Geo_TeachNET_lesson_plan

Pre-Assessment Lesson

___ Instructional objectives
Students all take a detailed pre-test, then are assigned a topic area, and isolate the test questions refering to their topic area

___Time required- 1-2 periods 50 minutes
Advance preparation and prerequisite knowledge/skills –
Teacher needs to prepare an appropriate pretest for the standards they are addressing.
(this pre-test was prepared from the Holt Earth Science 1 Stop Planner CD, using the California science standards for 6th grade)
** The type of question in terms of difficulty and detail depends on teacher objectives, but it is recommended to focus on the “big ideas” of the dynamic processes of plate tectonics and associated phenomena (volcanoes, faulting, earthquakes) and selected details that support understanding of how heat, pressure, gravity, and states of matter relate to geologic processes.

___Materials/resources required – the website list included in this unit is not exhaustive… but is sufficient. It is highly recommended that students can watch videos in class, or through library check out. Plan on ordering or reserving library books that demonstrate a variety of the concepts, and….. very useful to contact a science teacher specialist for lab activities in these areas.

- starting page of web resources

___Vocabulary-See team focus area sheet for ideas
Procedures- Introduce the pre-test with some pre-thinking comments/questions, such as:
“looking at this map/globe, try to imagine how the continents and the oceans are connected….. has it always looked this way, or is the surface of the world changing?
- Here’s a poster of volcano….. I wonder what decides how or when it explodes like that., …and here, these big cracks in the L.A. freeway….. what causes the earth to move or “quake” in this way?
I don’t expect you to know many of the items on this test…. But you’ll get a preview of the amazing processes you will get to learn about over the next few weeks”

___Activities – After giving the students the 20-50 question pretest (based on your students and your unit objectives)
1. Form them in their research teams (3-4 students) and assign topics. I recommend letting them pick teams if possible, then teacher assigns topic (otherwise most teams want volcanoes!)
2. Model using keywords (or test sections if test was labeled by topic) to isolate 4-6 questions that seem to relate to their research topic.
3. A recorder notes or copies those questions (teacher roams and assists as needed), and students keep their pretests for reference. (yes, hopefully in their research they will try to recognize when answers show up, and take note)
** Suggested topics for research
___ Extensions
___ Homework-.
___ Evaluation – All students have written down topic, and have highlighted questions on test that are in their research area..