Hurricanes
Teacher: Matthew C. Hartman
Planning Partners: Mark Cygan, Jason Castaldi
Behavioral Objectives:
- Student will be able to draw a concept map, which accurately
shows the relationships between the following terms: hurricanes,
intensity, storm surge, predictions, travel speed, Saffir-Simpson Scale,
wind speed, land fall, storm tracks, Atlantic Basin, Slope of the continental
shelf, category, pressure, past storms, Gulf.
- Student will be able to explain how hurricanes are
predicted and what tools are used.
- Student will know the relationship between wind speed
and pressure.
Pre-Assessment Strategies:
- Have student explain past knowledge of hurricanes in
their own words.
- Have student draw a concept map using the terms listed
above.
- Ask student one question about the Saffir-Simpson scale
and one question about storm tracks.
Teaching Plan:
- First explain to the student what they will be learning
about. Explain the behavioral objectives.
- Then begin the LoGal Hurricane web-based program in
LoGal’s Earth Pulse
- First use the “Warning Simulator”
- Use this to show two hurricanes’ paths. Explain
the difference between the Gulf and Atlantic Basin storm tracks.
- Next use the “Analysis” station
- Use this to show the relationship between pressure
and wind speed.
- Third, use the “Predictions” station.
- This will be used to explain the Saffir-Simpson scale
and to give the student a chance to make predictions about hurricanes based
on information gathered so far.
Post-Assessment Strategies:
- Have student explain knowledge of hurricanes in their
own words.
- Have student draw a concept map using the term listed
above.
- Have student again answer questions that were posed
before the lesson.
The Moons of the Solar System
(Lesson is based on Lunar Lollipops - developed
by Hank Thoenes)
Objectives:
1. Students should be able to name each moon in
the solar system when given the corresponding planet.
2. Students should be able to name the phases of the
Earth's Moon when given pictures of the phases.
3. Students should be able to explain that the Earth's
Moon has different phases due to the relative position of the moon to the
Earth.
4. Students should be able to identify the moons of the
solar system when given descriptions of the moons.
Safety Considerations: The “lab” activity in this
unit is relatively risk free. A lamp with a light bulb will be used,
but this should not be a safety issue as long as students know not to touch
the light bulb while it is hot. No chemicals of flames will be used,
so therefore not protective eye gear or lab aprons will be necessary.
Materials:
1. 2-3” diameter Styrofoam balls on sticks or pencils
(the lunar lollipops) (one per student)
2. A lamp with light bulb, and no lampshade.
3. A room in which all lights can be turned out.
Assessment:
Prior knowledge of the subject will be assessed through
use of various pre-lesson questions. In the case of the lesson being
described here, phases of the moon will be drawn on the board and students
will work together to try to name each phase.
Students’ understanding after the unit will be assessed
with a written test in which students will be given question and pictures.
In the questions the students will have to figure out which moon is being
talked about and perhaps answer question about the different moons.
With the pictures students will have to identify which moon or moon phase
is being displayed.
Steps to be used in teaching the unit: The Unit
will begin by looking at the solar system as a whole. Then, the class
will “travel” from one planet to the next (moving away from the Sun) and
look at whether the planet has any moons, and if so what their characteristics
are. Thus, before the lesson described here, we will have already
studied Mercury and Venus. Some planets will take longer than others,
such as Jupiter and Saturn, as well as extra time spent on Earth due to
the teaching of the phases of the Moon, which is what this lesson is about.
The procedure for the lesson:
1. Turn on the model sun and turn off the other lights
in the room. Have students stand. Tell them in this system the lamp is
the sun and their head is the earth. Their nose is their hometown on the
surface of the earth.
2. Ask students to stand so that it is noon in their
hometown. (Their nose should point toward the sun.) Have them turn (rotate)
until it is midnight in their hometown. Have students rotate in a counterclockwise
direction to simulate the direction as seen from the North Pole. (Midnight
is when they have their backs to the sun.) Students can also rotate to
show dawn and dusk in their hometowns and get an idea why the sun appears
to rise in the east and set in the west.
3. Hand out the lunar lollipops (moons) and tell students
that it should be held at arm's length away from their head. Demonstrate
how the moon orbits the earth in a counterclockwise fashion (from right
to left). As students watch their moon they will see that it will go through
phases similar to those of the real moon.
4. Go through the 8 major phases of the moon with students.
a. New moon - moon is between the sun and the earth and
they see the shadowed side of the moon. A solar eclipse occurs in this
phase when the moon blocks light from the sun from reaching a portion of
the earth. Students can close one eye and simulate this event.
b. Waxing crescent - rotating from a new moon toward
a first quarter, backwards "c" shape will appear on the moon.
c. First quarter - right half of the side of the moon
facing earth is lit. The right shoulder is point towards the sun.
d. Waxing gibbous - rotating from a first quarter to
a full moon.
e. Full moon - earth is between the moon and the sun,
the entire lit side of the moon is visible on earth, (students' backs are
to the sun and moons are lifted up to be lit). A lunar eclipse occurs when
the moon passes through the earth's shadow. Have students simulate this
event.
f. Waning gibbous - rotating from a full moon to a last
quarter, less and less of the moon is lit each night
g. Last quarter - left half of the side of the moon facing
the earth is lit, left shoulder is pointing to the sun.
h. Waning crescent - rotating from a last quarter to
a new moon, a "c" shape of light is seen on the left side of the moon.
5. Have students repeat the phases on their own
as you circulate through the room to correct any problems.
6. Assess students by naming a moon phase and having
them rotate until they are in the correct phase. Jumble the phases to make
it more of a challenge. Also, include the two eclipses and the correct
moon phases when they occur.
Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources Are All Around
Us!
(Using "Renewable and Non-Renewable Resource Trivia"
Game)
Developed by: Tara Richards
Bob Pearson
Matt Hartman
I. Goals:
Students should become familiar with the two, broad categories
of resources: renewable
and non-renewable.
Students will be able to recognize the importance of
renewable and non-renewable
resources in their everyday lives.
II. Objectives:
Students will be able to:
compare and contrast renewable and non-renewable resources.
identify examples of renewable and non-renewable resources
used in everyday
life.
suggest alternatives to many of the non-renewable resources
used in everyday life. gain an appreciation for the value of working in
groups toward a common goal.
III. Materials:
Overhead picture of renewable and non-renewable
resources
Notebook paper
Pen or pencil
10 "What's that made of?" questions on for students
to answer individually
1 "What does this make?" question for students
to answer cooperatively in groups
IV. Methods:
Approximately 5 minutes:
1) To begin, I will put a picture on the overhead projector
and ask the students to
identify the various renewable and non-renewable resources
found in the picture on a sheet of paper. Then we will make a list
of renewable and nonrenewable resources on the board.
Approximately 5 minutes:
2) Next, I will lead the students in a discussion about
renewable and non-renewable
resources by addressing the following questions:
From this activity, can you explain the overall definition
of a renewable resource?
From this activity, can you explain the overall definition
of a non-renewable resource?
Do you know of any alternatives for the non-renewable
resource that you just named?
At this point, we will discuss the definitions of renewable
and non-renewable resources that they came up with, and discuss how they
relate to the actual definitions, which follow:
Renewable Resources can be maintained with careful planning.
Examples include:
wild animals, forests, soil and water, grasslands
Nonrenewable Resources will eventually be used
up. Examples are:
oil, coal and gas, gold and silver, uranium, iron
Approximately 10 minutes throughout lesson:
3) Students will be asked to identify thirteen things
that contain nonrenewable resources, which they used so far during the
day. The students will then, determine three non-renewable resources
that they could do without, and finally determine alternatives for the
remaining non-renewable resources.
Approximately 25 minutes:
4) After the discussion, I will explain the game, "Renewable
and
Non-Renewable Resource Trivia." The students will be
divided into groups of three students. From this, the three students in
each group will be numbered one through three.
5) All of the number one's will be answering the first "What's that made
of?" question, all of the number two's will answer the second question,
etc. The students will be allowed 1 minute to respond.
This will conclude Round 1 of
the game.
6) During Round 2, the students will work cooperatively within their
groups to answer one "What does this make?" question. The groups will
be allowed 5 minutes to respond. During this time, the students will
need to assign roles (i.e. secretary to record ideas, spokesperson to
give the group's final answer, etc.) and collaborate on answering the
question.
7) The groups will then present their responses.
Approximately 3-5 minutes:
8) Now, we will provide some type of closure by briefly summarizing the
main points covered in the discussion and the game. Also at this time,
we will
address any questions or concerns that the students may still have.
Lastly, we will emphasize the importance of attempting to find alternatives
for
non-renewable resources that we use daily as we quickly approach the new
millennium.
V. Special Strategies:
9) This lesson is not one in which specific people are
talked about or certain groups would be unable to participate. Everyone
uses resources, renewable and non-renewable, no matter his or her race,
gender, religion, or geographical area. Of course, different resources
would be used, but this is brought out when the students discuss what resources
they have used that day, and those resources are used as examples.
VI. Assessment:
10) I used formative assessment throughout my lesson by beginning with
questions
that I wanted the students to answer and continuing to ask them
additional questions throughout the lesson. The final assessment of the
students
are their responses to the questions within the game.