New YorkStateAcademy for Teaching and Learning

FinalLearning Experience Template

Contact Information
Residing Address (including street, city, state, and zip-code) / Benjamin Ludovici
Phone numbers / Home Phone / Cell Phone
Email Address /
School Information
Grade Level Instructed / Fourth Grade
Content Area addressed within LE / Astronomy
School District in which the LE was implemented / Buffalo Public Schools
Specific School within District / Houghton Academy
Susan Wiley
School Address(including street, city, state, and zip-code) / 1725 Clinton Street
Buffalo, NY 14206

Title of Learning Experience:Phases of the Moon

NYS Standard:

Grade: Fourth

Learning Standard: MST

Standard: Science

Area: Physical Setting (4)

Key Idea 1: The Earth and celestial phenomena can be described by principles of relative motion and perspective.

Major Understanding: 1.1a: Natural Cycles and patterns include: The appearance of the Moon changing as it moves in a path around Earth to complete a single cycle.

Elementary/Beginning Level Intermediate Commencement Alternate/Students with Disabilities

Peer Review Date:October 27, 2011

Peer Review Focus Question(s):How can I improve the assessment portion of this LE?

LEARNING CONTEXT

Purpose/Rationale for Learning Experience:

Students in the fourth grade are naturally curious about their surroundings and are eager to ask questions and long for answers. As a result of seeing the Moon nearly every day and watching it appear to change shape and move, students are naturally drawn to the mysteries of the Moon. This is why teaching students about the Moon is a critical aspect in science. Aside from our planet and sun, the Moon is the next most common and referenced part of our solar system. Students need to learn the reasons behind the different phases of the Moon. This basic information opens the door and provides students with the academic foundation to learn about seasonal changes, the varying length of daylight and darkness, how humans organize time, and many other important concepts in astronomy. The following essential and guiding questions are shared with the students to ensure they are aware of the task at hand.

Enduring Understanding(s):

  • There are different phases of the moon.
  • The phases of the moon repeat in a sequencing cycle.
  • The relationship between the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon causes the different phases.

Essential Question(s):

  • Why does the Moon appear to change size?
  • What causes the different phases of the Moon?

Guiding Questions:

  • Does the Moon produce its own light?
  • Why do the Moon phases repeat in a cycle?
  • Why are we not always able to see the Moon?
  • How much of the Moon are we actually able to see from Earth?

Congruency Table

Congruency Table:

Level: Elementary

Grade Level: Fourth (4)

New York State MST Learning Standards

Standard Area: Science

Standard: Physical Setting

Content: Astronomy

Science Standard 4 (Physical Setting) Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and recognize historical development of ideas in science.

Key Idea 1: The Earth and celestial phenomena can be described by principles of relative motion and perspective.

Performance Indicator 1.1: Describe patterns of daily, monthly, and seasonal changes in their environment.

Major Understanding 1.1a: Natural Cycles and patterns include: The appearance of the Moon changing as it moves in a path around Earth to complete a single cycle.

Standard
4. Physical Setting. / Instructional Task / Learning Objectives / Student Work / Assessment Tool
Natural Cycles and patterns include: The appearance of the Moon changing as it moves in a path around Earth to complete a single cycle. / With limited assistance from the teacher, complete the matching worksheet to differentiate between the different moon phases through whole group instruction. / Differentiate between the different phases of the moon, given a set of pictures. / The Phases of the Moon worksheet has a matching activity for the different phases of the moon (Page 23). / The Phases of the Moon Rubric (Appendix 6) will be used to assess each student’s ability on the following;
  • Accuracy of data in drawings
  • Accuracy in labeling the Moon phases
  • Overall completion of the worksheet
  • Oral response and alertness

Sequence the moon phases to follow the scientific concepts during whole group instruction. / Sequence and label the phases of the moon. / The Phases of the Moon worksheet with the phases of the moon to be drawn in by students (Page 23).
Decipher the scientific theories by independently completing the vocabulary. / Independently complete the vocabulary worksheet to show comprehension of the moon terms. / A vocabulary section to be completed with words from a word bank (Page 20).
Class Background

This learning Experience focuses on a two fourth grade classrooms at Houghton Academy, in Buffalo, NY. This is a team teaching environment. A consultant teacher pushes into the classrooms where there is one general education teacher in each room. One class consists of 24 students while the other consists of 26 students.

The Learning Experience is taught to the entire class, all AIS students are included. As a result, lessons have to be delivered effectively enough to include a large amount of students. In order for lessons to be effective, the classroom rules and procedures, found in appendices three and four, need to be followed. The Floor Plan in Appendix two illustrates the layout of my cooperating teacher’s side of the room. The consultant teacher helps to administer and guide the students during the experience.

Overview of what students need to know/ be able to do in order to succeed:

Prior to Learning Experience:

  • Earth completes a full rotation in 24 hours, which gives us night and day.
  • The Earth revolves around the Sun, while the Moon revolves around the Earth.
  • The Sun’s rays are what provide the Earth and Moon with light and heat.

During and After the implementation of Learning Experience:

  • The Moon has four main phases; New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, and Last Quarter.
  • As the Moon revolves around the Earth, the Sun’s rays light the Moon, which creates the phases.
  • As the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, the Moon is unable to reflect light from the Sun, which creates the New Moon phase.
  • The Moon completes its rotation around the Earth every 28 days, making the moon cycle repeat every 28 days.

Key Subject-Specific Vocabulary:

  • Cycle: a round or series of occurrences that repeats
  • First Quarter: A week after the new moon, when the Moon has completed about a quarter of its turn around the Earth, we can see half of the illuminated part; that is, a quarter of the Moon. The left half of the moon is dark.
  • Full Moon: Two weeks after the new moon, the moon is now halfway through its revolution, and now the illuminated half coincides with the one facing the Earth so that we can see a full disk: we have a full moon
  • Last Quarter: Three weeks after new, we again can see half of the illuminated part. The right half of the moon is dark.
  • New Moon: When the Moon is roughly in the same direction as the Sun, its illuminated half is facing away from the Earth, and therefore the part that faces us is all dark: we have the new moon.
  • Phases: the appearance of the illuminated portion of the Moon
  • Reflect: to give back or show an image of; mirror.
  • Satellite: an object that revolves around another object.

ASSESSMENT PLAN

Diagnostic:

Prior to the learning experience, the students each complete the “Phases of the Moon” pre-assessment (Appendix 7). The worksheet helps to determine the level of the students in relation to this LE in the class. This in turn helps to determine which areas need more explicit instruction and which students will need extra support. The first question on the worksheet asks the students “What do you think causes the phases of the moon?” This question provides students with an idea as to what they will be learning and gets them thinking about the phases of the moon. The second half of the pre-assessment worksheet requires students to try to match the phases of the moon terms with the correct images of the moon phases. Following the pre-assessment, the class goes over the answers together. This helps the teacher to assess the background knowledge the students have on the lesson.

Formative:

At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher will go over the vocabulary with the students. The students will voice their opinions and ideas for the definitions of the words and have an active role in the vocabulary by coming up to the board to reveal the answers and writing them in their notebooks. This process helps the teacher to guide their idea and assess their schema. During the lesson, the students share what they know and what they learned from the reading. The teacher quickly assesses the level of comprehension from the students during this time. The students have a chance to represent the relationship between the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun by holding up the models provided. As the students hold the models of the three objects, the students will simulate the relationship by rotating the Moon around the Earth and rotating the Earth around the Sun. During this process, students will orally state the different phases of the moon. Following this, students will create their own moons. Each studentreceives a Styrofoam ball and will color half of the ball. The students will then be able to place the ball on a stick and spin it to see the different phases. Using the moons, students will then fill in their phases of the moon chart. The chart has the names of the phases, but it requires students to use their moon to draw the phases to match the correct phase term. Then, the class goes over the worksheet and the students orally explain the phases; four students come up to the board to draw the phases.

Summative:

In order to summarize the lesson and assess the ability of the students, the students complete the “Phases of the Moon” post-assessment sheet (Appendix 7). The sheet requires the students to understand the vocabulary terms and the different phases of the moon images and terminology. Using the Phases of the Moon rubric (Appendix 6), the teacher assesses the students on completion, accuracy, the ability to draw the different moon phases, and comprehension of the vocabulary. The Phases of the Moon rubric directly relates to the NYS standards and Performance Indicators by assessing the students’ ability to draw the different moon phases, sequence them in order, and explain the relationship between the Sun, Moon, and Earth. Each of these tasks are on the Phases of the Moon post-assessment. The NYS standard and performance indicator states, “The Earth and celestial phenomena can be described by principles of relative motion and perspective.” The tasks on the worksheet directly relate back to the standard. The Phases of the Moon rubric is used as a guideline for the first semester of science. This astronomy unit is the first unit of the school year. As a result, the Phases of the Moon rubric is used to assess the level of comprehension and ability level of each student. The rubric provides a baseline supported with evidence, which is used to show specific strengths, weakness, and other academic information related to the semester grades. The teacher is able to review the semester grades and use the Phases of the Moon rubric to assess which specific areas require more support.

Phases of the Moon Rubric:

Category / 4. Excellent / 3. Good / 2. Fair / 1. Poor
Writing Activity: The students write down what they know and what they learned about.
Score: ______/ The student provides three or more complete sentences under each section for the writing that are on topic with the relationship between the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth. / The student provides two answers or topics under each section for the writing that are on topic with the relationship between the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth. / The student provides one to two answers for the writing OR the answers are off topic from the relationship between the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth. / The student provides an answer for the writing sectionthat is off topic from the relationship between the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth.
Worksheets:
Consists of overall completion of the worksheets.
Score:______/ The student shows complete comprehension of the relationship between the Earth, Moon, and Sun by completing the worksheets with 100% accuracy. / The student shows comprehension of the relationship between the Earth, Moon, and Sun by completing the worksheets with one to two errors. / The student shows comprehension, but could use more support as he/she completes the worksheets with three to four errors. / The student needs direct support to gain full comprehension of the relationship between the Earth, Moon, and Sun as he/she completes the worksheets with five or more errors.
Matching Section:
Consists of matching the moon phase in words to the matching picture.
Score:______/ The student shows complete comprehension of the moon phases by completing the section with 100% accuracy. / The student shows comprehension of the moon phases by completing the worksheets with one to two errors. / The student needs some support to show comprehension OR needs more explicit details for matching activities. / The student needs direct support to gain full comprehension of the moon phases OR needs more explicit details for matching sections.
Drawing:
Consists of drawing the moon phase under the matching moon phase term.
Score:______/ Exceptionally well designed, neat, and attractive AND can explain each phase of the moon. / Neat and relatively attractive AND able to decipher the different phases. / The drawing of the moon and shaded areas are difficult to follow. / Appears thrown together with little effort or comprehension.
Vocabulary:
Consists of using words from the word bank to complete the vocabulary sentences.
Score:______/ The student shows complete comprehension of the phases of the moon vocabulary by completing the section with 100% accuracy. / The student shows comprehension of the phases of the moon vocabularyby completing the section with one error. / The student shows some comprehension, but needs extra support as a result of errors OR student needs more explicit details when working with vocabulary and word banks. / The student needs direct instruction while completing a worksheet to ensure comprehension of the task and material, based on multiple errors.
Oral response:
Consists of sharing ideas, answers, and orally being engaged in the lesson.
Score: _____ / The student is constantly active and engaged during the lesson and offers answers more than four times. / The student is active during the lesson and offers answers three times. / The student is engaged during most of the lesson and offers answers one to two times. / The student struggles to remain on task OR struggles to provide answers and ideas.

Total:______/24

Comments

STUDENT WORK
  • Fifty two students in two fourth grade classes overall.
  • Students with IEPs and those in need of academic intervention services are provided extra support from the consultant teacher.
  • All of the students completed the LE and were assessed by the rubric.

Classification of student work from the pre-assessment and post-assessment:

Level / Number of Students / Percent of Students
Pre-assessment / Post-assessment / Pre-assessment / Post-assessment
Distinguished / 4 / 43 / 8% / 83%
Proficient / 15 / 9 / 29% / 17%
Developing / 33 / 0 / 63% / 0%

Conclusion

Looking at the graph, there is evidence that a majority of the students obtained the objectives in the lesson, because the post assessment had more students in the distinguished category than in the pre assessment. After the post assessment, all of the students improved and moved out of the developing category and into the proficient and distinguished categories. As a result of some students still remaining in the proficient category, it is clear these students need more one-on-one assistance in order to ensure that they understand the relationship between the Moon, the Sun, and the Earth. The can teacher can then take the students who are at the proficient level aside at the end of the day to provide them with the help that is needed. One threat to validity is the students’ability to read the directions. If a student did not read the directions on the worksheets, then he/she may not have achieved as high of a score as he/she could have. Another threat is the students’ awareness of matching activities. If a student did not have prior experiences with matching activities then he/she likely is unable to perform as well. These two cases directly affect the validity of the assessments, because if a student does not read the directions or is unaware of how to complete the assessment, then the assessment is no longer measuring what it was designed to measure.

PROCEDURE

Pre-Assessment

The teacher writes the morning agenda on the board, which instructs the students to take one of the “Phases of the Moon” worksheets. The students complete the worksheet independently. The majority of the lesson is completed as a whole group instruction; however, there are chances for individual students to participate in independent work throughout the lesson.