STEM Lesson PLan

This week we were asked to create a lesson plan that focused on STEM strategies for diverse learners. I teach lower elementary and we have been learning about changes of the earth through time. Within that unit the last few weeks we have been focusing on Dinosaurs and their fossils. For this lesson plan I decided to take a deeper look at one of the lessons that I taught this past week in my classroom. The students learned how we can tell what kind of food a dinosaur most likely ate based on what the fossils of of their teeth looked like. They did an experiment to test out their theories. They had a lot of fun with it.

After reading through the resources this week I had a chance to see some of the changes that I would make in that lesson that I taught. I made those changes in the lesson plan that I submitted. Reading about the 5 E's Strategy was helpful when I was thinking of ways that I could improve the lesson. For Example, I decided to add more use of technology into my lesson. I realized that it would be a good idea to have the students start out on the computers looking through some websites that I would have preselected for them. They would look up information and pictures about dinosaurs and there fossils.

Generally I do not write lesson plans in this much detail, so I found it very helpful to go in depth with this one. It helped me think more deeply about every aspect of the lesson. I could see where things needed to be changed and what worked well. It helps to take a step back and look at it from a different angle. That is what this assignment helped me do.

I believe that this lesson went well when I taught it, so I do not anticipate many practical or logistical problems. I feel like I worked any of those out when I taught the lesson the first time. I just have to make sure that the students are careful when they are working on the experiment, so they do not hurt themselves.

References

Hammerman, E. L. (2006). Becoming a better science teacher: 8 steps to high quality instruction and student achievement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.