Partners in Discovery Unit/Lesson Analysis Tool
School: _________________________________________
Unit/Lesson Title: _________________________________________
Teacher: _______________________________________
Fellow: __________________________________________________
Unit/Lesson Trait
How Addressed—How will this unit or lesson
Reflection—Upon conclusion of the unit or
address this trait
lesson, to what extent was this trait addressed?
Learning Objectives—The learning objectives
focus on the content and very clearly conveyed
the important and enduring science concepts
(science content standards). Teacher and fellow
agreed on the learning objective and both have a
shared understanding of the science content.
Understanding of Purpose—Throughout the
unit/lesson, most of the students clearly
understood why they were doing each activity.
Elicitation of Prior Understanding—Early in
the unit or lesson, most students had the
opportunity to express (verbally or in writing)
their current understanding of the science
content. Students had the opportunity to share
their ideas and to explore ideas of others with
enough depth for the entire class to acknowledge
the full range of student preexisting conceptions
and misconceptions.
Generating Data for Evidence—Most of the
students were actively engaged in investigations
that generated data that students could use as
evidence to support or refute claims, hypotheses,
or to explore questions.
Formulating Explanations—Most of the
students were actively engaged in the
interpretation of the data collected and used their
interpretation of the data to support scientific
explanations. Most of the students demonstrated
sound reasoning behind how the data supported
their explanations and claims.
Please do not duplicate or distribute without permission from RMC Research. For more information about the protocol, contact Dave Weaver at dweaver@rmccorp.com
October 2009
1
RMC Research Corporation  Portland, OR
Unit/Lesson Trait
How Addressed—How will this unit or lesson
Reflection—Upon conclusion of the unit or
address this trait
lesson, to what extent was this trait addressed?
Science Discourse—Most students had
opportunities to make claims, and/or use
evidence to back up their claims or critique
claims made by others.
Application of Science—Most of the students
applied something they learned in the unit or
lesson to a new context.
Lesson Closure—By the end of the unit or
lesson, students had an opportunity to make
sense out of how the lesson related to science
concepts, and it was clear that most drew the
appropriate conclusions.
Reflection and Meta-cognition—By the end of
the unit or lesson, students had an opportunity to
reflect on their thinking and most could identify
ways in which their thinking about the science
concepts had changed.
Classroom Culture—Students and teachers
create a classroom culture in which most students
felt comfortable and safe asking questions and
expressing their ideas and students respected the
ideas of others. Students safely used all
equipment and materials and protected the safety
of others.
Motivation—The lesson was effective at
motivating students to learn by appealing to
students’ interest, addressing a relevant topic,
creating a desire to resolve a discrepancy or
cognitive dissonance, or employing other
intrinsic motivators.
Please do not duplicate or distribute without permission from RMC Research. For more information about the protocol, contact Dave Weaver at dweaver@rmccorp.com
October 2009
2
RMC Research Corporation  Portland, OR