Lesson plans must be inquiry-oriented and student-centered; if several are called for, they must
also be sequential; they must adhere to the content area identified by the
teacher. Any series of lessons must
incorporate one or more complete learning cycles.
The
focus of each lesson should be on answering a key question rather than merely
purveying knowledge. Simply asking lots of questions during a lesson does not
make it an inquiry-oriented lesson. Students should be actively engaged in
hypothesizing, experimenting, collecting, analysing, and interpreting data, drawing conclusions based upon empirical evidence, and communicating results.
The use of technology is a plus. Avoid at all costs expository
lecture-demonstration approaches. Before planning your lesson, be certain to
have:
- determined
with the help of the cooperating teacher the general strand of teaching
- identified a major goal within that strand; and
- identified major objectives within that goal.
Title: Clearly identify the lesson topic by name.
Statement
of Goal: The teaching/learning goal must be inquiry oriented. The lesson goal should
state what the students are expected to know and be able to do at the end of
the lesson. The goal should include aims in relation to content knowledge,
intellectual and/or physical process skills, and dispositions as appropriate.
Inquiry-Oriented
Student Performance Objectives: Objectives for students should consist of
readily observable behaviors or performance tasks. Students must be made aware
of day-to-day objectives. Provide two to five inquiry-oriented student
performance objectives for each lesson. Hint: See for example the student
performance objectives hyperlinked to the PHYSICS 310 course syllabus at http://phy.ilstu.edu/pte/310.html. More importantly, look ahead to the PHY 312 course syllabus at http://phy.ilstu.edu/pte/312.html and see the hundreds of student performance objectives listed under course outline topics.
Alignment
with ILS: The goals and objectives of this lesson must be aligned with Illinois
Learning Standards, including Applications of Learning. In a concise
statement, explain how the each complies with directives of the Illinois Learning Standards.
Anticipatory
Set: Explain how you will link the current lesson with any previous related
lesson. The anticipatory set is included to ensure that the students are ready
for this lesson as the next lesson in a series of lessons. These introductory
activities focus student attention, provide for very brief practice on previous
objectives, and develop readiness for the current lesson.
Instructional Strategies: Classroom activities must be inquiry-oriented. Instructional activities should be described.
Include estimated times for each activity. Use diverse and effective actions,
strategies and methodologies to teach science.
Skills
of Teaching:
Interactions: Tell how you will make this
lesson student-centered. Explain how you will interact effectively with
students to promote learning and assess student achievement.
Student Groupings: Tell how you will
organize and manage science activities effectively in different student
groupings.
Preconceptions: List the known
preconceptions associated with this content area.
Making Connections: Each lesson should include one or more of following three components:
- Nature
of Science: Explain
how you will engage students in activities to define the values, beliefs and
assumptions inherent to the creation of scientific knowledge within the
scientific community, and contrast science to other ways of knowing.
- Context
of Science: Explain how this lesson will relate to the daily lives and interests of your
students and to the larger framework of human endeavor and understanding.
Context of science refers to relationships among systems of human endeavor
including science and technology; relationships among scientific,
technological, personal, social and cultural values; and the relevance and
importance of science to the personal lives of students.
- Real-world Applications of Science: Explain how you will engage students so that they understand how science is applied in every-day life, especially its relationship to current technologies.
Closure/Assessment: There has to be a
logical means for drawing conclusions from the lesson. How will this be done? (N.B. Failure to achieve closure is one of the major reasons why students develop a resistance to inquiry, e.g., "The teacher doesn't tell us anything.") Explain how you will as
teacher determine whether or not the goal and objectives for the days' lessons
has been achieved (formative assessment), and how students will know what they supposedly learned from the lesson. How will you assess the objectives in
an informal though meaningful manner? List here a series of
questions - related dirctly to the stated student performance objectives - that you might use to check for student understanding of the content
of the lesson.
Materials: What materials will you
need to teach your lesson? Because science teaching can be so materials
intense, it's a good idea to make a list of everything that you'll need so that
nothing is forgotten.