Document: Document1

Author: Linda Darby

Save Date: 01/10/2014
RMIT University Page 1 of 3
Unit Overview
Phase/ Lesson Science outcomes Literacy outcomes Lesson Summary Assessment opportunities

Lesson 1










The earth is part of a system
orbiting around a star (the sun)

Identify the planets of the solar
system and comparing how long
they take to orbit the sun.
Students learn language associated
with the solar system and its
different features.

Students construct questions based
on what they would like to further
investigate within the unit.
Mind map what do students
already know about the Solar
System? Discussion.

PowerPoint can students name
the different planets based on the
pictures. Presenting an interesting
fact about each planet to enhance
student engagement.

Worksheet students are to name
the different planets (referring to
the slide show and previous
knowledge) and go through the
answers as a class.
Probing activities are used at the
start of the lesson to establish
what prior knowledge and skills
students already know about the
topic.

Formative assessment how
much did the students know
about the order of the planets?
Refer to the worksheet to gain an
understanding of student
knowledge.

Students are asked to share
something interesting/ new they
found out in the lesson.

Lesson 2












The earth is part of a system
orbiting around a star (the sun)

Modelling the relative size of and
distance between Earth, other
planets in the solar system and
the sun.

Identify the planets of the solar
system and comparing how long
they take to orbit the sun.
Students should be able to
successfully name the planets in
order from the sun.

Students should be able to
recognise the planets from pictures
and size.

Students start to understand how
big the solar system is.

Students start to understand the
difference in size between all the
planets and the sun.
Representation of solar system by
using different sized balls to
represent each planet. Students
placed the planets in relative
distance to each other over the
length of an oval.

A youtube clip was shown to
reinforce students understanding
of how the planets vary
dramatically in size and give a
perspective of how small our solar
system is compared to other stars
in the universe.
Formative/summative do
students know which size ball
represents each planet?

Do students know the correct
order of the planets?

Do students understand that the
planets vary in distance from one
another and from the sun?


Document: Document1
Author: Linda Darby
Save Date: 01/10/2014
RMIT University Page 2 of 3
Phase/ Lesson Science outcomes Literacy outcomes Lesson Summary Assessment opportunities

Lesson 3












Earths surface changes over time
as a result of natural processes.

Explore the composition of the
Earth and find out about the
different layers within the Earth.
Students should be able to name
the different layers of the earth in
the correct order and using the
right terms.

They can construct questions about
the layers to further their learning
about the layers and their different
features.

Start discussing Earth and the
different layers that it is made up
of core, mantle and upper
mantle. Discuss the different
features of each layer EG its
composition and temperature.

Present youtube clip of Layers of
the Earth song to engage students.

Follow up with a role play based on
the video (our representation)
where the students demonstrate
the different layers of the earth
and their features/what they do.
Formative assessment: by starting
with a discussion of the Earth and
its layers we are gaining an
understanding of what
information the students already
know about the earth and its
composition.

Clip and role play is also formative
assessment as we are listening to
the language students are using
and how they are acting to
represent what material they are
(theyre also using previous
knowledge to act out material)


Lesson 4










Earths surface changes over time
as a result of natural processes.

Learn about how the Earth looked
throughout different stages of
history and life.

Start to discuss natural disasters
that occur from changes to the
Earths surface.
Students should be able to recall
what they learnt in the first lesson
about the layers of the earth.

They should be able to participate
in a discussion about tectonic
plates and the continental drift
based on previous knowledge or
information learnt at the start of
the lesson. Using this knowledge
they can apply it to the role play.

Start the lesson with a recap on the
layers of the Earth and their
different compositions.

Discuss tectonic plates; what they
are, how many there are, what
they do to the Earth etc.

Move into the continental drift and
have the students complete a
puzzle of the drift. Also discuss
earthquakes and how the tectonic
plates play a role in this.
Summative assessment
recapping on outer layers and
understanding what students
have retained from the previous
lesson.

Formative assessment using a
puzzle of the continental drift
involves uncertainty and risk
taking for the students; they will
need to use trial and error to
complete it.


Document: Document1
Author: Linda Darby
Save Date: 01/10/2014
RMIT University Page 3 of 3
Phase/ Lesson Science outcomes Literacy outcomes Lesson Summary Assessment opportunities


Lesson 5








Earths surface changes over time
as a result of natural processes.

Start to discuss natural disasters
that occur from changes to the
Earths surface.

Learn about how the Earth looked
throughout different stages of
history and life.

Using previous knowledge of
tectonic plates gained in previous
lessons students should be able to
phrase their answers with some
scientific terms.

Students should also be able to
question each other about their
knowledge of natural disasters.
Following on previous discussion of
tectonic plates we will explore how
mountains are formed and also
discuss deduction (when tectonic
plates dont collide and what this
results in).

We will also discuss other natural
disasters that can stem from
earthquakes or tectonic movement
such as tsunamis.
Formative assessment involves
several purposes that include
informing the students learning
and the teachers teaching.
Students will need to have
retained knowledge from the
previous lessons to have an idea
about how mountains and other
natural disasters are formed.

Lesson 6











Start to discuss natural disasters
that occur from changes to the
Earths surface.

Look at the chemical and physical
processes that a volcano goes
through before erupting.
All students should have previous
knowledge on volcanoes as they
have briefly covered the topic
before and they should know
several terms and phrases
associated with volcanoes and
their features.

Using the library books they should
also be able to use their already
developed comprehension skills to
complete the activity.

Looking at volcanoes. How they are
made and what happens inside
them to make them erupt.

We can use some visual aids and
video clips to engage the students
are show different sized eruptions
and the different layers of
volcanoes.

Using books from the library we
can create a comprehension sheet
for the students to fill out.
The assessment task will involve
independent research from the
students by looking through
different books on volcanoes and
filling in a worksheet with what
they find.


Lesson 7








Through the representations that
are going to be used, explore the
nature of volcanoes as they erupt
and what happens inside them.
During the experiments students
should be able to discuss what is
occurring to the chemicals and why
the reaction is happening. They
should know several of the
scientific terms from the previous 6
lessons and should be able to apply
these in the correct manner.
This lesson will be based on
representing what happens when a
volcano explodes. Through
chemical reactions we could
demonstrate the reaction that
occurs in volcanoes. We could also
use other experiments to
demonstrate natural disasters EG
tornado in a bottle.
Assessment involves a practical
task, using experiments to
represent how a volcano erupts
and the features of it.
Well be questioning the students
and having informal conversation
taking note on the language they
are using; this is the end of our
lessons so they should know
several scientific terms about
what we are discussing by now.