Name: Jennifer Molen

Class: Science
Date: 3/26/2018

Indirect Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Place a title for your lesson here

_______________________________Conductors vs Insulators_______________________________

Central Focus/Big Idea: Energy: Conservation & Transfer

Subject of this lesson: Conductors and insulators

Grade Level: 4th grade

NC Essential Standard(s):

4.P.3 Recognize that energy takes various forms that may be grouped based on their interaction with
matter.
4.P.3.1 Recognize the basic forms of energy (light, sound, heat, electrical, and magnetic) as the
ability to cause motion or create change.

21st Century Skills:

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: Students will be learning about materials that conduct
electricity (not safe to touch directly) and materials that don’t conduct electricity (safe to touch).
Conductors and insulators are everywhere like in our homes, schools, and outdoors. This lesson allows
students to think critically about everyday materials being conductors or insulators. Also, students are
able to problem solve about these materials and know which ones are safe to touch if there may be an
electrical current running through it and know which materials are dangerous and should not be touched.

Academic Language Demand

· Language Function: In the table below highlight the one most important language function for
your lesson. Your language function needs to align with the NC Essential Standard you identified earlier.
Explain why you chose this one.

Analyze Argue Categorize Compare/contrast Describe Explain

Interpret Predict Question Retell Summarize

I chose ‘categorize’ for the language function in my lesson. The ending activity that the students will do is
to sort objects based on their conductivity- Are they conductors or insulators?
· Scientific Vocabulary: What are the key scientific terms that your students will learn through this
lesson?
Conductor, insulator, circuits,

Instructional Objective:

Conditions: Students will categorize objects based on if they are a conductor or an insulator.
Performance: Students will work independently to sort a list of objects based on their conductivity.
Criteria: Students are expected to earn 8 out of 10 points on the exit ticket activity for an 80% accuracy.

Prior Knowledge (student): Understand that energy can be transferred from one object to another by
rubbing them against each other, and understand that energy can be transferred from a warmer object to a
cooler one by contact or at a distance and the cooler object gets warmer.

Content Knowledge (teacher):

Be familiar with circuits and know that there are 4 parts of a simple circuit, these are a power source,
conductor, electrical device (the students know this as a light bulb), and a switch. Know that a wire is
made up of a metal such as silver, copper, iron, aluminum, etc. and know that there is normally plastic or
rubber on the outside of the wire making it safe to touch. Know the difference between a conductor and
an insulator. A conductor is a material that allows electrons to move throughout it easily such as metals.
An insulator is a material in which an electric charge cannot move through easily such as plastics and
rubbers.

Accommodations for special needs (individual and/or small group):

ELL’s: Pair with a student who speaks both students’ native language and English, have the list of objects
with a picture as well as the word
Autism Spectrum: Pair them with students they work well with, have the list of objects already cut out for
them

Materials and Technology requirements: Conductors vs. Insulators powerpoint, “Conductors and
Insulators” guided notes, links to the “Circuits and Conductors” quiz and “The Pickle game” (link in
powerpoint), student cromebooks, worksheet with list of conductors and insulators, note cards (2 per
student), glue sticks, scissors, and make sure each student has their science notebook.

Total Estimated Time: 1 hour 15 min

Source of lesson: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RSTeKv5KGsSMNKIqF-xbeBH7PkbM7W89/view?

usp=sharing
My Clinical Educator provided me with a powerpoint to teach as well as guided notes for the students to
fill out during the lesson. I did not show the video that is at the end of the powerpoint.
Circuits and Conductors quiz:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/circuits_conductors_fs.shtml
The Pickle game: http://sce.e-smartonline.net/energy-science/games/who_can_resist/index.html
Safety considerations: Make sure that the students are behaving correctly-not running, throwing things,
picking chairs up etc., when students are using scissors make sure they are using them correctly and for
one purpose-to cut out list of objects, also have students return the scissors once they are finished cutting.

Content and Strategies (Procedure)

In your procedure, be sure to include all of the following 5 E’s. Your procedure should be detailed
enough for a colleague to follow. If you will be relying on technology (e.g., a YouTube video), describe
your back up plan thoroughly. Imagine your most novice colleague needing to teach from your plan.
Don’t just answer the questions. Additionally, I expect you to include possible questions you could ask for
each section. This needs to include higher-order questions.

Engage: Have the students come to the carpet with their guided notes. Start out by asking students: What
are the four parts of a simple circuit? What materials is a wire made of? Would the light bulb still light up
if a wire was made out of only plastic? Go over the powerpoint on conductors and insulators (skip over
the circuits and conductors activity for now). (15 min)

Explore:
Students will work in partners to test different materials in different parts of a simple circuit to see which
materials are conductors and which ones are insulators. Students can also move around the pieces in
different parts of the circuit to test materials in different places. This game is online and students will use
their cromebooks to work on this activity. While students are working, circulate the room to check
students understanding. Ask the following questions: Have you tested any materials that cause the light
bulb to light? Have you tested any materials that haven’t caused the light bulb to light? Why do you think
that material worked? Why do you think that material didn’t work? What happens when you move the
materials to another part in the circuit? Can you use other materials within the circuit instead of a wire
that will still make the light bulb light? (15-20 min)

Explanation:
Students will return to their desks and turn and talk to the person next to them about what they discovered
in the circuits and conductors game. I will ask students to think about the following questions to discuss
with their tables. The questions are: What materials did you find that was able to light the light bulb?
What materials did you find that did not light the light bulb? Why did that material light the bulb? And
Why did that material not light the bulb? I will call on tables to answer and explain why materials were
able to light the bulb and why some materials did not light the bulb. After the discussion, we will take the
quiz together as a class that comes after the circuits and conductors game/testing. This quiz is a review of
conductors and insulators. (15 min)

Elaborate:
The Pickle Game: This game lets students build and test their own circuit using various objects such as a
key, a wooden block, an eraser, a candle etc. to see whether these objects are conductors or insulators.
After students test the objects, they can sort them into the conductor box or the insulator box. (10-15 min)
Evaluate:
Formative: This was checked throughout the lesson with questions.
Summative: Students will categorize a list of objects based on their conductivity. There will be 10 objects
that will be sorted into 2 categories-Conductor or Insulator. Students can earn up to 10 points on the
activity (1 point for each object categorized correctly). (5 min)

To be completed after the lesson is taught as appropriate

Assessment Results of all objectives/skills:

Reflection on lesson:

CT signature/confirmation: _________________________________ Date: ________________