Do you remember what lessons stood out to you in school? Did you do fun activities or do you remember sitting and reading all day? When I was in school, I remember doing one more than the other. Therefore, I try my best to create lesson plans that engage my students in critical thinking skills, activities, and conversations.
Reading Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown’s 21st century approach to learning gave me new insight to keep in mind while creating enriching plans. They mentioned that “students must (a) focus more on knowing where to find information than on knowing what, (b) learn to generate content that represents their learning, (c) understand how what they’re making is dependent on the context of creation itself, and (d) learn that play is how people generate new understanding” (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p.91-99).
Thinking about this approach helped me to create a science lesson on matter. Click here for the entire lesson plan.
My main activity in this plan is for students to make ice cream and discuss the states of matter and why they think the ingredients make the substance change. The students are to use YouTube as a resource when creating the ice cream. This strategy focuses on students finding information. The variety of activities gives students the understanding that matter is interrelated to everything around us and that exploring different activities and creating, gives students a new understanding.
Another approach that I kept in mind while creating my lesson plan is Renee Hobbs’ five core competencies: access, analyze, create, reflect, and act. In my lesson, the students are accessing new information using YouTube on an iPad. Using a variety of resources (books, internet, games, music) makes learning engaging and it shows students that there are multiple ways to get information. Creating the ice cream and discussing questions about matter and why it can change, gives students the opportunity to analyze information. Pairing up the students to make the ice cream and having class discussions allows students to practice their communication skills and reflection skills as they ponder questions and work together. And lastly, giving the students to make the ice cream on their own, just using the video and each other, will test their patience, problem-solving skills, and communication skills.
I am very excited to teach this lesson when I start school. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please let me know. Thank you!
References:
Hobbs, R. (2011). Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand, Oaks, CA: Corwin/Sage.
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace.
[Untitled 5 Minute Icecream]. [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_Zt1EuIEhvw/maxresdefault.jpg
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