Teacher Name Greg Peters
Teacher ID #:
School: Innes Middle School
District: Akron Public Schools
Grade(s) 7
Subject(s) Science
Room #/Location 109
Date of Class: Tuesday 4-28-09
Please respond to all questions.
1. What are your GOAL(S) for student learning for this class period? In other words, what do you want the
students to learn? Include learning goals in any domains that are relevant to the lesson (e.g., academic, social,
affective, cognitive, aesthetic, and/or psychomotor goals).
Students will be able to:
 Investigate and identify the external structures of a frog.
 Explain the basic function of the external structures.
This lesson addresses the following Academic Content Standards for the State of Ohio:
Life Sciences Benchmark A: Explain that the basic functions of organisms are carried out in cells and groups of
specialized cells form tissues and organs; the combination of these cells make up multicellular organisms that
have a variety of body plans and internal structures.
Grade 7: page 203
Indicator 1- Investigate the great variety of body plans and internal structures found in multicellular organisms.
Scientific Ways of Knowing Benchmark A: Use skills of scientific inquiry processes (e.g. hypothesis, record
keeping, description and explanation).
Scientific Inquiry Grade 7, Indicator 4- Choose the appropriate tools and instruments and use relevant safety
procedures to complete scientific investigations.
2. Consider the students in your class who have SPECIFIC NEEDS under each of the following
categories. Explain how your planning for this lesson addresses these needs. Be specific.
a. English language proficiency Worksheets and handouts can be given a day before the lesson, if needed.
b. Exceptionalities Individual IEPs will be consulted and discussed with the intervention specialist. Students
that do not have the fine motor skills for dissections will be encouraged to watch another person in their group
do the dissection.
c. Skill level Students with learning disabilities will be encouraged to watch another person in their group do
the dissection. Gifted students will be given a dissection crossword puzzle if they finish early or need more to
do.
d. Other Students that object to doing dissections will be encouraged to watch another person in their group
do the dissection; alternatively, the student will be assigned an essay assignment on the external parts of a frog
to be done in the library.
3. How does the CONTENT of this lesson build on the content of previous lessons?
The students have previously dissected other animals (worms, crayfish, etc.) and have identified external and
internal structures in the animals.
4. How does the CONTENT of this lesson prepare students for the content of future lessons?
In this lesson, students will examine the external structures and mouth parts of a frog; the internal dissection of
the frog will be done in two days. The lesson also introduces the concepts of predation, camouflage, and
survival of the fittest that tie into other lessons in ecology.
5. Think about the structure or organization of the curriculum in this subject/discipline from the first time the
subject is encountered by students to the advanced study of it. How does the CONTENT of this lesson fit
within that whole structure of the subject/discipline?
The frog external dissection is one of many lessons where the students investigate the great variety of body
plans and internal structures found in multicellular organisms. The lesson is inquiry-based which comprises the
nature of the scientific method.
6. What teaching METHODS have you selected to help you achieve the learning goals you set for your
students (e.g., teacher presentation, peer teaching, programmed instruction, etc.)?
The students will learn the topics through cooperative learning with other students in their group by doing a
group investigation of the external structures of a frog.
7. What learning ACTIVITIES have you planned for this class (e.g., game to learn map skills, drawing the
action in a story, quiz, etc.)? Briefly outline the sequence of activities and indicate approximately how
much time you plan to spend on each activity.
Activity
1. Overview of today’s class, review of safety and procedures. Handout
worksheets.
2. Move students to smaller groups of 2-4 students/group. These groups
were selected the day before. Students that were absent yesterday will be
allowed to join a group. Groups can be regrouped if necessary. Each
student group will be given one frog.
3. Students will be led through the external dissection. The students will
be asked to examine the external structures of the frog as a group and
each student will fill out their worksheets individually (for a grade). The
teacher will keep the class on task. The teacher will assist teamwork by
moving between groups to answer any questions and to help students to
analyze their thinking processes and integrate conceptual knowledge.
During this period, the teacher will ask several inquiry-based questions
(i.e., what advantages does the different color on the dorsal and ventral
sides give to the frog; why are only the back feet webbed on a frog?)
4. The teacher will then pass out the handouts of “The mouth of a frog”,
and lead the class in that section of the worksheet. The teacher will
demonstrate how to cut the sides of the frog’s mouth open. The teacher
will move between groups to answer any questions, asking additional
inquiry-based questions ( i.e.; why is a frog’s tongue attached at the front
of its mouth?
5. Students turn in their worksheets; Closure and clean up. There is an
option to continue the external dissection tomorrow, if needed.
Allocated Time
4 minutes
3 minutes
15 minutes
15 minutes
5 minutes
8. What instructional MATERIALS, including handouts, Power Point® presentations, manipulatives, and/or
technology, will you use to help your students reach the specified learning goals?



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Preserved frogs from Biological Supply company, dissection instruments for external structure
identification (forceps, probes, scissors, dissection trays), rulers, safety goggles, gloves, paper towels.
“Frog External Anatomy” Worksheet
“Mouth of a Frog” Handout
Optional: crossword puzzle on frog dissection for gifted students/ or students finishing early.
If appropriate, please attach to this form a copy of any student MATERIALS you plan to use
with this class (e.g., map, vocabulary list, questions to be answered, printed instructions, homework).
9. If you will be GROUPING students for this class period, please provide the following information.
a)Group Name or Number
(If applicable)
Number of
Students
Lab Dissection
2-4
Basis for Group Membership
At least one person willing to do the dissection is in
the group.
b. Is this a TYPICAL grouping pattern for this class? If not, please explain.
Yes.
10. How will you evaluate whether the students have learned what you intended them to learn? In other words,
how will you know if the students have met the learning goals for the lesson?
If appropriate, please attach to this form a copy of your EVALUATION PLAN, CRITERIA
or ASSESSMENT.
Students will be formatively assessed by the teacher when he moves between groups, making sure that
students are identifying the correct structures, and answering the questions on the worksheet.
Students will turn in their worksheets at the end of class and be given a grade on their worksheets.
Name __________________________
Frog External Anatomy
1. Observe the dorsal (back) and ventral (belly) sides of the frog.
How do they differ in color?
Dorsal side color ___________
Ventral side color ____________
2. Examine the hind legs.
How many toes are present? ________
Are the toes webbed? ______
3. Examine the forelegs.
How many toes are present? _________Are the toes webbed? _______
4. Use a ruler to measure your frog, measure from the tip of the head to the end of the frog’s backbone
(do not include the legs in your measurement). Compare the length of your frog to other frogs
Your Frog
Frog 1
Frog 2
Frog 3
Frog 4
Average Length of Grass Frogs
(length in cm)
5. Locate the frog’s eyes, the nictitating membrane is a clear membrane that attached to the bottom of
the eye and is used for protection of the eye. You may use tweezers to carefully remove the nictitating
membrane. What color is the nictitating membrane? _______
What color is the eyeball? _________
6. Just behind the eyes on the frog’s head is a circular structure called the tympanic membrane. The
tympanic membrane is used for hearing. Measure the diameter (distance across the circle) of the
tympanic membrane.
Diameter of tympanic membrane _______cm
7. Feel the frog’s skin. Is it scaly or is it slimy?
____________
Anatomy of the Frog’s Mouth
Procedure: Pry the frog’s mouth open and use scissors to cut the angles of the frog’s jaws open. Cut
deeply enough so that the frog’s mouth opens wide enough to view the structures inside.
1. Locate the tongue. Can you unravel the tongue? Does it attach to the front or the back of the mouth?
__________
2. In the center of the mouth, toward the back is a single round opening. This is the esophagus.
the stomach. Use a probe to poke into the esophagus.
This tube leads to
3. Close to the angles of the jaw are two openings, one on each side. These are the Eustachian tubes.
used to equalize pressure in the inner ear while the frog is swimming.
They are
Insert a probe into the Eustachian tube. To what structure does the Eustachian tube attach?
_____________________
4. Just behind the tongue, and before you reach the esophagus is a slit like opening. (You may need to use your
probe to get it to open up). This slit is the glottis, and it is the opening to the lungs. The frog breathes and
vocalizes with the glottis.
5. The frog has two sets of teeth. The vomerine teeth are found on the roof of the mouth. The maxillary teeth
are found around the edge of the mouth. Both are used for holding prey, frogs swallow their meals whole and do NOT
chew.
6. On the roof of the mouth, you will find two tiny openings, if you put your probe into those openings, you will find
they exit on the outside of the frog. These are the nostrils.
Label each of the structures underlined above on the frog’s mouth and complete the table.
Structure
Vomerine teeth
Eustachian tubes
Nictitating Membrane
Tympanic Membrane
Esophagus
Glottis
Function
Location
The Mouth of a Frog
Vomerine and Maxillary Teeth: Used for holding
prey
Internal Nares (nostrils) breathing
Eustachian Tubes: equalize pressure in inner ear
Glottis : Tube leading to the lungs
Esophagus: Tube leading to the stomach
Tongue: Front attached, aids in grabbing prey
Tympanic Membrane: eardrum, located behind eyes
Nictitating Membrane: clear eyelid, protects the eye