Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
Hannah Moriarty
Teaching and Learning
Dr. Letina Jeranyama
10/18/13
LAP: Bone Experiment:
I.
Content: Describe what it is you will teach. What is the content?
In this particular class (anatomy class) I will be demonstrating to students how
bones lose calcium over time. Students will be discovering the basic structure of
bones and importance of taking care of their own bones. I will perform an activity
and as a class we will together step by step in groups determine the outcome of
these various effects and how it relates directly back to their own lives. Students
will also be discovering the length and size of various bones that makeup the body
and how to better identify these bones in the weeks to come.
II.
Learning Goal(s): Describe what specifically students will know and be able
to do after the experience of this class.
After this class students should be able to explain the changes that occur in our
bones as we age and steps we must take in order to preserve our bones. Students
will also be able to recognize the basic structure of a bone and the various pieces
that make up a bone. Students will also be able to identify general bones in their
body and be able to identify how these bones compare to one another concerning
their size and structure.
III.
Rationale: Explain how the content and learning goal(s) relate to your
Curriculum Unit Plan learning goals.
This lesson will take place as the second lesson in the particular unit (skeletal
unit). Therefore, it will serve mainly as an introduction unit to the importance of
taking care of our bones. As well as a brief introduction/overview to the various
bones that make up our body and how these bones can be described. It is also an
introduction to the various sizes of our bones and what roles they play in our body
and daily functions. Prior to this lesson students will be reading a scientific article
on the skeletal system and partaking in a jigsaw activity where they will share
their findings as a class and together determine what are the keys concepts of this
article. This article will introduce students to ways in which to preserve their
bones and the basic framework of these bones. This will allow students to make
connections between the activity being presented to them and the effects of aging
on their bones, the importance of preserving their bones and an introduction to the
206 bones that make up their bodies.
IV.
Assessment: Describe how you and your students will know they have
reached your learning goals.
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Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
I will use various formative assessments to test my students acquired knowledge
throughout this lesson. I will start off class with a “Quick-Write” activity asking
students, “What are some facts we learned from the article we read yesterday or
that we discussed together? What are some ways of the characteristics that
describes bones? How do we protect our bones?.” We as a class will then discuss
the students’ findings and I will collect their “Quick-writes” as a way for me to
determine how much they were able to get out of yesterdays lesson. As we go
through the activity I will ask each group the share their ideas of hypotheses as to
what will happen the bone in question. We will essentially fill out the
experimental worksheet together so that students are able to brainstorm with one
another. For the second mini activity I will ask students to share their findings at
the end and as a class we will discuss and compare our findings as a whole. At the
end of the lesson I will ask the students to fill out and exit ticket asking them,
“What is one thing you learned today or found interesting? What is one thing you
are confused about or want to learn more about?”. I will then collect these exit
tickets so that I am able to assess what students got out of this lesson as well as
any areas of uncertainty or questions they might have.
V.
Personalization and equity: Describe how you will provide for individual
student strengths and needs. How will you and your lesson consider the
needs of each student and scaffold learning? How specifically will ELL
students and students with learning disabilities gain access and be
supported?
I.E.P.:
The needs of my I.E.P students will be met in various ways. One way I will
attempt to help them is by making this a group activity. This way students are able
to share their ideas with one another in an open and nonthreatening manner. I will
also ask for ideas from one group so that they are able to develop a strong idea as
a unit. I will also slowly go through each step with the student ensuring that they
are grasping the key concepts, I will also write these keys concepts on the board
as we go along. By providing the students with visual aids and worksheet they
must complete this will help them to better articulate their ideas as well as stay on
task. Also these worksheets are a great way to help them summarize the key
points (big picture). In addition to the worksheets having the students watch a
youtube clip will give them more to contribute to group discussions and help
those that might have been behind to catch up. Also, these hands on activities
formulated as a mystery help to keep students attention and help them to remain
engaged. By becoming immersed with the activity they are more inclined to pay
attention and commit it to memory.
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Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
E.L.L.:
The needs of my E.L.L students will be met in similar ways as my I.E.P. students.
As a class we will go through the steps of this procedure step by step slowly so
that everyone is on the same track. Also, by working in groups students will be
able to ask their classmates for help as well as work together to strengthen their
ideas. The visual aids and worksheets provided to each student will help them to
better articulate and summarize their findings as well as help them to stay on task.
The Quick-Write is designed to help students get thinking about bones and on the
right track to what this experiment will prove to us. Also, exit tickets will help me
to determine who may still be struggling with certain concepts. Finally the hands
on nature and mysterious elements on this activity will hopefully help to get the
students attention and keep them engaged. Hopefully physically being able to
interact with the material will help them to better articulate their findings and as a
result commit these discoveries to memory.
VI.
Activity description and agenda
a. Describe the activities that will help your students understand the content
of your class lesson by creating an agenda with time frames for your
class. Be prepared to explain why you think each activity will help
students on the path toward understanding.
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Quick-write:
o The class will start with a Quick-Write asking the students to
answer the following questions:
 What are some facts we learned from the article we
read yesterday or that we discussed together?
 What are some ways of the characteristics that
describes bones?
 How do we protect our bones?
o This is a way for me to both assess what students were able to
get out of the lesson the day before as well as introduce them to
the upcoming activity at hand
o This way students will be able to make connections between
what they already know (prior knowledge) and the activity we
will do as a class
Break into groups:
o I will ask the students to break into groups of four so that they
are able to hypotheses and discuss their findings together prior
to sharing with the class
o Also students are then able to brainstorm with one another and
come up with strong valid ideas as a group
Video clip on bones:
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
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Revised 5/15/13
o I will show a quick video clip on the importance of keeping
your bones healthy and ways in which you should go about
doing this
o Helps to get students thinking about bone health and will help
lead them to develop their own ideas as well
Experiment/worksheet carousel activity:
o I will present the students with an average dry chicken bones
 They will pass the bone around and I will call on each
group to use an adjective to describe the characteristics
of the bone
 I will next discuss with them acids such as vinegar by
comparing prior knowledge that they already have been
introduced to concerning stomach acids and how these
acids break down food so it can be digested
 We will discuss the possibilities of the effects that
vinegar may have on a chicken bone
 I will then show the students a chicken bone that I
soaked in vinegar for exactly a week
 If all goes as planned the vinegar should wear away at
the calcium in the bone and it will lose it’s hard exterior
and have a consistency similar to that of rubber
 I will then ask the students to describe the bone that has
been soaked in vinegar
 We will then as a group discuss why we think the
vinegar has this effect on the chicken bone
 Finally as a conclusion we will as a class determine
what we learned from this activity pertaining to bone
health, calcium and the overall structure of bones
Bone Measurements with same groups:
o If there is enough time I will ask students in the same groups to
ask them to measure one another’s appendages and compare
and contrast the similarities and differences between different
bones lengths and functions
o Ex) I will ask students to measure their arm span and compare
that to their height (it should be relatively the same)
o We will then discuss their findings as a class and discover the
various phenomena of the skeletal system
o This will teach students fun facts about the bones and get them
excited for the upcoming unit
Bone Fun facts (if time permits):
o Again if time permits I will hand out to students a fun fact
sheet about the different bones
o Ex) Humans and giraffes have the same number of bones in
their necks. The giraffe’s vertebrae are just a lot bigger.
o This will get students excited about bones and how it relates to
many different aspects of the world including humans
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
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Exit ticket:
o At the end of the class regardless of how far with get with the
measurement activity I will ask students to fill out an exit ticket
asking them:
 What is one thing you learned today or found
interesting?
 What is one thing you are confused about or want to
learn more about?
o This will help me to determine if the students are grasping the
key concepts (big picture) and if there’s any areas specifically
we need to work on a class
b. What particular challenges, in terms of student learning or implementing
planned activity, do you anticipate and how will you address them?
The only challenge I could possibly see arising is it maybe be difficult for
some students to make the connection between vinegar and your body’s
natural wearing away of calcium of your bones over time. I will make this
point clear my providing example of diseases like osteoporosis and also
continually reiterating to them the importance of protecting our bones. Also,
that as we age we lose calcium in our bones which give our bones the hard
outer coating, vinegar (similar to aging) depletes our bones of calcium. If you
do not protect your bones they may become rubbery similar to the chicken
bone that was soaked in vinegar.
VII.
List the Massachusetts Learning Standards this lesson addresses.
Anatomy is an elective so there are no MA curriculum frameworks
VIII. Reflection
a. In light of all areas of planning, but especially in terms of your stated
purpose and learning goals, in what ways was the activity(ies) successful?
How do you know? In what ways was it not successful? How might the
activity be planned differently another time?
Overall this lesson went extremely well. I was very pleased to see the students
working in groups hypothesizing how or ways in which vinegar would affect a
chicken bones overall structure. The purpose of this lesson was to demonstrate to
students what happens to their bones if they do not get the adequate amount of
nutrition as well as people who suffer from osteoporosis. I concluded that this
lesson was successful based on the students hypotheses as a group and their
ability to rationalize/explain their reasoning. Also, I asked each student to fill out
an exit ticket stating what they had learned today. The majority of the class wrote
that as naturally depletes from your bones it causes the bones to lose their
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Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
compact/strong structure and makes them rubbery. Other students also put that not
eating the required amount of calcium will cause your bone density to drastically
decrease and can be very detrimental to your health. They also wrote that they
weren’t confused about much and that they enjoyed the lesson or found it
interesting. Some students initially struggled with the fact that since vinegar is a
mild acid it will cause certain objects to disintegrate. But once I reminded them
that your stomach contains acidic juices that break down the food we eat they
seemed to have an easier time making the connection between bone density loss
and vinegar. Overall I was really pleased with this lesson. A couple ways I might
improve it would be to perhaps assign the students reading the night before about
osteoporosis or the affects of acids. Some article that would help them to make
this connection a little more easily will less guidance. Also, because I felt
somewhat stressed for time I felt as if I had to cut students off once and a while.
In reality it shouldn’t matter how long it takes the students to get through this
lesson. I shouldn’t interrupt their creative thinking and I should do my best to
answer all of their questions within reason.
b. What did you learn from the experience of this lesson that will inform your
next LAP?
For my next LAP I will make sure to give the students more detailed background
knowledge to help the students better make connections/associations with the
activity at hand. This will enforce to students the importance of scientific literacy
as well as teach them responsibility and the importance of completing their
homework. Finally I will also work in the future to not be so concerned with a
lesson going over the required time and better stagger my planning so that
students are given more of an opportunity to hypothesize and explore their
options. This lesson has taught me that it doesn’t matter how long a lesson takes
the main concern should be how well the students grasp the concepts at hand and
apply them to their one lives.
Revised 5/15/13