Stage One: Backwards Design Course Plan

Stage One in the planning process allows you to create your course with the end in mind by using the backward design method.If youd like to
collaborate with a coach to plan your course, contact Laura or Shannon! NOTE: All Exploratory Courses must be completed and uploaded to
the drive in the Exploratory 2014-2015 folder before the quarter begins.
Stage One Resources:
Understanding by Design by Wiggins and McTighe 2005

Grade Level: 4

Topic (Content Area Covered): Structure, Function and Information Processing - (Senses and How animals use them)

Standards (If Applicable) :
4 PS 4-2:Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen.

4 LS 1-1:Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and
reproduction.

4 LS 1-2: Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and
respond to the information in different ways.
Course Guiding Question : How do senses make sense of the world?

Essential Questions (If Applicable): (Essential questions can ultimately aid students in answering the course guiding question. Decide what
questions will foster inquiry and understanding. Can use the same question for multiple weeks.)

BIG IDEAS: (What do you want students to come away understanding by the end of the course? Should be limited to 3-4 big ideas.)
Students will understand that
animals use different senses and structures to interpret their surroundings and make decisions for survival
artists and designers use a process to plan and create
artists use various art forms and make decisions using their senses to communicate their understandings and ideas

Students will know (What smaller pieces of knowledge will students need to understand the big ideas?)
All students will know:
o light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen
o sharks use silhouettes to capture their prey
Students may know:
o many insects use a compound eye to put many small pictures together as one
o thermal vision is used by snakes and other animals to see
o eye placement determines range of visibility
o Night Vision- pupils get larger at night to allow more light into the eye
o Bees/ birds see ultraviolet
o spiders see 4 primary colors

Student will be able to(What should students eventually be able to DO as a result of such knowledge and skill?)

SWBAT empathize with other people and animals
SWBAT use sensory information learned to design a solution for a particular scenario, taking on a perspective different than their
own
SWBAT use the Thinking Lab Design Process to complete a self-selected design challenge
Project: Self-selected creation explaining which senses and structures would support/enhance a humans ability to find a lost pet.
Outside Partnership (Record any ideas you may have on incorporating outside partnerships into your course)
ECS Student Attributes and Instructional Goals (Describe how your course aligns with the ECS Student attributes and instructional goals...See
handbook for definitions)

Empathic
Creative & Innovatiive


Types of Thinking
observing and describing
analyzing
comparing and connecting








Stage Two: Lesson Planning
Stage two in the planning process requires you to think about your weekly lesson plans. Consider utilizing the 5E Model of Instruction when creating
your weekly plans. Every teacher has a different method for writing their lesson plans but here is an example template you can utilize! If youd like
to collaborate with a coach to plan your weekly plans, contact Laura or Shannon!
Stage Two Resources:
http://www.wisd.org/users/0001/docs/GVC/5E%20Model.pdf


Cycle Date Lesson Plan Materials 4A Notes 4B Notes 4C Notes
Cycle 1
9/3

Introduction/Pre-assessment
Connection: Introduce EQ: How do senses make sense of
the world?

Knowing:
drawing on prior knowledge to see where students
are starting/ where they want to go.
Doing:
Students will be split into 2 groups for parallel teaching.
the class will be doing pre-assessment and half the class
will be doing experience centers, halfway through work
time (approx. 25 min.) the students will switch.
taking pre-assessment (see document in Unit 1
folder)

Experience Centers (student choice about what center
they do at what time
K - what do you know about the senses - poster
making
W - what are you wondering about animal senses?
- listing wonderings on the white board.
L - trying to communicate senses they KNOW in
untraditional ways (ex: with more than 4 colors
show what plain, white rice tastes like)

Being:
creative and innovative
reflective

Thinking Huddle/Visual Reflection: How do I use my
-pre-assessment
document
- pencils
-chart paper
-white boards
-dry erase
markers
-notecards with
sense
challenges
-
pastels/markers/
colored pencils


senses to experience the world around me?
Cycle 2

Conference 1
Connection: We are studying the question: how do our
senses make sense of the world? Today, we are going to
start our Sight Conference, where you will learn about
different animals sense of sight, how they use it and what
they use it for.

Knowing:
-Compound Eyes break images into smaller parts, partially
repetitive, but you dont see the same image over and
over.(second cycle)
-Sharks use silohuettes to identify other animals in the
water and determine if predator or prey. - KEYNOTE
-The human eye uses light to see
- Night vision is better in animals with more rods in their
eyes because it captures more light.
- Pit vipers use thermal vision to detect the things around
them, whether they are living/non-living to find food
-Insects use UV vision, to be able to identify flowering
plants

Doing: Students will be doing experience centers based
on all of these things, visiting one key note speaker per
class. See Sight Conference document for details of each
station.

60 minute conference students will visit 3 centers, at 20
minutes per center. One of these MUST be todays
keynote.

Being: Empathic

Thinking Huddle/ Visual Reflection: Discuss - How do
animals use their senses to experience the world around
them?
-See
Conference
Session
Documents

Cycle 3 Sight Hike
Connection: Were in the middle of the sight conference, so
were going to take a pause- going outside to experience
various perspectives of sight.
-iPads

Knowing: Different types of vision give you a different
perspective, different objects may be magnified or stand
out

Doing: Students will hike to a specific location in the park.
With a partner, students will use ipads to take a photo of
one image. Then, they will take 2 more photos of the same
image using 2 different filters. They will take photos of 4
images total.

Huddle: Lets talk about the different filters you used and
how different perspectives give you a different look at the
object being photographed

Being: empathic & human centered- exploring with multiple
perspectives
Cycle 4

Conference Day 2
Conference 1
Connection: We are studying the question: how do our
senses make sense of the world? Today, we are going to
continue our Sight Conference, where you will learn about
different animals sense of sight, how they use it and what
they use it for.

Knowing:
-Compound Eyes break images into smaller parts, partially
repetitive, but you dont see the same image over and
over.
-Sharks use silohuettes to identify other animals in the
water and determine if predator or prey.(first cycle)
-The human eye uses light to see -KEYNOTE
- Night vision is better in animals with more rods in their
eyes because it captures more light.
- Pit vipers use thermal vision to detect the things around
them, whether they are living/non-living to find food
-Insects use UV vision, to be able to identify flowering
plants

Doing: Students will be doing experience centers based

on all of these things, visiting one keynote speaker per
class. See Sight Conference document for details of each
station.

60 minute conference students will visit 3 centers, at 20
minutes per center. One of these MUST be todays
keynote.

Huddle: How do animals use sight to experience the world
around them?

Being: Empathic
Cycle 5-6 Catch-Up & Review / Mini Design Challenge
Connection: Weve been working on our Sight Conference.
Some of you have mentioned that there are certain
sessions you didnt get to finish, or that you were still
interested in learning more about. Today, we are going to
give you about 20 minutes to finish and/or visit any of the
sessions that you missed. Then, were going to use the
information youve gathered over the whole Sight
Conference to complete a Mini-Design Challenge.

Knowing: The types of sight that various animals use to
see including: compound eye, UV vision, Night vision,
Human Eye, silhouettes, thermal vision

Doing: 20 minutes. Students visit any sessions they missed
or want another chance to understand.

5 minutes. Clean Up.
10 minutes. Design Challenge Intro.
Design Challenge work/completion

Huddle: How did you use what you learned in our sight
conference for your design challenge?

Being: Creative and Innovative
Empathic
Materials:
-
gray,white,manil
a, graph papers

-colored pencil
-markers
-design marker
-sharpie
-crayon

-design
challenge
template

Cycle 7

Conference 2: Sense Conference
Connection: During the last conference, we focused
-see conference
session

completely on sight to help us answer our question How
do our senses make sense of the world? Today, we are
going to continue answering that question with another
conference focused on the other important senses.

Knowing:
Butterflies taste with their feet to find out if the leaf
they are standing on is rotting or not for their eggs.
Bears sense of smell is impacted by the amount of
sense receptors on their nose and the size of the
large portion of their brain devoted to smell.
Catfish experience their surroundings by taste buds
that are all over their bodies -KEYNOTE
Ear shape impacts the amount you can hear
Ear drums work with vibration in the ears
Echolocation works as bats send out a signal, and
the type of signal that comes back tells them what
the object is. They then choose to avoid or get it
(tree or insect)

Doing: Conference Sessions that help students experience
those senses. (see Official Conference guide for
explanations of individual sessions)

60 minute conference students will visit 3 centers, at 20
minutes per center. One of these MUST be todays
keynote.

Huddle: Turn and Talk with the person next to you- explain
one of the animal senses you learned today at our sense
conference. Whole group: How does this work connect to
our essential question?

Being: Empathic - Understanding the ways that animals
understand the world around them.
documents
Cycle 8 Conference 2
Connection: During the conference last time, you went to
one keynote about the taste buds of a catfish. Today, you
will pick 2 choice sessions and attend one keynote about
whiskers.
-see conference
session
documents


Knowing:
Butterflies taste with their feet to find out if the leaf
they are standing on is rotting or not for their eggs.
Bears sense of smell is impacted by the amount of
sense receptors on their nose and the size of the
large portion of their brain devoted to smell.
Whiskers act like fingers to help animals with their
sense of touch. - KEYNOTE
Ear shape impacts the amount you can hear
Ear drums work with vibration in the ears
Echolocation works as bats send out a signal, and
the type of signal that comes back tells them what
the object is. They then choose to avoid or get it
(tree or insect)

Doing: Various Conference Sessions that help students
experience those senses. (see Official Conference guide
for explanations of individual sessions)

60 minute conference students will visit 3 centers, at 20
minutes per center. One of these MUST be todays
keynote.


Huddle: Turn and Talk with the person next to you- explain
one of the animal senses you learned today at our sense
conference. Whole group: How does this work connect to
our essential question?

Being: Empathic - Understanding the ways that animals
understand the world around them.
Cycle 9
10/9
Begin Final Design Challenge
Connection: We are going to use the information weve
gotten from the Sense Conference to start our Final Design
Challenge

Knowing: In addition to the examples of animal senses
covered in the conference, students know the design
process that we will repeat
Cardboard
Paper
glue
hot glue
beads
markers
fabric
tape
4B will need an
alternate lesson
to completed
with the sub on
10/15. They will
start on the next
cycle.


Doing:
Design challenge
Story
Review design process together
Discuss materials
Start filling out design sheet individually
Add details
Some may start actual design

Huddle- share out the progress of your design
challenge with the other students at your table. How
does your design challenge help you communicate
what youve learned?


Being: Empathic- Think like the person who needs help,
what will help them solve their problem?
recycled
materials
Cycle 10

10/16,
17, 20

Final Design Challenge
Connection: We started our final design challenge last
cycle where we introduced Max and his lost dog Snoopie.
We are completing a design challenge where we are using
the senses we learned from the design challenge to design
a device to help pet owners track down their lost pets.
Students who finish their design challenge will first try to
Make it Better and then will be working on a concept
poster (explain during mini-lesson).

Knowing: Use of design process
Animal Senses

Doing: Design Process & Making
HDC Methods: Concept Posters & Storyboarding


Huddle- share out the progress of your design
challenge with the other students at your table. How
does your design challenge help you communicate
what youve learned?

Cardboard
Paper
glue
hot glue
beads
markers
fabric
tape
recycled
materials


Being: EMPATHIC & HUMAN- CENTERED
Cycle 11

10/21, 27,
28, 29

Final Design Challenge
Connection: We started our final design challenge last
cycle where we introduced Max and his lost dog Snoopie.
We are completing a design challenge where we are using
the senses we learned from the design challenge to design
a device to help pet owners track down their lost pets.
Students who finish their design challenge will be working
on a concept poster (explain during mini-lesson). Students
who finish the concept poster will be working on
storyboarding a potential commercial to sell their device to
the consumer.

Knowing: Use of design process
Animal Senses

Doing: Design Process & Making
HDC Methods: Concept Posters & Storyboarding


Huddle- share out the progress of your design
challenge with the other students at your table. How
does your design challenge help you communicate
what youve learned?

Being: EMPATHIC & HUMAN- CENTERED
Cardboard
Paper
glue
hot glue
beads
markers
fabric
tape
recycled
materials
There are three
days that will be
missed for
McKeever for all
of 4th grade.