TE 407: Lesson Plan and Report # 2
Name: Dan Winther
Mentor Teacher: Ann Fritts
Date: 12/4/07
Partner: N/A
School: Williamston Middle School
Part I: Information about the Lesson or Unit
Topic:
Subject: Earth Science
Unit Topic: Earth’s Air and Atmosphere
Lesson Topic: Heat Transfer in The Atmosphere
Type of Class
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Grade level(s): 7
Type of school: Suburban
Tracking level: Untracked
Abstract
The lesson will begin with the Bell Ringer, as usual. After the students share their ideas,
we will review with a diagram of radiation from the sun (a transparency). I will open up the room
for discussion about the diagram, and since the students have already learned about radiation a
bit, their ideas will segue into the lesson of heat transfer and the atmosphere. In order to teach the
three types of heat transfer, I will rely on giving the students plenty of examples of each, and then
give bigger examples at an “atmospheric” level. To accompany the lesson, I will have the
students complete a worksheet individually. I will make sure to leave time at the end for students
to answer the questions as a group, to make sure they understand the material
Part II: Clarifying Your Goals for the Topic
Knowledge: Big Ideas
The Greenhouse Effect, water cycle, and global warming are all phenomena that occur
within, and often because of, the Earth’s atmosphere. Many of the processes that occur within the
atmosphere (including those listed above) are due to the unequal heating of the Earth’s
atmosphere. Solar radiation is what scientists refer to as a form of heat transfer. Along with
radiation, convection and conduction are also forms of heat transfer that occur in the atmosphere.
Radiation is emitted in the atmosphere from the sun in the form of waves or rays. The radiation
from the sun either enters the lower atmosphere and is re-emitted from the surface, or can be re-
emitted by things in the atmosphere such as clouds. Convection occurs when heat is transferred
through the air, and it also causes convection currents. Conduction occurs when heat is
transferred by touch, much like when you touch a hot pan and it burns. All of these heat transfers
occur within the atmosphere, and are the major cause of weather.
Knowledge: Experiences, Patterns, and Explanations
Initial
Student
EPE
Goal EPE
Observations or
experiences (examples,
phenomena, data)
Patterns (laws,
generalizations, graphs,
tables, categories)
Touching a hot stove or pot will
hurt
We can feel air moving when
it’s windy outside
Earth’s atmosphere is warmed
by the sun
When you touch a hot pan, heat
is transferred from the pan to
your hand
Solar radiation warms the
earth’s atmosphere
When we heat our house, heat is
transferred to the air from the
heater
We can feel air moving when
it’s windy outside, which is
caused by some atmospheric
phenomena
Heat is transferred in different
ways
Solar energy is a major player
in the heat that we know
Solar energy radiates through
out atmosphere, and warms the
air
Heat can travel in many
different ways through
mediums
Weather (wind, etc.) is caused
by heat transfers
Explanations (models,
theories)
There are three types of heat
transfers (convection,
conduction, radiation)
Earth’s weather is caused by
heating the atmosphere from
solar radiation and
convection
Application: Model-based Reasoning
Inquiry: Finding and Explaining Patterns in Experience
Possible Objectives for Student Learning
Objective
Michigan Objective(s)
1.
E.ES.06.42 Describe the relationship between the sun’s warming of the Earth’s
atmosphere and convection within the atmosphere and oceans.
2. E.ES.06.43 Describe how the sun’s warming of the Earth produces winds and ocean
currents.
3. E.ES.06.45 Describe how different weather occurs due to the constant motion of the
atmosphere from the sun’s energy reaching Earth’s surface.
Type
Identifying SP
Using SP
Identifying SP
Specific Lesson Objective(s)
1.
Describe the three processes of heat transfer, including convection, conduction,
and radiation.
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Identifying SP
2. Describe how the three processes of heat transfer relate to the earth’s atmosphere,
more specifically the earth’s weather systems.
Using SP
Part III: Classroom Activities
Materials
Presentation materials (Overhead transparencies or PowerPoint presentations, etc): Radiation
Transparency
Copied materials (Handouts, worksheets, tests, lab directions, etc.): Handout on Energy
Pages in textbook: Book: Glencoe (Earth Science) Pages: 402-407
Activities
Introduction (5 minutes)
The class will begin with the usual bell ringer, where the students will pull out their weekly
sheets and answer a science question. I will be walking around, making sure that the students are
filling out their sheets, and settling the class down for the lesson. After about 2 minutes, I will
ask for volunteers to share their thoughts on the question. Students will share, and I will read the
actual answer. At this time, I will transition into the beginning of the heat transfer lesson. A
transparency will be placed under ELMO, with three accompanying questions. From previous
lessons, the students should recall how to answer the questions. The transparency involves solar
radiation, one of the three heat transfer processes we will be discussing.
Main Teaching Activities (30 minutes)
Building from what the students said regarding the transparency problems, we will move into the
three types of heat transfer. Using the SmartBoard, I will write the names “Radiation,
Convection, and Conduction” on the board, and then move into the first of many examples. I will
bring the classes attention to the terrarium in the back of the class, where I will the students a
multitude of questions, including “Why is the terrarium placed by the window?”, “What does it
need the light from the sun for?” and “Is there heat transfer occurring in the terrarium? If so,
what type of heat transfer do you think it is?”. These questions will help the students to relate to
what is going on during solar radiation, and from that, I will introduce them to solar radiation on
a bigger scale. They already know about solar radiation from the Water Cycle unit, as well as the
Global Warming unit we just finished in class. They will be able to connect how heat transfer
from the sun affects these processes, just like it affects the terrarium in the classroom.
Once the students begin to grasp the first heat transfer process, I will move on to conduction and
convection. The activities will be much like those for the solar radiation, showing them an
example that they are familiar with, and then connecting that example to the bigger picture
(earth’s atmosphere). By using what the students know already, it will be much easier to teach
them this “new” material. The students will hopefully see that the material is not actual
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something “new”, the lesson just builds on their previous understanding of it, implementing
vocabulary to describe the phenomena, as well as more information about each heat transfer
process.
The lesson will move from describing the three heat transfer processes into how these three affect
the atmosphere, touching on how air is moved in the atmosphere. This will provide for a good
lead in to the next topic, which will be more focused on earth’s weather. After some probing
questions, where I see what the students think about how this connects to air movement and
weather, I will move the lesson to a time for student work. A worksheet will be handed out to
each student, and also placed under ELMO so the students can see exactly what is expected of
them. After reading the directions to the students, and completing the first question as a “group”,
I will tell the students to “Begin”, which signals them to start their work for the day. The
worksheets will be the assessment for the lesson, much like last lesson.
Conclusion (5 minutes)
The students have a guest speaker on the day of the lesson, so the lesson has to be much shorter
than regularly planned. Therefore, in the last 5-7 minutes, I will go over the worksheet with the
students to give them the correct answers, and then collect the worksheets from the students. At
this time, the students will clean up their areas, and do whatever procedures necessary to prepare
for the guest speaker.
Part IV: Assessment of Focus Students
Focus Objective
Describe the three processes of heat transfer, including conduction, convection and radiation.
Developing Assessment Tasks
The main assessment task for the lesson is the worksheet the students must complete individually
and turn in at the end of the period. From this, I can pick the questions that focus on the above
objective, and get a sense for what the students learned/did not learn from the lesson. Like I did
for lesson one, I can use the data to compile some statistics on the students learning, and can then
compare the statistics of each of the three focus students.
However, the worksheet is not the only form of assessment embedded in the lesson plan. When I
ask the students questions regarding what they think is going on in the examples (i.e. the heat
transfer in the terrarium, or the heating of a pan that can burn), I will attempt to call on each
focus student at least once, to not only engage the student, but to gauge what the student may
have previously learned or is thinking about the topic of heat transfer. Having two forms of
assessment will give me a more concrete idea of what the student is understanding, as well as
what areas where they need more help.
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In lesson one, I wish I had had some post-assessment activity, where I went over problems where
many students had problems. Therefore, in this lesson I will be implementing such a postassessment. The following Monday, I will place an additional “Bell Ringer” on the board for the
students to think about and answer, and will ask for volunteers to answer the question. After I
guage what the students remembered from the lesson on Friday, I will place the “problem”
questions under ELMO, and go over the questions with the students again. If the students did not
understand the information the first time, hopefully by reviewing and giving them even more
help with heat transfer, they will move to an area of understanding.
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