For planning, I started by building my own content knowledge. I sought the help of my Science methods instructor, and used an article that she provided me, titled What's the Matter with Teaching Children About Matter? This proved to be a helpful resource not only to build my own content knowledge, but to help me address possible misconceptions that my students might have, which coincidentally is one of the components of the 5 page USF Lesson Plan. With the help of this article, and the National Geographic Teacher Edition, I was able to brush up on the properties of matter and think about my own misconceptions as well as the ones my students might have. This article also gave me a sample of an activity that I was able to modify and use in my classroom that provided an awesome hands on investigation for my students.
Also in this plan, I wanted to make sure that I included the 3 legs of Science from Weinburgh's article titled A Leg (or Three) to Stand On. This article states that " The three legs on which Science instruction rests are the content of science, process of science, and the nature of science. Each leg performs its own function and need not be competitive with the others. Rather, the legs should work together" to produce balance (Weinburgh, 2003). I wanted to make sure that my plan, as well as my delivery of the lesson, showed very clearly, each of the 3 legs. For this lesson, the content revolved around the properties of matter. The processes were observing and sorting, which were probably the simplest to identify. And the nature of science is that science demands evidence, which means that students must provide evidence for the claims they make. After planning and teaching my lesson I realized that I included only one nature of science in my plan, but taught two in my lesson. During the lesson, I found an opportunity to incorporate the nature of science that science is social, so I just went with it. It was fitting, because the students were actively comparing their observations to those of their classmates, and discussing similarities and differences.
For the actually lesson, I planned for transitions/activities that could be timed, to encourage the students to stay on task. I did this because of a previous blog entry from Semester 4, Week 8: Force and Motion, which helped me notice that my students had difficulties staying on task, unless they were being timed. During the exploration, the students were timed. They were told for both parts of the investigation that they had 15 minutes, on a timer, to complete their observations or classification. For transitions, I used the countdown strategy, in which I would tell the students to "bring it back in 5,4,3,2,1". Each of these timing strategies were successful. The students stayed mostly on task, and were able to transition smoothly, following my timing expectations. I feel like this is a great success! When the students are on task, and stay within their time limits, we get so much more time to actually investigate and explore.
I am still awaiting feedback on my 5 page lesson plan, however I have placed a link at the bottom so that it can be viewed. Overall, planning was very in depth and productive, and this lesson was one of my most successful yet, as far as student engagement and behavior goes. I am proud of my students for their hard work, and myself for my continued reflective practices!
Lesson Plan: Properties of Matter
This reflective post is assisting in the completion of FEAP(s):
(a).1.e: Uses variety of data, independently and in collaboration with colleagues, to evaluate student learning outcomes, adjust planning, and continuously improve the effectiveness of lessons.
(a).3.a: Deliver engaging and challenging lessons.
(a).3.c: Identify gaps in students' subject matter knowledge.
(a).3.g: Apply varied instructional strategies and resources, including appropriate technology, to teach for student understanding.
(b).5.a: Designs purposeful professional goals to strengthen the effectiveness of instruction based on students' needs.
(b).5.c: Uses variety of data, independently and in collaboration with colleagues, to evaluate student learning outcomes, adjust planning, and continuously improve the effectiveness of lessons.
(b).5.e: Engages in targeted professional growth opportunities and reflective practices.