LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE FOR THE AGENDA FOR EDUCATION IN A

DEMOCRACY
Name:______Holly Keeper _________Date:__________3/25/15________
Unit Essential Question:_ How do the various gas laws explain the
relationship between pressure and volume, volume and temperature,
pressure and temperature, and the number of particles in a gas sample? __
Lesson Topic:_Gas Laws - Phet Digram + Slides____Class:___Chemistry_____
PLANNING THE LESSON
With Democracy and Social Justice at the Center of Instruction
Focusing on the National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER)
Mission the 4-Part Agenda for Education in a Democracy
EQUAL ACCESS
ENCULTURATION
NURTURING
PEDAGOGY
STEWARDSHIP
To Knowledge
In Democratic Society
Safe and Caring for
All
of the Mission
What are you and your students doing today to advance the 4-Part
Mission? Connections:
With which part(s) of the Agenda does this lesson connect most
clearly? And how?
This lesson plan includes the use of a PhET simulation, giving all students a
chance to visualize and manipulate a system that shows the properties and
effects of the gas laws which we will cover in the upcoming lessons. PhET
diagrams have been thoughtfully developed to allow individuals to explore a
topic through their own inquiry while guidance is provided with an actual
visual representation of the topic being studied. This is especially useful with
the topic of gas laws. Students will have the chance to walk through the
provided worksheet using at their own pace. Hopefully by allowing students
to visualize the effects of each condition applied to a system, they will be
able to find their own understanding of each situation and thus find
understanding of the gas laws. In addition, this will allow for individual
guidance from the teacher as students work independently on the task and
may have questions as they move along. This form of authentic formative
assessment provides nurturing pedagogy in that it gives each individual the
opportunity to find meaning in the material without any risk. The worksheet
will be reviewed in the following class period and students will be given a
completion grade. Also, this simulation can be used throughout the
remainder of the unit for further guidance and review of the topics.

STANDARDS

(www.cde.state.co)

Content:
CDE 1.2 Matter has
definite structure that
determines
characteristic physical
and chemical
properties.
CDE 1.5. Energy exists
in many forms such as
mechanical, chemical,
electrical, radiant,
thermal, and nuclear,
that can be quantified
and experimentally
determined.

Literacy and
Numeracy:
21st Century Skills and
Readiness
Competencies in
Mathematics:
Mathematics provides
the grammar and
structure that make it
possible to
describe patterns that
exist in nature and
society.

Democracy and
21st Century Skills:
Colorado 21st century
skills in science SelfDirection:
Students must
generate their own
questions, and design
investigations to find
the answers.

Literacy and
Numeracy: SWBAT
explain how
mathematics provides
the language making it
possible to describe
patterns that exist in
nature by completing
the PhET diagram
activity.

Democracy and
21st Century Skills:
SWBAT identify the
importance of
generating their own
questions and
investigations by
completing the PhET
diagram activity.

OBJECTIVES
Content: SWBAT
Interpret the
characteristics of
different forms of
energy such as
mechanical and thermal
as they apply to a gas
by completing the PhET
diagram activity.

ASSESSMENTS What is your evidence of achieving each objective?

How will students know and demonstrate what they have learned in
each of the areas, all of the objectives?
Content:
Completion of the PhET
diagram activity will
allow for assessment of
student interpretation of
different forms of
energy as they apply to
gases. Students will fill
out the accompanying

Literacy and
Numeracy:
As students complete
the PhET diagram
worksheet, they will
they will have the
opportunity to identify
the many mathematical
relationships at work as

Democracy and
21st Century Skills:
Students will be asked
to complete a ticket out
the door prompting
them to explain how
their individual
exploration of the gas
laws through the PhET

worksheet and be
prompted to explore the
ways in which energy
applied to a system can
affect the volume,
temperature, and
pressure of a sample of
gas.

the gas laws are

explored. Students are
specifically asked to
identify relationships
between the variables:
Pressure, temperature,
volume, and number of
particles.

diagram activity may

have helped them gain
a better understanding
of the material we are
about to study?

Literacy and
Numeracy Patterns

Democracy and
21st Century Skills
Inquiry
Investigation

KEY VOCABULARY
Content
Pressure
Volume
Temperature
Number of Particles
Gas Laws
Energy
Thermal Energy (heat)
Mechanical Energy
Kinetic Energy

HIGHER ORDER QUESTIONS for this lesson

Content
Why is important to be
able to discuss the
characteristics and
effects of different forms
of energy as they
pertain to gases and
their properties?

Literacy and
Numeracy
Why is it important to
identify the utility of
mathematic principles
when exploring other
content areas such as
chemistry, in the case
of gas laws specifically?

LESSON FLOW

Democracy and
21st Century Skills
Why is it important to
be able to employ selfdirection and inquiry
when exploring new
topics?

This is the actual planning of the lesson activities.

Time

Anticipatory Set Purpose and Relevance

Warm-up may include any of the following: hook, preassessment, introduction to topic, motivation, etc.
The following warm-up questions will be on the board and
students will be asked to write their response in the notebooks:
What might happen to a balloon that is inflated at room
temperature and then placed into a freezer for one hour?
Why?
What do you think might happen to a can of spray paint
thrown onto a fire? Why?
Students will have three minutes to respond to the opening
questions then I will introduce the objectives and show a video in
which they test the first question. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=0JA-eVsLlqw

Next, well discuss what happened in the video and compare this
to their response to the warm-up question. This will lead us to the
discussion of todays topics.

Time

Pre-Assessment
The warm-up will help me determine where the kids are with the
relationships between pressure volume and temperature of a
sample of gas.

Time

Building Background
Link to Experience:
Students are likely familiar with a variety of gases, some more
commonly discussed than others. Greenhouse gases may be
something mentioned, methane, CO2, O2, etc. The students are
probably also familiar with balloons and aerosol cans which will
be used a lot as examples as we talk about the various gas laws.
Link to Learning:
All topics we have worked with thus far have utilized discussion of
the periodic table of elements, bond types, reaction types, and
energy. The gas laws relate to a specific phase of matter which
some elements or compound more readily take on than others.
The different phases occur due to the conditions of elements,
bond types, reaction types, and energy. In addition to this, we

learned yesterday about Kinetic Molecular Theory and todays

information will help support and expand on this idea.
Time

Activity Name Should be creative title for you and the

students to associate with activity.
Introduction to gas laws and PhET activity
The students will fill out a note guide as we make our way
through the slides covering variables, conversions, and the basic
gas laws.
First I will cover the information on the slides and the students
will fill out the corresponding note guide. Then we will do the
PhET activity.
Anticipatory Set The hook to grab students attention.
These are actions and statements by the teacher (or
students) to relate the experiences of the objectives of
the lesson, to put students into a receptive frame of mind.
To focus students attention on the lesson
To create an organizing framework for the ideas,
principles or information that is to follow (advanced
organizers)
An anticipatory set is used any time a different activity
or new concept is to be introduced.
As an introduction to the PhET activity, I will pull up the PhET
simulation on the SmartBoard and will show students how to use
it, explaining that they will be able to manipulate the system,
adding heat or cooling it, adding or subtracting molecules, and
expanding or compressing the container.

Time

Instructional Input Includes: input, modeling and checking

for understanding
I will use direct input when explaining the information in the
slides, modelling when introducing the PhET simulation activity,
and checking for understanding by stopping at checkpoint
throughout the slides and by walking around and answering
questions and prompting students during the PhET activity.
Models of Teaching:
Inquiry, Cooperative Learning, Concept Attainment, Direct
Instruction, Discussion, Socratic Seminar, Synectics,
Inductive, Deductive and Mastery Learning, etc.

The PhET simulation has been designed for guided inquiry

learning. I believe the students will build understanding of the
gas laws material as they independently explore a system with a
sample of gas in which they can manipulate the different
variables. There
SIOP Techniques: I do, We do, You do.
I will model how to use the PhET diagram up on the SmartBoard
before the students access it on their personal computers. Theyll
have guidance while they work on it in class and will have the
chance for independent practice if they do not complete the
worksheet in class. More independent practice will also come
later in the form of gas laws practice problems.
Guided Practice: An opportunity for each student to
demonstrate grasp of new learning by working through an
activity or exercise under the teachers supervision. The
teacher moves around the room to determine level of
mastery and to provide individual feedback and
remediation as needed. (Praise, Prompt, and Leave)
During an activity in which the students are working
independently, Im able to walk around the room and check on
each students progress. For the PhET simulation, there will be
many opportunities to praise a each student as they chance the
variables in the system, prompt them with what if or why
question, and them leave them to their own devices as they
search for the answer by playing around with the system some
more.
Reading , Writing, Listening, Speaking
Students will be working mostly on writing today as they write
about the warm-up in their notebooks and respond to the
questions on the PhET worksheet.
Checking for Understanding: Determination of whether
students got it before moving on. It is essential that
the students practice doing it right so the teacher must
know that the students understood before proceeding to
practice. If there is any doubt that the class does not
understand, the concept or skill should be re-taught
before practice begins.
The students will have teacher guidance throughout the warm-up

question and the PhET activity. As we go through the warm-up

and any slides, I check to see how students are feeling about the
material by asking for a quick thumbs up down or half-way.
Fortunately, Im able to walk around the classroom and reach
every student during a class period when they are working
independently on activity such as this PhET simulation. This helps
me to make sure every student is grasping the concept and can
help me to find other students that may be able to explain things
to their peers in a different way.
Questioning Strategies: Utilizing Blooms Taxonomy
questions should progress from the lowest to the highest
of the levels of the cognitive domain (knowledge,
comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis,
evaluation and creativity).
The warm-up question asks the students to think about what is
happening to a balloon when placed into the freezer. Later, during
the PhET activity, they are asked to explain why this would
happen to the balloon. In later classes, they will be asked to make
a prediction according to what theyve learned about the gas
laws, and then review their answers once they completed the
calculations for a problem. In this way, they are applying the
information to a new situation.
Independent Practice: Once the students have mastered
the content or skill, it is time to provide reinforcement
practice. It is provided on a repeating schedule so that
the learning is not forgotten. It may be homework or
individual or group work in class. It can be utilized in a
subsequent project. It should provide for relevant
situations not only the context in which it was originally
learned.
Students will finish the PhET simulation worksheet outside of
class if it is not finished in class. Students will work independently
on the worksheet both in class and outside of it to respond to the
questions on the worksheet which aim to get them thinking about
the principles well be covering.

Time

Accommodations, Modifications, and Student Adjustments

Consider: multiple intelligences, learning styles, cultural
and ability diversity, etc.
If the activity is too advanced or too easy for some, how
will you modify instruction so all students will learn?

What accommodations will be needed and for whom? (IEP,

504, Special Needs)
This lesson includes much differentiation in that each students
can look at this system on a computer and play around with it
however they want in order to gather an understanding by their
own means.

Time

Review and Assessments of All Objectives How will you

and how will the students know they have achieved the
objectives of the lesson?
Content:
Completion of the PhET diagram activity will allow for assessment
of student interpretation of different forms of energy as they
apply to gases. Students will fill out the accompanying worksheet
and be prompted to explore the ways in which energy applied to
a system can affect the volume, temperature, and pressure of a
sample of gas.
Literacy and Numeracy:
As students complete the PhET diagram worksheet, they will they
will have the opportunity to identify the many mathematical
relationships at work as the gas laws are explored. Students are
specifically asked to identify relationships between the variables:
Pressure, temperature, volume, and number of particles.
Democracy and 21st Century Skills:
Students will be asked to complete a ticket out the door
prompting them to explain how their individual exploration of the
gas laws through the PhET diagram activity may have helped
them gain a better understanding of the material we are about to
study?

Time

Closure
What will you and the students do at the end of the lesson

or after a chunk of learning to synthesize, organize and

connect the learning to the essential question(s)?
At the endd of class, well chat briefly about what the students
gathered from the PhET simulation and how it may have
increased their understanding of the material well be covering.
Ill ask how the changing of each variable (P, V, T, & n) in the
system affected the others.

Time

Next Step
The next lesson will include a powerpoint presentation about the
various gas and variables. The students will also be creating PTV
tools which will help them to make predictions by showing the
relationships between pressure, volume and temperature when
one of the three is held constant.

Post-Lesson Reflection ( For the Teacher)

1. To what extent were all objectives achieved?
In regard to the content objective, students were able to explore
and define the role of energy, thermal and kinetic on a system
through the PhET simulation activity. They could increase or
decrease the temperature of the container of gas and watch as the
speed of the molecules changed. The literacy objective was
achieved as students observed the patterns that occur in a system
when changing one or more of the variables. They can see that as
they increase the temperature, the pressure of the system
increases. They can also increase or decrease volume and number
of moles and observe the relationships between these variables,
which can be described as mathematical patterns. The democracy
objective was achieved as students practiced self-direction in the
PhET activity. Students were required to control the variables
themselves, causing them to make their own observations,

generate their own questions, and then create a new investigation

to answer that question.
2. What changes would you make if you teach the lesson
again?
I think I would include another video for the warm-up about what
happens when a concealed aerosol can is placed on a fire. The
students wanted to see a video on this, so if I could find a way to
show one, without inspiring the students to go throw a can on a fire
themselves, then I think it would be good to harness that
engagement. Id also like to have more higher-level Blooms
taxonomy questions ready for the students as they work through
the PhET simulation. This would not only help me to gather an
assessment of how theyre receiving the material, but would
challenge them to think about it critically. Lastly, Im still constantly
striving to improve upon finding my teacher voice.
3. What do you envision for the next lesson?
I envision a warm-up that is both interesting and challenging
followed by the slides that I hope to spice up with some humor. The
students are not familiar with the material we are beginning right
now, so its important that they gather the basic concepts, and write
them in their notebooks, but its also important that they have some
fun with it. I hope to help students make connections between the
upcoming material and the simulation we worked with today.
4. To what extent does this lesson achieve the Mission of the
Agenda for Education in a Democracy? To what extent does
this lesson achieve the 21st Century Skills?
This lesson is a great example of an engaging activity that
encourages 21st century workforce readiness skills. The students
had to work through their own questions and design investigations
to explore the information. I think it also hits upon stewardship of
the mission and equal access to knowledge through its built-in
differentiation. Students could work at their own pace and create
their own steps.