5-E Lesson Plan

Context

This 5-E lesson was created under the advisement of Jeff Goodman, a professor of CI 3543 Elementary Science Methods at Appalachian State University.  My lesson was on energy transfer, and went along with Summer Barker's unit on energy.  Therefore, I taught my lesson within her unit to give our sixth grade students a more solid foundation on which to base their learning on.  This lesson was created by focusing a lot on hands-on aspects for the students.  I did an experiment in the beginning using a balloon, hot and cold water, and ice.  This experiment helped the students get an idea of what was being taught.  I used an digital video recorder to record my lesson for my professor.  Summer Barker used a digital camera to take additional photos of me while teaching my lesson.

Impact

This lesson taught the children about energy transfer.  By using the hands-on activities that I did, it allowed the students to get a better sense of understanding about what I was trying to teach them.  Since a lot of my students are visual learners, it was to my advantage, and theirs, to use hands-on activities.  My students learned about hot and cold molecules and how their energy may transfer to each other which they are put together.  This lesson had a very strong impact on me because I was able to see first-hand how excited kids get about science!  My students were so excited and willingly learning about energy transfer.  The activities I prepared kept them engaged and interested in the lesson.

Alignment

I have met NC DPI Standard 3, indicator 2 (and its details), because my lesson involved my students gathering data from their experiments, measuring the temperature of the water with a thermometer, and the writing about what the data, which they later plotted into a graph, meant about their experiment.

I have met Standard 7, indicator 2, because I was able to integrate other subject areas, including math and social studies,  into my lesson.

I have met Standard 7, indicator 3, because I tried to grab my students' attention by opening the lesson with an interesting science experiment.  Also, I used their prior knowledge of molecules and outside influences to build my science lesson upon.

I have met Standard 7, indicator 4, because I was able to implement a variety of teaching strategies within my lesson.  Since I have a deaf student in the class, I had her interpreter to sign the directions to the student, I also taught using a lot of hands-on activities for my visual learners, and I also did a lot of talking for my audio learners.

I have met Standard 7, indicator 6, because I had to modify some of my lesson to meet the needs of my students.  I tried to keep my instruction brief and concise so the interpreter could sign to my deaf student, when I put the students in groups I made sure to group my deaf student with another student who could sign to her, and also when grouping my students I made sure to group some of the higher-level ones with the lower-level ones so that I could have someone in the group to help everyone.

I have met Standard 7, indicator 7, because I assessed by students on several levels, including how well they worked within their groups among their peers, how well they did working together as a class and also how well they did on their individual assignments.

I have met Standard 10 because I used many questioning techniques while teaching my science lesson.  I asked questions which would encourage the students to predict, classify, measure, interpret and analyze what was taking place during the experiment.  Also, their group activities posed questions which would lead them to these types of skills.

I have met Standard 15, indicator 1 (and its details) because I used a variety of strategies in order to get my underrepresented groups of children to participate in the science lesson.  I used the resources which were available to me at this particular school in Ashe County, NC. I gave my personal attention to those students who were in the underrepresented groups by calling on them to answer questions and having them help me in my demonstrations.  Also, I encouraged underrepresented groups to assume leadership roles by placing them in groups with other students and having them both have a certain "job" they were to do within the group.  This allowed the children in the group to feel special and feel as if they had a special purpose for being in this group.