102086 Designing Teaching & Learning

Assignment 2: Lesson Plan Analysis, Revision and Justification

Lesson Plan Analysis

Evaluate the lesson plan according to the following NSW Quality Teaching model elements.
Evaluation score – refer to NSW QTM Classroom Practice Guide for each element
Comments incl. evidence for evaluation score (2 sentences)

1 Intellectual quality
1.1 Deep knowledge
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: While there are key concepts in the lesson plan, there seems to be quite a few concepts
to cover and not enough in depth knowledge or a focus on one key idea. Eg background knowledge
in only touched on and only a short amount of time is given to explaining the idea.

1.2 Deep understanding

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: It is hard to determine student understanding through a lesson plan. However there does
seem to be assessment in the lesson plan through informal and formative assessments and the section
“How am I measuring the outcomes of this lesson”. However this section gives limited details on
clear success criteria. There doesn’t seem to have much explanation on the topic in the beginning.
Not a lot of ‘why’ in the questions asked by the teacher.

1.3 Problematic knowledge

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The knowledge developed in the class is constructed by the students allowing for
multiple and conflicting interpretations for the classroom teacher to discuss with the students.

1.4 Higher-order thinking

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: It is hard to tell if students show higher order thinking skills from a lesson plan.
However the lesson plan is written to allow students to think about the task and show higher order
thinking skills. This is done by asking questions that will allow students to make connections and
assumptions based on the data.

1.5 Metalanguage
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There seems to be little metalanguage used in the lesson plan. There needs to be explicit
modelling of scientific language and students need to be provided with opportunities to practise
using the language in the appropriate context. There should be at least some mention of scientific
language used to describe eyes or parts of the eyes. E.g. The coloured part of the eye is called the
Iris.

1.6 Substantive communication

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: It is hard to determine student communication with each other and the teacher. However
the lesson plan does give students lots of time to communicate with peers and the teacher while
working on the task. However there may be a lack of engagement due to the lack of instructions as
to how to design an investigation which could lead to students being disengaged thus reducing
substantive communication.

Quality learning environment

2.1 Explicit quality criteria
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There are no explicit instructions regarding designing an investigation, it is unclear if the
teacher devoted a previous lesson to it or not. There seems to be assumed knowledge that is not
mentioned in the plan. There should be at least a recap of designing an investigation or evidence of
scaffolding on how to design an investigation.

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2.2 Engagement
1–2–3–4–5 Comments: It is hard to determine student engagement in the class from a lesson plan, however from
the lack of explicit statement regarding quality of work and any recap of prior knowledge needed for
the current task, I would assume that engagement would be low as students would now know what
to do.

2.3 High expectations

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: It seems that the teacher has high expectations of the students as there is a lot of work to
get through in a short period of time. It is assumed that students know what to do as there is little
explanation of the task and not much stating what the students will have completed by the end of the
lesson. It is assumed that students are doing the work but hard to determine through the lesson plan.
Low engagement and poor explicit quality criteria will result in few students participating in
challenging work.

2.4 Social support

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: Social support is hard to determine as it relates directly to the teacher’s attitude and the
classroom dynamic. There are no notes on how to support reluctant students or students with
learning difficulties or EAL/D. There is no differentiation in place to support these students.
2.5 Students’ self-regulation
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: It is hard to determine if students are self-regulating from a lesson plan as it relies on
student individual motivation in the task. This can be affected by lack of engagement and lack of
explicit quality criteria. From how the lesson plan is written it could be assumed that the teacher
knows the students and that they are confident that students would work autonomously.

2.6 Student direction

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There is student direction. The teacher writes the plan with assumptions on what the
students will do in the task but it is still left open for the student to design an investigation.
3 Significance
3.1 Background knowledge
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There is no assumed background knowledge written in the plan; however the task does
require some e.g. how to design an investigation. The plan does draw on aspects of their personal
lives (student eye colour and family members’ eye colour) but is limited.

3.2 Cultural knowledge

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The lesson plan does not seem to include any cultural knowledge. There are no cultural
considerations made. For example, in some cultures it is considered rude or disrespectful to look
people in the eyes. Consideration needs to be made for such students.

3.3 Knowledge integration

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There is use of ICT but not many connections to other topics are written. There is
opportunity to tie in maths through the statistics of the eye colour of the class population. A
connection to English could be made through writing.

3.4 Inclusivity
1–2–3–4–5 Comments: Hard to gauge the use of inclusivity, as this does depend on the individual students
present. However there are no points in the plan for consideration or modifications for students with
disabilities or EAL/D. The task could exclude students with particular cultural backgrounds if they
are uncomfortable looking at other students in the eyes. There is no effort in the plan to account for
this. We cannot assume that the whole class in homogenous.

3.5 Connectedness
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There is no sharing of knowledge beyond the class and school. There is no real
connection to the outside world. There is a limited connection to the eye colour of family. The
lesson does not include any justification to why it is important to look at genetics of babies. There is
opportunity to look at a connection to genetic diseases.

3.6 Narrative
1–2–3–4–5 Comments: There seems to be no narrative in the lesson. It does not include any personal stories,
biographies, historical accounts, case studies, literary and cultural texts and performances.

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 The lesson could have included how eye colour is used to predict future eye colour of offspring and
how the same process is used to predict other genetic traits or conditions. Students are left to make
these connections on their own during the presentations.

Identifying Areas for Improvement

Identify the four NSW QT model elements you are targeting for improvement.

QT model
1) 1.5 Metalanguage 2) 2.1 Explicit quality criteria
3) 3.4 Inclusivity 4) 3.1 Background knowledge

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 Lesson Plan Revision
Topic area: Living World Stage of Learner: Stage 5 Syllabus Pages: 117 - 119, 126

Date: Location Booked: Classroom Lesson Number: 1

Time: 1 hour Total Number of students Printing/preparation

24  Have Investigation checklist ready
 Have printed copies of
investigation design worksheet
 EAL/D eye colour worksheet

Outcomes Assessment Students learn about Students learn to

A student: Informal formative Advances in scientific  Identify that during reproduction the
 Analyses interactions assessment understanding often rely on transmission of heritable
between components and developments in technology, characteristics from one generation
processes within biological Success criteria – and technological advances to the next involves DNA and genes
systems (SC5-14LW) Students create a are often linked to scientific  Identify data to be collected for an
 Produces a plan to written scientific discoveries. investigation by a) describing the
investigate identified investigation using purpose of the investigation, and c)
questions, hypotheses or the correct selecting possible sources of data,
problems, individually and structure and including secondary sources,
collaboratively (SC5-5WS) language features. relevant to the investigation
 Undertakes first-hand  Conduct investigations by a)
investigations to collect valid individually and collaboratively using
and reliable data and appropriate investigation methods,
information, individually and including fieldwork and laboratory
collaboratively (SC5-6WS) experimentation, to collect reliable
 Processes, analyses and information, and c) selecting and
evaluates data from first- using appropriate equipment,
hand investigations and including digital technologies, to
secondary sources to systematically collect and record
develop evidence-based data.
arguments and conclusions
(SC5-7WS)
Targeted Language
 Title - the name of an investigation.
 Aim – is the purpose of an experiment.
 Hypothesis - a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further
investigation.
 Method - a particular procedure for accomplishing or approaching something, especially a systematic or established one.
 Experiment - a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact.
 Results - an item of information obtained by experiment or some other scientific method; a quantity or formula obtained by
calculation.
 Iris – a coloured, ring-shaped membrane surrounding the pupil in the eye. It sits behind the cornea.
 Pupil –the pupil is the centre of the Iris, the Iris appears black because it absorbs the light that enters it.

Time Teaching and learning actions

Intro Welcome students to the class.
15 minutes
Lesson learning intention – to plan, undertake and analyse data from a firsthand investigation into genetic traits.
(write on board and have student copy into their books)

Teacher is to also talk about customs different cultures have regarding eyes,
Example: in the Aboriginal culture it is considered avoidance of eye contact is customarily a gesture of
respect and to make direct eye contact can be viewed as being rude, disrespectful or even aggressive.
Students to give examples from their own cultures. Students are encouraged to choose a partner they feel

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 comfortable with and to be culturally sensitive by asking their partner if they can look at their eyes.
In pairs ask students to look at their partner’s eyes and use background knowledge and familiar language to
describe the parts of the eyes and what is different about their eyes – focusing on colour. (2 minutes)

In pairs or individually students are asked to write or draw the first thing they think of when they hear the word
‘investigation’ (may or may not be related to school or science). These will then be stuck on the board. Read and
discuss as a class. (This will be repeated at the end of the unit and compared to see what students have learnt.)
(3 minutes)

Talk about the key parts of the eyes and introducing scientific language (pupil, iris) relate to students informal
language (using a visual of an eye as a reference for students).
Pick two or three students with different coloured eyes – ask them to come to the front of the room. Ask the
class why each student has different coloured eyes and whether it is possible to predict someone’s eye colour.
Explain that today we will be designing an investigation based around the problem:
Can we use scientific methods to predict a baby’s eye colour?
The class will be trying to find out whether eye colour can be predicted from a looking at other family’s
members’ eye colours.

Students to work in pairs, throughout the scaffolded lesson, to design an investigation that can be carried out in
the class over the next two lessons. It is anticipated most students will design a survey to gather eye-colour data
from fellow students. This includes the student’s eye colour, and the eye colour of their siblings, parents and/or
grandparents.

Success Criteria – Students create a written scientific investigation using the correct structure and language
features (write on board and have student copy into their books) .
5 minutes Teacher to hand out scaffolded investigation design worksheet
Using a ‘Title’ slide in slideshow teacher will talk about the title of investigation;
 All investigations have a title
 Tells reader what the experiment is about
 Relates to the “Aim”
 Example: ‘Boiling temperature of salt water’
Students to work in pairs to come up with a title for their eye colour investigation.
5 minutes Using a ‘Aim’ slide in slideshow teacher will talk about how to develop the Aim;
 Is one or two sentences
 Do not use first person pro-nouns, like “I” or “me”
 Written in present tense. eg: ‘10ml of water was measured’.
 Should begin with “To…..”
 Example: ‘To determine the boiling temperature of salt water’
Understanding the problem
Students to work in pairs to develop the ‘Aim’ for their eye colour investigation, on the following questions can
be used to help direct students thinking:
1. What do we need to know?
2. Why is it useful to know it?
10 minutes Using a ‘Hypothesis’ slide in slideshow teacher will explain how to develop a hypothesis for the investigation;
 Is what you think the possible answer for the investigation?
 In this you should explain why you think this is correct.
 This draws from background knowledge.
 The hypothesis is written in the present tense. eg: ‘10ml of water is measured’.
 Example: ‘the salt water will boil at a temperature greater than 100 degrees celsius, because water
boils at 100 degrees Celsius’.

Students will again work in the same pairs to write a hypothesis about what they will conclude in the eye colour
investigation.

10 minutes Designing an investigation

Using a ‘Method’ slide in slideshow teacher will explain how to develop a Method for the investigation;
 This is a procedural step by step account of what will be done and is presented in numbered form.
 This is written in the past tense. Eg, ‘10ml of water was measured’
 Is written in a passive voice, what was done not what you did. Eg, ‘the circuit was set up’.
 Written before the investigation and is refined while undertaking the investigation.
 Example:
1. 100ml of water was measured.

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 2. Three table spoons of salt were added to the water.
3. The mixture was then stirred.

Students to work in same pairs to develop method.

The following questions can be used to answer help students develop the ‘method’:
1. What data can we collect that will enable us to answer the question?
2. Who can we collect data from?
3. How will we analyse the data?
4. How might we connect our findings to scientific knowledge?
During this time the teacher is going from group to group answering questions and pointing students in the right
direction if needed. Teacher to hand out ‘eye colour’ worksheets for EAL/D student to assist with collecting data.
5 minutes Using a ‘Result’ slide in slideshow teacher will talk about collecting results;
 This is where what was observed during the investigation is recorded.
 Written in past tense.
 A ruled table or spreadsheet maybe used to record results.
Collecting and analysing data
Students to start running their investigation, enter their data into a spreadsheet and analyse to obtain results.
Can any patterns in eye colour be traced through familial generations? (it is expected that student will only get a
few minutes to start however there will be more time in next lesson to collect data for the investigation)

Teacher to hand out scaffolded ‘eye colour’ worksheets for EAL/D student to assist with collecting data and to
assist with language development.
10 minutes Reporting results and making conclusions
Students have 2 minutes to present their main findings to the class. Can we think critically about each other’s
data and support each other’s ideas?
Conclusion Teacher to summarise main findings from student investigations and make links to DNA and heritability of traits.
5 minutes
Explain to students what will happen next lesson.
 Discussion and Conclusion will be discussed and worked on.
 Students will be given more time to consolidate data.
 Students will present data conclusion to class.
 Discuss links to DNA and heritability traits

Homework:
 Students are to gather more data points for their data set from family members.
 Students also asked to think about why it is important to predict genetics of future babies.
How am I measuring the outcomes of this lesson?

Learning Outcome Method of measurement and recording

 Analyses interactions between
components and processes within
biological systems (SC5-14LW)
 Produces a plan to investigate
identified questions, hypotheses or
problems, individually and
collaboratively (SC5-5WS)
 Undertakes first-hand investigations
to collect valid and reliable data and
information, individually and
collaboratively (SC5-6WS)
 Processes, analyses and evaluates
data from first-hand investigations
and secondary sources to develop
evidence-based arguments and
conclusions (SC5-7WS)
Student analysis of interactions between parental eye colour and
offspring eye colour through conducting an investigation into eye
colour.
Students were guided through a scaffolded lesson on how to plan and
conduct an investigation. Key parts of an investigation were worked
on and metalanguage for an investigation and the eye were discussed.
Gather student eye colour investigation plans.
Observe students following their investigation protocol through a
scaffolded lesson and explicit instructions.
Gather student spreadsheets and main findings.

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Lesson Plan Justification
From the outcomes selected, it can be determined that the lesson is centred more around

designing an investigation rather than learning about the genetics of eye colour, for this reason

more focus was placed on designing an investigation. One of the most significant flaws in the lesson

plan was that it did not give many explicit instructions for how the students would go about

conducting the investigation and assumed that they all had prior knowledge in how this was done,

hence a low score for Explicit Quality Criteria (EQC). This lack of explicit instruction also disregards

EAL/D students and students with learning disabilities, which could lead to students being excluded

from the lesson, resulting in a low score for inclusivity (Department of education and Training [DET],

2003). To improve these two aspects of the Quality Teaching Model (QTM) a scaffolded approach

was taken. Scaffolding allows students to build their understanding of a concept with support and

develop the concept as support is removed (Gibbons, 2002). This helps improve the EQC of the

lesson as it enables the teacher to provide clear and explicit instructions to the students and allows

for annotated exemplars and work samples to be provided to students in each step of the

investigation.

Another aspect that was added to improve the EQC was the inclusion of the learning

intention and success criteria. This informs students what is being learnt and where their learning is

headed during the lesson. It also informs students of what they need to do to succeed (Australian

Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2017) and fits with best practice as outlined in the

QTM (DET, 2003). This gives students clear understanding of what is expected in the lesson which is

a key component of the EQC element (DET, 2003).

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 Scaffolding is considered to be essential in teaching EAL/D students as it allows concepts to

be explicitly explained to students and allows for step by step instructions to be given (Australian

Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2014). This is beneficial to all students as

it helps with the understanding of concepts (Gibbons, 2009). By using the scaffolding pedagogy

more students regardless of background can feel encouraged to participate in the classroom work,

increasing the inclusivity of the lesson. By also retaining group work in the lesson students can

engage in cooperative learning which increases inclusivity for all students and support EAL/D

students and students with additional learning needs (Board of Studies NSW, 2012). Group work is

crucial for language learning as it allows students to rehearse language linking it to the familiar

before they are required to use it in more academic modes (Gibbons, 2009). Another measure

taken to increase the lessons inclusivity was to introduce cultural considerations surrounding eyes.

This allows students of different backgrounds to interact in the lesson while also building the

cultural awareness of all students. Furthermore, this increases the background knowledge of the

lesson by bringing students’ external knowledge of culture and personal experience into the

classroom. Additionally students are asked to use their background knowledge to present a

suggestion of what an ‘investigation’ means to them. These activities are considered to be best

practices examples for inclusivity and background knowledge in the QTM (DET, 2003).

Scaffolding the lesson also creates opportunity for the teacher to talk about the academic

language used in scientific investigations and how the text-type is structured and modelling of

grammatical language features. This increases the level of metalanguage used in the lesson and

allows for explanations of aspects of the text which will help all students but particularly EAL/D

students (ACARA, 2014). This results in improved metalanguage throughout the lesson. The use of

metalanguage outlined in lesson plan is also improved by providing examples of texts as well as

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discussing aspects of the text (Gibbons, 2002). To further assist EAL/D students develop language

skills and create a more inclusive environment an eye colour worksheet has been developed to

assist them with collecting data and matching words to eye colours. This includes an easy to use

layout as well as visuals and key vocabulary.

Because the lesson was expanded to include more detail in the structure of an

investigation there would not be enough time to complete every aspect of the investigation. For

this reason, the lesson is to be split over two lessons. This gives an opportunity for students to bring

in additional background knowledge to the investigation. This is because part of the lesson was to

have students continue the data gathering at home allowing for personal experiences and ‘out-of

school’ knowledge to be used in the investigation thereby improving background knowledge of the

lesson.

References
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2014). English as an Additional
Language or Dialect Teacher Resource: Annotated Content descriptions Science Foundation
to year 10. Retrieved from
http://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/EALD_Learning_Area_Annotations_Science_Revised_Fe
bruary_2014.pdf

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2017). Learning intentions and success
criteria [Brochure]. Retrieved from https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-
source/feedback/aitsl-learning-intentions-and-success-criteria-
strategy.pdf?sfvrsn=382dec3c_2

Board of Studies NSW. (2012). NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum: Science K-10 Syllabus.
Sydney, NSW. Board of Studies NSW.

Department of education and training. (2003). A classroom practice guide. Retrieved from
http://mscplc.weebly.com/uploads/4/8/0/8/4808031/quality_teaching_guide.pdf

Gibbons, P. (2009). English Learners Academic Literacy and Thinking: Learning in the Challenge
Zone. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann

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Gibbons, P. (2002). Scaffolding Language Scaffolding Learning: Teaching Second Language Learners
in the Mainstream Classroom. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann

Learning Portfolio Web Link

https://tristan-a-brown.weebly.com/

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