Inquiry Lesson Plan Template (with Four Ways of Thinking

connection)
Teacher:
Content & Title:
Grade Level:
Jenna Applegate
Science/Sustainab 3rd grade
ility
Standards:
Language arts 3.W.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine
a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. Develop the topic
with facts, definitions, and details.
Objectives (Explicit & Measurable):
Students will be able to make their own windmills by using the
provided materials and recently learned knowledge they have about
how windmills work.
Students will be able to determine that windmills use wind energy to
do work.
Students wil be able to test different material to see which can make
the strongest windmill.
Evidence of Mastery (Measurable Assessment: formative and summative):
(formative) The formative assessment for this lesson will be the test of
the wind mills at the end. After each group has constructed a wind mill,
they will be asked to bring their wind mills to the front of the room to
be tested with a fan. If their wind mill is activated by the fan, the group
built a working wind mill. If it was not activated by the fan, the group
will be given another chance to fix the construction of their windmill
and try the test again.
(summative) The summative assessment will be the paragraph that the
students write at the end of the lesson. They will be asked to write a
paragraph explaining how they constructed their wind mill, and what
worked or didnt work with their construction. The students should use
terms from the lesson such as wind power, energy, and wind mill along
with using the names of the items that were used for construction.
Sub-objectives, SWBAT (steps that lead to completion of objective; sequence
from simple to more complex):
Students will be able to play around with the different materials to try
to decide which will work the best for a windmill.
Students will be able to use their journals from the previous days to
look at helpful notes and diagrams.
Lesson Summary and Justification: (summary gives detailed information
about what students are doing. Justification why is this lesson being
taught)
In this lesson, students will be creating a windmill in groups of either 2
or 3 students. The students will be allowed to pick their our groups, as
long as they are being productive and staying on task the whole time.
At this point in the unit, students should have enough background
information about wind energy and wind mills to construct a windmill
of their own with the provided materials of playdoh, straws, pipe
cleaners, pins, tape, construction paper and scissors.
Background Knowledge: (What do students need to know prior to completing
this lesson)

 Students will need to know what wind energy is.

Students will need to know how wind mills work.
Misconception: (what possible misleading thoughts might students have?)
Because both wind turbines and wind mills have been discussed,
students could possibly get the two confused when trying to construct.
It is best to show pictures of wind mills on the board while to students
are working to get rid of any confusion.
Process Skills: (what skills are you introducing or reinforcing)
Students will be using their creative thinking to develop a way to make
a working wind mill.
Four Ways of Thinking connection: (Provide a complete explanation of how
your lesson plan connects to futures, system, strategic, or values thinking.
Define the way of thinking you selected and used in this lesson plan.
Remember, this should be included meaningfully in the lesson plan.)
This lesson plan incorporates strategic thinking because students will
need to think of ways that their windmill can work best and withstand a
wind test. They wil be working in groups of 2 or 3 and will have to work
together to construct a strong windmill with the provided materials.
Students should use strategic thinking by first planning out what items
they think would be the strongest, and then putting those items
together to construct a strong windmill.
Safety: (what safety rules and items need to be addressed?)
Because the students will be working with scissors and pins, they will
need to be ery careful of how they are using them and to check their
surroundings before using them. There should be absolutely no running
in the classroom durin this activity.
Inquiry Questions: (testable in the here and now.)
1. (to explore) When people are constructing wind mills, do you think they
plan out all of their steps before making the wind mill? Why or why
not?
2. (to elaborate) How do you think construction workers decide if their
materials are strong enough to make a wind mill? Now it is your turn to
test materials and make a wind mill.
Key vocabulary: (list and define)
Materials: (list item and possible
1. construct
quantity)
2.windmill
1. straws
3.design
2. pins
4. wind power
3. construction paper
5. energy
4. playdoh
5. tape
6. pipe cleaners
7. scissors
8. glue sticks
9. pictures of windmills (real and
homemade)
Engage - In this section you should activate prior knowledge, hook student
attention, pose a question (IQ#1) based on your lesson objective that students
will seek to answer in Explore.
Teacher Will: (hook)
Students Will:
When opening this lesson, the teacher
1. Write in their journals.
should start by asking students to take
2. Share their thoughts with

out their journals that we have been

classmates.
using for wind mills. The teacher will
then ask students to write down 5
things that they have learned about
wind mills. She will tell them that they
can use their journals, however there
should be no talking. The students will
be given 7 minutes to write. After the
students have written down their
thoughts, the teacher will ask the
students to share what they wrote
with the classmates at their table. If
their classmates say something that
the student did not have written down,
they should add to their notebook.
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
Students should be writing in their journals quietly
If a student is having a hard time finding something to write, work one
on one with them to get them to think deeper.
Walk around the classroom while students are writing and discussing to
ensure everyone is staying on task.
Explore - In this section students should take the lead and actively use materials
to discover information that will help them answer the question posed in
Engage. Teachers may choose to give steps to follow, especially for younger students,
but the goal is for students to discover some or all of the sub-objectives of the lesson.
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #1)
Students Will: (list all steps)
When people are constructing wind
1. Answer the question in their
mills, do you think they plan out all of
journals.
their steps before making the wind
2. Share their thoughts with
mill? Why or why not? The teacher
classmates.
will ask the students this question
3. Watch a video about wind
then ask them to write their answer in
mills being constructed.
their journals. After they have written
4. Take notes of what the
in their journals, they will share what
students in the video are
they wrote with the classmates again.
doing.
After the students have written in
their journals, the teacher will show
the students a video of kids making
windmills. The teacher will ask that the
students write down observations of
what the students do in the video
while they are watching.
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
Walk around the room while students are sharing their thoughts to
hear what they are thinking and ensure they are staying on task.
If students are struggling with getting a conversation started, ask
them questions like what do you know about windmills? are wind
mills strong? how were the students working together in the video?
Join the conversation of any group that looks or sounds like they are
having a hard time collaborating.

Explain In this section students share what they discovered, teacher connects
student discoveries to correct content terms/explanations, students
articulate/demonstrate a clear and correct understanding of the lesson sub-objectives
by answering the question from Engage before moving on.
Teacher Will:
Students Will:
After the students have shared their
Observe the materials that
thoughts from the video, the teacher
have been provided and start
will show the students the materials
thinking about what they want
that they will be using to construct
to use for their own windmill.
their windmills. She will then ask the
Get into groups of 2 or 3.
students to get into groups of either 2
Work together in groups to
or 3, and then find a desk to sit with
plan out the construction of
their group. Once everyone has a
the windmill.
group, the teacher will pass out a
worksheet where students will plan
out the construction of their windmill.
The teacher will tell the students that
they can use any of the materials that
are provided on the table in the front.
The students will be given about 10
minutes to plan out their construction.
If it looks that students are needing
more than 10 minutes, the teacher can
give the students an extra 5 minutes.
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
No students should be working independently on this project. If it looks
as though there is a group with only one student doing all the work,
tell the other students they need to start collaborating or they will not
get to participate in afternoon recess.
Walk around the room while the students are working to observe what
their thoughts and ideas are.
If students need extra help coming up with ideas for their construction,
show them pictures of previously made wind mills.
Elaborate In this section students take the basic learning gained from Explore and
clarified in Explain and apply it to a new circumstance or explore a particular aspect of
this learning at a deeper level. Students should be using higher order thinking in this
stage. A common practice in this section is to ask a What If? question. IQ #2
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #2)
Students Will:
How do you think construction
Make a list of the materials
workers decide if their materials are
they will be using
strong enough to make a wind mill?
Write down why these
Now it is your turn to test materials
materials will work
and make a wind mill. The students
Gather materials
will write down all of the materials
Construct windmills
that they used in their planning into
their journals and write a brief
description of why they think these
materials will work the best. Once the
students have written, each group will
have one student gather the materials
needed and bring them back to the
desk. The students will then be given

20 minutes to construct their

windmills.
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
Walk around the classroom while students are working to see what
they are doing.
If students are having a hard time constructing their windmill, provide
assistance, however do not do all of the work.
Evaluate In this section every student demonstrates mastery of the lesson
objective (though perhaps not mastery of the elaborate content). Because this also
serves as a closing, students should also have a chance to summarize the big
concepts they learned outside of the assessment.
Teacher Will:
Students Will:
Once students have completed their
Bring windmill to the front of
windmills, they will carefully bring
the classroom to be tested by a
their windmill to the front of the
fan.
classroom where the teacher will be
Write in their journals why their
testing it to see if it works. The
fans worked, or why their fans
teacher will test each windmill by
didnt work.
placing the windmill 10 inches from a
small fan. If the windmill spins, the
students have successfully
constructed a working windmill and
may now go on to write about it in
their journals. If the windmill did not
work, the students will be asked to
go back and try to change something
to make it work. They will only be
given one try to redo their windmill.
If it still does not work for the second
test, they will go and write about
why they think it didnt work in their
journals. It is okay to have groups
with windmills that dont spin, they
will just need to write about it.
Closure: (revisit objective, IQs and make real world connections)
In closing, the students will be writing a short paragraph about the
construction of their fans. They should be writing what they did when
constructing, and what worked and didnt work. After the students have
written in their journals, a few students will be asked to share what they
wrote. They should include names of the items that were used in
construction.
**Best Practices List the Best Teaching Practices you will use to enhance
the learning outcomes. In each section where prompted, list the best
practice, how the practices will be used and the purpose.