Online Collaborative Inquiry Lesson Plan(5E Science Lesson Plan Template)

Teacher: Maggie Adkins

Grade Level: 8th Grade Subject Area: Middle Grades Earth & Life Sciences

Lesson Title: The Geologic Time Scale Lesson Length: 3 days (60-minute class periods)

The Teaching Process

Lesson Overview:

Working in pairs, students will research and become “experts” on 1 of the 13 geologic time Periods that span the Archean and Proterozoic Eons, and the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras: The Precambrian (Archean & Proterozoic – the first evidence of life), Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous (Mississippian & Pennsylvanian), Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleogene, Neogene and Quaternary (to the present).

Each pair of students will create a webpage, linked to an Geologic Time Scale on the main page of the class’ website, that teaches their classmates about their chosen geologic period. The webpage should present their information in a multimodal format such as a graphic organizer, slide show/PowerPoint or video. The end result will be an interactive Geological Time Scale of key facts and resource links for students to learn about different geologic time periods and study from throughout the unit.

← The Main page of the class website will have a Geologic Timescale similar to this, with hyperlinks for each Time Period’s webpage. Similar to these websites:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/help/timeform.php http://palaeos.com/timescale/timescale.html

Unit Objectives:

The student will understand how life has evolved and diversified throughout the history of the earth. They will gain knowledge of when different organismal groups first appear in the fossil record and how life on earth has changed over geologic time. This lesson will provide one line of evidence (the fossil record) to support that all life on earth arose from a common ancestor. This lesson will then be followed by a lesson on the different branches of the phylogenetic tree of life and the anatomical, genetic and cellular similarities found between both fossil and living species.

Standards addressed:

Standard 8.S.1A. : The practices of science and engineering support the development of science concepts, develop the habits of mind that are necessary for scientific thinking, and allow students to engage in science in ways that are similar to those used by scientists and engineers.

Performance Indicators: 8.S.1A.8 Obtain and evaluate scientific information to (1) answer questions, (2) explain or describe phenomena, (3)

develop models, (4) evaluate hypotheses, explanations, claims, or designs or (5) identify and/or fill gaps in knowledge. Communicate using the conventions and expectations of scientific writing or oral presentations by (1) evaluating grade-appropriate primary or secondary scientific literature, or (2) reporting the results of student experimental investigations.

Standard 8.E.6A.: The geologic time scale interpreted from rock strata provides a way to organize major historical events in Earth’s history. Analysis of rock strata and the fossil record, which documents the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of many life forms throughout history, provide only relative dates, not an absolute scale. Changes in life forms are shaped by Earth’s varying geological conditions.

Performance Indicators: 8.E.6A.3 Construct explanations from evidence for how catastrophic events (including volcanic activities, earthquakes,

climatic changes, and the impact of an asteroid/comet) may have affected the conditions on Earth and the diversity of its life forms.

8.E.6A.4 Construct and analyze scientific arguments to support claims that different types of fossils provide evidence of (1) the diversity of life that has been present on Earth, (2) relationships between past and existing life forms, and (3) environmental changes that have occurred during Earth’s history.

8.E.6A.5 Construct explanations for why most individual organisms, as well as some entire taxonomic groups of organisms, that lived in the past were never fossilized.

List of Materials:

One to One computer for each student Access to Internet, PowerPoint, class website, google docs, etc. Excerpts from episodes of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey with Neil DeGrasse Tyson (2014). (Episode 2: “Some Things

that Molecules Do”). Science Textbooks Earth Systems History by Steven M. Stanley & John A. Luczaj (my personal copy) and interactive timeline:

http://www.macmillanlearning.com/Catalog/Product.aspx?title=earthsystemhistory-fourthedition-stanley&tab=about&feature=overview&cparam1=ektron&contentid=20078#tab

Web resource links to get students started on their research:o University of California, Berkeley’s Museum of Paleontology website:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/help/timeform.phpo UCMP website, about fossils: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/lines_02o The Tree of Life Project - learn about different organismal groups: http://tolweb.org/tree/○ BBC Nature - The History of the Earth: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth

○ Smithsonian - Travel through Earth’s History: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/travel-through-deep-time-interactive-earth-180952886/

○ Smithsonian - The Ocean throughout Geologic Time: http://ocean.si.edu/slideshow/ocean-throughout-geologic-time-image-gallery

Instructional Sequence

Phase One: Engage the Learner - Day 1

These activities mentally engage students with an event or question. Engagement activities capture students' interest and help them to make connections with what they know and can do. The teacher provides an orientation to the unit and assesses students¹ prior understanding of the concepts addressed in the unit. (hook)

What’s the teacher doing?On Day 1, the lesson will be introduced with a teacher facilitated discussion on the Tree of Life. The teacher will pose questions to the class including: How are humans the same or different from other primates? Mammals? Vertebrates? Invertebrates? (and so on). How are different groups of organisms similar or different from each other? Why do we still have anatomical similarities to organisms that are so different from us? How far back in time do we have to go to find a common ancestor that connect us to Primates, Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish, etc. ? Why did different organismal groups arise when they did, and what do their adaptations tell us about the climatic conditions of earth at the time? The teacher will then show part of Episode 2 “The Things that Molecules do,” from Cosmos that introduces evolution and should answer some questions posed during the class discussion. After the video, the teacher will direct the students to open their laptops and open the shared google doc with the online collaborative inquiry assignment directions and guidelines, to go over as a class.

What are the students doing?The Student should have prior knowledge of the rock record, rock types and their depositional environments, and an understanding of radiometric dating methods from earlier in the unit. The teacher will review any of these concepts that may still be unclear as they come up in the teacher facilitated discussion. All students are expected to participate in the discussion, and any questions that arise will be added to the online collaborative inquiry google doc for students to research as part of the assignment. When the online collaborative inquiry assignment is introduced, the teacher will pair students and assign them a Geologic Period they are responsible for becoming experts on. Students will then begin to explore the resource links provided by the teacher to learn about their Geologic Period and brainstorm with their partner on how they would like to present this information on their webpage. By the end of the period on Day 1, they should have started to outline the content for their webpage and decided on what media to use to present it.

Phase Two: Explore the Concept - Day 1 & 2

Students encounter hands-on experiences in which they explore the concept further. They receive little explanation and few terms at this point, because they are to define the problem or phenomenon in their own words. The purpose at this stage of the model is for students to acquire a common set of experiences from which they can help one another make sense of the concept. Students must spend significant time during this stage of the model talking about their experiences, both to articulate their own understanding and to understand another's viewpoint. (hands-on)

What’s the teacher doing?While introducing the online collaborative inquiry assignment, the teacher will go through some examples of how to verify that a web resource is trustworthy. Using SHEG’s three habits of good readers for civic online reasoning: 1. check for previous work, 2. go upstream and 3. read laterally (https://purl.stanford.edu/fv751yt5934).

What are the students doing?After the student pairs of have gone through the provided resource links, they should begin their search for additional resources. On Day 1 they should have decided on a format to present their Geologic Time Period (a slide show, PowerPoint, graphic organizer, video, interactive brochure, etc.). The entire class period on Day 2 will be dedicated to

While the student pairs are reviewing the provided resources and beginning to look for additional resources, the teacher will help guide them toward helpful search terms about their geologic period. The teacher will also monitor:

● Student’s internet use and reinforce safe practices● Scaffold the student’s ability to evaluate the

trustworthiness of web pages and the validity of scientific claims/evidence - how do they know if the information they have found is correct?

● Correct misunderstandings of evolutionary concepts or misinformation they have added to their webpage

● Keep students on task

building their webpage. Each student pair’s webpage should answer the following questions about their Geologic Period:

1) What were the climate conditions on earth like during this period?2) What did the continents look like? Where were they located relative to today?3) What life forms were abundant, first appeared, or went extinct during this period?4) What major geologic events took place during this period and how did it effect life on earth?5) What are some noteworthy fossils from this time period?6) Critical Thinking: What do the most abundant fossil groups from this period tell us about the climate of the earth at the time? Are your conclusions consistent with the climate data you found?

Student pairs must also include a reference section with links that provide more detailed information. The end result will be an interactive geologic time scale that is informative and which their fellow classmates can use to study about the diversity of life throughout geologic time. The knowledge that students put together in this collaborative assignment will be the basis for their quiz on the geologic time scale later in the unit, so they should practice SHEG’s three habits of good readers for civic online reasoning to verify the content they include on their webpage.

Phase Three: Explain the concept and define terms - Day 2

Only after students have explored the concept does the curriculum and/or teacher provide the scientific explanation and terms for what they are studying. The teacher may present the concepts via lecture, demonstration, reading, or multimedia (video, computer-based). Students then use the terms to describe what they have experienced, and they begin to examine mentally how this explanation fits with what they already know. (informational text)

What’s the teacher doing?The teacher will monitor the student’s time management to complete their webpage. A few minutes before the end of the period, the teacher will match up the student pairs into groups of 3 pairs, to give each other critical feedback on their webpages as homework. The teacher will stress the importance of peer review and critique in the scientific process and discuss how collaboration between different groups of people can add important perspectives to a body of knowledge.

What are the students doing?Once students are finished with their webpage, they will give feedback to two other student pairs (critical partners) for homework. For critical feedback, the students will fill out a shared google doc evaluating the following criteria:

1) Did they answer all the assignment questions?2) Does the information they present make sense?3) What questions do you still have about this time period? 4) Did they use the three good habits of civic reasoning for their sources?

Phase Four: Elaborate the Concept - Day 3

Students elaborate on their understanding of the concept. They are given opportunities to apply the concept in unique

situations, or they are given related ideas to explore and explain using the information and experiences they have accumulated so far. Interaction between the students is essential during the elaboration stage. By discussing their ideas with others, students can construct a deeper understanding of the concepts. (student discourse)

What’s the teacher doing?The teacher will instruct the students that the class period will be broken up into 3 mini periods: In the first 20 minutes, the students will review their critical feedback and make any last-minute corrections to errors or information that is unclear. The second 20 minutes will be for the whole class to “play” with their new Interactive Geologic Time Scale. While going through to learn about each period of the earth’s history, they should comment on a shared google doc with one strength and one thing to improve for each webpage. The last 20 minutes of class will be used for the teacher to go through each time period and address questions that students have, opening up a class wide discussion.

What are the students doing? The students will make final corrections at the beginning of the class period on day 3. During the “play” time, students will explore each other’s completed webpages to learn about how the earth, and life on it, has changed throughout time. They should be reviewing that all the assignment objectives are fulfilled on each page, because they will be using the Interactive Geologic Time Scale as a research reference and study resource going forward in the unit. They should give feedback for as many of the 13 webpages as possible, but are required to give feedback for at least 3 webpages. The feedback should include questions about the content or resources used, in addition to strengths and things to improve. During the last 20 minutes, the teacher will walk through each time period on the smartboard, and each student “expert” pair should be able to answer any questions raised by their classmates. But the teacher will fill in any gaps in knowledge. Ideally this will open up to a class wide discussion to address any incorrect content on webpages or misconceptions. Students can make one last correction/update to their webpage as homework, before being graded.

Phase Five: Evaluate students’ Understanding of Concept - Days 1, 2 & 3, and continuing throughout the unit

The final stage of the model has a dual purpose. It is designed for the students to continue to elaborate on their understanding and to evaluate what they know now and what they have yet to figure out. Evaluation of student understanding should take place throughout all phases of the instructional model. The evaluate stage, however, is when the teacher determines the extent to which students have developed a meaningful understanding of the concept. (performance assessment)

Assessments:● Teacher observation & monitoring (throughout Phases 1, 2, 3 & 4)● Critical Feedback for other student pairs’ Geologic Period webpage● Self-Assessment & Teacher Assessment of the finished webpage● Geologic Time Scale & Diversity of Life Quiz later in the Unit

What’s the teacher doing?● The Teacher will evaluate the critical feedback that

students give to their critical partners AND student self-assessments of their own webpage, to assess the student’s critical literacy and development of the three good habits of online civic reason (web literacy skills).

● The teacher will grade each student pair’s webpage for accuracy of information, completeness of the assignment objectives, and following of “the good

What are the students doing? Complete all parts of the assignment - Critical Feedback, Finished webpage & Self-Assessment.

habits of online civic reasoning” (as evidenced by their use of trustworthy resources). Students will be given feedback about any remaining incorrect information that should be corrected (as the Interactive Geological Time Scale will continue to be used as a reference during the unit).

● The content of the Geologic Time Scale & Diversity of Life Quiz will be pulled directly from the class’ geologic time scale webpage. Example of some potential quiz questions:

Use the word bank to fill the missing geologic periods on this Time Scale Chart.

Q: What geologic period was known as “The Age of the Fish?”A: the Devonian.

Q: What was the climate of the earth like at the end of the Proterozoic Eon?A: The earth was completely frozen over. A “Snowball Earth.”