jenny meis science lesson planning and enactment project...
TRANSCRIPT
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07E:162 - Methods: Elementary School Science Dr. Cory Forbes 1
Jenny Meis
Science Lesson Planning and Enactment Project
07E:1632 (Cory Forbes)
Summer 2011
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Original Lesson Plan Analysis Inquiry Scoring Rubric
Feature of Inquiry
Indicators Evidence Weak Strong
Please explain your score. Why do you think this lesson is a weaker or stronger example of this indicator?
Engaging students in scientifically oriented questions
1a. Investigation question is contextualized, motivating, and meaningful for students
0 1 2 3
The lesson begins with asking the students what they had for dinner the night before. Granted, it is an initial question but it is more of an attention getter that they are not investigating throughout the activity to come up with an answer.
1b. Investigation question focuses on standards-based content/phenomena
0 1 2 3
The lesson focuses on what the students had for dinner the night before. It then continues to break the meal down to individual ingredients. To determine the consumer category, the students are asked which foods came from plants and which ones do not. Then, the foods get broken down further into the correct consumer category such as herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, and dentritivore. The lesson has no inquiry question and therefore cannot be focused on a standard, but through my research I can confirm that there is a standard this lesson can be focused on.
1c. Investigation question is answerable through scientific inquiry
0 1 2 3
No. There is no investigation question and therefore not answerable through scientific inquiry. The activity provided reinforces what they learned in the introduction instead of building upon their existing knowledge to develop new understandings.
1d. Investigation question is feasible and answerable in the context of the classroom
0 1 2 3
There wasn’t an investigation question, but the learning goals were covered in the beginning, but heavily directed by and influenced by the teacher.
Engaging students in giving priority to evidence in responding to questions
2a. Students engage with phenomenon of interest
0 1 2 3
The students do have an interest in the beginning of the lesson initiated through the question of what they ate for dinner the night before. This makes the lesson real and applicable to their lives outside of school.
2b. Students work
Yes. The students use existing knowledge of the food chains they make to answer the open
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with data related to phenomena of interest
0 1 2 3
response questions at the end, including “explain how energy is transferred in the food chain” and “describe what would happen in the food chain if one or more of the parts were missing”.
2c. Students generate evidence by organizing and analyzing data
0 1 2 3
Yes. The students have to organize their organism cards (data) into a food chain. They organize by color coding them in regards to their accurate consumer group. They are organizing their data to discover patterns in their food chain. They also analyze their data to explain how energy is transferred through the food chain in the open response questions as well.
2d. Students reflect upon and verify the data collection process, accuracy of data, and transformation of evidence from data
0 1 2 3
The students do not verify the data collection process, accuracy, or transform their data in any way within the original lesson plan.
Engaging students in formulating explanations from evidence to address scientifically oriented questions.
3a. Students’ explanations about phenomenon of interest are based on evidence
0 1 2 3
Essentially, there is no investigation question to base an explanation on but the student’s answers to the open response questions at the end of the lesson are based on evidence from their food chains which result in new understandings.
3b. Students’ explanations about phenomenon of interest answer investigation Q.
0 1 2 3
No. There is no investigation question to apply their explanations from the open response questions to.
3c. Students’ explanations about phenomenon of interest propose new understanding
0 1 2 3
Yes, the open response questions aid in discovering a new understanding that all animals depend on plants and then go on to help the students understand how energy is transferred within the food chain.
3d. Students’ explanations about phenomenon of
0 1 2 3 Mostly, but not from an investigation question. The questions asked of them in the introduction including “which foods come from plants/ which ones do not” and “which
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interest build on their existing knowledge
consumer category does each belong in” derive from existing knowledge but there is no why or how do you know that follow-up extension on the question. The open response questions at the end build upon the knowledge gained from the introduction questions. Also, in step 4 they are instructed to explain how energy is transferred through the food chain. This builds upon their existing knowledge of the food chain they made.
Engaging students in evaluating their explanations in light of alternative explanations
4a. Students evaluate their explanations by comparing to alternative explanations to consider whether evidence supports their proposed explanation
0 1 2 3
Sort of, the teacher briefly mentions the existence of other food chains that do not depend on the sun and have the phenomena that energy is transferred through the food chain. The teacher is the one explaining and the students don’t get the chance to discover it on their own. At the top of the open response questions it clearly states Plants make their own food using energy from the sun. Some animals eat plants.
4b. Students evaluate their explanations by comparing to alternative explanations to consider whether their proposed explanation answers the investigation question
0 1 2 3
The students have an open response question that asks them to explain how energy is transferred in the food chain. It is not linked with an investigation question and the students never develop a proposed explanation.
4c. Students evaluate their explanations by comparing to alternative explanations to consider any biases or flaws in reasoning connecting evidence
0 1 2 3
The students are told there are multiple food chains but are never asked to explore those other food chains, therefore they cannot compare alternative solutions.
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with their proposed explanation
4d. Students evaluate their explanations by comparing to alternative explanations to consider whether alternative explanations can be reasonably derived from the same evidence.
0 1 2 3
Students evaluate their explanations from question B. in the open response questions (Explain how energy is transferred in the food chain) to question C. in the open response questions (Describe what would happen to the food chain if the parts were missing).
Engaging students in communicating and justifying their explanations.
5a. Students clearly share and justify their investigation question
0 1 2 3
The students do not clearly share and justify their investigation question because it is nonexistent.
5b. Students clearly share and justify their procedures, data, and evidence
0 1 2 3
The students are not given a chance to share and justify their procedures, data, and evidence.
5c. Students clearly share and justify their proposed explanation and supporting evidence
0 1 2 3
Students communicate their explanation of their data by answering questions and writing the answers down on paper but they don’t share with one another.
5d. Students clearly share and justify their review of alternative explanations.
0 1 2 3
Students are told there are multiple food chains but never asked to explore them or elaborate and existing ideas about them.
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Part 1b: Revised Lesson Plan
Title of the lesson: Ecosystems and Food Chains Grade/Age level: 3rd Date: 7-12-11
Teacher Focus: Plants make their own food. All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals
eat animals that eat the plants. Basic relationships and connections between organisms in food chains,
including the flow of energy, can be used to discover patterns within ecosystems.
Curriculum Standards and/or Benchmarks: NSES: Organisms and their environment
All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food; other animals eat animals that eat
the plants.
Iowa Core: Understand and apply knowledge of organisms and their environments, including:
Structures, characteristics, and adaptations of organisms that allow them to function and survive within their habitats.
Learning Goals (students understand…):
All animals depend on plants. Just because carnivores only eat meat, they still depend on plants. Without
plants the food chain/web would not work.
Students will understand basic relationships and connections between organisms in food chains, including how carnivores and producers are related.
Learning Performances (students can demonstrate that…):
They will demonstrate an understanding of the relationships and connections between organisms in the
food chain by transforming the data from their organism cards into a food chain, transform their food chains
into a food web, and then present their group food webs to the class.
Students will also demonstrate an understanding of the basic relationships and connections between
organisms in food chains through color coding each consumer category and eliminating one to see the
important role plants have in the food chain.
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Procedure: (include a suggested time allocation for each part of the procedure)
a) Introduction (attention getter, anticipatory set): Show movie clip from Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6qoqokEVH0&feature=related
Timon: (talking about Simba) Gee. He looks blue. Pumbaa: I'd say brownish-gold. Timon: No, no, no, I mean he's depressed. Pumbaa: Oh. (talking to Simba) Hey kid, what's eatin' ya? Timon: Nothing; he's at the top of the food chain! (laughs hysterically) The food chain! (sees no reaction from Pumbaa or Simba) So... where're ya from? Simba: Who cares? I can't go back. Timon: Aaaaaah, you're an outcast. That's great, so are we! Pumbaa: What did you do, kid? Simba: Something terrible. I don't want to talk about it. Timon: Good, we don't wanna hear about it! Pumbaa: Come on, Timon. (to Simba) Anything we can do? Simba: Not unless you can change the past. Pumbaa: (trying to cheer him up) Kid, at times like this, my buddy Timon here says "You gotta put your behind in your past!"-- Timon: No, no no! Pumbaa: I mean-- Timon: Amateur. Lie down, before you hurt yourself. (to Simba) It's "You gotta put your past behind you." Look, kid, bad things happen, and you can't do anything about it, right? Simba: Right. Timon: WRONG! "When the world turns its back on you, you turn your back on the world!" Simba: Well, that's not what I was taught. Timon: Then maybe you need a new lesson...
Formative Assessment Probe: Ask the students the investigation question and have them write it in their science notebooks and label it Initial Prediction:
Timon says Simba is at the top of the food chain. Think of the type of consumer Simba is, how long could he live without the existence of plants? Choose one of the following and explain your reasoning.
a.) Simba is a carnivore and only eat meat, so they could survive forever. b.) Simba could only survive for a couple of days. c.) Simba wouldn’t be able to survive.
Possible explanations and misconceptions: A.) Since carnivores only eat meat, carnivores can survive forever without the existence of plants. B.) Carnivores only eat meat, so once all herbivores are gone carnivores will starve. C.) Carnivores feed on herbivores and herbivores feed on plants. Without plants, carnivores and herbivores would starve.
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b) Activities/Steps (note technology used): Pick a variety of these animals to write on the board. Mix them up when you write them and have the students try to guess what they are. Ask these questions to probe discussion.
1.) Which of these are plants? 2.) Which ones don’t come from plants? (explain how mushrooms are dentrivores) 3.) Of the consumers, which are the animals that eat plants? 4.) Which are the animals that eat other animals? 5.) Which eat both?
*Reccomended to have students evaluate which comsumer group the animal or plantbelongs to
Tiger *Lion Cheetah Fox Polar-bear *Shark *Whale Hawk *Owl *Spider *Salmon *Hyena Puma Wolf Badger Gator Snake *Dogs *Cats
Bears *Pig Raccoon *Chimpanzee Rats *Mice Crow Magpie Raven *Chicken Cassowary *Humans Snapping Turtle
Herbivores Omnivores Producers
Tomato *Lettuce *Algae *Trees *Grass *Grain *Worms
*Mushrooms *Crab *Shrimp *Lobster *Bacteria
Carnivores
Giraffe Zebra Rabbit *Cows Panda *Deer Ox Hummingbird Goat Opossum Horse *Sheep Rabbit Rhinoceros Hippo Donkey *Sloth Shrew Rodents *Squirrels *Elephant
Detritivore (Decomposers)
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nitial Prediction: Why are plants important to Simba? Investigate! Individual:
1.) Think about what you had for dinner last night. Break the meal apart by means of main ingredients. Make an organism card for each ingredient.
a. Draw a picture of the animal that represents the ingredient. If your ingredient is a plant, make two organism cards: one for the plant and one consumer that eats the plant.
b. Decide what kind of consumer it is and write the consumer name is the box.
Carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, producer, or dentritivore (decomposer) c. Categorize each card by coloring the box in regards to consumer type.
Carnivore- red
Herbivore- yellow
Omnivore- orange
Producer- green
Dentritivore- blue
2.) Cut out your organism cards and form them into one or more food chains. Do not glue anything down yet.
3.) If there are any gaps in your food chain/web, come up with an animal that would fill in the gaps.
Group: With your group, combine your food chains to make one big food web and glue it onto the paper provided. Make sure everyone is able explain and present it to the class.
Individual Open Response:
1. What is at the top of your food chain? a. What kind of consumer is it?
2. What is at the bottom? a. What kind of consumer is it?
3. What does it mean for Simba to be at the top of the food chain? 4. Describe what would happen to the food chain if one of the parts were missing. 5. What is an Omnivore?
a. Herbivore? b. Carnivore? c. Detritivore? d. Producer?
6. How does your initial prediction relate to what you know now after making your food web?
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c) Closure (reviewing learning, summarizing, assignments): Have each group present their food webs to the class. Ask the following questions.
Did your group find any inconsistencies or alternative solutions when comparing food chains?
How did your group decide to organize the food web?
Hang up the food webs on the wall to compare and evaluate across groups.
d) Assessment (How you will determine that students have met the learning targets):
I will use their group presentations to determine if the students have met the intended learning targets.
I will also probe a deeper understanding by asking them to reflect upon alternative solutions and explain how they organized their food chains into a comprehensive food web.
I will also use the rubric shown below as a means of assessment.
Food Web Rubric
4 3 2 1
Prediction
The student’s prediction clearly explained their idea of what it means to be at the top of the food chain. The student included both learning goals: 1. All animals depend on plants. Just because carnivores only eat meat, they still depend on plants. Without plants the food chain/web would not work. 2. Students will understand basic relationships and connections between organisms in food chains, including how carnivores and producers are related.
The student’s prediction clearly explained their idea of what it means to be at the top of the food chain. The student included only one of the two learning goal.
The student’s provided their explanation of what it means to be at the top of the food chain. The student did not include an understanding for either learning goals.
The student did not provide a prediction to the investigation question.
Explanation
The student gave their newly found explanation for what it means to be at the top of the food chain articulately and clearly. The student included both learning goals: 1.All animals depend on plants. Just because carnivores only eat meat, they still depend on plants. Without
The student gave their newly found explanation for what it means to be at the top of the food chain articulately and clearly. The student included an understanding for only one of the two
The student gave their newly found explanation for what it means to be at the top of the food chain. The student did not include an understanding for
The student did not provide an explanation.
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plants the food chain/web would not work. 2. Students will understand basic relationships and connections between organisms in food chains, including how carnivores and producers are related.
learning goal. either learning goals.
Connection
The student connected their prediction with their explanation.
The student did not connect their explanation with
their prediction.
Student Name:______________________ Score:__________________
Evidence of addressing diversity: (for example: cultural, gender, linguistic, physical, religious, sexual identity, socioeconomic, etc) Diversity is shown through the different meals students had for lunch. Additional interest will be shown if a student has a food item that is unfamiliar, uncommon, or from another country.
Differentiation for cognitive, affective, psycho-motor needs: Cognitive: Students with cognitive needs will be given the assignment in advance, knowing what to expect. They will also be placed in a group that will be sure to support his/her needs. Affective: Students with affective needs will be given an important role within their group to engage them in the activity. In addition, this student will be placed in a group where no distractions are present. Psychomotor: Students with psychomotor needs will have the same access to the project as all other students. If needed, there will be additional help given to this student.
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Materials / Equipment Needed:
Computer/ projector to play the YouTube video
Print outs: (one for each student) -Investigation activity worksheets/directions -Organism card sheet
Plain paper to glue organism cards into a food chain
Crayons or colored pencils
Poster paper
Scissors
Teacher Notes:
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Additional Lesson Materials:
Ecosystems and Food Chains
Timon says Simba is at the top of the food chain. Think of the type of consumer Simba is, how long could he live without the existence of plants? Explain your reasoning.
A. Simba is a carnivore and only eat meat, so they could survive forever.
B. Simba could only survive for a couple of days.
C. Simba wouldn’t be able to survive.
Explain._______________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Investigate!
How are plants important to
Simba?_______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Individual:
4.) Think about what you had for dinner last night. Break the meal apart by means of main
ingredients. Make an organism card for each ingredient.
a. Draw a picture of the animal that represents the ingredient. If your ingredient is a
plant, make two organism cards: one for the plant and one consumer that eats the
plant.
b. Decide what kind of consumer it is and write the consumer name is the box.
Carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, producer, or dentritivore (decomposer)
c. Categorize each card by coloring the box in regards to consumer type.
Carnivore- red
Herbivore- yellow
Omnivore- orange
Producer- green
Dentritivore- blue
5.) Cut out your organism cards and form them into one or more food chains. Do not glue
anything down yet.
6.) If there are any gaps in your food chain/web, come up with an animal that would fill in the
gaps.
Group:
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With your group, combine your food chains to make one big food web and glue it onto the paper provided. Make sure everyone is able explain and present it to the class. Individual Open Response:
1. What is at the top of your food chain?____________________________
a. What kind of consumer is it?_____________________________
2. What is at the bottom? __________________________
a. What kind of consumer is it?_________________________________
3. What does it mean for Simba to be at the top of the food
chain?_________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
4. Describe what would happen to the food chain if one of the parts were
missing.________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
5. What is an Omnivore?____________________________________________________________
Carnivore?_______________________________________________________________
Herbivore?_______________________________________________________________
Detritivore?______________________________________________________________
Producer?_______________________________________________________________
6. How does your initial prediction relate to what you know now after making your food
web?__________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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Existing lesson plans, curriculum materials, and other resources I used to develop my lesson plan:
Name/Title Type of Resource Source Additional Information
1. Ecosystems and Food Chains
Existing Lesson Plan
Google: Bridget Powell Ecosystems and food chains
Lesson plan from Bridget Powell at Central Elementary
2.
NSES Standards National Standards Book or internet
p. 120
3. Iowa Core Curriculum State Standards Internet
Science> Life science > Essential skills or concepts > grade 3-5
4. The Lion King Video clip
Youtube
Link can be found under “introduction” in the lesson plan above
Adaptions to Original Lesson Plan:
Modification #1
Introduction My first modification to this lesson includes the introduction. The introduction in the original lesson
plan has the students answering the question of what they had for dinner. The teacher then writes
them on the board and asks the following questions about them:
1.) Which of these foods come from plants? 2.) Which ones don’t come from plants? (explain how mushrooms are dentrivores) 3.) Of the consumers, which are the animals that eat plants? 4.) Which are the animals that eat other animals? 5.) Which eat both?
Then the teacher gives them the vocabulary words and definitions of herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, and detritivore. She then goes into discussion of transformation of energy in the food chain. I modified it so I first show a clip from the Lion King where Simba meets Timon and Pumba. Pumba says “Hey kid, what’s eatin ya? And Timone chimes in saying “Nothing! He’s at the top of the food chain!” I then ask the formative assessment probe. Then, I have a list of different animals that I will write on the board and have the students decide as a class which ones are herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and detritivores. I then ask the same questions (above) to probe student thinking. I then introduce the scientific investigation. This modification addresses weaknesses in the first lesson plan including student interest and engagement. The initial lesson already has relevance to the life of the student in the introduction but
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not in the activity. I used this dinner motivation and relevance to the life of the student for my activity and the motivation from the Lion King clip to serve as motivation and relation to their life because it also creates some humor as well. It creates more inquiry oriented question because instead of me giving the students the definition I ask
for them at the end of the activity in the open response questions. That way they are coming directly
from the students instead of from the teacher.
Other factors I considered in making this change was include tying the investigation question,
standards, learning goals, and learning performance, introduction and investigation activity together
without giving the students the information straight from the teacher. I wanted them to come up with
the information on their own. I also wanted to give the students background information on what the
different types of consumers were without straightforwardly giving them definitions.
Modification #2
Investigation activity My second modification includes the activity part of the lesson. In the original lesson, the teacher gives the students organism cards to categorize. The activity does not allow for any communication, evaluation of investigations, consideration of alternative data, reflection on data, or transformation of data. I modified it so the students come up with their own animals to put onto organism cards, organize them into a food chain of the based on their meal from the night before filling in any open gaps, and then transforming their individual food chains into a food web by incorporating each member’s food chains into the group web. This change makes the lesson more inquiry based because by making their own organism cards they are coming up with the data on their own instead of it being given to them and is more engaging and relevant to their own life. By taking the food chain each group member creates and organizing them into a group food web provides the students a chance to communicate, evaluate, modify, consider alternative solutions, reflect on data, and transform their data into the group food web. Other factors I considered when making this change include how I can tie it into the lesson standards, learning goals, and learning performance. I wanted to make the activity worthwhile and serve a purpose in the lesson. I did this by incorporating scientifically oriented questions and an investigation question.
Modification #3
Scientifically Oriented Questions I took out what seemed to be the main question in the original lesson and inserted two different questioning strategies .The initial lesson plan’s had the teacher explaining how energy is transferred through food chains. I took it out because it is not age appropriate to the third grade curriculum.
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This modification forces student explanations about phenomenon of interest from the short clip I show from the Lion King to build on their existing knowledge. The questioning strategies I included are a formative assessment prompt and an investigation question. My prompt is: Timon says Simba is at the top of the food chain. Think of the type of consumer Simba is, how long could he live without the existence of plants? Choose one of the following and explain your reasoning.
a.) Simba is a carnivore and only eat meat, so they could survive forever. b.) Simba could only survive for a couple of days. c.) Simba wouldn’t be able to survive.
And my investigation question is: How are plants important to Simba? This modification makes the lesson more inquiry-oriented because it challenges the students discover
the answer through the investigation activity versus the teacher giving the students the answer
through a discussion/lecture and then the activity only reinforcing what the teacher already said.
Other factors I considered what making this change include tying the investigation question, standards, learning goals, learning performance, and introduction all into a probe that I as the teacher can gather Information from preexisting misconceptions to modify my lesson to change those misconceptions into student discoverable scientific facts from student led investigations.
Modification #4
Assessment The original lesson plan had no assessment or learning objectives that arise from the activity. I made my
scientific investigation have two types of assessment. One, presenting the groups food web and two,
the open response questions after the investigation. The original lesson plans open response questions
were:
A. Draw an example of a four step food chain and label parts. B. Explain how energy is transferred in the food chain. C. Describe what would happen to the food chain if one of the parts were missing.
My open response questions include:
7. What is at the top of your food chain? a. What kind of consumer is it?
8. What is at the bottom? a. What kind of consumer is it?
9. What does it mean for Simba to be at the top of the food chain? 10. Describe what would happen to the food chain if one of the parts were missing. 11. What is an Omnivore?
a. Herbivore?
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b. Carnivore? c. Detritivore? d. Producer?
12. How does your initial prediction relate to what you know now after making your food web?
The other assessment I included was the presentations of the group food webs. Both assessments allow my lesson to be more inquiry-oriented because it provides times for the students to clearly communicate and justify their explanations to compare them to possible alternative explanations from their group members to consider whether alternative explanations can be reasonably derived from the same evidence. Other factors I considered when I made this change was trying to allow for the investigation activity to be aligned with the standards, learning objectives, and investigation question. I also had to modify it to take out the idea of energy transformation and still make the lesson have deep understanding and learning. I did that through adding additional open response questions.
1.) How inquiry-oriented do you think your lesson is?
Very inquiry-oriented Somewhat inquiry-oriented
Not very inquiry-oriented Not at all inquiry-oriented
Please explain your answer to question #5. Why do you think your lesson was or wasn’t inquiry-oriented?
I think my lesson is somewhat inquiry-oriented because if it were completely inquiry-oriented, the students would come up with the activity on their own instead of the teacher giving it to them. In other words, the activity steps in the lesson plan included above would be blank except the initial question. It is my belief that young students just starting to learn about a unit need some direction. Once they get further into the unit and know the basics of food chains and the various consumer groups would be better experienced with the style of inquiry-oriented lessons and better equipped to come up with an efficient investigation activity to answer the overarching investigation question as well as discover the learning goals in the process. I also believe my lesson is somewhat inquiry-oriented because I strived to never say any information the students are able to come up with on their own. My lesson is has scaffold designed questions built in wherever possible so it is not necessary for the teacher to say anything a student can say.
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Original Lesson Plan: Science Activity
Ecosystems and Food chains
Bridget Powell
Third Grade
Central Elementary SC-04-4.6.1 Students will analyze patterns and make generalizations about the basic relationships of plants and animals in an ecosystem (food chain). Plants make their own food. All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the plants. Basic relationships and connections between organisms in food chains, including the flow of energy, can be used to discover patterns within ecosystems. DOK 2
Food Chains - Lesson Plan
1. Begin the lesson with the question: “What did you eat for dinner last night?" Break
responses down into individual ingredients (separate lasagna into pasta, beef,
tomatoes, and cheese) and write them on the board.
2. Once you have a broad sampling, begin categorizing the ingredients into producers,
and consumers. Use questions such as:
Which of these foods come from plants?
Which of these foods don't come from plants? (If mushrooms are on the board,
remember that technically mushrooms are fungi not plants!)
At this point, introduce the idea of producers as plants, or more scientifically, as
organisms that make their own food through photosynthesis. Introduce the idea of
consumers as animals, or more scientifically, as organisms that eat producers or other
consumers.
3. Break down the consumer category further into herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, and
dentritivore (or decomposer). Use questions such as:
Of the consumers, which are animals that eat plants?
Which are animals that eat other animals?
Which eat both?
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Are there any decomposers? (Mushrooms, crab, shrimp, and lobster are likely to
be the only decomposers.)
Introduce the vocabulary words herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, and dentritivore at
this point and give the formal definitions. Add these to student’s vocabulary
notebooks.
4. Ask students to describe a food chain. As part of this discussion, try to follow one or
more of the foods on the board through the food chain. For example, sun -> corn ->
cow -> people. All the food chains we will be dealing with in this class have the sun as
the initial energy source although you may want to briefly mention the existence of
other food chains that do not depend on the sun. Explain how energy is transferred
through food chain.
5. Students should receive a set of organism cards. Their first task is to color code the
organisms on their cards by their role in the food chain. Write the color code up on the
board: green = producers, yellow = herbivores, red = carnivores, orange = omnivores,
blue = dentritivores.
6. When students begin to finish color coding, have students cut out their cards and
begin to organize them into food chains to discover patterns. Definitely tell them that
there are multiple food chains. When students have identified a complete chain, they
can glue it down on a piece of notebook paper.
Websites to checkout
www.brainpop.com
http://science.pppst.com/foodchain.html
This lesson can be extended to include food webs and more extensive vocabulary.
Open Response
Plants make their own food using energy from the Sun. Some animals eat plants.
A. Draw an example of a four step food chain and label parts. B. Explain how energy is transferred in the food chain.
C. Describe what would happen to the food chain if one of the parts were missing.
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Self-Reflection
Jenny Meis Ecosystems and Food Chains
I was really pleased with how well the enactment of my lesson plan went in two
different ways. I was satisfied with how smoothly the various parts of my lesson transitioned as
well as the comfort level I experienced while being in the role of the teacher despite being a
little apprehensive beforehand. Other things include the engagement and participation level of
the students, and the newly acquired understandings my lesson provoked in even college aged
students. Some things I felt didn’t go as well as I had hoped include the direction and responses
my open response questions went, the translation between of their meals to the type of animal
it derived from, my lack of knowledge and confidence I had when categorizing my list of animals
during the first part of the lesson into the appropriate consumer group, and the uncertainty of
when to have the students define what those consumer groups actually are.
I think the changes I made to my lesson before enacting it were effective because I think
adding the short Lion King clip really helped in getting the students engaged and interested in
the lesson by making the topic of consumer groups and food webs more exciting than it
normally would be. Another change I made to the lesson was doing my best to take away the
teacher-focused aspect of the introductory discussion while still keeping it in place due to is
importance to the student’s success in the following parts of the lesson. I think it was effective
and ineffective at the same time because it needs some revision and a higher knowledge
confidence on my part. I do think it was effective to the students but not to its full potential.
One aspect to my enacted lesson plan that didn’t go as well as well as I had planned was
my open ended questions at the end of the lesson plan because I feel as if they needed
additional clarification. I do believe the students reached my stated learning performance, just
as efficiently as they could have because it took a little probing before the student reached an
understanding of the intention of the question and what it was actually asking. A specific
example of a question that needed additional clarification includes when I asked the question
of : “What does it mean for Simba to be at the top of the food chain?” The answer I received
was, “All of the animals are scared of him”. I thought this had potential to be on the right track,
so probed a little further with, “Why do you think the animals are scared of him?” She then
replied with, “Well…they’re scared of him because they’re afraid he’s going to eat them. That’s
why he was so sad, because he has no friends.” This is a perfectly acceptable answer in regards
to the clip I showed of The Lion King where Simba was sad and Pumba asks him, “Hey kid,
what’s eatin’ ya?” And of course, Timone replies with, “Nothing! He’s at the top of the food
chain!” My attempt to direct her to my intended focus was, “You are completely right. Since
Simba is a carnivore, what does that mean he eats?” (herbivores) “And what do herbivores
eat?” (They eat plants) “What would happen to Simba if there were no plants?” (Well, after all
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the herbivores were gone he would starve) “How would the herbivores survive without
plants?” (OHHH!! I get it now) So after this event, I think if my question hadn’t been so vague
this understanding would have been reached more efficiently.
The next time I teach this lesson I would switch the order of questions 3 and 4 in the
open response section and rephrase the question to better scaffold my questions to receive the
desired responses more quickly. This is how it would look:
3. Describe what would happen to the food chain if a group of consumers were eliminated.
4. Describe a relationship you see between the carnivores (like Simba) and the other consumers left in the
food chain.
Differentiation questioning strategies for the teacher: Struggling student: Use your color coded organism cards to help you visualize it. Challenge advanced students: What if the sun was eliminated? Then what do you think would happen? Could there be a food chain that could survive? Explain.
This experience had most definitely influenced my understanding of inquiry-oriented science teaching because in a lesson plan for Social studies I was working on as well I realized I developed an investigation question without even realizing it. The factors that you need to include are all essential because they build on one another so you cannot successfully have one factor such as evaluating their explanation without the existence of a scientifically oriented investigation question to evaluate. Based on this experience, I would modify this lesson by using a science curriculum book for the list I have the students categorize in the beginning of the lesson as a reliable source because I wasn’t exactly sure if crab and lobster were a decomposer or consumer or both. Another change I would make would be to already have answers planned to the question of “what consumer category does cheese or ice cream come from?” These questions caught me totally off guard and it took me a minute to come to the realization that ice cream comes from milk and milk comes from a cow. The same goes for cheese. Cheese comes from milk but it could also be a type of decomposer if it was a cheese like blue cheese. The last thing I want to reflect on is my uncertainty of when to ask the students to define the consumer groups (ie carnivore, omnivore, herbivore, or decomposer). When presenting my lesson I thought it was necessary to ask the students to propose their explanations to what they think each consumer category meant without confirming if they were correct or not before trying to define the consumer category each animal or plant belongs to. Then, when they got to the open response questions they were asked to define each consumer group again. I feel as if this is redundant, but on the other hand defining them again in the open response questions helps reinforce what they discovered each consumer category was throughout the investigation. I’m still a little uncertain as to what would be best for the next time I teach this lesson, but I would probably do the same thing and keep it how I did it during the enactment but pay extra attention as to how it flows with the lesson and base my decision on that.
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All in all, I think my lesson enactment was a very positive experience that I learned a lot of valuable experiences from. I made me have a much deeper understanding of how to probe students to come up with the answer on their own which also provokes a deeper level of thinking and understanding, it made me a more confident teacher in regards to student based instruction, and it taught me how to transform a completely teacher-based or activitymania lesson plan into a quality, usable lesson plan that the students will be excited about as well as gain a new understanding of scientific phenomenon.
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Peer Reflections Maddie Adams
Chromatography
Overall, the first thought that came to me head when asked my thought about this
lesson was that it was exceptionally engaging and very interesting for the learner. I also liked
the fact that the lesson would be surprisingly, a very easy lesson carry out. It is directly relatable
students’ lives as kids are interested in “detective” work and that is essentially what the
students are demonstrating in the activity provided.
It is my belief that this lesson’s activities were indeed aligned with the learning goals
proclaimed. The learning goals Maddie presented in her presentation were “students
understand that chromatography is a process of separating mixtures by chemical means” and
her learning performances included “the student will be able to solve a mystery using evidence
gathered during a science investigation using physical changes and students can design an
experiment that demonstrates how a mixture can be broken down by physical means”.
In the first part of the lesson, she asks the students what they think chromatography
means but never identifies the true definition until the end of the mystery investigation.
She then students observe chromatography of black marker on a coffee filter to get
accustomed to how to perform a chromatography investigation. After the students participate
in the introduction activity she presents the note written in black marker left behind by the
person who stole their classroom turtle and has the students develop their own investigation to
find out which of the 6 markers the ink on the note belonged to, to help solve the case.
As for the 5 features of inquiry, the lesson Maddie developed did a fantastic job of
incorporating scientifically oriented inquiry-based questions at an approachable level for
younger elementary grades. I identify this feature as a major strength to this lesson plan
because having inquiry oriented questions, and an inquiry based investigation developed by the
students with a healthy balance of teacher focused instruction is not an easy challenge to
overcome, especially in younger grade levels.
Along with scientifically oriented questions, this lesson does a great job motivating
students through personal interest and giving priority to evidence. The students organize the
data they collect in their notebooks and then if there are two groups who disagree as to what
marker wrote the note, there is a perfect opportunity for students to reflect upon and verify
their data collection process and transform it into another investigation to clear up the
misconception; even if this was never intended within the lesson plan, which was similar to
what happened when we participated in the investigation.
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This also is an example of how the lesson engaged the students in evaluating their
explanations in comparison to alternative explanations the students first design their
investigation procedures, and then communicate within a class discussion to justify and share
their methods and explanations which in return allows them to compare their results to other
groups, resulting in exploring alternative explanations.
Maddie did a good job connecting the student’s explanations from evidence to address
the scientifically oriented questions. I say this because even as a college student I wasn’t sure
what chromatography was, but through the investigation I knew exactly what it was by the end
without her ever having to say a word. This is how scientific inquiry based lessons are supposed
to function, which is also a major strength to her lesson.
One weakness or thing I would change if I were to conduct this lesson plan is creating a
stronger questioning probe in the beginning of the lesson that surfaces misconceptions about
chromatography to help students become aware of their current beliefs about a scientific
phenomenon before taking part in the investigation, this would help the instructor tweak the
lesson to address those misconceptions as well as be assured those misconceptions have been
removed.
The assessment aligned with the lesson plan is to have the students draw their results
on the board and answer the question of “what is chromatography”. This is definitely aligned
with the learning goals and objectives but I feel there is a more authentic way one could assess
the students as well as provide a cross curricular opportunity. One example could be to have
the students write a letter to the owner of the marker they identified as being the culprit to
explain how they know through scientific evidence that the marker belongs to them and nicely
ask for the safe return of their class turtle. Before starting the investigation the teacher would
explain how she collected every black marker she could find in the school building and instead
of labeling them generic “marker #1” and so on, replace it with the teachers name or room
number. Since we wouldn’t want to accuse anyone of stealing, once the turtle is returned the
culprit would explain how they were sorry and didn’t mean to worry anyone, but they were
simply taking the turtle for a walk, giving it a bath, or something along those lines.
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Ali Austin
Discovering Dinosaurs
Overall, I think this lesson went well and I could tell she put a lot of preparation into the
lesson. Dinosaurs are a tough topic to teach because there are a lot of gray areas in comparison
to other areas of science where we know exactly what happened, why, and how it happened.
Not knowing facts about a particular topic makes is a tough thing for little kids to grasp.
Ali did a good job aligning her investigation activity with the learning goals/ objectives of
the lesson. She used a wide variety of dinosaur pictures in books to explain how bones are
evidence, but pictures are not always accurate, rather a prediction by authors. She had a
specific kind of dinosaur where one illustrator painted the dinosaur one color and the other
used a different color. This supports the learning goal that scientists have theories about what
dinosaurs were like but they don’t really know for sure.
She then used various worksheets to help students compare evidence to support their
theory of the dinosaur they drew based on the characteristics like footprints that were found
on the worksheet. This activity id aligned with the learning goal of students use evidence to
support a theory about dinosaurs.
The last worksheet had two different sets of footprints, one belonging to a carnivore
and one belonging to an herbivore. The footprints met at the middle of the page and twisted
and turned with one set more dominant than the other. This worksheet was used to
demonstrate the learning goal of how evidence is used to try and determine dinosaur’s
characteristics and how it may have lived—meaning the carnivore ate the herbivore.
In regards to the 5 essential features of inquiry throughout her lesson, she made
adequate use of scientifically oriented questions by asking such questions of “have you ever
seen a dinosaur? Where and how?” The students responded with “in movies” and then gave
specific examples. Then we she went on to ask “Have you ever seen a real dinosaur? (no) Why
not?” This last question leads into how the students think re-creations of dinosaurs are made
which makes for a great transition into the next part of her lesson. These questions allowed the
students to connect dinosaurs to their real lives even though dinosaurs are extinct.
She has the students make their own drawings based on remains to create what they
think that dinosaur would look like. This gives them a change to work with evidence in a hands-
on way and shed light on what paleontologists do, introducing them to new vocabulary related
to science and the study of dinosaurs. Creating their own theory allows the students to be able
to compare their theory to alternative theories of peer students in the classroom.
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The lesson had many different opportunities for students to communicate with each
other including comparing their dinosaur theories and justify their proposed explanation. The
students also clearly shared and justified their review of alternative explanations through
comparing their theory of what the dinosaur looked like to other classmate’s theories as well as
illustrators in pictures she chose to present to the class.
The one main thing I saw this lesson was lacking was giving priority to evidence and
starting the lesson with a scientifically-oriented investigation question. The only data the
students got to work with were their own theories, illustrator’s theories, and the data from the
footprints worksheet. One reason could be the lack of evidence scientists have of dinosaurs,
but regardless, I think there could be other ways to incorporate other data such as pictures of
fossilized dinosaur footprints.
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Lauren Emerson
Rock Streaking
Overall, I thought this was a really neat lesson plan that is easily derived and applicable
to students’ lives outside of school because when I was little I remember sorting through rocks
at recess or in my back yard to find one that could be used as chalk to keep score for a game, or
simply just draw on the sidewalk when chalk was not available.
The lesson activities in the lesson’s investigation included having the students
demonstrate that they can complete a streak test investigation to compare different rocks and
their ability to mark the same surface. The students do this by collecting data in their science
journals as well as on a worksheet. This learning performance is properly aligned with the
lesson’s learning goals of having the students “understand that rocks are not all the same.
Different rocks have different physical properties and characteristics. Some will produce
streaks and others will not during a streak test. These streaks can vary in color depending on
the rock composition” which were derived from both the NSES standard of Earth and Space
Science learning as well as the NSES standard of Physical science learning.
I would consider this lesson somewhat compatible with the 5 essential features of
injury. One way I would say the lesson is compatible with the 5 features of inquiry is that it
clearly has the students giving priority to evidence by collecting data in a worksheet, which
involves predictions of whether each type of rock provided will create a streak, a student
created picture of the rock, the observed streaking ability of each rock, and a place for the
student’s explanation for why it did or did not create a streak for each rock.
Another way it is compatible with essential features of inquiry is that is allows for
students to communicate in a couple different ways throughout the lesson. One is during the
introduction when the students share their predictions and the other is during their group work
to think critically and justify explanations to why some rocks streak and some don’t.
This brings me to how the investigation activity is linked with the initial question of “Do
all rocks create streaks? Why or why not?” I believe that through this investigation, the lesson
assessment was accurately aligned with the learning objectives in the form of open ended
questions, including linking their prediction of whether all rocks create streaks or not to their
new understanding through the investigation activity that as a matter of fact, all rocks do not
create streaks. The “why” part of that question is what troubled me.
I would consider this component of the lesson as a weakness because I was not able to
clearly identify why not all rocks do not create streaks. I believe the answer to the investigation
question should be reasonably clear through the investigation activity or the scaffolding of
open ended questions at the end of the lesson so all students are given he change to formulate
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the answer on their own. We were asked the question of “how would you do this experiment
differently next time” which I was glad to see being addressed but like I said, I strongly believe
the investigation question should be clearly answered through the activity and the chance to
consider any biases or flaws should be used to connect evidence with their explanation. In
short, sharing the student’s procedures and evidence should be used to justify explanations,
not formulate them.
An example of a strength within this lesson is that it is applicable to the students’ lives
outside the classroom and addresses a scientific phenomenon that most people have
personally experienced. It’s one of those times where you wonder why not all rocks streak, but
have probably never taken the initiative to think critically about in a scientific way.
Lastly, I really like how the lesson teaches and promotes students to think critically
about little things in everyday live that they don’t understand. The ability to solve problems by
giving priority to fact and evidence is an essential life skill. Introducing it to students through an
engaging way as this lesson does is beneficial to students by making them critical thinkers as
well as problem solvers. This is a valuable skill they will use often throughout their lives.
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Greg Wickenkamp
Heart Rate & Breathing
All in all, I really liked this enactment because I thought it had a valuable mini-lessons
intertwined in it for the students to gain knowledge and understanding about and at the same
time could be considered cross curricular. It had the students learn how to check their heart
rate which could definitely be incorporated into a health lesson and also had authentic hand-on
active learning to keep the students engaged.
In the activity, the students measure their pulse before and after various physical
activities ranging from moderate to heavy, the students discussed why they think their heart
rate had changed and then developed their own lesson plan to investigate whether your
breathing rate increased as well with heavier physical activity. These various activities the
students take part in are accurately aligned with the learning goals which included the
understanding of how to measure pulse and also understand the effects of exercise on the
heart along with to gain as well as apply concepts of scientific inquiry through collecting data.
The lesson had a strong connection to the 5 essential features of inquiry and the first
feature I will address I would also consider it as one of the biggest strengths of the lesson. Greg
initiated student engagement with the lesson right from the start by doing jumping jacks which
allowed the students to wonder what he was doing. This immediately directs undivided
attention to him and the lesson.
The other big strength I observed in the lesson is the fact that it gave the students to a
change transfer their understanding of how an inquiry based lesson is carried out from the
teacher focused instruction regarding heart rate to create their own investigation to show how
a breathing rate changes with heart rate. The students are required to identify a question to
answer with their investigation, determine the steps in the experiment, identify data to be
collected, and then carry out the investigation.
The students then evaluate their explanations and compare to alternative explanations
by sharing how they and their partner designed the lesson.
The only weakness I see in this lesson is that in the teacher focused part of the lesson he
had the various activity level order as check heart rate from sitting, to check heart rate from
jumping jacks, to check heart rate from walking all for 30 seconds. I think this sort of throws the
accuracy of the data off because the heart gets sped up from the jumping jacks and then would
affect the data from their heart rate from walking for 30 seconds. It is a possibility this was
intended for the students to discover and modify through their own activity but this theory was
not clear or proven within the lesson.
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The lesson assessment was aligned with the learning goals because it clearly engages
the students in knowledge and application of a scientific oriented inquiry along with
understanding of the effects of exercise on the heart and how to measure pulse.
Even though the lesson begins as teacher focused, I think it is a great way to introduce
students to inquiry based learning that will be useful in additional science investigations.
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Alyssa Orosz
Now You See Me: Exploring Animal Camouflage
Over all, my favorite part of this lesson was the children’s book Where in the Wild? she
chose to incorporate into her lesson. It almost has a Where’s Waldo? Feel to it but through
exploring camouflaged animals, which I discovered is not only fun for elementary students, but
college students as well.
The learning goal was for students to understand that animals’ physical characteristics
camouflage them and explains what kind of environment the animal lives in. The lesson activity
is aligned with the learning goals because the students gain understanding of and discover
these two pieces of information clearly through going outside to observe and discover
camouflaged animals. Their observation then helps them developed an explanation for the
investigation question of “Why do animals need to hide at times and how do animals physical
characteristics attribute to their ability to hide.
This leads me right into the ways this lesson covers the 5 essential features of inquiry.
The book does a great job in engaging students as I have previously stated and the lesson also
engages the students into the phenomenon of interest by literally relating it the their world
outside school.
Through this outside observation, the students develop their own explanation to the
investigation question which I identified as both strength and at the same time weakness within
the lesson. The question says in parenthesis what “physical characteristics” mean, but does not
address the meaning of the word attribute. The weakness is that as I learned through my own
lesson plan enactment, the students positively need to understand what the investigation
question means in order for the teacher to lead a successful lesson as well has allow the
students to learn as much as they can. The strength deriving from this question is that I think it
is important to expose children to new words to expand their vocabulary and this is something
no lessons so far have addressed and not something required within a lesson plan.
The lesson also accurately displays formulating an explanation to other solutions
The assessment to gauge whether the students have successfully mastered the learning
goals in this lesson do a great job of relating to the activities included in the lesson except for
the very first question “Was it easier to see the insects when they were In their natural habitat
(dirt) or when they were on a piece of paper?” This question was hard for me and my partner to
understand; therefore it was difficult to answer. In her presentation she said she provides
worms instead of going outside to collect them, so it makes me think she originally had the
students observe the worms in the dirt and then on a plain white sheet of paper.
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Lastly, through doing the assessment questions with a partner, it allows students to
engage in the last essential feature of inquiry, communication. This communication helps
students justify, reflect, and review alternative solutions to explanations and modify their
misconceptions.
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Allison Salerno
Insect, Habitats, and Survival
This lesson regarding insects, habitats, and survival is a simple, yet effective means for
students to make connections between specific environments of insects and the necessities
those environments provide the organisms to survive. I really liked how this lesson allows the
students a hands-on active learning experience through going outside to catch bugs!
The activities in this lesson do a good job of linking the learning performance and
learning goals with the NSES standard of Life science: Organisms and their environment.
Through allowing the students to investigate and collect data from our outside habitat and
discussing why those specific insects might live here provides the students with an opportunity
to develop explanations and come up with conclusion based on evidence that support their
explanations on their own versus the teacher telling them. These activities are directly aligned
with the learning goal identified in this lesson which includes “the students will understand and
draw connections between the specific environments and insects and the tools that these
habitats provide for survival for the insects that live here”.
“How do the needs of insects effect where we find them?” This is a great investigation
question because it is easily understandable to younger elementary students, simple, and it is
perfectly aligned with the lesson activities and goals. It also addresses one of the 5 features of
inquiry which is engaging students in scientifically oriented questions that are meaningful to
build on their existing knowledge. In this case the existing knowledge could include but is not
limited to bees and mosquitos.
The second and fifth features of inquiry, engaging students to give priority to evidence
in responding to questions and communicating and justifying explanations both present
through the students participating in creating their prediction of “How do the needs of insects
effect where we find them?” and then giving priority to the data they collect from their bug
investigation and drawing it. The communication aspect of their prediction and discovered
conclusion is displayed through sharing and justifying and both the prediction and conclusion.
Communication is also expressed by drawing the students discovered insects in their
notebooks and then during a class discussion. Through this communication, the students are
also evaluating and comparing explanations to other explanations to determine whether those
alternative explanations can be reasonably derived from the same evidence.
By the students creating their explanations, the lesson covers the fourth feature of
inquiry and evaluating those explanations to alternative classmate’s explanations concludes the
coverage of the last feature of inquiry which is evaluating.
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The only weakness I see within this lesson plan is that it cannot be completely
considered an inquiry-based lesson plan because the development of the activity is teacher
centered, which means the students do not come up with it on their own.
Although the assessment does align with the learning objectives, I would consider it a
weakness this lesson plan because I think assessment questions get extremely overused and
become less and less engaging to students every time they complete them, which results in an
ineffective use of the potential learning capabilities for the lesson. I would challenge this lesson
to create a more authentic assessment strategy which could be cross curricular such as creating
a giant class book on the insects relative to the area they live in and have each student create
and design their own page.
A major strength I see in this lesson is the potential engagement with the students the
teacher has right off the bat with the majority of the class because most children absolutely
love insects and getting the chance to get out of the classroom and catch those bugs is going to
be a hit with almost all the students regardless of if they are a girl or boy. I have experienced
this first hand by working for Americorps and designing summer camps for low income children
and found myself surprised that it was our most popular camp and not only with boys but with
girls as well.