Lesson Plan Template

Teacher: Jessica Lewis

Date: 3/3/16

Class: Physical Science

Level: 6th grade

Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to teach students about the relationship between
topography and wind speed. This lesson will also serve as an introduction to a second lesson
where students will use wind speed data to determine whether a given location is appropriate
for a wind farm.
Objectives: The objectives for this lesson are to give students an introduction to how
topography and elevation impact wind speed. Through observations and data collection,
students will construct their own conclusions of this relationship. The students will then use
this relationship understanding to interpret Maui County topographic maps and wind speed
maps.
Common Core Standards:
HCPS III 6.2.1

Explain how technology has an impact on society and science.

NGSS MSETS1-4

Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a

proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be
achieved.

6-8 RST.7

Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text

with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart,
diagram, model, graph, or table).

6.W.2

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas,

concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and
analysis of relevant content.

6.W.4

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development,

organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
(Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 13
above.)

GLOs:
- Through observations, students will be able to construct an explanation for how
different topography and elevation affects wind speed.
- Students will be able to interpret topographic and wind speed maps.
- Students will transfer knowledge gained from the model to topography maps of

Chaminade University of Honolulu * 3140 Waialae Avenue Honolulu, Hawaii 96816-1578 * (808) 735-4711 * www.chaminade.edu

Maui County to apply their definition of topographys relationship to wind speed.

Hawaii State Teacher Standards: Standard # 5: Application of Content

Assessments: Completed data collection sheet. Written explanation of how topography
impacts wind speed. Rubric is attached.

Materials/Set-Up: large table, books and other materials to create a landscape, small flags created with tissue paper, sticks and cornstarch bases, stand up or box fan, data collection
sheet for students, TV/projection screen, Malawian windmill video (NAME), Maui County
topographic map and wind speed map (for projection and hand outs).
Timeframe:
Introduction:
10 min - Narrative
3 min - Video
Developmental:
30 min - Introducing model landscape, completing and recording data for trial 1 and 2 and
discussion
10 min - Independent work on questions
5 min - Shading in windy areas on Maui topographical map
5 min - Reviewing Maui topographical map, comparing it to Maui wind map
Conclusion:
2 min - Collecting documents and informing students of next classs lesson.
Procedures:
a. Introduction
Give kids this scenario:
Imagine there is a natural disaster, like a tsunami here in Hawaii where all of the ports like
Kahului and Lahaina are damaged and the airports are damaged, there is no way for anything
to get to Hawaii, we are completely cut off from the rest of the world. Things like food, oil - for
electricity arent going to be coming in anymore. What would you do to help your family and
your town? Would you sit around and wait for others to do something first or would you be
proactive and take it upon yourself to be creative and work towards a solution so your family
and town can survive.
-pair -share what you might do.
Well, William Kamkwamba, who was in a very similar situation did something remarkable.
William lived in a rural village in Malawi in Africa. His village had no electricity because it is so
far away from other cities/towns. His village lived off of their crops and farms, however for a
few years less and less rain had been falling. They were going through a drought. The crops

Chaminade University of Honolulu * 3140 Waialae Avenue Honolulu, Hawaii 96816-1578 * (808) 735-4711 * www.chaminade.edu

were not growing well and everyone if the village was slowly starving because they do not
have enough food to eat.
William has dropped out of school when he was under 10 years old because it was too
expensive for his parents, he decided to use the library in his town to learn. The books were
only in English, which he knew very little of. He opened a book that was about windmills and
learned that they could create electricity. At this point he decided he wanted to make a
windmill so he took out every book on physics and just by looking at the pictures, because he
couldnt read English well, he taught himself physics and built a windmill in his yard. The first
one didnt work very well, neither did the second. But after a few tries using materials that he
found around town, like an old bike frame, he built a windmill that worked and created
electricity. His thought behind creating a windmill was that electrical power could power a well,
which would bring irrigation to his village to grow the crops better so that his family and
neighbors would not starve.
This video is his story of how he built his windmill. (Play video)
His village was windy often, however not everywhere is windy all the time, and just because
somewhere is really windy for a few days does not mean it is windy there every day. We are
going to become planners for a potential wind farm here on Maui. It is Hawaiis goal to
become 100% renewable by 2045. To do this we must find and utilize the best possible
locations for wind and solar energy. This means placing windmills where they will get the most
amount of wind. But how do we know where the best wind is? Today we will be learning about
how the land features, or topography influence wind speeds and the next time we meet we will
be using our knowledge to find the best wind farm locations in Maui County.

b. Developmental
1) Introduce model on front table. Pass out data collection worksheet. Turn on fan
for trial 1, as a class decide how to rate each flag. Input data on worksheet that is up
on TV as we go.
2) Discuss the answers - what kinds of features created wind patterns, what
happened to the wind, did it curve around areas, did it increase or decrease?
a) create a drawn picture of the model on the board - use colors to
show where the wind went, etc.
3) Have students answer questions on the worksheet where they collected their
data. - for SPED inclusion and ELL classes students will pair-share and then as a
class we will verbally discuss the answers to # 2 and #3 and I will write them on the
board rather than have students write on their worksheet. This will lessen the writing
load while students are still responsible for thinking about the answers.
4) Give students time to create a written explanation of the relationship between
topography/elevation and wind speed. I can structure this more for the SPED inclusion

Chaminade University of Honolulu * 3140 Waialae Avenue Honolulu, Hawaii 96816-1578 * (808) 735-4711 * www.chaminade.edu

and ELL classes - I can prompt them to create a relationship answer using keywords
such as - the ______ type of topography either increased or decreased the wind
speed for the flag on that type.
a) Share expectations for this explanations - it will be graded - it
should include a clear line to thinking and explanations for why you believe
those relationships exist in the way you have explained it.
5) Pass out Maui County topographic map - have students circle or shade areas
where they think there will be the most wind.
6) Show a wind model map - do their areas line up? shade in the areas that
overlap and additional wind speed areas that they didnt have marked. Discuss
features such as wind tunnel (wind funneling between mountains like through Maui
and between the volcanoes on Big Island.

c. Concluding
1) Collect data collection sheets and maps. Share what we will be working on
next class - students will get to become engineers who are going to decide where the
best places in Maui County are to build a new wind farm.
Adaptations and Extensions: For my classes with SPED inclusion and ELL I can
accommodate at different parts in the lesson. During step 5 where students will be asked to
answer questions on the worksheet after taking data I will have the students in the SPED
inclusion and ELL classes pair-share and then as a class we will verbally discuss the answers
and I will write them on the board rather than have students write on their worksheet. This will
lessen the writing load while students are still responsible for thinking about the answers. In
addition I use pair-share very frequently for SPED and ELL classes as it allows opportunities
for students less willing to share with the whole class to share in a less intimidating setting.
Management Considerations: In order to manage behavior the students will be required to
raise hands when they would like to answer or share observations. There will be use of
kinesthetic refocusers to help transition students from talking with partners to focusing up
front. Multiple modes of learning include me narrating and describing what is happening in the
model, the model itself, the visual and written worksheet and partner pair shares.

Reflections: The lesson overall went very well. The students were very engaged and I was
pleasantly surprised at the quality of the answers to the worksheet. It seemed that most of the
students really took time to answer the questions thoroughly. I have included some student
work samples to demonstrate their success with this lesson. I also received positive feedback
from the SPED teacher that all of the SPED inclusion students in the class seemed to him to
be very engaged in the lesson. In the future I think I would like to do a pre-assessment to see
how much they could infer about how land features impact wind speed before we started
using the model. I think this would help me in evaluating the effectiveness of the lesson.

Chaminade University of Honolulu * 3140 Waialae Avenue Honolulu, Hawaii 96816-1578 * (808) 735-4711 * www.chaminade.edu

Chaminade University of Honolulu * 3140 Waialae Avenue Honolulu, Hawaii 96816-1578 * (808) 735-4711 * www.chaminade.edu

Name________________________

Date______________

Period______

WHERE IS IT WINDY?
1.

Place a check under the appropriate angle for each flag in the model landscape.
TRIAL 1

TRIAL 2

FLAG

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2. Where there some flags that never received any wind? If so, where were they located in the
landscape?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________ _____________________

_
3. Where there some flags that received a lot of wind? If so, where were they located in the landscape?

Chaminade University of Honolulu * 3140 Waialae Avenue Honolulu, Hawaii 96816-1578 * (808) 735-4711 * www.chaminade.edu

____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
4. Why do you think some flags received a lot of wind and others not as much?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Windmill Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=arD374MFk4w&list=PLd3U38hVnjQlqI1d8hzl25XKHmAoKTHNv&index=1
Rubric for worksheet completion:
Component

Completion

Very minimal
amount of work
completed or
attempted.

Large chunks of data

missing or answers,
many answers not
complete.

Some data is
missing or some
answers are not in
full sentences.

All data is present

and complete,
answers to questions
are in complete
sentences.

Content

Answers are not

thought out and
there are no
explanations.

Answers are lacking

explanations and do
not appear well
thought out.

Answers are
mostly explained
well and seem to
be thought out.

Answers are well

thought out and
explained.

Total
Score
(out of
10)

Topographic Map of Maui

Chaminade University of Honolulu * 3140 Waialae Avenue Honolulu, Hawaii 96816-1578 * (808) 735-4711 * www.chaminade.edu

Wind Speed Map of Maui County

Chaminade University of Honolulu * 3140 Waialae Avenue Honolulu, Hawaii 96816-1578 * (808) 735-4711 * www.chaminade.edu