Danielle RuffInTASC Standard 5: Application of Content

The responsibility of the teacher is to not only understand their content, but also understand how it applies and relates to other disciplines. The teacher also allows for students to be critical thinkers and challenge them to solve real world problems. The teacher can plan activities that relate to solving or observing problems that have local and global applications. Another important aspect of this standard is fostering for creativity within the content area. In science, this standard correlates well with the inquiry approach for teaching science. In inquiry lessons, students are guided to solve problems by their own questions. Students will design and create their own experiments based off of their questions, and then implement those experiments. In inquiry, students are engaged because they are driving their own learning and using their creativity to solve problems. The other aspect of this standard is to find opportunities to relate their own content to other disciplines. To apply this, teachers can work with teachers of other disciplines or their team members in trying to design lessons or units that relate to one another across the disciplines. This strategy will help reinforce the concept being taught and help students apply their knowledge. What is this artifact?This artifact is my lesson that I planned and delivered at Magnolia Middle School to a 7th grade life science class in spring 2015. This lesson was designed for the unit of ecology, and focuses on the topic of the different types of Abiotic and Bioctic factors in ecosystems. In this lesson, students looked at different types of abiotic and biotic factirs that are found in nature today. How does this artifact demonstrate mastery of the InTASC or COE standard?The lesson demonstrates mastery of the InTASC standard by showing my ability to design an lesson that has applications to local world and global problems. For example, students looked at a video on the relationship of sea, otters, sea urchins, and kelp forests, and our climate. The importance of sea otters in kelp forest is a relative issue today where the presence of sea otters in a kelp forest ecosystem, has global effects on our climate. Students observed this relationship and identified the specific abiotic and biotic factors that contribute to the stability of the ecosystem. This artifact also highlights a vocabulary tool that students can use across content areas. Students completed a vocabulary graphic organizer where they had to define the terms abiotic and biotic. In this graphic organizer, students wrote the terms abiotic and biotic in their own words, a formal definition of the terms, examples of the terms, and finally, students drew an illustration to help them visualize and remember the terms. Although the content of abiotic and biotic is only relative to biology, students used a vocabulary tool that can be used across disciplines.In what way does this artifact contribute to/relate to a positive effect on student learning?This artifact contributes to a positive effect on learning because students had the opportunity to view an ecosystem that is relevant in nature today. Many students were familiar with sea otters, sea urchins, and how sea otters feed on sea urchins. Since students had some background knowledge on the topic and knew that their relationship is relevant in nature, many students were engaged in the activity of identifying and analyzing the abiotic and biotic factors of this particular ecosystem.How does this artifact demonstrate the Planning-Teaching-Learning cycle (judging prior learning, planning instruction, teaching, assessing, analyzing, and reflecting)?The lesson demonstrates the judging prior to learning, planning instruction, and teaching, of the Planning-Teaching Learning cycle because I used my own judgment of students knowledge of abiotic and biotic factors and planned instruction appropriate for a lesson to be taught. I was aware that students may not have been introduced to the terms abiotic and biotic, factors, so I ensured that in the lesson, we spent time learning the terms and practicing vocabulary, before applying the knowledge to global applications in nature.