The Anatomy of a Lesson Plan

Name: Kara Morgan

Subject: 8Th Grade Science
Period: 4th
Date:
Objectives:

TSW name and describe the steps of the scientific method (DOK 1, 8.1a)

Materials:
M&Ms, paper, pencil, PowerPoint, The Busted Hypothesis Blues poem, Scientific
Method worksheet, Did you get it quiz

Set:

TTW ask students to read 2 lines per student of The Busted Hypothesis Blues
TTW: pass out one small bag of M&Ms on each students desks
TTW say do not touch this bag of M&Ms until I tell you to do so!
Okay so these M&Ms do have a purpose. They are going to help us learn our
objective for the day!
Today our objective for this class is to be able to list and describe the steps of the
scientific method. (5 Minutes)

Bell Ringer: Club Learning (3 minutes for student work, 2 minutes review)

TSW write down 4 things that they learned from their club groups
TTW then ask each student to name 2 things that they learned

Procedures:

Bell ringer: TTW have directions on the board.

TTW ask students to take out a piece of paper and a pencil
TTW tell the students that they have 3 minutes to complete the bell ringer
TTW then tell the students to share their answers
Set/Icebreaker: TTW ask students to read 2 lines per student of The Busted
Hypothesis Blues
TTW: pass out one small bag of M&Ms on each students desks
TTW say do not touch this bag of M&Ms until I tell you to do so!
Okay so these M&Ms do have a purpose. They are going to help us learn our
objective for the day!
Today our objective for this class is to be able to list and describe the steps of the
scientific method. (5 Minutes)

TTW: Everyone pick up the bag that is on your desk.

TTW: What is this a bag of? [M&Ms]
TTW: Take the bag in your hands and make some observations about it using your
senses (touch, smell, sight). When you observe something you use your senses to
come up with things you think about the object
o So you are observing what this bag is of. That is the first step in the
scientific method
o (make an observations)
o Touch the bag, listen to the way the bag crackles, smell the bag
What do you want to know about this bag of M&Ms? What do you want to find
out about what is in this bag
o State the problem that you want to figure out about this bag of M&Ms
o (stating the problem)
TWA: Okay so for the purpose of this we will use the problem of how many
M&Ms are in the bag.
who wants to make a guess as to how many M&Ms are in this bag?
TSW guess how many M&Ms are in the bag
o The number that you guess for how many M&Ms are in the bag is your
o hypothesis
o A hypothesis is an Educated guess
o (state the hypothesis)
How do we determine how many M&Ms are in the bag?
o You are going to take them out and count them
o (design an experiment)
Record how many M&Ms are in the bag
o This recording is your results
o (recording results)
Was our hypothesis wrong or was it right?
o Did your experiment confirm your hypothesis or not?
o (draw conclusion) (10 minutes)
TTW say Okay now you can eat your M&Ms!
TTW say Leave all trash on your desks and I will pick it up while you are
working on the group assignment
TTW pass out worksheet for students
TTW say you are going to pair up in your groups that are assigned on the board
TTW say: For this assignment you are going to come up with an experiment of
your own.
Using the experiment you and your partner come up with, describe each step of
the scientific method and give examples from your experiment
Ex: M&Ms
TTW go around and look at each groups work and see how they are doing and If
they get it (20 minutes)

TTW ask students the steps of the scientific method and describe what the step
means
Now we are going to put all of our stuff away except your pencil and we are going
to take our quiz.
When everyone is done with their quizzes you are going to pass them to the front
of the room!

Closure: (3 minutes)
Now we are able to list and describe the steps of the scientific method!
1. TSW: List the 6 steps of the scientific method
2. TSW: give examples of each step of the scientific method from the experiments
that they created with their groups
3. List the examples for each step from their own experiment that they came up with
4. TTW: ask the students to put their binders under their desks and to put everything
away except a pencil
5. Students pack up and teacher passes out quiz
6. Students take quiz
7. Teacher takes quiz up when students are finished

Assessment:
Informal: The teacher will walk around as students fill out Scientific Method
worksheet and give examples from their made up experiment

Objective: The student will list be able to take each step of the scientific method and
describe it

Assessment:
Formal: The teacher will pass out Did you get it? quiz at the end of class and take it
back up for a grade in the grade book.