EDUC 2220- Educational Technology Lesson Plan Template

Atmosphere Stations

Amy Pochodylo
7th grade/Science

Ohio Content Standards:

Real-time scientific data pertaining to air quality and properties of air must be incorporated into the study of
atmospheric properties and air quality
There are defined layers of the atmosphere that have specific properties, such as temperature, chemical
composition and physical characteristics.

Lesson Summary:

In this lesson, students will be rotating through four stations to work on activities relating to different aspects of the
atmosphere. They will learn more about the layers of the atmosphere and their properties and how air quality is
measured.

Estimated Duration:

This lesson will take two 55 minute periods to complete. Students will spend about 23 minutes at each station.

Commentary:

My objectives for the lesson are for students to be able to:

1. Identify the relative position of the layers of the atmosphere
2. Describe temperature changes within the layers of the atmosphere
3. Read and interpret air quality data
4. Identify how humans interact with the atmosphere

We will start off the lesson with a news video from ABC6 in Columbus about air quality alerts in central Ohio and follow
it up with a quick discussion on places where students expect poor air quality. We will then break into groups for the
stations.

The first station is a Newsela article about the layers of the atmosphere called Earths Atmosphere: A Jacket for the
Planet. At this station, students will read the article and complete a concept map to organize the information for the
different layers of the atmosphere. Newsela is an online web application that allows students to differentiate the reading
content to fit their reading level.

The second station is an atmospheric layers foldable that students will put into their interactive science notebooks. At this
station, they will use their online textbooks to fill out the information on the foldable.
The third station is a guided activity to help students interpret a graph of altitude versus temperature for the different
atmospheric layers. This station will be a pencil and paper station.

The fourth station is an online exploration of airnow.gov, an air quality website maintained by the EPA. The students will
look at real-time air quality data for the area where they live. They will follow a guided worksheet to help them gather
the information required from the station.

Instructional Procedures:

Day 1:

First 5 minutes: Show the ABC6 video on air quality. After watching, ask the students about other places where they
might expect there to be poor air quality.

3 minutes: Discuss expectations for stations. Explain transitions and transition music.

23 minutes: Students working at their first station. This is whatever station they are currently seated at. Directions and
online materials can be accessed via the QR code on their tables or from post on Schoology. All students have access to
Chromebooks, but only stations 1, 2, and 4 should need to use them.

1 minute: Students rotate to next station as music plays.

23 minutes: Students working at their second station. Directions and online materials can be accessed via the QR code on
their tables or from post on Schoology. All students have access to Chromebooks, but only stations 1, 2, and 4 should
need to use them.

Day 2:

First 5 minutes: Quick bell ringer online poll students must drag and drop the layers of the atmosphere into the correct
order.

2 minutes: Remind students of expectations for stations.

23 minutes: Students working at their third station. Directions and online materials can be accessed via the QR code on
their tables or from post on Schoology. All students have access to Chromebooks, but only stations 1, 2, and 4 should
need to use them.

1 minute: Students rotate to next station as music plays.

23 minutes: Students working at their fourth station. Directions and online materials can be accessed via the QR code on
their tables or from post on Schoology. All students have access to Chromebooks, but only stations 1, 2, and 4 should
need to use them.
Pre-Assessment:

Prior to this lesson, the students will have completed knowledge maps about the atmosphere as a pre-assessment. They
will also have completed their textbook questions, which I will have checked over the previous day.
During the second day of this lesson, the quick drag-and-drop poll of the layers of the atmosphere will allow me to
formatively assess the students understanding of the order of the layers of the atmosphere.

Scoring Guidelines:

I will read through the knowledge maps and tally up the misconceptions (ex. outer space is the atmosphere). I
will spot check the textbook questions, focusing on two or three that I expect to trip students up. The online poll
from day 2 will allow me to determine how many students understand the order of the layers of the atmosphere
and which layers are commonly switched.

Post-Assessment:

At the end of the unit, a summative assessment will be given in the form of a multiple choice and short answer test.
Approximately 75% of the questions will be drawn from the textbooks bank of test questions, and the remaining 25%
will be written to reflect the activities completed by the students during the unit. Particular emphasis will be placed on
stations 3 and 4, with students being expected to be able to read the charts and graphs presented in these two stations.

Scoring Guidelines:

This will be scored for correctness like their other summative assessments. Opportunities will be given on the
test for written work and drawings, and students will get to choose their short answer questions from a list.

Differentiated Instructional Support

Describe how instruction can be differentiated (changed or altered) to meet the needs of gifted or accelerated students:

For accelerated students, there are several differentiation options. At station 1, they can choose a reading level above the
on-target level, allowing them to read about the concepts in a more challenging content. At the other stations, they will
have the opportunity to continue the exploration beyond that required. Additional links and resources (like online
readings and videos) will be included at each station, ready to be accessed by a QR code when a student finishes the
work. While the students can work collaboratively at each station, I do not expect accelerated students to tutor or
otherwise teach less accelerated students; this is not meaningful differentiation for these students.

Discuss additional activities you could do to meet the needs of students who might be struggling with the material:

Because the students are working in stations, it is easy for me to float around the classroom and provide assistance.
Students will have ready access to me for questions, online resources to help them find the answer, and each station will
have a stuck? instruction sheet to help them out. In addition, the differentiation of content provided by Newsela at
station 1 will allow struggling readers to read the material at a level comfortable for them.

Extension
For station 4, airnow.gov is a great website for students to explore. It has information about the air quality index, and
students can check out real-time and archived air quality maps for their location.

Homework Options and Home Connections

If students do not finish an activity during a station, they can complete it at home as homework. Otherwise, I do not plan
to assign homework for this lesson.
However, I will post extra links on Schoology, so students and parents can explore further. This allows students to show
their parents what theyve been doing in class, and they can dig a bit deeper if they are interested.

Interdisciplinary Connections

At station 3, the students will be using their graph reading skills from math to interpret the graph of altitude versus
temperature. In addition, students will drawn upon their knowledge of world geography at the beginning of the lesson
when we discuss other areas in the world that are known for poor air quality.

Materials and Resources:

For teachers Projector and screen or board

Transition powerpoint with music
Station 1- classroom account on Newsela, printed concept maps for students
Station 2- printed atmospheric layers foldable, glue, scissors, tape
Station 3- printed atmospheric layers graph worksheet
Station 4- printed guided worksheets

For students Classroom set of Chromebooks

Interactive science notebooks
Key Vocabulary
Atmosphere
Troposphere
Stratosphere
Mesosphere
Thermosphere
Ozone

Additional Notes