Submitted by: Sherry N. Moran
Collaborators: Suzanne Whitlow, ITRT
School: Three Chopt Elementary School
Summary
During this lesson, students will pose as a team of consultants to evaluate different microscopic viewing tools. Utilizing five different types of microscopes, students will view different specimens to compare and contrast the efficacy of each microscope. Students will sketch and record the magnification of specimens, as well as answer and generate questions about each tool. After the initial observations have been made, students will compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of each tool using a graphic organizer. They will also rationalize the prefered tool used for viewing each type of specimen. Finally, students will generate a summary of their recommendations independently, then work in cooperative groups to reach a consensus. Students will post their final recommendations to an on-line blog posing as the team of consultants, using their creativity and persuasive writing skills in their initial blog as well as respond to postings by other research teams.
TIPC Ratings
This falls into the Target category. Students are assembling and synthesizing their findings to complete the authentic task of finding most appropriate tools for a science lab. They are actually researching which tool(s) were best for specific tasks.
This lesson falls into the approaching category; as students have defined roles in their team, and are using a digital tool (blog) to share their findings, and support their conclusions.
This lesson falls into the approaching category; students are generating and responding to higher level questions to answer an open ended question with higher level thinking skills.
This lesson is in the developing category for creativity. The students are analyzing trends and making predictions within the assignment parameters. This category was not targeted for this lesson, but students showed some degree of creativity in the way they made their posts on the blog.
Student Artifact
