Inquiry Lesson Plan Template (with Four Ways of Thinking connection)

Teacher:
Content & Title:
Grade Level:
Allison Bramanti
Population Growth on
3rd
Earth
Day 4 & 5: How has
population changed in
different countries over
time? How might it
continue to change in the
future?
Standards:
These will be addressed over the course of the entire 5-day Unit.
Concept 1: Changes in Environments
Describe the interactions between human populations, natural hazards, and the environment.
PO 1. Describe the major factors that could impact a human population (e.g., famine, drought, disease,
improved transportation, medical breakthroughs).
PO 2. Describe the beneficial and harmful impacts of natural events and human activities on the environment
(e.g., forest fires, flooding, pesticides).
Concept 2: Science and Technology in Society Understand the impact of technology.
PO 1. Identify ways that people use tools and techniques to solve problems.
PO 2. Describe the development of different technologies (e.g., communication, entertainment,
transportation, medicine) in response to resources, needs, and values.
Objectives (Explicit & Measurable):
Students will be able to identify two to three reasons for why population has changed over time in a
specific country and predict one reason for why it might change in the future through a powerpoint
presentation.
Evidence of Mastery (Measurable Assessment: formative and summative):
(formative) Students will be assessed through formative assessments during this lesson that include
class participation, share alouds, and small group question and answer sessions with the teacher
following the completion of their fact sheets. Students must actively engage in each of these activities
by participating at least once within the class discussions and Q&A sessions. More participation will
show the student exceeds expectations while no participation will suggest the student fails to meet
expectations. Each of these outcomes will reflect in the students grade. Students will also be assessed
on their active listening during the small group presentations. Each student should provide feedback
or a question at least once throughout the presentations. Students must also complete their country
fact sheet and participate in their small groups completion of their country powerpoint. Completion
of each of these assessments will receive full points. Students who do not complete the assessments
will have grades that reflect their incompletion (wont receive the points). Students must also each
speak at least once during their small group powerpoint presentation and complete the assigned Exit
Ticket.
(summative) Students will construct a powerpoint presentation and then present it to the class in
small groups. Students will be graded according to the rubric found at the end of this lesson plan.
Sub-objectives, SWBAT (steps that lead to completion of objective; sequence from simple to more
complex):
Use online resources, figures, and facts to support and draw conclusions about a countrys population

Lesson Summary and Justification: (summary gives detailed information about what students are
doing. Justification why is this lesson being taught)
Population growth on Earth should be taught to students because it impacts nearly every other sustainability
topic. Students need to first understand population and what influences the population before they can
understand why its so important to think about sustainability. Its important that our young generations of
students are learning about population and its constant growth all over the world so that they can begin using
futures thinking to create sustainable solutions to this problem.
Through this lesson students learn how population varies in different countries and continue to think about
how population growth might affect them personally and, greater than that, how it might affect our planet.
By engaging students in the learning of this material, teachers can create informed, innovative and
sustainable thinkers that will be able to lead our world in the future.
Background Knowledge: (What do students need to know prior to completing this lesson)
Students should know what population growth is based on what they learned on the first day of this unit.
Students should know what factors cause the population to grow and decline based on what they learned on
the second day of this unit.
Students should know how humans impact the Earth and its limited resources based on what they learned on
the third day of this unit.
Students should know how to create a powerpoint presentation using online tools such as Powerpoint or
Google Slides.
Misconception: (what possible misleading thoughts might students have?)
Students might believe that the Earth can sustain a continually increasing population.
Students might think that population growth is only positive and will not personally affect them in any
negative ways.
Students might think that all populations live like the United States population.
Process Skills: (what skills are you introducing or reinforcing)
Critical thinking skills
Listening skills
Collaboration Skills
Technological Skills
Public Speaking Skills
Four Ways of Thinking connection: (Provide a complete explanation of how your lesson plan connects
to futures, system, strategic, or values thinking. Define the way of thinking you selected and used in
this lesson plan. Remember, this should be included meaningfully in the lesson plan.)
Futures thinking requires an individual to make decisions by taking into consideration the potential outcomes
those decisions may create and cause. By teaching individuals to use the concept of futures thinking, they
will be more aware of their impact on the world around them. This type of thinking is especially useful when
attempting to find solutions to sustainability challenges because it requires individuals to think about the
impact their solution might have and plan for that impact. This type of thinking allows for creativity and
innovation to occur that might help solve challenges that were originally only confronted with a mindset to
focus on a present solution, not a long-lasting solution.
This lesson plan connects to Futures Thinking because it requires students to think about how population
growth affects different countries all over the world currently, while encouraging students to consider how
population growth will affect individuals and the world if the world population continues to grow at its
current rate without any type of change or sustainable solutions implemented to conserve resources.

Safety: (what safety rules and items need to be addressed?) No safety concerns.
Inquiry Questions: (testable in the here and now.)
1. (to explore) How has population changed in different countries over time?
2. (to elaborate) How might population continue to change in the future?
Key vocabulary: (list and define)

Materials: (list item and possible quantity)

1. Projector/Screen to display computer images to
All key vocabulary has been discussed and defined
the class
within the previous days lessons.
2. Gapminder: www.gapminder.org
3. Country Fact Sheet for each student (printed out
or in a digital file):
file:///Users/allisonbramanti/Desktop/CountryFa
ctSheet-SCNfinalproj.pdf
4. One presentation rubric for each small group
5. Computer, one for each student
6. Powerpoint software or Google Slides access on
each computer
7. Paper, enough for each student
8. Pencil or another writing utensil for every
student
Engage - In this section you should activate prior knowledge, hook student attention, pose a question
(IQ#1) based on your lesson objective that students will seek to answer in Explore.
Teacher Will: (hook)
Students Will:
Begin the lesson by projecting the Gapminder
Listen to their teachers instructions and
website, www.gapminder.org, on the overhead
ask if they have any questions or do not
screen
understand what the map is displaying
Go to Gapminder World, click the Map view,
Watch the dots over time and notice how
and choose the size category Population, total
they grow or change in association with the
in the bottom right hand corner
year displayed in the bottom left hand
corner
Inform students that every colored dot
Tell their partner why they think the dots
represents the amount of people within each
different country
grew over time
Tell students to watch the dots over time and
notice how they grow or change in correlation
with the year displayed in the bottom left hand
corner
Play the map over time by clicking Play in the
bottom left hand corner
Ask students to turn to a partner sitting next to
them and, thinking about what theyve learned
throughout this unit, tell their partner why they
think the dots got bigger over time
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
The teacher can have every student follow along on their own computers in order to better see what changes
are occuring over time. The teacher should also talk about what is happening over time as the map plays so
that students understand what they are viewing.
By using technology as an additional form of media within the classroom the teacher is implementing a best

practice. Technology helps to further promote learning and various forms of media can help reach different
types of learners.
Explore - In this section students should take the lead and actively use materials to discover information
that will help them answer the question posed in Engage. Teachers may choose to give steps to follow,
especially for younger students, but the goal is for students to discover some or all of the sub-objectives of
the lesson.
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #1)
Students Will: (list all steps)
Split the class up into small groups of three
Sit with their assigned small groups
students each, asking them to sit next to their
Write down their assigned country
assigned partners
Look at the fact sheet and rubric, following
Assign each small group a country (Use: United
along as the teacher explains each one
States, China, Uganda, India, Bangladesh,
Ask questions for clarification if they do
Costa Rica, France, Canada, and Sweden)
not understand any part of the assigned
Explain to students that they will be researching
tasks
their assigned country today and filling out a
Begin researching their assigned country
fact sheet (included below) about what they
and complete their fact sheet
find
Raise their hand upon completion of their
Inform them that after they fill out the
fact sheet to get the teachers approval and
worksheet they will use the information from
feedback
the worksheet to create a powerpoint
presentation that will be presented during
tomorrows class period
Hand out a copy of the fact sheet to each
student or share digitally
(file:///Users/allisonbramanti/Desktop/Countr
yFactSheet-SCNfinalproj.pdf) and hand out
one copy of the powerpoint presentation rubric
(attached at the end of the lesson plan) to each
small group
Read through the fact sheet and rubric to make
sure that students know what is expected of
them
Ask students if they have any questions before
they begin working
Tell students to raise their hands once they
complete their fact sheet to get approval before
starting the powerpoint presentation
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
The teacher should place students in small groups based on their learning abilities so that every group has a
student who can serve as a leader for the group. The teacher can provide transcripts of the hand outs in
additional languages as necessary for ELL students. The Fact Sheet can also be altered, simplified, or
extended upon to match the needs of students.
Allowing students to work in small groups is a best practice because it fosters collaboration and helps
students build ideas by learning from one another.
Explain In this section students share what they discovered, teacher connects student discoveries to
correct content terms/explanations, students articulate/demonstrate a clear and correct understanding of the
lesson sub-objectives by answering the question from Engage before moving on.

Teacher Will:
Students Will:
Read through each small groups fact sheets,
Explain their responses to the teacher and
checking for completion and comprehension
share how they plan to break up the work
for their powerpoint presentation
Ask students to explain their responses in a
Start working on their powerpoint
quick, informal assessment and share how they
are going to break up the work for their
presentation with their small groups
powerpoint presentation
Tell small groups they can start their
powerpoint presentations utilizing PowerPoint
or Google Slides after looking over their fact
sheets
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
By individually checking in with each small group the teacher is utilizing a best practice. The teacher is
ensuring that every group understands the material within the lesson before they work on their summative
assessment. The teacher is providing students with a more personal opportunity to ask clarification questions,
as well.
Elaborate In this section students take the basic learning gained from Explore and clarified in Explain
and apply it to a new circumstance or explore a particular aspect of this learning at a deeper level. Students
should be using higher order thinking in this stage. A common practice in this section is to ask a What If?
question. IQ #2
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #2)
Students Will:
Give students the remainder of the class period
Spend the rest of the class period working
to work on their presentations reminding them
on their powerpoint presentation with their
to look at the rubric to make sure theyre
small group
meeting all the requirements
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
The teacher can provide a powerpoint template for small groups that might be unsure of how to organize
their presentations.
By allowing the students to complete a hands-on project, the teacher is utilizing a best practice. The students
have the opportunity to prove they have learned and discovered the objectives and sub-objectives of the
lesson and unit. By providing a rubric the teacher is also using a best practice because the rubric tells
students exactly what is expected of them in order to give them the greatest possibiltiy of succeeding in the
units summative assessment.
Evaluate In this section every student demonstrates mastery of the lesson objective (though perhaps not
mastery of the elaborate content). Because this also serves as a closing, students should also have a chance
to summarize the big concepts they learned outside of the assessment.
Teacher Will:
Students Will:
During the next class period, ask each small
During the following class period, present
group to present their powerpoint to the class
their powerpoint to the class with their small
group and listen to the other powerpoint
Instruct students to be active listeners during
presentations
the other presentations by thinking of one
Actively listen to the other group
piece of positive feedback, one constructive
criticism, or one question they have for each
presentations and think of one piece of
group after each presentation is finished
feedback, a constructive criticism, or a
question for each group
Grade each presentation according to the
rubric

Closure: (revisit objective, IQs and make real world connections)

The teacher will end the unit by asking students to close their eyes and take a few minutes to reflect on what
theyve learned. The teacher will guide the reflection by saying: Think about all of the different countries
discussed throughout the presentationsThink about the countries populations and how they changed over
time Think about the factors that caused the populations to grow or decline like crops, illness, famine,
natural disasters, war, medicine, new technologiesThink about how the populations of the countries
impacted and continue to impact the Earth and its resourcesthrough the use of many products and
resources every day such as gas for our cars, heat for our houses, energy sources for our electricityThink
about how the populations will continue to change in the future and will continue to impact our planet
Think about what we talked about two days ago, your Ecological Footprint, and what you decided you could
do to help reduce the negative impacts humans have on our planetThink about all that youve learned
throughout this unit and how you can continue to make choices that will help our planet to continue
sustaining its huge population for as long as possible. The teacher will ask students to open their eyes and
write down how they feel about population growth on our planet and what might happen in the future in one
to two sentences based on what theyve learned and reflected on from the unit (Exit Ticket).
**Best Practices List the Best Teaching Practices you will use to enhance the learning outcomes. In
each section where prompted, list the best practice, how the practices will be used and the purpose.
Rubric:

Sources
Gapminder World. (n.d.). Retrieved December 04, 2016, from http://www.gapminder.org/world/
Oral Presentation Rubric [PDF]. (2013). ReadWriteThink.