LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

By: Alana Cullen, Jackie Fluet, Emily Malone, and Amanda Schumaker

Unit Topic or Theme: Science

Grade: 4

Lesson Topic or Theme: The Aquarium

Lesson Objectives:

The student will be able to decipher different characteristics of various aquatic animals.

The student will be able to use outside websites to find more information to build on their preexisting knowledge of the animals. 

Instructional Technique: Independent Work, Class Discussion, Web quest

Instructional Materials: Computers, Worksheet, Pencil, website:  http://www.westfield.ma.edu/personalpages/draker/edcom/final/webprojects/fa12/section1/aquarium/index.html

Theoretical Perspective: It is important for the students to learn about aquatic life so that they can understand how humans and animals impact the lives of one another. It is also important to complete this activity after going on a field trip so that students can make a connection between the real world and school.

Procedure:

Introductory Activity: The students have just gone on a field trip to the local aquarium where they learned about many different aquatic animals. We will begin with a class discussion about the field trip asking students what their favorite part was and why. As a class we will then take a survey and complete a graph on the board of everyone’s favorite animal.

Main Focus/Step-By-State: As the main focus the students will be completing a worksheet that goes with an online activity relating to the animals the students saw on the field trip. Before the students are allowed to proceed to the computers the worksheet will be passed out and the directions will be explained by the teacher. The students will then be instructed to go to the computers and log-on to a computer. They will then be directed to go to the Westfield Aquarium Website and begin their web quest activity.  As the students are completing their web quest the teacher will walk around and monitor the students to see if they need any help. With every question that the student answers correctly there will be an external link with more information about that animal that the student will have to click on and visit to answer a corresponding question on the worksheet.

Closure: We will discuss the worksheet as a class and go over anything that the students found interesting or challenging. The students will then hand in their worksheets for a grade.

Adaptations for Different Learners: If students are struggling with this activity or did not attend the field trip they may work with a partner for the computer portion of the lesson. The students that may have trouble completing this assignment will most likely be the students that have trouble memorizing facts and retaining information.

Homework: None

Evaluation:

How/when will you determine if you have met your objectives?

•             The student will be able to decipher different characteristics of various aquatic animals.

By successfully making it to the end of the website, the teacher will be able to see that the student can distinguish between various aquatic animals once they have identified their characteristics. The website will not let the student continue on to the next question until they have correctly answered the question they are on.

•             The student will be able to use outside websites to find more information to build on their preexisting knowledge of the animals. 

By successfully completing the accompanying worksheet, the teacher will be able to see that the student can use outside research to gain more knowledge about the animals. The worksheet will require the student to either find a fact or answer another question about a particular animal.

Concerns or questions you have about teaching this lesson.

The concerns I have that there may not be enough computers for everyone in the classroom. Students may also get frustrated and discouraged if they have to try multiple times to guess the correct animal.