Guidelines for Microteaching in Physics1

What is Microteaching?
First, “microteaching” is a “mini lesson” that you will teach to your peers in order to
practice aspects of a qualified teacher including content knowledge, classroom
management, presentation skills, and teaching methodology. These assignments are
designed for you to gain experience about what it is really like to be a teacher, which, it
should be stated, is very different from being a student. Note: I will tend to use the
term “student” rather than “learner” simply because it is what I am used to; however,
they mean the same thing.

Next, you should know that preparing for a mini lesson requires the same time and
planning as preparing for a full lesson. So, now I will tell you about how to plan your
lesson and how to structure your written “lesson plan”.

How to Plan
To plan a lesson, you must answer the following questions:
1. What is your purpose? (What do you want the students to accomplish?)
2. How will you achieve these goals? (What is your method?)
3. How will you know if you have succeeded? (How will you evaluate your
outcomes?)

Each of these questions must be thought about carefully and answered specifically in
order for the lesson plan to be a good one.

Good lesson plans do the following:

• States a specific learning outcome (or set of learning outcomes) rather than a
general goal
• Illustrates that the teacher knows his or her content and has developed resources
for the students to use independently
• Includes different learning processes (not only lecture) that may include
cooperative learning (i.e. working in small groups), discussions, student
presentations, experiments, labs, projects, activities, etc.
• Reflects thought about how much time each part of the lesson will take
• Contextualize the learning – I will refer to this as “making connections” – for
example, connect the lesson on gravity to driving on roads that are steep versus
roads that are flat and ask which ones will have a greater effect on use of brakes
• Individualize the learning – the assignments and lessons should take into
account the students’ background knowledge – for example, the lesson on gravity
should not happen before the students know that gravity is a force that acts upon
an object

1
Developed by Dr. Diana S. Perdue and reference “Getting Practical: About Outcomes-
based Teaching” by Criticos et. al. (2004), Oxford University Press
Practice
Rank each of the following answers as “poor”, “ok”, or “great”

These are statements about your purpose:

1. I want the students to learn about motion.
1. I want students to understand the laws that govern motion and to be able to name
them and state what effect each has on the object.
1. Students will be able to state the laws of motion, describe what effect each has on an
object, and state the calculation used for an object in free fall effected by gravity.

These are statements about your method:

2. The students will discover the effect of gravity on an object by experimenting with
rolling a ball down a ramp of varying steepness. They will work in small groups to
conduct the experiment and they will collect data (height of ramp, steepness of ramp,
time for ball to roll, speed of ball, etc.). Students will discuss their results and make a
hypothesis. I, the teacher, will lead their explorations by asking questions and ensuring
that they arrive at the correct conclusions.
2. I will lecture the students about gravity and tell them how it affects an object in
motion, for example a ball rolling down a ramp. They will write down what I say. I will
ask questions to make sure they understand.
2. I will talk about something in physics, maybe motion or something to do with gravity.

These are statements about your outcomes:

3. I will assess students by giving them a test.
3. Students will get a grade based on whether or not they are in the room.
3. Students will be assessed by a combination of their participation in class discussions,
their group project / presentation / report, the unit test, and their out of class
assignments (homework).

Your comments about the above statements:

Lesson Plan Information
When writing a lesson plan, it is important that it is detailed. Here are three essential
components for detailed planning:
1. Detailed descriptions of what the student must be able to do by the end of the
lesson.
2. Detailed descriptions of the kind of performances the student must produce in
order to demonstrate that they have achieved the outcome of the lesson.
3. Detailed descriptions of how you will teach and how the students will learn.
What, exactly, will be done / said / asked / etc.

A lesson which follows all of the suggestions in this document is an example of

“outcomes based education” or OBE. It reflects that the lesson has a specific
purpose, or outcome, that will be learned and assessed. These outcomes should deal
with three aspects of the learner:
1. Head thinking: knowledge, dates, facts, labels, etc.
2. Heart thinking: attitudes, values, etc.
3. Hands thinking: skills, abilities, etc.

Here are some examples for each of these kinds of thinking:

Head (Knowledge)
• Understand why an object’s motion may change
• Identify different forces which may change an object’s motion
• Describe the effect a particular force will have upon an object
• Read and interpret a graph of an object’s speed over time
• State the formula to calculate the distance an object travels given rate and time
• List reasons for the motion of an object to change
• Analyze information

Heart (Attitudes)
• Reflect about the importance of understanding motion for certain professions, for
example, auto mechanic or engineer or taxi driver
• Express passion about learning physics so other’s will be motivated to learn also
• Explore feelings that one may experience while trying to learn physics
• Recognize the contributions made by scientists and mathematicians to society

Hands (Skills)
• Conduct an experiment
• Classify the results of the experiment
• Categorize information
• Graph data
• Write up information / results
• Listen
• Acquire information from texts, labs, group reports, etc.
• Compare information
• Identify cause and effect relationships
• Present information / results
Lesson Plan Structure
Lesson plans may be written using the following guideline or “template”:

Learning Area: (Example: Physics)

Grade Level: (Example: 11)
Date: (Example: Jan 25, 2010 or Week 1, Day 1)
Key Concept: (Example: Motion)
Topic of Lesson: (Example: Unit 1, Lesson 3 “Gravity”)
Activity: (Example: A1.3 Experiment with Ramps and Balls)
What are the outcomes of this activity?
Learners should be able to:
• (Example: Compare steepness of ramps to determine the effect on the speed of
the ball)
• (Example: Collect data in an organized fashion, e.g. table of results)
• (Example: Make a hypothesis about how steepness and gravity affect the motion
of the ball)
What will be done to enable learners to meet the outcomes?
Teaching Organization:
(Example: Teacher creates pre-class assignment which learners do prior to coming to
class. This assignment will ensure the learners have the necessary prerequisite skills to
complete the day’s lesson.)
Classroom Organization:
(Example: learners are organized into groups of 4, each given different ramp
steepnesses to experiment with)
Methods:
(Example:
A. Groups will discuss how to conduct the experiment and what data to record.
B. Teacher will offer guidance and suggestions as needed to help groups reach good
decisions.
C. Groups will conduct the experiment, record data, analyze data, and form a
hypothesis about their results.)
Resources Needed:
(Example: ramps and balls for each group; handout to record data for each group;
questions for students to answer before, during, and after the experiment.)
What will provide evidence of this learning?
(Example:
A. Learners will conduct the experiment in groups.
B. Learners will complete the recording sheet for their data.
C. Learners will participate in the group presentations and class discussions that
follow the experiment.)
How will this learning be assessed?
(Example:
• Groups will create a report of their experiment, results, and hypothesis – this
report will be graded by the teacher and returned to the students
• The teacher will observe the presentations and record comments & suggestions
• Learners will answer questions (both orally and in written form) about the
experiment, the lesson topic, and the class discussions)