Lesson Plan 1

Day: M T W T F Date: __04/02/16_________ Time: __9:44

10:48_________ Year: __7____ Learning Area: ___Science__
Topic: ___Scientific Method________
Curriculum content description: (from ACARA)
Identify questions and problems that can be investigated scientifically and make predictions based on
scientific knowledge (ACSIS124)

Students prior knowledge and experience:

(Outline what the students already know about this topic)

The students have been introduced to the topic of Scientific Method in Year
6. Some of the students have also been exposed to the topic during
transition classes between Primary School and the start of Secondary School.
Many of the students would have completed prior science experiments
where they had to write some level of scientific method to complete this
work.

Learning purpose:

(May refer to the Elaborations of the curriculum content

description here)

Enable an understanding of how to write scientific reports

Learning objectives:

Evaluation:

On completion of this lesson,

students will be able to:

(Explain how you will know that lesson

objective have been achieved / monitor
student learning)
1. Students will demonstrate an

(What will students know and be able to do

at the completion of the lesson specific,
concise and attainable objectives)

1. Enable students to understand how to

write scientific reports and
2. Be able to complete critical thinking
when completing science experiments

understanding of the use of

scientific method in the next
class which is an experiment
where the students will need to
write a scientific reports.
2. Students will need to complete
tests and exams that will test
their knowledge on how to
write scientific reports.

Preparation and Resources:

(Detail what resources will be used and what other preparation of the learning environment
will be required)

Students will need

Pencil cases (if not available use the contents of their school bags).
Writing tools and a ruler
Teacher will prepare
A brief summary on Scientific Method that will be displayed on the TV
and will be discussed step by step. The students will be required to
write down all these notes.

Catering for diversity

(detail any adjustments considerations for

educational/resource adjustments)

For this lesson students will need to take notes in their science books. Some
students write much slower than other students so there will be additional
discussion time as a class when these students can catch up with the note
taking.
With this lesson I will try to include all students by promoting a positive and
safe environment for them to participate.
Have an awareness of the students who may need more assistance or
encouragement.

Timing
:
15mins

Learning Experiences:
Mentor teacher to complete general admin including homework
expected, how to access homework from the school website and
homework club.
1. Introduction:

10mins

(How will I engage the learners?)

Do a brief introduction of who I am and a background of my Science

experience.
Ask the students what they think Scientific Method means?
Provide a brief background on how Scientific Reports will be
something they will use throughout schooling and if they go on later
to University and working in a Science related field they will be
reading and writing complex reports that can be over 50 pages
long.
2. Sequence of learning experiences: (What will you do to help the
students achieve the learning objectives? What tasks and activities will
the students be involved in to help achieve the learning objectives?)

30mins

The students will be given a lot of new words that they may have
seen before but most likely not remembered on the steps involved
in how to do scientific method.
I will use an example that I will refer back to the students on various
headings within the scientific method process. The example is to do
an experiment to see whether the average height of students at
their school increases with year level.
With the use of media I will first display the heading such as aim
initially and ask the students what they think they would need to
write as aim so that they are actively involved in the lesson. Get
three to four answers and if needed steer them towards the right
direction. Use the example to get them to explain what they would
need to write for an aim if they were looking at the student height
for different year levels at their school.
Repeat this process with the other headings in how to do scientific
method. Before discussing independent and dependent variables
ask a focus question: What does the word variable mean when
doing a scientific report? Spend a few minutes discussing what this
word means so that they will understand the more specific types.

Throughout the lesson use lots of examples in the real world. When
looking at controlled variables discuss two scenarios of conducting
an experiment where you need to melt ice in Antarctica and in a
very hot desert and get the students to think about whether the
controlled variables have been kept the same for these
experiments.
When explaining method compare what we do in science to how
you use a recipe and how we have to follow steps in sequential
order. Use baking a cake as an example and ask the students what
would happen if you decided to bake a cake and thought you would
start at step 5 and miss a few steps. Get them to say that the cake
would not work. Point out the importance of doing scientific method
in order to achieve the best outcome.
With the discussion section explain to the students the importance
of doing critical thinking about what the results of the experiment
showed and what does this mean for the success of the experiment.
Was the hypothesis right or wrong?

10mins

3. Lesson conclusion: (How will you summarise the learning and relate it
to the lesson objectives?)

To summarise the lesson look at the conclusions you need to put in

a scientific report. Use this discussion to both explain what to put in
conclusions but also provide an overall conclusion of what is a good
scientific report and one that is not a good scientific report.
Emphasis the fact that your conclusion could be that the
experiment didnt work and as long as you provide discussion why
this is a valid conclusion.
Briefly introduce the practical in the next lesson where students will
be able to complete their own scientific report based on an
unknown practical topic.
Ask the students to return any borrowed equipment, file their
worksheets, pack up all their equipment and prepare to leave in an
orderly fashion.

Lesson Evaluation:
(Reflect on the lesson. What worked? What did not work? What would you change? Why?)

This lesson I taught twice. I completed an initial lesson with one year seven
class and received feedback from my mentor on what to do differently. I then
completed teaching the same lesson to a second year 7 class.
Lesson 1
Lesson 1 went really well. The students were actively involved in the lesson
and most of the class was answering questions. The structure of the lesson
plan was ideal with the lesson finishing right on time without me having to
rush.
Feedback from my mentor was that I did well to keep their interest but my
questions were targeting one specific half of the class and not the other side
of the class due to where I was standing when teaching the lesson due to
where the TV stand was located. The result of this is that the students in
close proximity to me were very actively involved in the lesson but students
on the other side started to quietly talk to each other since they didnt feel
the same sense of involvement.
The other issue that I noticed was that when asking questions it was
generally the same students that put up their hands to answer questions.
Lesson 2
With the second lesson I didnt change the lesson plan structure but focused
on including the entire class in the lesson by making sure that I was more
active when moving around the room. This worked a lot better to include
more students but there were still students at the back of the class that
didnt participate as much.
To address the issue of the same students answering questions half way
through the lesson I decided to take the class seating plan and pick out
students who hadnt answered any questions. A lot of these students didnt
provide answers so to include them I suggested an answer and asked them if
they agreed with what I said. This worked okay but they still struggled to be
actively involved in the lesson.
The lesson itself went smoothly. There was only minor talking amongst the
students and most of the students maintained good eye contact with me
throughout.
The lesson finished about three minutes before the end of class so I then
added an extra section which was to discuss reflection and how reflection

can be part of the conclusion. This wasnt planned but was what I decided to
do on the spot and this worked well to fill in the last few minutes before the
end of the class.