MultiMedia Tools

Lesson Idea Name: Classifying Organisms

Content Area: Science
Grade Level(s): 7th grade
Content Standard Addressed:
S7L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to investigate the diversity of living organisms and how
they can be compared scientifically. a. Develop and defend a model that categorizes organisms based on
common characteristics
Technology Standard Addressed:
1. Empowered Learner
6. Creative Communicator

Selected Technology Tool:

☒ Movie (list application):
☐ Audio (list application):
☐ Other: (list)
URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☒ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☐ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☒ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration
☒ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Engagement – Allow students to collaborate in pairs, share interests, and decide on the best topic for the
assignment.
Representation – I will push students to engage their prior knowledge from earlier in the unit. I will visually
show the instructions as well as go over them with the class. I will show my example of the video so that
students know what they are expected to do.
Action and Expression – Allow students to demonstrate what they know by letting them choose between a
narrated video, adding background music, and/or adding educational clips to their videos.

Lesson idea implementation: I will begin by addressing the objective of the lesson and have a short
discussion about what we will be doing today. I will then visually represent the instructions and the rubric as
well as go over it with the class. I will show my example video so that students are aware of their
expectations. The assignment will take the students 2 full school days to complete and students must finish at
home if they need more time. The next class, groups will present their video to the class. I will assess the
students by grading them on their content knowledge, presentation, as well as creativity of the video. This
video assignment allows the students to use their prior knowledge and creativity to focus on two organisms
and their similarities and differences. In order to extend student learning to a higher level, I will challenge
students to research what animal kingdom each organism belongs to. This will be covered in detail in the
next lesson. I will fill out a rubric for each group in which students will be able to see their grade and the
feedback provided.
Importance of technology: Using a multimedia authoring tool is critical to the project because it helps
differentiate the way the students are learning the objective. It also increases interaction between student
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and teacher and especially between student and student. This makes the lesson more engaging and
interesting for the students to show their learning. Without this technology, the students could create a script
that includes images and sources, but it would not be triggering higher LoTi levels and higher levels of
thinking. Students will also be using the internet to find information about their organisms and taking images
from the internet to visually represent their organisms.
Inspiration (optional):
Internet Safety and Student Privacy: As a teacher, it is important to be aware of the internet safety of
students and student privacy. Addressing these to the students before they begin working is crucial in order
to protect the students in the class. One way I can ensure that the students are safe is to give the students a
list of websites that they can and cannot use. This eliminates the possibility of their identity being exposed or
visiting harmful/inappropriate websites.
Reflective Practice: The activities in this lesson will have a positive impact on student learning. Many students
have a hard time being interested in engaged in an assignment. This video assignment will allow students to
use their creativity and have the freedom of selecting organisms they have an interest in learning more about.
Instead of giving students a worksheet to name and classify organisms, allowing them to do this presentation
will make it more personal to them. This assignment will be the final assessment of the standard. After this
lesson, students will begin learning how organisms were classified physically and how that led to the creation
of the Animal Kingdom.

Spring 2018_SJB