Geo_TeachNET_lesson_plan

Lesson 1: Team and Topic Selection leads to Inquiry Questions:

 ___ Instructional objectives
Students will form collaborative teams around a research topic, and will compose their preliminary research questions.

___ Time required- 1-2 periods 50 minutes
___ Advance preparation and prerequisite knowledge/skills – Teacher needs to preview web links and video recommendations in this unit, as well as be familiar with books in the library to support their research. If the teacher is not familiar with the basic science concepts, please spend time at http://usgs.gov/education.html for both excellent overview, and links to use with students.
___ 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- Show the students any of the videos from the list, or similar content. The idea is to “prime the pump” with them visualizing large, long, theoretically rich set of concepts…. that the earth is much more dynamic than our senses tell us. Either before, during, or after the short video or web display, work with the students on generating a list of things they know, believe, or have heard about dynamic earth processes. This can be lead into the basic categories of earthquakes, volcanoes, weathering and erosion, rocks, minerals and the rock cycle….. the theories of structure of the earth and of plate tectonics. (it is possible that through previous instruction, or Science TV, some students will have more detailed ideas about some of these processes….. be sure to pull those out as examples of what it takes to be and Expert, and to be a teacher.)
___ Activities – The last 10-15 minutes they form into teams of 2-4. Their task is to generate their initial questions for inquiry into web searches, books, or other media. (Every engagement with a computer or book starts with a written purpose statement or question. This is mental matrix that their reading and observations attach to. See the Exploratorium Inquiry site for interesting “question” resources.) http://exploratorium.org/ifi/resources/websites.html
, or “From Now On” by Jamie McKenzie. http://fno.org for main site, http://questioning.org/ for direct link to this focus area of electronic “thinking”.)
___ Extensions
___Homework- Each student must be sure to have 1-3 questions relative to their topic to begin research on the following day.
___Evaluation – All students have written down topic, and initial questions on Note Sheet.