Brennan McGee

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Lesson: A Journey Through Time Grade Level: 6th Grade Subject: Science

Description of Learning Goals, Standards, Objectives

CC/GPS 1) S6E5: Students will investigate the scientific view of how the earths surface is formed. g) Describe how fossils show evidence of the changing surface and climate of the Earth. 1) Research and Information Fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. a) Plan strategies to guide inquiry b) Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media. 2) Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. a) Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues. b) Create original works as a means of personal or group expression. Students will be able to create their own geologic time scale, and be able to make the connection between evolution and our Earths history. Students will be split into groups of two at the beginning of the assignment. After groups are established, students will use a laptop to explore our Earths timeline from the link provided on the teachers Weebly blog. Using the information gathered from the timeline, students will answer questions on the teachers timeline page with 80% accuracy.

National Technology Standards

Long-Term Learning Goal or Outcome ABCD Objectives or Outcome

Description of Assessment
Assessment Plan The first method of assessment will be with a short activity at the beginning of class. Students will have 5 minutes to create their own personal timeline on a piece paper, focusing on events in their life that they find important. Their personal timeline will consist of their birth until present day, and incorporate any events they find important. This method of assessment will allow the teacher to see if students understand how to create a timeline before they begin the Geologic Time Scale activity.

Brennan McGee

Page |2 The second Assessment will be the Geologic Time Scale activity sheet. Students will be answering questions based on the videos/readings that they do available through the Earth timeline. This assessment will be the most significant, as this will allow the teacher to assess whether the students understand the different eras during Earths life until now.

Description of Activities
Activity Design The primary activity students will be working on is a timeline created by the teacher showcasing the major events in Earths history, which are primarily the four main eras. Students will be visiting the timeline of Earth created by the teacher, and sifting through various types of media to answer questions on a worksheet created by the teacher. In order to meet students different learning styles, the media presented will be in essay form, and visual/audio. The timeline makes a point to focus on life forms that evolved at different times during Earths life. The purpose of this is to create a bridge between evolution and animal diversity, to the Geologic Time Scale. I believe that if students learn about evolution before the Geologic Time Scale, theyll better understand how life forms have changed over millions of years. The primary objective that the teacher hopes to achieve through this lesson is that students will be able to recreate their own Geologic Time Scale timeline. In order to ensure students are able to complete this task, the instructor must first determine if students are able to create a timeline on content theyre very familiar with. At the beginning of class students will create a timeline based on their life, starting from birth to present (written in their science journals). The teacher will use this informal assessment to determine if students understand how to create a timeline, and are ready to move onto the activity without needing any refresher of content. This activity will attempt to create an environment where the students teach each other and learn with technology, while the educator facilitates the learning. It is important to keep in mind that the teacher should periodically walk around the classroom to make sure they are available to answer any

Class Starter and Lesson Connect

Teacher and Student Activities

Brennan McGee

Page |3 questions, and that students are staying on task while using laptops. Following the activity, the teacher will briefly lecture on the Geologic Time Scale to ensure everyone is on the same page and then follow the lecture by answering any questions students may have. The students will be working in groups of two and be visiting the Geologic Time Scale page of the teachers Weebly. On the Weebly page, students will be visiting an interactive timeline that will present students with a host of information about Earths four different eras and briefly touch on crucial events that happened during Earths history. Students will also be completing a worksheet that will ensure they understand the material being conveyed. The website used to create the timeline is called www.tikitoki.com. Inside of the timeline you can incorporate many types of media, including videos, essays, audio, etc. Laptop, Geologic Time Scale Presentation, Geologic Time Scale worksheet

Technology Connection

Materials and Resources

Reflection on Lesson Design

Future Actions I learned through my IT lessons that its important to create a learning atmosphere for students online that allows them to find information on their own, and learn how to research and search for knowledge. In our technologically advanced society, its important to have the skills to search the information for scholarly information in order to find supporting papers for future assignments. For my next lesson I would probably have students create their own Geologic Time Scale online using a timeline software, I just couldnt find any that I was happy with. All the software I found was either to complex or too simple and didnt incorporate the features I was looking for. My timeline has a nice flow and incorporates information that is conveyed in many different ways for varying student learning styles. I also made sure to include lots of pictures, videos and informational text so that students had a wide range of media to choose from when searching for answers to their worksheet questions.

Brennan McGee

Page |4 My lesson required students to search through the timeline to answer a series of questions on a worksheet. This meant that instead of just looking up definitions in a book, students had to apply what they learned from the timeline to answer the following questions and then create their own Geologic Timescale timeline at the end of the worksheet. The technology I used was prefect for the lesson I was trying to teach. I really wanted to put an emphasis on how long our Earth was in the Precambrian Era and when humans first arrived on Earth. The timeline was able to accurately show the amount of time that took place on Earth before humans first appeared and how long it took for the first life to appear on Earth.