INQUIRY (5E) LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Teachers: Subject: Grade:

Mr. Angel Hill, Mr. Chase Holt, Mrs. Kyla Kraust, Ms. Math/Science/History 8th Grade
Aletha Wilson and Ms. Ainsley Leavitt

Common Core State Standards:

Science standard: 8.L4U1.12 Gather and communicate evidence on how the process of natural selection provides
an explanation of how new species can evolve.
History Standard: 8.SP1.4 Use questions generated about individuals and groups to analyze why they, and the
developments they shaped, are historically significant.
Math Standard:
8.F.A.1 Understand that a function is a rule that assigns to each input exactly one output. The
graph of a function is the set of ordered pairs consisting of an input and the corresponding output.
8.F.B.5 Describe qualitatively the functional relationship between two quantities by analyzing a
graph (e.g., where the function is increasing or decreasing, linear or nonlinear)

Objective (Explicit):
Generate a line graph that represents the population of their animal over time, as well as explain their findings in a two
minute summary of their animal.

Evidence of Mastery (Measurable):

Include a copy of the lesson assessment.
Provide exemplar student responses with the level of detail you expect to see.
Assign value to each portion of the response

Evidence of Mastery will be measured based on the items listed in the rubric provided: Group worked well together and each person took care of an
equal amount of work, the line graph contains accurate information, the x and y axis are labeled correctly, their summaries displays knowledge of
their species and the date displayed on their graph, and their short presentation is clear and concise.

Sub-Objectives, SWBAT (Sequenced from basic to complex)

How will you review past learning and make connections to previous lessons?
What skills and content are needed to ultimately master this lesson objective?
How is this objective relative to students, their lives, and/or the real world?

● Students will be able to match Darwin's Finches to the descriptions provided.

● Students will be able to describe the adaptations made by the Saguaro Cactus and the Prickly Pear Cactus.
● Students will be able to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between Saguaro Cactus Adaptations and Prickly Pear
Adaptations.
● Students will be able to model population change to their animal over time.

Key vocabulary: Natural Selection, Adaptations, Materials: Computer, Google Program, Peardeck:
Population Attached here.

Engage (Kyla) -Anticipatory Set about Charles Darwin and his discoveries on the Galapagos Islands
How will you activate prior knowledge?
How will you hook student attention?
What question will you pose, based on your objective, that students will seek to answer in Explore?

Teacher Will: Have students get out their computers, so the students Students Will: Students will get out their computers and log
can connect to a Peardeck with today’s lesson. Teacher will begin into the Peardeck provided by the teacher. Students will listen
going over keywords and people that are relevant to the lesson. to a brief introduction about Charles Darwin and learn the key
Teacher will then explain the opening activity where students will be vocabulary word “natural selection.” Students will then utilize
matching “Darwin’s Finches” to their food and behavior description. the idea of natural selection to make guesses on “Darwin’s
Teacher will give students time to match the items. There will then Finches” by matching the description of the finch to the
be a few minutes to pair share and compare responses with the Finches' visual characteristics. Students will work through
student next to them. The teacher will then lead a class discussion their initial assumptions on their own and then will be given
on the reasoning behind the students choices and how it connects time to pair share their ideas with their neighbors. Students
back to the idea of natural selection. will then engage in a classroom discussion on their reasoning
 behind their guesses and how that relates back to natural
selection.

Explore -Lab activity where students look at plants native to the Galapagos and it’s primary counterpart
How will you model your performance expectations? (Remember you are not modeling what you want students to discover but need to
model expected behavior or required procedures.)
How will students take the lead and actively use materials to discover information that will help them answer the question posed in the
Engage? What questions or prompts will you be prepared to use with students while they are “exploring”?

Teacher Will: Provide the students with pictures of Opuntia Cactus Students Will: Work in their pairs and look at the pictures of
that are native to the Galapagos. The teacher will then split the the Opuntia Cactus. They will be provided with several pictures
students into groups of two and will compare and contrast the that show the adaptations that this cactus went through. They
adaptations that the Opuntia Cactus or Prickly Pear cactus went students will then compare and contrast these pictures with
through compared to the saguaro cactus that they see so often. The their partner in preparation for the class discussion.
teacher will then go over the comparisons with the class.

Co-Teaching Strategy
What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement? The co-teaching strategy that I feel would maximize student
achievement would be one teach, one assist. This way one teacher can be leading the class and instructing the students on what to do, and the
other teacher can help the students with any of their questions.

Differentiation Strategy
What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students? Allowing the students to work in pairs will be one accommodation I will
make for the students. I will also be giving them physical copies of the pictures for the kinesthetic learners.
How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge? I will help them with their analysis by showing them examples of different
comparisons they can make.

Explain (Chase)-Venn Diagram of the Similarities and Difference from plant in lab
How will all students have an opportunity to share what they discovered?
How will you connect student discoveries to correct content terms/explanations?
How will all students articulate/demonstrate a clear and correct understanding of the sub-objectives by answering the question from the
Engage before moving on?

Teacher Will: Use a venn diagram to show the differences and Students Will: Work on the venn diagram using their
similarities of plants from the explore lab. Teachers will get students' knowledge from the explore section. Students should build
minds flowing with ideas by giving them a few ideas that they can connections and work in groups to better the learning
brainstorm off of. Teachers will also walk by and try to gauge the experience.
students’ understanding by asking questions that relate back to the
explore lab.

Co-Teaching Strategy
What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement? For co-teaching the best strategy would be to set one side of the room
to galapagos plants and the other side of the room to the common plant and see how many differences they come up with.

Differentiation Strategy
What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students?
I would pair up students to work together. I would provide handouts that make it easier to do the venn diagram. I would scaffold their learning with
engaging questions.
How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge? For students that need an extra challenge I would want them to compare the
plants to plants that they have at home.

Elaborate (Angel)-Research their Galapagos Island Animal

How will students take the learning from Explore and Explain and apply it to a new circumstance or explore a particular aspect of this learning
at a deep level?
How will students use higher order thinking at this stage (e.g. A common practice in this section is to pose a What If?
Question)? How will all students articulate how their understanding has changed or been solidified?

Teacher Will: The teacher will introduce the student's research Students Will: Students will engage in the introduction of the
project where students will explore a different Galapagos Animal to research process by listening with intent and asking questions
discover their population and the trends of it over time. The teacher if any arise. After receiving the information on the project,
will review the research process and provide time to answer students will research a Galapagos Animal of their choosing
questions along with ensuring students remain on task. This task and research their population over at least 5 different time
allows students to apply Darwin’s theory of natural selection as they periods, with even intervals between them. They will record
analyze the the trends of the population this data in a data table with labeled columns!

Co-Teaching Strategy
What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?
A co-teaching strategy that is usable for this lesson would be One Teach-One Assist: one teacher can propose the content of the research project
in its entirety while the other teacher assists the students in the classroom with any questions that might arise as well as assist the teacher in
keeping students on task.

Differentiation Strategy
What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students?
For students who may have a difficult time completing this assignment on time or may have learning disadvantages that are working against them
on this rigorous project, students can be paired with another to work on the project so that there is opportunity to leverage their partner’s
knowledge on the subject as well as having someone to bounce ideas off of other than their teacher(s)
How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge?
If students finish their project early, I would have them compare their tables and populations with those around them to encourage them to analyze
the differences in the population between their animals and the possible causes of the differences in populations.

Evaluate (Aletha) - Demonstrate Understanding of their animal in relation to Darwin’s Findings

How will all students demonstrate mastery of the lesson objective (though perhaps not mastery of the elaborate
content)? How will students have an opportunity to summarize the big concepts they learned (separate from the
assessment)?
In this portion of the lesson, students will create a line graph of the population based on their findings in “evaluate”
using the graphing tool in google docs. They will summarize the evolution of their animal on the graph and in a short 2
minute informal presentation to the class.

Teacher Will: Students Will:

Teacher will explain the goal of this assessment and will lead Students will work in groups to navigate their table and graph.
students through how to use the line graph function in google Each part of the project will be assigned to a group member at the
docs. The teacher will walk around the room to make sure start of their “evaluate” portion. One student can read out the
students are working collaboratively and to answer any questions functions of the graph and the numbers, another will be inputting
and will facilitate the short presentations at the end of the lesson. the data, one will work on their summary of the information, and
Grading will be based on participation and explanation according the fourth will do the short presentation of findings to the class.
to the rubric below. Students will listen intently to their classmates’ presentations.

Co-Teaching Strategy
What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student
achievement?
Co-teaching will be beneficial in this portion because it may be
confusing to make a line graph on google docs, so more help walking
around will reduce student confusion. They can also help facilitate the
presentations if there is not enough time and they can be split off into
sections to present their findings.