, and scientific since
the nature of the subject is scientific. According to Argerinou and Pettersson (2011), “The level
of visual language development is facilitated by direct learner involvement.” In this unit of study,
students will be directly involved in the synthesis of a 3 dimensional pop-up book about the

6. Assembled Museum 6
various ways humans have negatively impacted the earth. Therefore, students are acquiring the
visual language through the images they analyze and choose for the pages of the book, and the
scientific language through defining and usage of scientific terms such as deforestation,
industrialization, and extinction.
Museum Framework Template
Topic
Standards: L3.p3C Explain how biotic and abiotic factors cycle in an ecosystem (water, carbon,
oxygen, and nitrogen). (prerequisite)
L3.p3D Predict how changes in one population might affect other populations based upon their
relationships in a food web. (prerequisite)
L3.p4A Recognize that, and describe how, human beings are part of Earth’s ecosystems. Note
that human activities can deliberately or inadvertently alter the equilibrium in ecosystems.
(prerequisite)
Literaci
es
Content Concepts BIG IDEAS
Visual.
Digital,
Scientifi
c, &
critical
Relationshi
ps
or Links
to…
Simple
Humans are
destroying the
earth.
Complex
Humans are
depleting
earth’s
resources at a
detrimental
rate.
Universal
Deforestatio
n
Industrializ
ation
Mass
extinctions
Pollution
Invasive
Species
Principals
/Guided
Questions
Theories
If humans
continue
in this
manner,
earth’s
resources
will be
depleted.
Explore
with:
Reading
online
articles
& media.
http://www.
sustainableb
abysteps.co
m/human-
impact-on-
environment
.html
Reading online
articles about oil
spills, destruction
of habitats, etc
Watching videos
about habitat
destruction.
Online research
to gather
statistics.
Initiate a
community
awareness
program that
Define the
scientific
terms.
What are
some ways
that
humans
have
negatively
impacted
the
http://phy
s.org/new
s/2009-
11-
mankind-
earth-
resources-

7. Assembled Museum 7
Watchin
g videos.
https://ww
w.youtube.c
om/watch?v
=mUssO68D
2eM
https://ww
w.youtube.c
om/watch?v
=6D2T9Dm
WoLw
Classroom debate
on the subject.
begins with the
school.
Schedule a
community
clean up where
non-degradable
refuse is
burned to help
it degrade
faster.
environme
nt?
Why has
the
increase in
human
population
lead to an
increase in
extinctions
?
alarming.h
tml
Emphasi
ze
through:
Zooburs
t to
create a
3-D pop-
up book.
Zooburst
http://www.
zooburst.co
m/zb_books
-
viewer.php?
book=zb01_
569a740954
781
Use Zooburst to
create a bookof
images about each
form of human
impact.
Create more
detail using
Zooburst
images such as
a man holding
an axe and
tractor for
deforestation.
Find
connections
between the
terms. For
example,
how has
deforestatio
n lead to
species
extinction?
How has
Man
inadverten
tly
contribute
d to the
increase in
invasive
species?
What are
humans
doing to
change
this
detriment
al effect
they are
having on
the earth?
Extend
by:
Publishi
ng the
book to
the
public
Researching
statistical
data about
numbers of
species gone
extinct, etc.
Share the created
books with peers
in class.
Publishing the
book to be
viewed
publicly.
Researching
to find an
attempt
made by
Man to
controlor
regulate
nature
under the
misguided
assumption
that this
was good
and the
attempt
backfired.
What can
we do to
ensure that
future
generation
s still have
the
resources
they need
for
survival?
Why is the
space
program
searching
for
methods
to grow
foodon
Mars? Is
this a
premoniti
on?

8. Assembled Museum 8
Exhibit A: Deforestation
Exhibit A of this museum begins with the concept of deforestation. The student will be
required to use ZooBurst to create a three-dimensional pop-up book about the human impact on
the environment. Page one commences with the concept of deforestation. The student will either
upload photos from the internet, sketch his own, or use the plethora of images already available
for use on ZooBurst. According to Tincher (2016), “Learning opportunities need to motivate and
engage students giving them choices on how they approach foundational tasks.” My students
will choose the manner in which they create their images.
Analysis:
Page one of the book I created was a compilation of images stored in ZooBurst for user
use. I searched forest, and found an image of a forest. I then was able to vary the size of my
forest. I searched human and found an image of a man. I then searched axe, squirrel, and tractor.
All these images were adjusted so that their sizes corresponded to the actual size of a human to a
forest or tractor. I was also able to adjust the angle of the pop-up so that shadows fell behind the
images making them appear realistic. The skills required to upload or create images using
ZooBurst, are the foundational skills of a layered curriculum. These skills represent level C as
described by Nunley (2003), “The bottom layer is called the C layer because students working
strictly within this layer can earn a grade no higher than a "C" on the unit. Students are free to
choose the assignments they want and in any order.”
The narrated paragraph beneath the image required B level developmental tasks.
Carpenter (2011) states, “Scientists must be literate in the use of tools and external aids. They
must also draw upon private stores of information.” In this B level of applying knowledge, the

9. Assembled Museum 9
learner takes on the role of the scientist to research the nature of the environmental damage
caused by deforestation. The learner also needed to utilize their own private stores of knowledge
from previous readings, the news, or conversations with adults. This opened up multiple
avenues of thought. Destruction of trees and forests for paper and lumber first and foremost
utilized a major natural resource. Secondly, the destruction of these forests demolished the
habitats for much of our wildlife. Thirdly, the destruction of these trees and forests removed the
root system that held the fertile soil in place leading to soil erosion. Fourth, the destruction of
trees and forests depleted the oxygen supply that is produced by those trees during
photosynthesis.
Exhibit B: Chemical Pollutants
Exhibit B is about the effects that chemical pollutants produce on the world we live in.
The colors of the sky, horizon, and page for this exhibit were all selected in gloomy dark grays
and black to depict the sullied atmosphere. Even the sun that I chose to use was an angry gray
instead of the bright yellow sun chosen for Exhibit A. These subtle changes grab the attention of
the observer/ learner because they tell a story through the reasoning behind their choice. Clearly
stated by McClay and Peterson (2013), “Teachers must be the sole arbiters of their classroom
practice; and that they must make all pedagogical decisions.”
Page two begins by describing how industrial smoke and other atmospheric pollutants
have formed a layer beneath the ozone that has prevented the reflection of the sun’s rays back
into the atmosphere. This layer of gases has resulted in a phenomena environmentalists call
Global Warming that could lead to our demise due to the melting of Polar ice caps that raise sea
levels causing flooding.

10. Assembled Museum 10
Another form of chemical pollutant is pesticides such as DDT and others. These
pesticides were originally believed to be harmless to larger animals and humans, but studies have
shown that the accumulation of these chemical pesticides in the tissues of top level consumers
has compounded their effect. Many populations of birds have been affected by these chemicals
that result in abnormal soft shelled eggs that break when the birds attempt to sit on them during
the incubation period.
A third form of chemical pollutant are phosphates and nitrates placed in our laundry
detergents and fertilizers. These chemical products end up in our fresh water systems such as
lakes and rivers due to sewage or being washed in there by rain. These chemical pollutants act
as nutrients that result in the excessive growth of algae called an algal bloom. These algae that
respire via the oxygen contained in water utilize all the available oxygen in the water system
resulting in fish kills and the death of other aquatic life.
Analysis:
Exhibit B required the creation of a learning experience which shares economic and
scientific literacy skills woven together through critical literacy. Comprehending the destruction
of our natural environment through pollution is a scientific literacy. This scientific literacy
becomes economic in nature when it is introduced according to one of the twenty standards set
by the NCEE. Standard Two (Decision Making) would be represented when students are
required to calculate the cost that these chemical pollutants are costing the government and to
compare that cost to an alternative that would be more beneficial to the environment. Standard
Fifteen (Economic Growth) states that the investment in factories, machinery, new technology,
etc stimulates economic growth and can raise future standards of living. This brings up questions
such as what type of standard of living will humans have in the future if they live in a mansion,

11. Assembled Museum 11
but have no clean water to use? Or what standard of living is it when each family owns 3-5 cars,
but the family members are sick and unhealthy due to the chemical pollutants they have
consumed?
Critical literacy is woven through all the other literacies because according to Janks
(2013), “Critical literacy is about enabling young people to read both the word and the world in
relation to power, identity, difference and access to knowledge, skills, tools, and resource.” This
reading of both the word and the world occurs through the selection of the appropriate graph to
tell the story of how DDT had reduced our Bald Eagle population down to only three nesting
pairs in 1970, but since the prohibition of DDT use the Bald Eagles have risen to forty-three
pairs occupying nests in 2006.
Exhibit C: Extinction of Organisms
Exhibit C describes how human consumption and the human life style have directly and
indirectly reduced the number of wild animals because we are monopolizing all the land,
scattering their natural habitats with plastic debris and hunting these animals for sport.
Urbanization and development is defined as the process where an increasing percentage
of a population lives in cities and suburbs. The additional area required to construct these cities
and suburbs occurs through the demolition of forests and animal habitats. The animals that have
been rendered homeless must either move to new habitats where they compete with already
established species for the resources they need for survival, or they die by intruding on what has
become human domain.
Hunting in the United States is controlled through the issuing of licenses and the
calculation of how many deer or other animals can be hunted to control the population of

12. Assembled Museum 12
organisms without endangering the species. However, there are many countries where hunting is
not controlled. Animals are destroyed for their fur, leather, for sport, etc. and it is only after the
species number has decreased dramatically is any notice taken. Such was the case when the
American Bison were reduced to less than 50 live bison in 1902 until someone took notice and
placed them on the protected grounds of Yellowstone National Park. Today their numbers have
reached 4,900 bison, but this year 900 of those bison were captured and sent to Native American
Tribesmen for slaughter to ensure their numbers didn’t exceed the terrestrial resources.
Litter from all the consumer products we use create dangers and traps for animal wildlife.
Every year hundreds of different animals are found entangled in plastic debris that either became
caught around the animal and suffocated it or deformed its growth. The more products we
consume, then the greater the threat is to our wildlife. Hundreds of years ago, people would have
a tin cup attached to a well for drinking. Today we have millions of plastic water bottles tossed
into the trash because there is no recycling money made from them. Only those individuals who
are environmentally conscious make the effort to have them recycled.
Transfer of Human Diseases such as the Human Papilloma Virus to sea turtles in the
waters of Hawaii and Oahu has resulted in huge tumors that grow near the mouths, flippers, and
eyes and prevent them from acquiring the food they need. This documentation of diseased sea
turtles has only been observed since the explosion of human tourism in Hawaii.
Analysis:
Exhibit C was required to be a learning experience that shared multiple disciplines all
interwoven through critical literacy. In Tincher’s (2016) words, “Big ideas thread together
critical elements found in each field from economics to science.” Urbanization and

13. Assembled Museum 13
development falls within the discipline of Engineering and Technology. Hunting and litter fall
within the discipline of Environmental Studies and forestry. Transfer of human diseases to our
wildlife falls under the discipline of Public Health and Medicine. The critical literacy is the
analysis of how much these human impacts are costing our economy.
Does the money we spend to build new cities and suburbs which is supposed to boost the
economy outweigh the loss of animal species that we will never be able to recover? Humans
have caused more animal extinctions in the years they have inhabited earth than the mass
extinctions of the past that eliminated the dinosaurs. Biologist E. O. Wilson of Harvard
University states three species are driven to extinction every hour. This is a crisis unparalleled in
human history.
Does the cost of producing plastic water bottles and plastic holders for our cans and
sodas just to make Man happy really outweigh the harm and loss of life to our wildlife?
Answering questions like those aforementioned and analyzing graphs showing the regrowth of
the whooping cranes and the American bison is the manner in which the critical literacy will be
woven in and addressed. According to Forbes (2014), The “Educated person doesn’t know about
content but can use it effectively to create a future.”
Conclusion
The exhibits of this museum incorporate pages to this digital pop-up book depicting how
Man is destroying the environment through deforestation, pollution, extinction of species, etc.
Each page provided students with the choice in the manner of creating or uploading their
photographs. Each page also included a literary narrative beneath it composed by the student.

14. Assembled Museum 14
References
Argerinou, M. D., & Pettersson, R. (2011). Toward a cohesive theory of visual literacy.
Journal of Visual Literacy, 30(2), 1-19.
Carpenter, J. H. (2011). A “layered literacies” framework for scientific writing pedagogy.
Currents in Teaching & Learning, 4(1), 17-33
Forbes (2014, May 12). SAPVoice. Are You Ready? Here Are The Top 10 Skills For The Future.
Janks, H. (2013). Critical literacy in teaching and research. Education Inquiry, 4(2), 225-242.
McClay, J. K., & Peterson, S. S. (2013). Teaching composition with new literacies perspectives:
“We’ll test it out and then let the kids run with it.” Language & Literacy, 15(1), 39-57.
Nunley, K. F. (2003). Layered curriculum brings teachers to tiers. Education Digest, 69(1), 3136.
Schoen, M. J. (2015). Teaching visual literacy skills in a one-shot session. VRA Bulletin, 41(1),
1-12.
Tincher, L. (2016) CI5213 21st Century Literacies. Module 2: The Why o Display Presentation 2:
Stratified Understanding
Tincher, L. (2016) CI5213 21st Century Literacies. Module 4: The Means of Assembly Part 4:
Framing the Feedback
What is critical literacy? (2013). Retrieved from: http://thinkcritically.weebly.com/critical-
literacy.html