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2. What assessments (both embedded/formative and summative) will you use to assess students'
understandings?
During the lessons I will be asking students to type in ideas, answers, and explanations into poll
pods, which I can view as students answer as well as examine more closely after LiveLesson has ended. I
will ask some students to share their ideas over the microphone, as well. At the end of each lesson I will
give the students an exit ticket with various types of questions (some multiple-choice, some written
answer) to get an idea of how well the students grasped the material, and to give me a closer look into
the ideas of specific students as they explain. The students will also be completing a formal project at
some point during the unit (whenever they personally get to it – most students will complete it around
the time of LiveLesson Lesson 3) in which they will be choosing producers, consumers, and decomposers
from Michigan and designing an accurate food web based on feeding relationships. *All* students
complete this project, regardless of whether they attend my LiveLessons or not, so unfortunately this
doesn't provide great detail into how well I am personally teaching the material in my lessons and how
well they are grasping it (since most students don't attend my lessons). It will, however, help me gauge
how well students understand the vocabulary words of producers, consumers, and decomposers, and if
they understand how to build a proper food web.
Performance expectations:
MS-LS1-6. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the
cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
o Plants, algae (including phytoplankton), and many microorganisms use the energy from
light to make sugars (food) from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water
through the process of photosynthesis, which also releases oxygen. These sugars can be
used immediately or stored for growth or later use.
PS3.D: Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life
o The chemical reaction by which plants produce complex food molecules (sugars)
requires an energy input (i.e., from sunlight) to occur. In this reaction, carbon dioxide
and water combined to form carbon-based organic molecules and release oxygen.
MS-LS1-7. Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming
new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.
LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
o Within individual organisms, food moves through a series of chemical reactions in which
it is broken down and rearranged to form new molecules, to support growth, or to
release energy.
MS-LS2-3 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and
nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
LS2.B: Cycle of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
o Food webs are models that demonstrate how matter and energy is transferred between
producers, consumers, and decomposers as the three groups interact within an
ecosystem. Transfers of matter into and out of the physical environment occur at every
level. Decomposers recycle nutrients from dead plant or animal matter back to the soil
in terrestrial environments or to the water in aquatic environments. The atoms that
make up the organisms in an ecosystem are cycled repeatedly between the living and
nonliving parts of the ecosystem.
MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or
biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
o Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions
to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all of its
populations.
Student-Friendly Learning Goals
Describe how photosynthesis in plants helps matter and energy move through an ecosystem.
Describe how food changes in cells to help things live and grow.
Describe how matter and energy move through an ecosystem.
Explain how and why changes to an ecosystem can cause the numbers of plants and animals to
change.
Crosscutting Concepts
Matter is conserved because atoms are conserved in physical and chemical processes.
Within a natural system, the transfer of energy drives the motion and/or cycling of matter.
The transfer of energy can be tracked as energy flows through a natural system.
Initial Plan
As of right now, these phases are not going to go straight through 1 – 5 in my lessons. I am going to use
my 4 whole-group LiveLessons during my entire unit to cover the above standards, and they will all be
connected back to the same Phase 1 (the driving question). (The lessons are 1 hour long and will occur
on Tuesdays over the course of 4 weeks.) Each lesson is going to stand alone in terms of the phenomena
or activity presented for them to learn from, and each lesson will have some discussion and presenting
of student ideas and explanations. (I will always plan to spend time connecting it back to the original
driving question, though.) So to make it easier, I'm going to break it up by lesson number and put phases
1 – 5 in each one.