Day 2: Pest Patrol Field Reports and Constraints

Daily Learning Contract

• Topic: Career Opportunities
• Objective: Students will identify how an agricultural engineer uses worker reports to create testable design constraints.
• TEKS: d(1)(C)
• Demonstration of Learning: Pest Patrol Field Notes and Constraints with an agricultural-engineer work-product connection.

Lesson Overview

Before Class

Give each student FYF pp. 93-94, one two-page field-notes sheet printed double-sided, a pencil, and a highlighter. No student device is required. Keep evidence individual; use pairs of two only for a 60-second fact-to-function check. Project this supplied model: "The engineer report says the site has 15-20 mph wind, so the drone must stay steady enough to collect usable images in that wind."

Warm-Up (5 min)

WARM-UP: A farmer says, "I need a drone." What must an engineer ask before drawing anything?

Use responses to name the difference between a requested product and a defined problem.

Activity 1: Preview the Three Sources (8 min)

Show FYF pp. 93-94. Name the three sources before reading:

• Agricultural Engineer;
• Farmer; and
• Plant Scientist.

Explain that each source sees a different part of the problem. The class will finish one source section before opening the next.

Activity 2: Read and Record Evidence (25 min)

Students read each report and record one or two facts that would change the drone design. After each source, stop for a one-minute check and write one example "drone must" statement.

Use the complete frame beside each source row: “The _ report says _, so the drone must ____.”

Students then name the agricultural engineer's work product: a set of design constraints that another worker or design team can use.

Chunking: Engineer report first, then Farmer, then Plant Scientist. Do not read all three and ask students to remember the details later.

Active Monitoring laps:

1. Facts are copied accurately.
2. "Drone must" statements describe a function, not a decoration.
3. Students can point to the source that supports the statement.

Activity 3: Build and Rank Constraints (7 min)

Students write three constraints: detection or measurement, movement or field coverage, and one practical limit. They rank the most important constraint and give a reason.

Use the ranking frame at this decision: “The most important constraint is _ because the _ report shows ____.”

Accept cost, battery, weather, safety, accuracy, or farmer time when the student explains why the limit matters.

Exit Check (5 min)

Students underline the evidence for the top-ranked constraint and submit the packet.

DOK 3: If the team could meet only two constraints, which one could wait and what risk would that create?

Supports and Fallbacks

• Support: Provide the modeled first row and a word bank: detect, map, report, withstand, cover, protect.
• Extension: Add a measurable test for one constraint.
• Language: Allow bilingual notes and require one clear function statement in the student's strongest available language. Keep the source and ranking frames beside the two responses.
• Absence: Canvas includes readable workbook crops and the same packet. No live platform login is required.

If time is short, cut the partner reports and extension test. Protect all three source rows, three constraints, the career work-product connection, and the ranked decision. The teacher checks or collects the field-notes sheet; students do not make a second Canvas copy.