Assignment: Lesson Plan Analysis for Motivation

Madeline Hunter Lesson Plan

Author(s): Hina Gulzar

Title of Lesson: Matter and Energy

Date: 12_12_2015
Mentor Teacher: Dominique Gay.

Core components
Subject, Content Area or Topic: Middle School Science, Biology.
Student Population: 32.
Learning Community: Some Middle School.
Learning Objectives (for cognitive Domain):
Students will know that interactions occur between matter and energy.
Students will recognize that radiant energy from the sun is transformed into chemical
energy through the process of photosynthesis. They will recognize components of the
process, and the equation for photosynthesis. They will know that the process of
photosynthesis is unique to plants and other plant- like organisms.
Students will demonstrate and explain the cycling of matter within living systems such as
in the decay of biomass in a compost bin. Students will also know that the decay of
biomass, or organic matter, produces heat.
Students will be able to diagram the flow of energy through living systems, including
food chains, food webs and energy pyramids. They will be able to explain energy loss
and the 10% rule.

Teas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

TEKS: 7.2 C; 7.5A 7.5B, 7.5C
Technology TEKS (if applicable)
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/ch126toc.htm

English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS):

TLW read, write and speak about the cycling of matter and energy flows through living systems
and is passed from one trophic level to another. It is then returned to the environment through
cycles.
How does energy transfer in living systems?
What happens to the energy in matter that is decaying or decomposing?
How is energy returned to the environment through the decay of biomass?
How is matter decomposed?
How is energy transferred through the decay of biomass?

KEY VOCABULARY:
Photosynthesis
Decomposition
Cycling
Decompose
Compost
Energy
Radiant Energy
Matter

Organic Compound Biomass

Producer Condensation
Precipitation
Nitrogen Fixation
food web
Decay
Chemical Energy

Organic Compound
Food Chain
Evaporation
Consumer

Materials and Resources:

You tube, class notes,journels,Microscope,yarn,leaves,paper,power point,

bromothymol blue,

Beakers, test tubes Yarn, Animal pictures. Etc.

Safety:
Wear gloves while doing the lab experiments.
Handel all the glass ware with extra care.
Record all the observations correctly.
PART 1
Food Chain and Food Webs
Process Components
Anticipatory set (Engage):
1. Students will watch Bill Nye the Science Guy video on Food Webs.
2. Yarn Food Web- Students will choose a card from a stack of index cards. Each card
will have the name of an organism in an ecosystem. The students will either be the sun,
producers or consumers in the same organism. Each organism will have instructions as to
how many and what color lengths of yarn to pick up. The consumers will then be told to
grab the other end of yarn of organisms that they would get energy from.

Instructional input or Procedure (Explore): The students will participate in a food

chain card matching game. Students will work in groups of 3-4. Each group will be given
a set of envelope containing sets of organism cards and will make possible food chains by
moving the cards around. Students will try to arrange the web so that all the organisms in
the ecosystem are involved
The students will participate in a food chain card matching game. Students will work in
groups of 3-4. Each group will be given a set of envelope containing sets of organism
cards and will make possible food chains by moving the cards around. Students will try
to arrange the web so that all the organisms in the ecosystem are involved

Modeling (Explain):
The students will view a PowerPoint on food chains, food webs,
Energy transfer between organisms in an ecosystem and the 10% rule of energy.

Guided Practice (Elaborate):

Students will make a flip book for their journals that will include tabs for producer,
consumer, decomposer, food web, food chain, and energy pyramid. The outside flap will
have the name and the inside will have the definition and an illustration.
Independent Practice (Extend):
Students will be assigned an animal for an independent research project. The class will be
taken to the computer lab and given time to research their animal. They are to find out
ecosystem the animal lives in, what it eats and what eats it. They will then draw and color
the animals ecosystem. The drawing should include at least five different producers and
at least eight consumers and have them labeled with names. Appropriate arrows should be
drawn depicting the flow of energy.
Assessment (Evaluation):
Teacher will apply a 5 to 10 question quiz to asses students understanding.

PART 2
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Anticipatory set (Engage):
1. Students will be taken in to front yard and told to pick a leaf from a bush. They are also
to choose an adjacent leaf from the same bush and cover the leaf with black construction
paper folder over it and paper clipped to it. Students will come back to the lab and view
the leaf under a microscope. They will make a before drawing in the journals of the leaf
they picked from the bush. Next to the before drawing, they will make a frame for the
after drawing which will be completed on another day.
Instructional input or Procedure (Explore):
Students will view the Bill Nye video on Photosynthesis.
Modeling (Explain):
1. We will go through PowerPoint of Photosynthesis and discuss the process.
2. We will discuss the chemical formula for photosynthesis and draw it in our journals.
3. We will discuss the components necessary for photosynthesis to occur and draw. Label
and color in our journals.
4. We will label and color the plant cell diagram and put in our journals.
Guided Practice (Elaborate):
Elodea Lab:
1. Pour approximately 75mL of bromothymol blue into a beaker, and
Observe the color of the contents.
2. Use a straw to illustrate carbon dioxide by blowing into it until the solution is
Yellow.
3. Pour the solution evenly into three test tubes.
4. Place a 6 cm piece of elodea plant in one tube and close it with lid.
5. Place 2, 6 cm pieces of elodea covered with foil in the second tube and put cap
On the tube. Make sure the leaves are completely covered with liquid.
6. Cap the third test tube empty as a control. Place all three tubes in a large beaker
Covering them with water.
7. Place the beaker around 250 cm from a lamp and leave on overnight.
8. The following day, remove the plants from the test tubes and hold up the tubes
In front a white background like a wall or sheet of paper.
9. Have the students record the color of the liquid in the tubes.
10. Discuss the meaning of the color changes.
11. Students complete lab sheet in their journals.

Independent Practice (Extend):

Students will go outside and take the leaf that they covered off the bush and bring it in.
They will take the black construction paper off and observe the leaf under a microscope.
They will draw the after picture in their journals and explain the difference in the two
leafs.

Assessment (Evaluation):
Students will be given Unit 2 Test from C-Scope
2. Teacher will apply a 5 to 10 question quiz to asses students understanding.
1. What is the chemical formula of photosynthesis?
2. What is the process of making food in a plant called?
3. What are the tiny pores or openings in leaves that take in the carbon dioxide called?
4. The animals breathe out what that plants need for photosynthesis?
Oxygen

carbon dioxide

chlorophyll

5. Which of these is not needed to make food in a plant?

Sunlight

Carbon Dioxide

Chlorophyll

Flowers

3. Students will do a self grading project of their choice on photosynthesis.

Analysis:

Will your introduction capture students' attention and interests or

pique their curiosity?
Yes. See the yarn food web activity. Students get to play with the
cards and be the sun, and different animals. The student will
understand the interrelatedness of food webs and see how
populations affect other populations. It also uses manipulatives to
open the lesson. I believe the kids would love this because they
would get to move around and throw something at each other. It
would be a good introduction as they would use that activity to
connect to the assignment of ordering the pictures.

Do your objectives focus on higher-order thinking skills, not just

on knowledge and comprehension?

Yes, students will get to know how radiant energy is transformed

into chemical energy. They will recognize the components of the
process of photosynthesis and its equation. They will learn about
the cycling of matter and how energy flows through living systems
and is passed from one trophic level to another .The yarn food
web activity will help my students as it is different than memorizing
facts or telling something back to someone exactly the way. It will
help them understand the concept better and will connect them to
other facts and concepts.

Do you ask divergent questions as well as convergent questions?

Yes I have included both divergent questions as well as
convergent questions in my lesson plan.

Convergent questions:
The assessment (evaluation) part of my lesson plan has different
set of convergent questions as they have a single correct answer.
These questions involve the recall of facts or application of
knowledge to the process of photosynthesis and energy flow.
Questions:
1. What is the chemical formula of photosynthesis?
2. What is the process of making food in a plant called?
3. What are the tiny pores of openings in leaves that take in
carbon dioxide called?

Divergent question:
Students will be asked to complete a project on photosynthesis.
Assigning a project to my students would stimulate their creative
or critical thinking, and would encourage them to be better
observers. This can guide students as they discover information
for themselves, analyze data, make inferences, and identify
relationships.

Should the students be able to successfully complete the task

they have been given?

Yes, all the activities and tasks that I have included in my lesson
plan are tied to the TEKS and are developmentally appropriate.
These activities and tasks will provide multiple opportunities of
active engagement with subject matter content.

Are you taking learners one step higher than they were before?

Yes, all the activities and tasks will surely help my students
because I think all the hands on activities would help them get
behaviorally and/or emotionally invested in their work without
actually exerting the necessary mental effort to understand and
master the knowledge, craft, or skill that these activities promote.
This would help increase student engagement behaviorally,
emotionally, and cognitively, thereby positively affecting student
learning and achievement.

Is any choice given to students for a learning activity or product?

Yes, students will be asked to do a project of their choice on

photosynthesis. "They will have several projects to choose from,"
instead of, creating a tri-fold poster. This would help them to
demonstrate their skills and abilities. Students will be offered up
plenty of options in types of projects and I would also collaborate
with them in creating a criteria chart for each project. Having more
of a stake in it, students can use the criteria to grade themselves
in the end. I will make sure to include an opportunity for them to
also do some reflective writing on why they've assigned
themselves that grades, as I truly believe learning tends to stick
better when we reflect.

At the conclusion of the lesson, will you have left them curious
and interested in what they will be learning?
YES, as truly believe that less teacher talk and more studentcentered learning makes for a happy, healthy, and productive
learning environment.