Chris DeGonia

Plate Tectonic Lesson Plan

1.      Goal: Students will learn new vocabulary scientific vocabulary words, gain and use information on the earth’s structure, the history of the earth’s structure, and the movement of mountains and landmasses, computer skills, research skills, writing, making analytical predictions, and oral presentations.

2. Objectives:  Students will use technology in developing an understanding of the Earth’s structure and how that structure plays a role in the changes of our planet. Students will utilize Internet and demonstrate an understanding of plate tectonics through the use of vocabulary, written responses to questions, oral presentations, and art.

3. Materials: Computers with internet, if you don’t have the time copy pages from the Webquest at: http://www.geocities.com/cdegonia/plate_tectonics.htm. Copies of vocabulary words and questions for each section of the Webquest.  Colored paper to create the different layers of the earth’s structure. Lined paper, Large piece of paper and crayons or markers for a poster.

4. Procedure:

a.       Motivation: Tell students that they will be working in pairs doing a Webquest on the internet about plate tectonics building on the information that they had learned in their textbooks.

b.      Sequence of events.

1.      Day one pair up students for project and introduce the students to the tectonic plates Webquest. Have them go through the Webquest and see the information that they will be working on, what they have to do, and how they will be graded on their project.

2.      Day two, hand out vocabulary words, and questions for section one. Students will fill out the sheets using the Internet to find the information. When they are done they will make the layers of the earth with colored paper, using what they have learned so far.

3.      Day three, hand out the second set of vocabulary words, questions, and Alfred Wegener handout. Have students read what they are to do for the day and work on it. If they have time they can work on their rough draft letter to the Royal Geological Society of Britain telling them why they should accept the theory of plate tectonics.

4.      Day four those who have not started will write their rough draft of the letter to the Royal Geological Society of Britain. Others may finish up their final draft letter to RGS of Britain.

5.      Day five, students will be working on section 3, which is vocabulary words, questions and start working on their final project, the estimation of plate movement, creating a poster depicting their prediction as a group and presenting their ideas to the rest of the class.

6.      Day six, catch up day. Students work on any missed work.

7.      Day seven start presentations.

8.      Day eight students will grade themselves and their partners and tell why they should get that grade and the reason their partner should get their grade.

9.      Day 9 Final test.

5.   Evaluation: Assessments will include two posters: the 1^st is structure of the earth, 2^nd the prediction of earth in 150 billion years, this will also include an oral presentation to tell how they developed their poster. 3 Sheets of vocabulary words and questions which are short answer. One paper on Wegener and a letter to the British Royal Geology Society explaining continental drift. Final test. Peer evaluation. 

10.  Closure: Students will present their predictions as an oral presentation to the class. Supporting their prediction, based on analysis and fact. Then a final test.

11.  Assignment: We will follow up with activities that build on structure of the earth. Volcanoes and earthquakes.

12.  Reflection:

1.      Organizing and maintaining effective environment:

a.       I felt that the environment of the computer lab and students working on computers was very effective in engaging all students at the task at hand, because it is something that they do not always get to do. Students were engaged and working together as a team to accomplish the tasks for each day. 

b.      I felt there was an climate of fairness and respect with most of the students, some did not want to work with the people that I established in their team, but I told them that they were graded on group participation and that they needed together as a team, this seemed to help with the groups. Student behavior was very good; they were all focused sharing the computer to find information.

c.       The classroom procedures used for the computers were similar to regular computer lab rules. The only that took extra time was the students learning the password to get onto the Internet and logging onto the Webquest. However, within two days everyone had no problems with it.

d.      Once the students were able to get on the web site they started working immediately on their assignments for the day. More students were on task and remained on task with this lesson than regular lesson in the classroom. Student behavior was very good and no one in the class was disruptive. The only thing that did not work very well was competing with the computers; once we were in the room it was very difficult teaching to the students because they were focused on the computers.  Many times the students wanted to continue working on the assignment when time had run out.  Some of the things on the Webquest did not work properly, so I am making my own version of the Webquest to make it easier to get around in and put in more graphics with animation, to illustrate better plate tectonics. 

e.       I felt the behaviors from the students were much better in the computer lab than the regular classroom. I really did not have to use any techniques to stop behavior problems because the students remained on task.

f.        I felt that in the lesson by pairing up students this promoted social development by working cooperatively together. The lesson also promoted group responsibility by group members selecting jobs that they were in charge of to perform in their groups. In the groups I added peer responsibility by having members give themselves a grade and the other member of the team a grade, they had to say why they deserved that grade and why their group member deserved their grade. I thought that this was very good because the students were generally very honest about their grades and their group members.

2.      Planning and designing instruction:

g. The instructional levels on the Webquest were at 8th grade level, however they were in line with California state standards in science for 6^th grade. I felt that the material in the Webquest was easier to access for the students than in the textbook. I felt that it was more accessible for the RSP, and second language learners in the classroom. 

h. The instructional materials were sequenced in a good order and were almost in line with the students’ textbooks. So the Webquest was built on the information that they learned in the science book about plate tectonics. The material built on each other with more graphic representation and hands on activities for the students. I changed some of the vocabulary words to reflect what we were doing on the test. I could do that in the Webquest by rewriting the program for the project to suit my needs.

i. By teaming the groups up and using peer teaching students worked together to complete their tasks. They were responsible for most of their own work but were able to help each other get the tasks completed. In the Webquest graphics were available to help the second language learners and RSP students associate the text with the graphics. I also gave the RSP students fewer words to look up and they were paired with other students to help them.

j. I was able to fit the lesson into my short and long term plans, because I knew what I was going to be teaching and researched the subject before I had to teach it. Making sure that the lesson was related to state standards and the text books that the students were reading to enhance student learning. U

3. Understanding and organizing subject matter

k. I was able to show competence in the subject matter by reading ahead and making sure that I knew everything that we were doing in the Webquest.  I showed that I understood the subject matter and the Webquest by showing students ways to find the answers to their questions.

l. By using the Internet the resources were available to the students quickly, the students were focused on certain areas of the Webquest by doing specific sections at a time. The other resources that were available to the students were their science books. The students were able to browse the Webquest site and some students used others websites to find additional information on plate tectonics. The subject matter was accessible to all the students and because they were teamed up into partners it became even more accessible through peers working together.

m. I felt that the content was at most of the student levels. I felt that the graphics helped in making the lesson more accessible to the students and the layout helped because it was short and to the point.  The only adaptation that I did was for some RSP students that had fewer words to do in the vocabulary. All of the students stayed on task and finished their work.

n. I felt that the most important instructional strategies used in this Webquest were peer teaching and cooperative learning. The students worked hard on their papers and helped each other out to accomplish the goals of the lesson.

o. Yes, in the lesson I integrated art, persuasive writing, researching skills, technology, oral presentation, and math.

3.      Engaging and supporting all students in learning

p. I felt that I related the lesson by building on the information that we had learned from the textbook and the hands on activities that we had done in the classroom. This was difficult to do because my master teacher started the lesson and I took over with the Webquest, I tried to relate the Webquest to her lesson. 

q. I felt that the Webquest infused several modalities in the lesson, which included kinesthetic and visual. I felt that it was very original and the students responded well to that.

r. I feel there were definitely higher order thinking skills put into the lesson plan all, The Webquest contained mini lessons that required the students to answer short response answers with some of them requiring the students opinion, based on facts presented in the Webquest. The students also had to use the information that they had gained to create a poster of what the world would look like in 150 billion years from now. Students had to make predictions and support their results in an oral presentation to the class.

s. By using teams I was able to put teams together which would help accommodate RSP and second language learner students. The Webquest also used lots of graphic representation, which corresponded to the page that they were reading. I felt both of these aided in student learning.

t. Students were basically in charge of their learning, I was their to assist students if they could not find information. Generally, I walked around to make sure the students stayed on the proper websites because they remained on task. The student interaction and the use of the computers kept students on task and I feel helped in student learning.

4.      Assessing Student learning

u. I used authentic, work samples, and test in assessment. I graded the student’s vocabulary and short answer questions, their art work (i.e. poster of earths core and continents in the future) and their oral presentation.

v. I involved the students in their assessment by having them grade themselves and their partner and why they deserved their grade and why their teammate got the grade they gave them.

w. I felt that the assessment would enable me in setting up for the next assignment. I can also see the downfalls of the Webquest and can design my own. With my own Webquest I could infuse more learning modalities in it to reach even more students and make it easier to move around in. I feel that the Webquest in general should be broken up in to smaller sections. I can also use the results to see what the students did well on and try to integrate more activities that helped with learning and take out things that hindered it. I felt that for the first time of the students using the Webquest that they did very well, I can see that this should not be used a lot or it would take the originality out of the lesson. 

Student Work Samples

1^st student  Andrea female second language learner. Is very hard worker, spelling is not all correct and very short statements for answers to questions. Answers seem to give a little understanding of the material. Have students give to team member to read and make sure the sentences makes sense and then sign their name on the paper to show that it had been corrected. This will also help them with their proofreading. Have a direct lesson showing how to correctly answer a written question. Student said she liked working on the computer with partner, and that it made it easier for the two of them to complete their work.

2^nd student, Vanessa, a average student is always talking in class and seldom gets her work done in class. When doing the Webquest, she was on task and finished her work in a timely manner and did pretty well in answering questions. I asked her how she liked working on the computer and she said that it was better than out of the book.

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