Conceptual Understandings
a. The students are in a variety of places with regarding to the kinds of conceptual
understandings that aid in interpreting concepts in this unit. In particular, students have
varying familiarities with science as a process. Students have expressed differing
interpretations of what science is and have demonstrated significantly varying abilities
regarding the collection and interpretation of scientific data. For this reason, I feel that it will
be necessary to provide sufficient scaffolding during scientific explorations so that struggling
students are well supported and can make sizable improvements in scientific skill-building.
Students also have differing experience with regard to curricular content in science. In
particular, understandings of ideas such as energy, matter, and chemical reactions appear to
vary among the students. As such, I believe that students will make the greatest strides
toward the outlined ILOs if I construct a curriculum which does not necessitate such prior
understanding, but which would nonetheless be enriched by such an understanding.
b. Academic Language Development (students’ abilities to understand and produce the oral
or written texts in English that are part of the teaching segment)
There are two English Language Learners in the classroom. Bryan, classified as ELL level 3,
whose native language is Korean, has significant difficulty decoding text, producing writing
although his oral skills although him to express his ideas fairly adequately. Additionally,
Bryan is able understanding speech well enough that through individually directed
conversations, his understanding can be assessed to a significant extent. José, classified as
ELL level 4, whose native language is Spanish, has similar difficulties with decoding text and
expressing himself through writing although not to the same extent. José responds strongly to
visual examples and is a talented artist. Giving him opportunities to express his thinking
through visual modeling allows him to express himself well. Additionally, there is one other
student who has significantly difficulties in writing. There are also a number of students, of
roughly average reading and writing skill given their age, who seem to think orally and are
strong at expressing ideas in conversation. Because of these considerations, I have
constructed most of the content and assessments to be engaged visually or orally. During the
cell phone investigation activity, I intend to give significant attention to these students,
particularly in helping them to decode key ideas from the text of their particular articles, as I
feel that this is involves important skills that these students will want to improve.
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c. Social and emotional development (e.g., relationships with each other, expressing
themselves in constructive ways, engaging in collaborative learning, contributions to a
productive learning environment)
One important issue related to how students interact with the classroom learning environment
regards absences. This classroom of ten students will typically have only nine present, with
the absent student one of among five that are all about equal in the rate of absence. I feel
therefore that it will be important to construct the learning segment in such a way that
students that miss one or more lesson will still feel capable of reengaging in the activities. To
assist in this, I have incorporated reviews into the beginning of each class period to help
catch up students that may not have been present. Additionally, the Guided Notes sheet helps
students to keep track of the important concepts covered from day to day. Students who are
not present for the oral presentation will have the ability to perform a writing assignment to
meet the same basic criteria.
A lack of student confidence is a significant hindrance to the functioning of the classroom
environment and makes it difficult to assess students as well as to allow student interests to
drive the content of the lessons. Students seem afraid of embarrassment about being incorrect
when speaking during class. I hope to help create a more inviting environment by creating
activities where being wrong is not considered. For instance, the modeling of the skin cells
activity, the visual comparison of a skin tumor, and the listing of potential carcinogens all
involved students sharing thoughts, while I actively encouraged them to move forward with
whatever thoughts they had regardless of being right or wrong.
For a two students in the class, there is some reticence to work with other students because no
significant relationships exist among other members of the class. However, I feel that
working in groups is an important part of the classroom environment, because it gives
students on opportunity to share and receive ideas from one anther, rather than simply
through the instructor. I anticipate actively having to incorporate these students into groups,
whether together or with others. Because there is a fairly friendly atmosphere in the
classroom, I do not anticipate any significant opposition of cooperation once groups are
formed, although a general shyness is very likely. I intend to coerce discussion among group
members often.
d. Family/community/cultural assets (e.g., cultural norms, student interests, relevant
experiences and resources)
The students have all had experiences with cancer of various levels. I felt that because the
issue was so salient and an understanding of what cancer is and what causes it would be
applicable in interpreting many aspects of the world that this would be of strong interest to
students. Additionally, it is a topic that could draw great on students’ experiences with
individuals that have had cancer as well as experiences with carcinogens.
I specifically chose the research assignment to focus on cell phone radiation as potentially
carcinogenic. My intention was that this would peak student interest because every student in
the class owns and regularly uses a cell phone. I would expect the students to be curious to
understand whether or not cell phone radiation is indeed carcinogenic and this curiosity could
serve as a source of motivation for the research assignment.