Lianna Zolkower-Kutz

Kelly Stavrides
Liz Kahn
November 11, 2014
EDUC 521
Term III Lesson Plan: Aquarium Activity at Lea Elementary
What
Our goal is to help the four students in our group build a bottle aquarium, the second part
of the self-contained ecosystem that they are creating. The objective of this activity is to allow
students to observe a self-contained aquatic/terrestrial ecosystem, and in this way understand the
concept of an ecosystem is and how organisms interact with each other in this system and with
their environment. In addition, we want them to understand the concept of a model: this small
synthetic system is a model for a larger pond or stream ecosystem. Models are important in
science, and we want students to comprehend their usefulness. This lesson also connects with the
three areas of the Framework, encompassing a number of practices, cross-cutting concepts, and
core ideas in life science (see the Why section below). It supports the development of Common
Core Standards in English/Language Arts relating to understanding subject-specific texts and
participating in group discussions (see below).
Finally, this lesson provides a way to explore our overarching questions. Kelly s question
has to do with differentiation. Since we have already worked with these four students, we have a
better idea of their temperaments and learning needs, and we have planned this lesson with their
needs in mind (see Accommodations) Lianna s overarching question has to do with helping
students establish a growth mindset. These fifth graders were enthusiastic participants in our first
lesson, which indicates that they are interested and engaged in doing this kind of science. Our
goal is to sustain this interest while introducing important scientific concepts such as ecosystems
and modeling, and engage them in scientific practices. In this way we hope to help them see
themselves as scientists, capable of conducting investigations and understanding scientific
concepts.
How
This is a materials-based lesson, which is a highly effective form of science instruction
because it allows students to engage in scientific practices themselves and to construct their own
knowledge. Our technique for the previous lesson, and which we will use here, was a round
robin-style procedure, in which each student had a list of steps and took turns reading the steps
and performing each step with the materials. This format provided a systematic and efficient way
for all students to handle the materials and remain involved in the activity. One change we are
making is to provide observation sheets at the beginning of the lesson so that students can make
observations when they are not handling the materials; we hope this will help keep them focused
on the lesson. In addition, we plan to be more purposeful about having students identify each part
of the ecosystem, and start to describe their interactions, and use scientific vocabulary. Finally,
we plan to ask more purposeful questions: we plan to do this at the beginning to have them
reflect on what they have already done and predict what might happen next; we also plan to

explore the content of the lesson through a group discussion as the very end, in which purposeful
questions will push students to reflect on their observations and construct their own knowledge
of these concepts.
Why
When planning this lesson we decided to focus on materials-based instruction, which
gives students a chance to actually do the science. This in turn leads to better learning transfer
and more engagement on the part of the students. As per our association with the Lea school, we
are doing a lesson with a group of four students, who we also taught last week. During the
procedure part of the lesson, building the aquarium, our teaching group chose to do a round
robin style of student engagement. This style of student interaction allows for each student to
participate in the materials gathering and materials action fairly. This unit and lesson is
important for multiple reasons, but two of the reasons that are most heavily emphasized are
modeling and constructing models and understanding ecosystems. Students need to understand
how models work and having such a small self-contained model makes it easy for them to see
the model in action. It s hard for the importance of ecosystems to overstated, as human beings
are part of an ecosystem.
Goals/Objectives
SWBAT construct a model of an aquatic ecosystem
SWBAT start to record observations of ecosystem
SWBAT identify and record the different parts of the ecosystem
Standards
Framework for K-12 Science Education
Practices: Asking Questions; Developing and Using Models; Conducting Investigations
Crosscutting Concept: Systems and System Models
Core Idea LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
LS2.B: Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domainspecific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions
(one-on-one, in groups, and teacherled) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts,
building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1B. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out
assigned roles.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1C. Pose and respond to specific questions by making
comments that contribute to the discussion and elaborate on the remarks of others.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1D. Review the key ideas expressed and draw conclusions
in light of information and knowledge gained from the discussions.
Materials

 1 terrarium
1 bottle
1 liters of water
2 300 ml clear plastic cups
paper towels
1 or 2 sprigs of elodea
10-15 duckweed plants
3 dropperfuls of algae
1 dropper
1 hand lens
1 spoon
1 metric ruler
2 worksheets
Learning Environment and Management Issues
The students are arranged in a block of four desks. The classroom teacher was the one to arrange
them and as there is limited space in the class, as the guest teachers we have very little ability
(and space) to change the arrangement. One teacher stands at end of the block of desks so that all
of the students feel that they have attention from the teachers and also hopefully to manage
behavior through proximity.
If a student misbehaves or goes off task, they will be redirected and have their attention
focused back onto the task. If there are severe behavior management issues, the consequence
system of the classroom teacher will be defaulted too, and she would be asked to step in. As we
only guest teachers we are unfamiliar with the consequence system in play in this particular
classroom and the classroom teacher will be able to implement much better than any of us.
Plan
1) (Liz) Hook (7 min.) - We are so excited to be back! Emphasize that they worked really
well as a team last time, and that this will be important today as well.

Review from last week:

o

How often did you water your terrarium?

What did you observe over the week?

To what extent did your observations match your predictions?

What do you think will happen in the next week? What are you
wondering?

What do you think a model is, based on what we talked about from last
week? Why do you think it is useful in science?

Introducing the aquarium

o

What do you know about water environments?

Explain that we will be building the second part of this model, the
aquarium!

Briefly go over the things we will be putting in the aquarium (show

observation sheets)

Big Question: what does a living thing need to survive? (leave

unanswered to think about during the lesson)

2) (Lianna) Building the Aquarium (15-20 min.)

Distribute observation sheets

Ask Djime to be our Master Artist: make detailed drawing of aquarium for group
during the activity

Build aquarium step by step using list of procedures from teacher s guide (explain
that we will take turns like last time, which they did really well. )
o

Each student has a copy

Students take turns: one student reads step and performs that task, rotating
around the table

During building, other students make notes on their observation sheets

*During activity, Djime will be sketching during down time

3) (Kelly) Group Discussion (10 min.)

Set norms: raise hand to contribute. Give your group members time to think and
try not to interrupt. Be respectful of others ideas: for instance, if you disagree,
you can simply say, I disagree and explain why. You can also say, I would like
to add something. You can also ask questions: they are important!

What living things do you see in this environment? (students contribute one or
two each; we will list the animals we are adding). Liz will be starting a web on
the white board, listing living and nonliving things after the model in the teacher's
guide.

What do you think they need to live?

What nonliving things do you see in the aquarium? How do you think they are
important?

As students begin to articulate relationships, Student Teacher draws them with

arrows on the web (have Djime draw for his group?)

What do you think will happen next week?

Why do you think we made this?

4) Conclusion (3 min.)

Return to models. What do you think this is a model of?

Introduce the term ecosystem: relationships among different living things,

between living things and their environment.

Explain how to make observations in science notebook

Thinks about the living and nonliving things in this ecosystem and how they are
related when you make your observations in the coming weeks

Total Time: approx. 40 minutes, leaving 5 minutes total for transitions

Assessment
Student responses during hook/review:
How do they understand the idea of a model? How do they talk about the usefulness of a
model?
What kind of observations did they make from last week?
What kinds of questions do they ask?
During activity: what kind of observations do they make? How detailed are they?
Student responses to discussion
Can they identify the different parts of the ecosystem (living and nonliving things)?
Can they identify what plants need to live? (light, water, air)
Can they identify some of the other relationships in this ecosystem?
What additional observations have they made?
What kinds of questions do they ask?

Anticipating Students' Responses

"A model is a small version of something." We ask, "How do you think a smaller version of
something is useful in science?"
List of living things might not include algae. We might have to explain what it is.
Students probably know that we need oxygen and might know that plants produce oxygen.
They might be unfamiliar with carbon dioxide: we can show diagram of the cycle to explain.
They might not know that plants use light, water, and air to make food; we can emphasize this.
Possible question: "How will the plants get water if we don't water them?" We ask, "What does
everyone think?" To probe further, "What do you think happens to water when it is in the Sun?

Accommodations
If the material is too challenging
Some of the students may find the material challenging, at which point it is important to
reinforce the scaffolding from the terrarium lesson (what is a model, how can you observe a
model, what do you see) and if needed give the students more time to process a new concept.
Most importantly, the students must not feel pressured when learning and understanding new
concepts, so we need to be able to give them more time and make sure they do not feel rushed or
pressured, from us or from peers.
If the there is more challenge needed
If some of the students need more of a challenge we would ask them to go deeper with
the concepts. How do they think the plants are going to interact with each other? Why do they
think that? What other predictions can they make about what s going to happen inside the
terrarium? What is important about this lesson? Why do they think it s important to learn this
lesson?