Short Form Lesson Plan # 1- What are vertebrates?
Grade Level: High school (9-12)
Class Topic: What vertebrates are (Subunit of Diversity)
EALR: 6-8 LS1E
Lesson Plan Outline:
Engage:
First engage the students by posing the question, “what is a vertebrate?” Have them name some
different vertebrate that they know. This is accessing what they already know and have observed about
what a vertebrate is. After some discussion about what the students came up with, I would show them
some pictures of unlikely vertebrates. This challenges the misconceptions that students have about
what a vertebrate is.
(3 min)
Explore
Know that I have the students curiosity peaked about what a vertebrate might actually be. I can now
have them explore further what characteristics make a vertebrate. I would do this by allowing students
to break up into groups of two. On power point slides I would place various photos representing
different types of vertebrates. Each of the pictures would reinforce some sort of aspect that defines a
vertebrate. The groups would then be given a few minutes to look at the pictures and discuss some of
the characteristics they think are distinctive. We would then have a few minutes to have students write
on the board what they think distinguishes a vertebrate. Within this stage I would want students to
defend why they choose the traits they did. This allows the students to think more deeply about why
they choose those traits. However, it also gives me the ability to see where their misconceptions are so
that when I finally explain to them what a vertebrate is I can address specific issues.
(5 min)
Explain
After hearing all the students’ feedback I would then tell them what the defining characteristics are of a
vertebrate. I will then check for understand by asking what made the pictures at the beginning
vertebrates. I will then explain how some of the traits that define a vertebrate are only seen within the
developmental stage. The classic example of this is a human baby.
(5 min)
Reflection:
What worked best about your lesson?
What I thought worked best in my lesson was how I creatively allowed the students to come up with
what the characteristics of vertebrate are. I think that by giving them examples and a puzzle to figure
out they were engaged and interacting with the similarities and difference that they saw within the
pictures. I think that by doing this I was able to access student’s higher order thinking processes. I never
expected them to get the right answers for the characteristics, but I wanted them to practice looking at
something and see the similarities and difference between things. This skill is important for seeing
diversity within a place but also seeing common ancestry through evolution.
What would you change to make your lesson better?
The first thing that I would change about the lesson is by adding a perplexing vertebrate, such as the
shark to discuss. It has many traits like a vertebrate but some of them could be argued to be chordate
traits. We could also take a chordate and compare what the difference are between the two groups. By
adding this I am getting the students to think more deeply about where the lines are drawn about what
a vertebrate really is.
How well do you feel you met the RTOP criteria?
I feel as though I met this well. By adding in the additional part that I suggested I would be adding
another mode of representation. This would help students picture what is going on within a vertebrate
at another angle. What I thought I did well was access the students’ preconceptions about what a
vertebrate was. By showing picture of vertebrates and having the students come up with what they
think a vertebrate is, I am allowing the students to show me exactly what they are thinking. By doing this
I am also allowing the students to determine how they think organisms are classified. A misconception
that I am illumination with one of the characteristics is developmental biology, which most students
won’t come up with on their own. I also thought that there was a good amount of student talking. I
think I allowed the students to tell the story of vertebrates without me telling them. I also think that I
did a good job of acting as a resource and providing examples that probe their thinking. The ability to
question them is something that only I can do. They cannot get that kind of probing from a text book.
The final criteria that I thought I met were allowing the students to connect vertebrates to the real
world. By asking what they know about vertebrates I am getting them thinking about the world outside
of themselves.