Gregory_Science_Lesson

Science Lesson: [|K.Gregory_Lesson.doc]

Assessments: [|K.Gregory_fill-in.doc]

A sample of 2 students' work: [|Gregory_highscience.doc], [|Gregory_lowscience.doc]


 * Grade Level:** 4
 * Content of Lesson:** Electricity and Magnetism (Students created a telegraph using their prior knowledge of a complete circuit and electromagnets)
 * Assessment Criteria and instrument:** Each group drew a diagram of their telegraph when they were finished creating their telegraph. I had also hoped the students could have completed a vocabulary quiz a couple days after the lesson. The vocabulary words would have included telegraph, electromagnet, and complete circuit -- the students would have drawn done a fill-in-the-blank style quiz and then drawn a diagram of each of the words under its definition. Because the FOSS Kit was picked up the day after my lesson, the students began a new unit, and therefore did not do the quiz. Also, students took a much longer time putting together their telegraph, so no groups were able to send a message. Therefore, students did not use the S-T-R-E-A-M worksheet, even though I would have liked them to.
 * An analysis of the data:** Each group was able to successfully make the telegraph in varying amounts of time. Had all groups been given an ample amount of time, I feel that all students would have been able to draw and label a diagram of their telegraph. Therefore, I do not feel that the low-performing student would have had a diagram that looked like her group's, but I had to gather the materials in order to have enough time to make meaning before moving on to social studies.
 * A sample of student work:** A sample of two of the students' diagrams are attached above.
 * Recommendations for future instruction for the entire class:** Because students spent more time building their telegraphs than I had anticipated, students were not able to send messages to other group members. I would have had the students keep their telegraphs assembled, and then use them the following day to send messages using the S-T-R-E-A-M worksheet. The day after the students sent messages to their group members, I would have provided my students with a fill-in-the-blank vocabulary quiz.
 * Recommendations for future instruction for the students you sampled:** I would have provided more time for the low-performing group's drawing of a telegraph. The diagram is not an accurate portrayal of the students' understanding during the lesson in my opinion. For the high-performing group, I would have liked to have seen students label the important parts of their telegraph. As with the entire class, I would like both groups of students to move on and send one or two messages per group member to each of the other members in their group. I would also like them to take the vocabulary quiz the following day.