TE 407: Field Teaching Plan (Discourse 2)

Name: Hannah Schrauben

Host Teacher: Kimberly Snook

Teaching Partner:Josh Borck

School: Haslett High School

Part I: Information about the Lesson

Topic:
Generating Big Ideas
Step 1a. Whats coming up next in your curriculum?
Write two sentences, as if to a fellow teacher, about the topic you plan to teach.

The next lessons that will be taught in biology will be photosynthesis and cellular
respiration. These two topics are usually taught next to each other because of how they
are related to each other. They are essentially the same reaction, they just occur in the
opposite direction of one another.

Step 1b. Expand what you know. Use reputable web sites or written resources to broaden your
understanding of the topic. Some teachers create concept maps to organize their thinking.
http://www.biology4kids.com/files/plants_photosynthesis.html
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/C/CellularRespiration.html
Step 2. Moving from topics toward big ideas. Your topic might be expressed as a thing, a process, a
concept, a theory, or a law. What makes this topic so important to study, that is, beyond knowing labels,
definitions and examples? Could this topic be taught within the context of a bigger idea? For example,
density taught within the context of buoyancy? Simple machines within the context of forces and energy?
Is the topic made up of connections among smaller explanations (evolution for example). Is there a
deeper underlying theory that encompasses this topic or explains how it works?

Cellular respiration is a smaller part of the larger idea of transformation of matter and
energy in cells as well as the conservation of mass and energy. Cellular respiration is the
mechanism in which energy is made and moved within a cell. So it will be taught to help
scaffold students to the ideas of the conservation of mass and energy.
Photosynthesis is the beginning step in the food web of energy transformation and
distribution of that energy for the plant and other organisms. It begins with the sun energy
and explains how a plant is able to store and covert its own food or energy for not only
itself but for other organisms when they consume the plant. It is the process which the
electromagnetic energy of the sun is transformed into energy needed to begin the process
where suns energy, water, and carbon dioxide are converted to make oxygen and glucose
as the product. It is taught to help scaffold the ideas of energy transformation and so that
students can trace energy throughout the whole process.

Step 3. Creating the Big Idea: Coupling a rich phenomenon with its explanatory model. Using Step 2 as a
starting point, what is an observable event (for example earthquakes, die-offs of species, different kinds

of rusting) that exemplifies the big idea and that kids can come to a deep understanding of over a period
of days? What underlying events provide a why explanation for this phenomenon? Use unobservable
events, processes, and things to create a causal storyline that has no gaps.

The observable event that kids can see is anyone who has lost weight. Maybe Jared, the
subway poster child, would be a good example because kids would recognize him. When
the body uses stored or food energy helps create a why explanation. Also the event of
glycolysis, pyruvate processing, The Krebs Cycle and the Electron Transport Chain all
help in explaining why this phenomena occurs.
Photosynthesis is a little hard to see the parts that make it up but they are observable in a
way if you take them away. Students can see the effects of taking things like sunlight or
water away from a plant and the consequences of doing so. These components being
taken a way kind of create an explanation of the plant needing them and maybe by
studying the products of photosynthesis and when you mess with sunlight or water, the
students will be able to gain a full understanding of the whole process.

Step 4. What does success for students look like? Kids should be able to use the Big Idea to explain new
phenomena that are different from the ones youve used in classand/or use the Big Idea to predict
what if scenarios or conduct thought experiments. What might these new phenomena or thought
experiments be?

One phenomena to have the students explain would be the difference between sprinters
and marathoners. They would have to compare and contrast what is going on in the
bodies of different types of runners.
For photosynthesis another phenomenon to look at could be plants in different
environments like a plant grown hydroponically or the kelp when it was at the bottom of
the ocean. They would still be able to identify the most important components but they
would be applying them in a different situation and under completely different
circumstances like the kelp at the bottom used dissolved gases instead of free molecules
in the air.

Kids should be able to use different kinds of evidence to support or refute parts of any explanatory model.
What kinds of experiences might students draw evidence from to support their explanatory models?

Objectives for Student Learning

Use the table below to list the Michigan Objectives (probably one or two) that apply to
your lesson and a small number of specific lesson objectives that you will be addressing during
this lesson. The Michigan Objectives should be copied from the Content Expectations and the
NGSS performance expectations should be copied directly from the NGSS document (both are
available via the websites provided in the syllabus).
Note: Each lesson objective should be an observable outcome. They are not teaching
activities. They are what you want students to be able to do that will indicate that they
understand at the appropriate level. For example, understand photosynthesis does not describe
what a student with that understanding will be able to do. Also, Conduct an experiment on plant
growth under different environmental conditions is a good learning activity, but not a good
objective. It doesnt say what students will learn to do as a result of conducting the experiments.

Michigan Objectives
1. B2.1A Explain how cells transform energy (ultimately obtained from the sun) from one form
to another
through the processes of photosynthesis and respiration. Identify the reactants and products in
the
general reaction of photosynthesis.
2. B2.1B Compare and contrast the transformation of matter and energy during photosynthesis
and respiration
NGSS Performance Expectations
1. HS-LS1-7
2. HS-LS1-5
Specific Lesson Objectives
1. To be able to observe the unobservable aspects of photosynthesis and cellular respiration
2. To be able to understand the process of both photosynthesis and respiration and be able to
pick out and understand the importance of each component making up each process.

Part III: Classroom Activities

This section contains your plans for the activities that you will actually do in the classroom.

Materials
List materials you will be using. Attach the files of materials that you have in electronic
form.

Laboratory materials: For the teacher or the class as a whole

Look at the D2 Express Tool on the Tools 4 Teaching Science Website. Walk through the steps
in the tool and complete the table below.

Planning Discourse #2
Generic Questions (You do not add
Actual Questions
What to listen for and plan to respond to
anything in this column)
(Answer each question)
Describe how you will introduce the activity: We will have the lab set up before the students arrive and we will talk about a little of what
they have been learning the last two weeks and then let that discussion lead to the lab where they will be able to observe the things they have
been learning.
Step 1. Orienting students to the concepts
What can we observe/ measure in this
activity?
OR What will we be seeing
happen/measuring?

Whywillwebemeasuringthediameteroftheballoon?Predict
whatyouthinkwillhappen.
Whyaretheleafdiscsfloatingnow?Howwasthewaterwith
bicarbonatenotinitdifferent?

Then you need to listen for, plan to respond to:

What if students can cite relevant features of the activity?
Then I wont spend too much time getting them started with how to
do the lab and relating it to respiration until after they have
completed the experiment. In the summary table at the end we should
be able to pull in students understanding of both topics and see where
they still need help.
What if students focus on extraneous features of activity?
If they focus too much on the temperature of the water, then I will
steer them back to the more important part like the sugar and
respiration of the yeast. While the warm water does help, it isnt the
most important detail of this activity. If they focus too much on the
starch then I will remind them what part of the experiment are we
controlling in this part to make it have less starch.

Step 2. Back-pocket questions:

Observations and patterns
What are you seeing here? (or similar
broad observational question)

How is the balloon inflating?

What if there was no sugar inside the balloon?
How are the leafs now able to float? What did we take away
from this plant to make it do this or what did we add to it?

What you need to listen for, plan to respond to:

What if students can cite relevant features of the activity?
I will press their thinking so they can unpack it and make sure they
know what they are saying.
What if students are focused on extraneous features of activity?
What if students mention patterns, but do not explain the
significance?
I will ask them pressing questions like why are there air bubbles
coming from the yeast? Also, they might not understand what is
going on inside, and the other activity will help them visualize what
is going on inside of the balloon. We will always be pressing them to
expand on their answers. Instead of the leaf discs are not floating
because of oxygen, I would press to learn how the oxygen got there.

Step 3. Back-pocket questions:

Connection to the big idea
Can you explain what you are doing or
what is happening in terms of [the big
idea]?

In terms of respiration:
Why is the balloon inflating? What evidence do you have of
this? Is the sugar necessary inside the balloon?
Photosynthesis:
What is the plant drawing in to perform these processes? How is
this plant similar or different to other plants that you have come
in contact with o a daily basis?

What you need to listen for, plan to respond to:

What if students hesitate or seem to rely on vocabulary?
I will ask them do define words or give me examples of the vocab
words to make sure they know what they are saying. And sometimes
it just helps to talk out what they are thinking because they might
actually know the ideas behind but it helps to unpack thinking.
What if students can make connections between activity and some
aspect of big idea?
If students can make connections to some aspect of the big idea, I
might press them a little more and see if they can make even more
connections based off of the original connection from the activity.

Step 4. Whole class coordination of

Who can explain what happened inside of the balloon in terms of

What you need to listen for, plan to respond to:

students ideas & their questions

What did you (addressing whole class)
find in your activity [adjust this questions
to the specifics of the activity, seeing
trends, patterns, differences, etc.]

cellular respiration? (this is different from the back pocket

question because this time it will be the students explaining it to
the whole class and helping them all get on the same page. I will
be able to press on the students and their peers can help if they
need)
Who can explain why one plant produced starch while the other
did not? Why did the air bubbles form in the leaf in the first
place? These are different from back pocket questions because
they are going for a more overall answer to photosynthesis rather
than activity specific like the other questions.

What if students hesitate?

If students hesitate, I will call on students that I heard good
conversations with while I was walking around during the activity.
What if can students describe patterns, insights?
If they can do this without much conversation and everyone seems to
understand I will have them try and relate respiration and
photosynthesis or have them draw a model.

Part IV: Assessment of Students

Assessment Task
You will need to collect written work from your students. This can be a warm-up, an exit
slip, [pictures of] students models, . Describe the task in detail including the actual question(s)
and what an ideal response might be to the task.

Rubric /80

Big ideas
Complete and accurate
Topics big ideas
Phenomenon
Model
Objectives
Includes all relevant state & NGSS
objectives
Lesson objectives are observable
outcomes that match state & NGSS
objectives and are appropriate for
students
Materials
Complete and realistic
Discourse Step 1
Questions
What to listen for

Pts
Pts
Possib. Earned Comments
15

10

5
10

Discourse Step 2
Questions
What to listen for

10

Discourse Step 3
Questions
What to listen for

10

Discourse Step 4
Questions
What to listen for

10

Assessment
Includes specific Qs
Matches objective(s)
Involves each student and reveals
students reasoning

10