The process of creating this lesson forced me to thoroughly think through what it was that I wanted the students to know, what my priorities were, and the evidence that I needed to know that they had learned. Because of the nature of my class schedule, I had decided to modify a lesson that I was already in the middle of so that I could put the Ubd template to immediate use. The goals and understandings were essentially already part of my lesson plan. What was difficult was determining the essential questions and deciding on evidence that supports of them. The process made me realize that what I had originally designed was somewhat "activity-oriented" and involved some "coverage" aspects.
I mainly liked the process, as I believe that backward design makes a whole lot of sense. But making sure I covered all the bases also was time-consuming, and since I had already spent a great deal of time originally designing this lesson, that I didn't like. I also felt I had to go back and review and state the standards that applied: I had already cited their numbers originally, but I realized it would be more meaningful for everyone, especially me, if the standard statements were written out. That also was time-consuming, but valuable in the long run, I thought.
I intend to use this template as much as possible in the future because all lessons should begin with essential questions and a decision as to what should be learned.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Title of Lesson FLIGHT
Grade Level 7TH GRADE
Curriculum Area TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION
Time Frame 15-20 40 min. class periods
Developed By Norbert Herold
Desired Results (Stage 1)
CONTENT STANDARDS
NJCCCS-Middle School:
4.2 D.2 Select and use appropriate units and tools to measure quantities to the degree of
precision needed in a particular problem-solving situation.
4.3 C.1 Analyze functional relationships to explain how a change in one quantity can
result in a change in another, using pictures, graphs, charts, and
equations.
4.4 A.1 Collect, generate, organize, and display data.
A.2 Read, interpret, select, construct, analyze, generate questions about, and draw
inferences from displays of data.
4.5 A.1 Learn mathematics through problem solving, inquiry, and discovery.
A.2 Solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts.
C.3 Recognize that mathematics is used in a variety of contexts outside of mathematics.
C.4 Apply mathematics in practical situations and in other disciplines.
D.1 Recognize that mathematical facts, procedures, and claims must be justified.
E.1 Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate
mathematical ideas.
E.3 Use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical
phenomena.
F.1 Use technology to gather, analyze, and communicate mathematical information.
5.2 B.1 Describe the impact of major events and people in the history of science and
technology, in conjunction with other world events.
8.2 B.5 Select and safely use appropriate tools and materials in analyzing, designing,
modeling or making a technological product, system or environment.
9.2 A.1 Communicate, analyze data, apply technology, and problem solve.
C.1 Demonstrate respect and flexibility in interpersonal and group situations.
F.1 Demonstrate appropriate safety procedures for hands-on experiences.
National Education Technology Student Standards
2. Students understand the ethical, cultural, and societal issues related to technology.
6. Students use technology resources for solving problems and making informed decisions.
National Standards for Technological Literacy:
1. Students will develop an understanding of the characteristics and scope of
technology.
2. Students will develop an understanding of the core concepts of technology.
7. Students will develop an understanding of the influence of technology on history.
18. Students will develop an understanding of and be able to select and use transportation
technologies.
Understandings
Overarching Understandings
Students will understand that...
The invention of human flight changed the world.
There are different kinds of flight, with different scientific principals.
Related Misunderstanding
Flight just happens: it's magic.
Essential Question
What is flight?
Topical Questions
Who was the first to fly?
How do airplanes fly?
How do rockets fly?
How do lighter-than-air vehicles fly?
Knowledge
Students will know…
Key flight terms.
The difference between various forms of flight.
Minor adjustments on a flight vehicle can affect flight.
The history of heavier-than-air flight.
The history of the space race.
Skills
Students will be able to...
1. Categorize the different types of flight.
2. Research and develop a timeline of the key events in the development of flight.
3. Apply appropriate safety rules when using equipment to solve a design challenge.
4. Solve problems collaboratively.
5. Design and make a rocket from a soda bottle.
6. Launch their built rockets.
7. Determine the angle their arms make with the ground as they follow the flight of their
classmates’ rockets to their apogees from a set distance away from the launch.
8. Calculate their altitudes using mathematical formulas.
9. Make a model rubber-band-powered airplane from balsa wood and paper.
10. Test their models and adjust their performance.
11. Record airplane flight data as they test.
12. Develop charts from flight data.
13. Relate airplane flight data to environmental conditions.
14. Apply scientific concepts toward understanding the structures of vehicles that move
through the air.
15. Evaluate performance of flight vehicles.
16. Engage in contests that test the quality of their flight vehicles.
Assessment Evidence (Stage 2)
Performance Task Description
Students will design and make two types of flight vehicles.
They will design and make a rocket using a soda bottle as the basic body.
They will design and make an airplane out of balsa wood and paper.
Other Evidence
Points are accumulated for cooperative groups for all activities.
Individually, a workbook-journal, worth 20 points, must be completed.
Learning Plan (Stage 3)
Learning Activities
1. As a classroom discussion elicits numerous vehicles and animals that fly, they are divided
into three categories: lift, reaction and lighter-than-air.
2. Students research the history of flight on the Internet. A class timeline is developed from
the findings of the research.
3. A safety test is passed by all students
4. Students divide into groups of twos and threes to work on projects.
5. a) Students bring in/select soda bottles and design and make rockets from
them.
b) Students are instructed in techniques relevant to their projects.
6. A launch day is set during which all launches take place.
7. During the launches, students participate in altitude-finding methods and
determine rockets’ apogees.
8. A post-launch session leads students through mathematical steps to determine
altitudes.
9. Students make a balsa wood and paper airplane powered by a rubber-band-
powered propeller by following instructions designed to maximize aeronautic design.
10 Students fly and test their models outdoors (weather permitting).
11. Students record relevant data for each day of test flying: average wind
speed, temperature and the seconds in the air of their models’ flights
12. Students develop charts from daily data.
13. Flight performance is related to variations in daily atmospheric conditions in essay form. 14. Underlying scientific principles related to flight are discussed and demonstrated.
15. Reflection is encouraged through work-book/journals that include evaluations of projects.
16. Contests are held for highest-altitude rockets, parachute performance, and airplane-flight
duration.
Grade Level 7TH GRADE
Curriculum Area TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION
Time Frame 15-20 40 min. class periods
Developed By Norbert Herold
Desired Results (Stage 1)
CONTENT STANDARDS
NJCCCS-Middle School:
4.2 D.2 Select and use appropriate units and tools to measure quantities to the degree of
precision needed in a particular problem-solving situation.
4.3 C.1 Analyze functional relationships to explain how a change in one quantity can
result in a change in another, using pictures, graphs, charts, and
equations.
4.4 A.1 Collect, generate, organize, and display data.
A.2 Read, interpret, select, construct, analyze, generate questions about, and draw
inferences from displays of data.
4.5 A.1 Learn mathematics through problem solving, inquiry, and discovery.
A.2 Solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts.
C.3 Recognize that mathematics is used in a variety of contexts outside of mathematics.
C.4 Apply mathematics in practical situations and in other disciplines.
D.1 Recognize that mathematical facts, procedures, and claims must be justified.
E.1 Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate
mathematical ideas.
E.3 Use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical
phenomena.
F.1 Use technology to gather, analyze, and communicate mathematical information.
5.2 B.1 Describe the impact of major events and people in the history of science and
technology, in conjunction with other world events.
8.2 B.5 Select and safely use appropriate tools and materials in analyzing, designing,
modeling or making a technological product, system or environment.
9.2 A.1 Communicate, analyze data, apply technology, and problem solve.
C.1 Demonstrate respect and flexibility in interpersonal and group situations.
F.1 Demonstrate appropriate safety procedures for hands-on experiences.
National Education Technology Student Standards
2. Students understand the ethical, cultural, and societal issues related to technology.
6. Students use technology resources for solving problems and making informed decisions.
National Standards for Technological Literacy:
1. Students will develop an understanding of the characteristics and scope of
technology.
2. Students will develop an understanding of the core concepts of technology.
7. Students will develop an understanding of the influence of technology on history.
18. Students will develop an understanding of and be able to select and use transportation
technologies.
Understandings
Overarching Understandings
Students will understand that...
The invention of human flight changed the world.
There are different kinds of flight, with different scientific principals.
Related Misunderstanding
Flight just happens: it's magic.
Essential Question
What is flight?
Topical Questions
Who was the first to fly?
How do airplanes fly?
How do rockets fly?
How do lighter-than-air vehicles fly?
Knowledge
Students will know…
Key flight terms.
The difference between various forms of flight.
Minor adjustments on a flight vehicle can affect flight.
The history of heavier-than-air flight.
The history of the space race.
Skills
Students will be able to...
1. Categorize the different types of flight.
2. Research and develop a timeline of the key events in the development of flight.
3. Apply appropriate safety rules when using equipment to solve a design challenge.
4. Solve problems collaboratively.
5. Design and make a rocket from a soda bottle.
6. Launch their built rockets.
7. Determine the angle their arms make with the ground as they follow the flight of their
classmates’ rockets to their apogees from a set distance away from the launch.
8. Calculate their altitudes using mathematical formulas.
9. Make a model rubber-band-powered airplane from balsa wood and paper.
10. Test their models and adjust their performance.
11. Record airplane flight data as they test.
12. Develop charts from flight data.
13. Relate airplane flight data to environmental conditions.
14. Apply scientific concepts toward understanding the structures of vehicles that move
through the air.
15. Evaluate performance of flight vehicles.
16. Engage in contests that test the quality of their flight vehicles.
Assessment Evidence (Stage 2)
Performance Task Description
Students will design and make two types of flight vehicles.
They will design and make a rocket using a soda bottle as the basic body.
They will design and make an airplane out of balsa wood and paper.
Other Evidence
Points are accumulated for cooperative groups for all activities.
Individually, a workbook-journal, worth 20 points, must be completed.
Learning Plan (Stage 3)
Learning Activities
1. As a classroom discussion elicits numerous vehicles and animals that fly, they are divided
into three categories: lift, reaction and lighter-than-air.
2. Students research the history of flight on the Internet. A class timeline is developed from
the findings of the research.
3. A safety test is passed by all students
4. Students divide into groups of twos and threes to work on projects.
5. a) Students bring in/select soda bottles and design and make rockets from
them.
b) Students are instructed in techniques relevant to their projects.
6. A launch day is set during which all launches take place.
7. During the launches, students participate in altitude-finding methods and
determine rockets’ apogees.
8. A post-launch session leads students through mathematical steps to determine
altitudes.
9. Students make a balsa wood and paper airplane powered by a rubber-band-
powered propeller by following instructions designed to maximize aeronautic design.
10 Students fly and test their models outdoors (weather permitting).
11. Students record relevant data for each day of test flying: average wind
speed, temperature and the seconds in the air of their models’ flights
12. Students develop charts from daily data.
13. Flight performance is related to variations in daily atmospheric conditions in essay form. 14. Underlying scientific principles related to flight are discussed and demonstrated.
15. Reflection is encouraged through work-book/journals that include evaluations of projects.
16. Contests are held for highest-altitude rockets, parachute performance, and airplane-flight
duration.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Even though I've been reading "The World Is Flat," have read "A Whole New Mind", and am familiar with some of the overwhelming statistics about population numbers, my initial reaction to "Did You Know" was still, "We are in big trouble" I feel like running away, but there's nowhere to run. I am scared because we are facing a tsunami of change that we are not prepared for. We don't know how to deal with this changing world because we have never experienced anything like it before, and it is coming at us with unbelievable speed.
Even though I feel a sense of powerlessness, I feel we owe it to our kids to somehow find solutions to the problem of educating them for this new world. Since we don't know the kinds of jobs that will still be available and valuable in the future, we will need to be flexible and educate our students to be flexible learners. Teaching them problem-solving and critical-thinking skills is essential, both to their survival and the survival of our democracy. Because our kids will not be able to compete with all the professions, such as engineers, that can be outsourced and that will be oversupplied by other countries, we must also stress what America has always excelled at--innovation. That's why I think that Pink's "A Whole New Mind" is so right. We must educate our students' right brains more and encourage their creativity: it's the only hope they have, as far as I can see.
It irked me, too, that our government, with all its resources, is out budgeted by some companies for research and innovation. Instead of pushing a rigid NCLB that is obsessed with testing (but still underfunded) why don't they put the kind of money this crisis calls for into research and innovation in education?
The video also highlights the astonishing growth in the amount of information available and in computing power. That, along with the fact that kids are avid users of hi-technology, means we have to meet them where they are. We have to incorporate appropriate technology into the classrooms if we want to keep their attentions.
Even though I feel a sense of powerlessness, I feel we owe it to our kids to somehow find solutions to the problem of educating them for this new world. Since we don't know the kinds of jobs that will still be available and valuable in the future, we will need to be flexible and educate our students to be flexible learners. Teaching them problem-solving and critical-thinking skills is essential, both to their survival and the survival of our democracy. Because our kids will not be able to compete with all the professions, such as engineers, that can be outsourced and that will be oversupplied by other countries, we must also stress what America has always excelled at--innovation. That's why I think that Pink's "A Whole New Mind" is so right. We must educate our students' right brains more and encourage their creativity: it's the only hope they have, as far as I can see.
It irked me, too, that our government, with all its resources, is out budgeted by some companies for research and innovation. Instead of pushing a rigid NCLB that is obsessed with testing (but still underfunded) why don't they put the kind of money this crisis calls for into research and innovation in education?
The video also highlights the astonishing growth in the amount of information available and in computing power. That, along with the fact that kids are avid users of hi-technology, means we have to meet them where they are. We have to incorporate appropriate technology into the classrooms if we want to keep their attentions.
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