Lesson Topic/Focus: What is a force?

Date: 11/08/2013 AusVELS Domain: Science Year Level: 2 AusVELS Contents: Science Understanding, Science Inquiry Skills, Science as a Human Endeavour Duration of Lesson: 50 minutes (closer to 45 minutes last class of the day and need 5 extra minutes to get organised for end of school day) Learning Outcomes/Standards:
Students will understand how a push or a pull affects how an object moves or changes shape (ACSSU033) Students will respond to and pose questions, and make predictions about familiar objects and events (ACSIS037) Students will understand that science involves asking questions about, and describing changes in, objects and events (ACSHE034)
(Australian Curriculum Victoria, 2013)

Indicators:
Students will use prior knowledge and open discussion to develop ideas around forces Students will ask questions, comprehend the whole class text Students will complete a formative assessment to inform my future teaching of the Toy Technology Inquiry unit

Assessment Criteria:
Students will demonstrate their understanding of the basics of force through discussion Students will demonstrate their understanding of force using content-based vocabulary such as lift, push, pull Students will be able to answer the comprehension questions after reading the whole class text Students will demonstrate their level of understanding by completing the formative assessment task

Teaching Focus: A. Chosen by associate teacher

Developing ideas for Toy Technology Inquiry unit around forces (to help inform my planning for future lessons)

Background to the learning: B. Pupil

Students have already commenced this unit, discussing the history of toys. This introduction to scientific features of the construction of a toy and its ability to move will assist in developing their own ideas about their own toy creation in the future.

Lesson Resources:
How toys fly by Helen Whittaker What do you know about forces? PowerPoint presentation Whiteboard 22 x Small pieces of paper

Content of Lesson: A. Introduction

10 mins

Introduce class to the text How Toys Fly, and ask them How do you think toys fly? Once the students have come up with some responses (if there are enough responses, begin to brainstorm some key words on the whiteboard), proceed to reading the first page (flick past the contents page and ask students whether they can figure out what type of text this will be).

B. Development

10 mins

Once reading the first two pages, ask students to identify good key words we could write up in our brainstorm on the whiteboard. Read the next few pages and repeat the question regarding key words or ideas to add to the brainstorm. Ensure that the information is either connected with the images next to it (good examples to help explain) by the teacher or by students (depending on the level of understanding).

C. Consolidation and Practice

15 mins

Once the book has been finished, ask the students to get into groups of 3 or 4. Sitting in those groups we are going to work together to answer the questions in the PowerPoint. Go through the PowerPoint one slide at a time and take opportunities to get them to think-pair-share (pairing being in their small groups) before answering the questions. If students sound confident in their answers, ask them to justify their answer either by explaining it or using an example.

D. Closure

10 mins

Give students a small piece of paper and get them to go back to their desks and individually write down at least one thing (preferably two) about their Tracks of My Thinking. Tracks of My Thinking: - Something I know ? A question I have * - This is important R This reminds me of L New learning ?? I dont understand ! I think this is surprising or exciting Remind them to write their name at the top and one they have finished they can hand it to myself or put it on the chair at the front. If they have finished their tracks of thinking, they may begin packing up for the end of the day. Use observations from the Think-pair share activity and these Tracks of my thinking notes to see how much they understood forces and see if we need another lesson to revise. Excellent preparation Lucy. The PowerPoint was a great idea to help engage and focus the students. When you ask children to get into groups of three or four, it is always a good idea to watch ready to ensure that no student misses out. The idea of getting them to discuss their ideas in these groups was an excellent one. When the students are sharing, remember to keep scanning the group to ensure all students are listening. I was impressed with the way you didnt talk over the children but made sure they were quiet and ready to listen to you. Your concluding activity involving Tracks of My Thinking was a very good idea. Overall, a well planned and structured lesson. You should be please with how smoothly you have picked up the rhythm of the grade and moved back into working with the children and myself. Liz (Associate Teacher)

Post Lesson Review and Evaluation: Pupil Achievement For the last lesson of the day, where they did not get to go outside for lunch time (due to wet day timetable), they did pretty well. The choice to let students pick their own groups made it a little muddled and used up more time than I had planned Discussions in most groups were excellent Had to move one group to prevent them from talking during whole class sharing time, however there were some good responses shared from the groups and they were able to justify their answers sufficiently Tracks of My Thinking revealed that the lesson on push and pull was thoroughly understood and many students had interesting questions regarding more exploration into forces which is reassuring

Teacher Effectiveness Reasonably good introduction (as our time was limited to create a brainstorm) Was able to pull individuals and groups back into focus successfully Presentation/quiz on the PowerPoint was a good way to get students thinking. It was also good that students had time to share with each other what they were thinking and make connections.

For next time:

- Longer introduction with a more detailed brainstorm - Allocation of sharing groups cleaner (either I allocate them, give them a number or as Liz suggested ask them to turn to the person next to you) - Spend more time on the Tracks of My Thinking to get more detailed responses