(Lesson Design)
(Final Version)
What?
With students’ previous knowledge of the concept of an ecosystem and last week’s lesson on creating a terrarium, we will engage students through a hands-on creation of an aquarium. Although we did not choose the main concept or activity for this lesson, having students create a terrarium and aquarium as a way to understand ecosystems is something that I could see myself choosing to do with my own students. In Science K-8: An Integrated Approach, Victor (2008) talks about how students learn best when they are physically and intellectually active (p. 46). We will encourage students to make observations of the aquarium and record amount, size, color, and description of materials (gravel, water, elodea, duckweed, and algae) on their worksheet. They will use these observations to guide their predictions of what will happen within the ecosystem. We will work with students to identify the properties of the ecosystem and describe the relationships between the natural elements, particularly the relationship between the sun and its effect on the terrarium/aquarium.
How?
We learned about the students’ prior knowledge of ecosystems during our opening discussion in the first lesson. We took notes about students’ prior knowledge and will write those on a poster board (ecosystem chart), which we will bring with us to the second lesson. The importance of assessing for prior knowledge as an introduction to a concept is mentioned in many of the readings we have done this year. Bransford (1999) says, "There is a good deal of evidence that learning is enhanced when teachers pay attention to the knowledge and beliefs that learners bring to a learning task, use this knowledge as a starting point for new instruction, and monitor students' changing conceptions as instruction proceeds" (p. 11). During our review, we will have them discuss their observations of the terrarium over the course of the previous week. We will also record these on our ecosystem chart. We will assign student roles and divide jobs in order to maintain fairness among the group participants as we carry out the procedure.
We will develop a pattern structured from kinesthetic involvement (gathering materials) → making observations individually and sharing them with a group (recorded on worksheet) → kinesthetic involvement (placing the materials into the aquarium). The thought behind this approach is that students will understand their expectations as scientists and understand how a systematic and methodical approach, such as following a procedure, is a necessary component of scientific inquiry. Additionally, research shows that students learn best when they are engaging in hands-on and minds-on activity that involve tactile and kinesthetic experiences such as touching, feeling, and moving objects in conjunction with sharing what they are noticing and learning (Victor, 2008, p. 46). Making observations and talking about the observations is important because, as Bransford (1999) notes, "in order to process, make sense of, and learn from their ideas, observations, and experiences, students must talk about them" (p. 87).
Why?
In building the aquarium with a hands-on approach, students will become constructors of knowledge by actively engaging with the materials and conducting observations to engage in inquiry-based learning. Students will be able to see a self-contained model of a natural process to better understand how ecosystems work in the world around them. They will make predictions about how the environment will change within the aquarium/terrarium, as well as predict how the ecosystem will continue to function as it grows and develops over time. They will be able to see how interconnected various elements are in the natural world. Specifically, they will see how one component or organism is contingent upon another in order to maintain the viability of an ecosystem.
On a broader level, this lesson will provide students with an opportunity to:
With students’ previous knowledge of the concept of an ecosystem and last week’s lesson on creating a terrarium, we will engage students through a hands-on creation of an aquarium. Although we did not choose the main concept or activity for this lesson, having students create a terrarium and aquarium as a way to understand ecosystems is something that I could see myself choosing to do with my own students. In Science K-8: An Integrated Approach, Victor (2008) talks about how students learn best when they are physically and intellectually active (p. 46). We will encourage students to make observations of the aquarium and record amount, size, color, and description of materials (gravel, water, elodea, duckweed, and algae) on their worksheet. They will use these observations to guide their predictions of what will happen within the ecosystem. We will work with students to identify the properties of the ecosystem and describe the relationships between the natural elements, particularly the relationship between the sun and its effect on the terrarium/aquarium.
How?
We learned about the students’ prior knowledge of ecosystems during our opening discussion in the first lesson. We took notes about students’ prior knowledge and will write those on a poster board (ecosystem chart), which we will bring with us to the second lesson. The importance of assessing for prior knowledge as an introduction to a concept is mentioned in many of the readings we have done this year. Bransford (1999) says, "There is a good deal of evidence that learning is enhanced when teachers pay attention to the knowledge and beliefs that learners bring to a learning task, use this knowledge as a starting point for new instruction, and monitor students' changing conceptions as instruction proceeds" (p. 11). During our review, we will have them discuss their observations of the terrarium over the course of the previous week. We will also record these on our ecosystem chart. We will assign student roles and divide jobs in order to maintain fairness among the group participants as we carry out the procedure.
We will develop a pattern structured from kinesthetic involvement (gathering materials) → making observations individually and sharing them with a group (recorded on worksheet) → kinesthetic involvement (placing the materials into the aquarium). The thought behind this approach is that students will understand their expectations as scientists and understand how a systematic and methodical approach, such as following a procedure, is a necessary component of scientific inquiry. Additionally, research shows that students learn best when they are engaging in hands-on and minds-on activity that involve tactile and kinesthetic experiences such as touching, feeling, and moving objects in conjunction with sharing what they are noticing and learning (Victor, 2008, p. 46). Making observations and talking about the observations is important because, as Bransford (1999) notes, "in order to process, make sense of, and learn from their ideas, observations, and experiences, students must talk about them" (p. 87).
Why?
In building the aquarium with a hands-on approach, students will become constructors of knowledge by actively engaging with the materials and conducting observations to engage in inquiry-based learning. Students will be able to see a self-contained model of a natural process to better understand how ecosystems work in the world around them. They will make predictions about how the environment will change within the aquarium/terrarium, as well as predict how the ecosystem will continue to function as it grows and develops over time. They will be able to see how interconnected various elements are in the natural world. Specifically, they will see how one component or organism is contingent upon another in order to maintain the viability of an ecosystem.
On a broader level, this lesson will provide students with an opportunity to:
- demonstrate what they already know about a topic ("What is an ecosystem?"),
- follow scientific procedures,
- make observations,
- collect and record different types of data,
- engage in discussion about what they notice, and
- make connections to a larger concept
Comments on Lesson Design:
The comments on the right side of this Lesson Design document were added by me. I used the comments to write questions that might be raised about certain aspects of the lesson design as well as to elaborate on the thinking behind the choices that we made.