Science - 5E Lesson Plan
Topic/Title: Let The Sun Shine! / Author: G. WertenbergerDate: June, 2016 / Class Time Needed: 3-5 sessions
Subject/grade level: 7 / Links for additional lesson materials are found at the Symbaloo link: http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/gps-grades5-8
Arkansas Science Standards: Performance Expectation
7.LS.1-6 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.
Learning Performance Target(s): (learning expectations for this lesson; combines a science practice, crosscutting concept and core idea embedded in the lesson)
· Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence to support an explanation for the effect that light has on the way matter changes or moves in a plant.
Science and Engineering Practices:
· Planning and conducting investigations
· Analyzing and interpreting data
· Developing models
· Constructing explanations
· Obtaining, evaluating and communicating information / Crosscutting Concepts:
· Cause and effect
· Structure and function
· Systems and system models
Literacy and Math Connections: (Include mathematical concepts and reading, writing, speaking and listening opportunities in the lesson cycle)
Students read and annotate text, write explanations, questions, and conclusions and explain ideas.
Materials:
· Print materials: Historical articles related to photosynthesis, Food web simulation cards and Trophic Levels text (Symbaloo).
· Investigations: Assorted live plant materials (roots, stems, leaves), Anarchis (elodea) 3-4 sprigs per group, test tubes or clear graduated cylinders, Bromothymol Blue, plastic cups, straws, light sources (or place in sunny window), water.
· Student science notebooks, chart paper, colored markers, plastic counters or markers for simulation
Teacher Preparation:
1. Print and prepare enough Giant Sequoia probes for all students, the historical articles will be used during a jigsaw; one set per group is enough. The “Trophic Levels” text can be read online if available.
2. Prepare the cards for the simulation from the lesson on Symbaloo. Gather markers of some type to serve as the energy units used. You will need 100+ depending on number of students.
3. Purchase: Anarchis (elodea) - pet store or order from Amazon. BTB is available from science supply vendors such as Carolina Biological.
4. Dilute the BTB with water to about 1% concentration. Collect containers and other materials.
5. Test the investigation with available light sources and BTB to make certain it works as expected. The lesson is adapted from: http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/mnstep/activities/35653.html
Background Information/Content:
5E Learning Sequence
ENGAGEMENT (Gathering, Reasoning, Communicating)
· Describe how the teacher will use a phenomenon to capture students’ interest; how prior knowledge will be determined.
· What kind of questions should the students ask themselves as a result of the engagement?
Place plant materials on student tables and ask them to examine for a few minutes.
Pre-assessment Probe: “Where does most of the matter in the roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and other parts of plants come from?” Choose one of these answers and explain your reasoning. Sunlight, water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, soil, minerals, chlorophyll, other source (what?). Develop a model to explain your thinking and add to your notebook.
Post Essential Question: How does matter and energy cycle through organisms in the environment?
Tell students that they will be investigating where matter comes from in plants and also other organisms so they can write an explanation for the question.
EXPLORATION (Gathering, Reasoning)
· Describe how students will investigate phenomenon with concrete hands-on experiences to gather data and evidence.
· List “big idea” conceptual questions or ‘talk moves’ the teacher will use to encourage and/or focus students’ thinking during exploration.
Historical Papers Jigsaw:
· Tell students they will read about early investigators who were trying to explain where plant material comes from. Place students in groups of 4-5, assign one paper to each group (there are 5 different papers). Annotate as they read.
· Share information and create a poster of main details.
· Post in a timeline around the room.
· Reform new groups with one from each poster group; gallery walk to explain findings.
Group Science Performance:
Investigation: Student performance target- (copied into notebooks)
Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence to support an explanation for the effect that light has on the way matter changes or moves in a plant.
● Write a procedure for investigating how light affects the rate of oxygen production. (Given elodea, test tubes, water, and light sources, describe a process for how this can be tested.)
● Conduct an investigation with data to provide evidence to support an explanation for the effect that light has on the way matter changes or moves in a plant.
EXPLANATION (Reasoning, Communicating)
· Student explanations should precede introduction of terms or explanations by the teacher. What questions or techniques will the teacher use to help students connect their exploration to the concept under examination? Can student discussion groups be used?
· List higher order thinking questions that will solicit student explanations and help them justify and provide reasoning for their explanations.
Ask students to discuss their findings in groups and think about how the historical plant studies helps them understand what is happening.
Individual Performance: (written in notebooks)
1. How does this evidence help you explain what is happening to the matter in this system when it is exposed to light energy?
2. Why does this evidence support your explanation?
ELABORATION (Gathering, Reasoning, Communicating)
· How will students apply the new learning to a similar context to extend, apply and enrich understanding?
· What vocabulary will be used and how will it connect to students’ observations?
Group Performance: (write in notebooks) (Note: This should be set up at the end of class to run all night with lights on, or in a sunny window for a day.)
Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence to support an explanation for the effect that plants have on the level of CO2 in their environment.
● Given elodea, test tubes or graduated cylinders, water, pH indicator and light sources, describe a process for how this can be tested. (tubes need to be sealed with plastic or stoppers)
● Make a prediction: How do plants affect the amount of carbon dioxide in their environments?
(Results will be examined on the next class day.)
EVALUATION (Reasoning, Communicating)
· What performance will demonstrate that students have achieved the lesson goals? How will they assess their own learning? What feedback will be provided?
· Assessment is embedded throughout the lesson as well as at the end of the lesson.
After students record data and discuss the investigation results remind them they will use the data collected to answer the original question.
Developing an Explanation: (in notebooks)
· How do plants affect the level of carbon dioxide in their environments?
· Make a claim, provide evidence and describe your reasoning in an explanation that answers the question.
5E Learning Sequence
ENGAGMENT (Gathering, reasoning, communicating)
Tell students they have examined plants but they may still not be able to explain how matter is made in other organisms in order to fully answer the essential question.
Pre-assessment Probe:
Four friends were arguing about the flow of energy between organisms in a food chain; a snake, grasshopper, fox and grass. They wondered what happened to the stored energy in the grass plant as one organism eats another in a food chain relationship. This is what they said:
Tatyana: I think most of the plant’s energy ended up in the fox.
Molly: I think most of the plant’s energy ends up in the snake.
Amos: I think most of the plant’s energy ended up in the grasshopper.
Ursula: I think most of the energy stayed the same as it passed through the organisms in the food chain.
Question: Which student do you agree with and why? (students write explanation on paper; no names)
Evaluating Prior Knowledge: Ask students to circulate and trade papers several times. You may conduct this as a game by asking them to find someone with the same color hair or eyes, same kind of shoes, same height etc.
4 Corners Strategy: Assign one organism name to each corner and after papers are exchanged send students to the corner their paper agrees with. Ask a few to read their papers. Tell students to think about their reasoning to see if it changes or stays the same during the class.
EXPLORATION (Gathering, reasoning)
Provide plain paper. Students begin by making a sketch of the organisms in an aquatic habitat showing what they expect to find; whale, shark, fish, etc.
· Ask partners to talk about how they could modify the sketch to show how energy and matter cycle from one organism to another. Discuss ideas; students may not know how to add arrows that show the direction energy flows as organisms are consumed, but some may suggest this.
· They should add a final model to their notebook
Conduct the simulation outlined in the Energy Biomass Pyramid Lesson: available as a Symbaloo Link or here: http://www.cfep.uci.edu/cspi/docs/lessons_secondary/energy%20biomass%20pyramids.pdf
Materials: plastic markers or other items for energy units and the organism cards.
Note: You may want to add the sun and give them energy units to spread through the room or give to the diatoms, everyone could also expend one energy unit each round to account for heat transfer out of their body.
EXPLANATION (Reasoning and Communicating)
Ask questions from page 5 of the Biomass lesson or ask students to write responses in notebooks and then discuss ideas in groups of 4-5. Ask if their understanding of how energy cycles is changing.
Partner Reading of Text: Trophic Pyramid
Provide text or use the online version from Symbaloo. One partner reads a paragraph and the other highlights and summarizes key details, vocabulary and other information. When finished they discuss ideas. Next, they switch roles.
EVAULATION
Model of Energy Cycling: Ask students to return to their initial models of the aquatic ecosystem. Have them add new terminology and modify the model to show increased understanding. You may want them to create a poster of their final model.
Explanation: Ask students to write an answer to a focus question in their notebooks. For example:
Is the amount of available energy the same, less or more as we move from the base to higher tropic levels of a food pyramid? Make a claim and support it with evidence from your new understanding.
Resources/Links:
· Historical Plant Studies and Instructions: https://drive.google.com/a/archford.org/folderview?id=0B-gmabov2gIgYjhVc0lMOXp3b1k&usp=sharing#
· Energy Biomass Lesson: http://www.cfep.uci.edu/cspi/docs/lessons_secondary/energy%20biomass%20pyramids.pdf
· Trophic Pyramid Reading: http://www.britannica.com/science/trophic-pyramid
· Instructions for Photosynthesis with Elodea: (teacher info: not to be provided to students) http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/mnstep/activities/35653.html
· Probes are excerpted from Uncovering Student Ideas, Vol 1 and 2 by Paige Keeley (NSTA press)
· Anarchis and BTB are available from online distributors
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