Sample Lesson Plan

I have prepared the lesson here on my moodle page ,  Please have a look

https://moodle.jksz.com/moodle/course/view.php?id=140

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There are many topics but I have only discussed first topic for this assignment.  You are welcome to browse through all other contents and send me any feedback.

Subject:        Science Inquiry

Topic:           Structure of Atom

Grade level: 6^th

Instructional objectives

Students will be able to:

1. Draw models of the atoms of different elements
2. Identify the location, relative mass, and charge for electrons, protons, and neutrons.
3. Describe the atoms mostly empty space with an extremely small, dense nucleus
   consisting of the protons and neutrons and an electron cloud surrounding the nucleus
4. Describe the properties of subatomic particles

Rationale

Students need to appreciate matter around and need to understand the constituent particles of the matter. Moreover, this will help students understand the physical and chemical properties of matter around them and will provide reasoning for their properties. For instance, why Hydrogen is gas and Iron is solid.

Resources

Web-based resources will be used due to the following reasons

1. Colored graphics
2. Dynamic and interactive
3. Videos

Procedure

Focusing event (something to get the students’ attention)

The student will read a modified woodcutter story in which two woodcutters hold a competition to cut the wood to the smallest size (I copied the story off the internet and modified a little bit). That will be followed by two hinge questions to allow them to internalize the story and reflect on that.

Here are the two questions that students will ponder after going through the story?  They will discuss with their peers and also with their teacher.

What is the smallest size of the piece of wood that you cut to?

Will you be able to see that smallest size?

1. Teaching procedures

The teacher will ask   What is matter?

Students will talk to one another for a minute and then answer to describe matter using different examples from their personal lives. The teacher will define matter as an object that has mass and volume like the wood in the wood-cutter story.

The teacher will also tell students that if the woodcutter could continue cutting the wood, then he will end up having a smallest possible unit of any matter i.e Atom.

Students will be watching videos and look at graphics of atoms.

1. Formative check (progress checks throughout the lesson

Then students will do “Build an atom” activity as group work.

Build an atom by dropping electrons protons and neutrons on the atom

1. List four things that you learned from the animation.
2. Draw and Label your own model of the atomfor one element.that has protons equal to the number of letters in your name,
3. Write one question that you have about this animation.

They will reflect on their learning by answering questions.   My idea here is to allow some time for students to play and learn.  They will also get some unstructured time to internalize their learning.

This will be followed by an online matching question formative assessment.   I have created a student account for you and have you enrolled in my sample course. You are welcome to try that and suggest any improvement.

1. Student Participation

I have done the following things to improve student participation in the class.

1. Story to ignite their interest
2. Coloured Graphic
3. Videos were used to teach
4. The interactive simulation was used to grasp their attention.

1. Closure

The teacher will summarize the learning by using colored graphic of the model of atom and table of properties of subatomic particles of an atom.

 

Assignment or Homework

The student will make a Venn diagram to compare and contrast subatomic particles.  Details are here

 

Assessment

I will ask students to draw the model of the atom and fill in a table of properties of subatomic particles.

 

How ZPD is used in the above lesson plan?

According to Vygotsky, learning drives the development of students.  How do kids learn before they go to schools? They co-construct knowledge through social interactions. They, subliminally, observe their peers and elders.  In unit-family systems, where they are living with elders only and having generation gap they don’t learn as much as they do in the typical joint family system because joint families, most likely, have people of all ages. Kids have better interactions experience with their peers and elders. Additionally, large families provide a better opportunity for attention and sensations.  They also get to experience a wider variety of inputs for all members of society. Such a variety of interaction allows them to co-construct more balanced and meaningful knowledge.  Their interaction validates their learning and, consequently, allows them to change their attitude.  Kids learn and reconstruct and refine their knowledge by their social context and culture.

ZPD model of Vygotsky is a great model and it helps teachers make conscious efforts to link the new knowledge with prior knowledge. In this particular case of introduction of the structure of an atom, students must have prior knowledge of the matter. They should also be aware of the fact that cutting objects will produce objects of small sizes. However, they do need help reach the next level of ZPD. That gap is filled by the colored graphics, the video resources and the interactive simulation along with instructions from the teacher.  Moreover, the story links the science inquiry to real life and group work for interactive simulation activity provides the opportunity to interact with their peers by providing social context. Such interactions provide ways for them to validate their knowledge and verify it with others. This makes cognition more effective. Students use language to interact with their peers and teachers. Language plays a great role in the co-construction process as it acts as a vehicle for information for flow for co-construction. Additionally, it provides students to do higher order thinking.