ED 101 Educational Technology Lab - Fall 2010
Boston University – School of Education
WEB-BASED LESSON PLAN
Requirement
Your Name
ED 101 Lab Section
School (1 pt.)
Grade/Grades Observing
(1 pt.)
Supervising Teacher
(1 pt.)
Content Area(s)
(1 pt.)
Setting (in class or in
computer lab) (1 pt.)
Title of web site (1 pt.)
Topic of Lesson (1 pt.)
Goals of the Lesson (4
pts.)
Three Objectives (10 pts.)
Your Answer
George Danis
C1
Jackson Mann
6th grade: mixed special education (inclusion) classroom.
Mrs. Floyd
Social Studies
Computer Lab (alternative plans have been listed)
A History of Our People: From Early Man to Early
Civilizations
Learning about early mans’ capabilities that led to the
development of civilizations.
My lesson intends to examine hominids, humans’
prehistoric ancestors, specifically touching on capabilities
conducive to survival and the development of a sense of
community. I will then show how these capabilities drove
the birth of early civilizations. I want to get students
thinking about evolutionary advantages, such as bipedalism
and what that might mean for our early ancestors. My
personal goal is to get students comparing early humans
with modern humans, as well as early civilizations with
modern cities
1. Students will be able to name the six early hominids
that have been discovered by paleoanthropologists.
They will also be able draw 3 key physical features
unique to each hominid and explain why these
features were either advantageous or
disadvantageous.
2. Students will be able to list 3 capabilities unique to
each hominid and define key vocabulary words that
have been bolded in the website.
3. Students will finally be able to compare and contrast
early hominids with modern humans, summarize
why civilizations developed, and finally list 3
similarities and differences between contemporary
cities and early civilizations.
Technology needed to
complete lesson
(3 pts.)
1st Technology standard
(5 pts.)
How your lesson will help
students meet this
standard (5 pts.)
2nd Technology standard
(5 pts.)
How your lesson will help
meet this standard (5 pts.)
Describe how students are
grouped in the setting you
listed above (3 pts.)
Materials needed
(2 pts.)
A computer for each student would be ideal. Mrs. Floyd
believes she can make the computer lab (next door to the
class) available for the students on the presentation day.
Should this fail, the lesson can be repeated using an
overhead projector.
G6-8: 1.18: Use Web browsing to access information (e.g.,
enter a URL, access links, create bookmarks/favorites,
print Web pages).
Upon scrolling through my website, students will find some
links in the main content pages as well as come to a links
page with extra information, particularly websites further
explaining the topics I mention, but in greater detail. One
of the links for example, will contain a more complete list
of early man’s capabilities with illustrations.
I will also press on the importance of my website being
accessible anywhere in the world, so students can show
their parents or siblings what they have been learning.
G6-8: 1.19: Identify probable types and locations of Web
sites by examining their domain names, and explain that
misleading domain names are sometimes created in order
to deceive people (e.g., .edu, .com, .org, .gov, .au).
Some of the links I have included in my website are to
educational sites. Moreover, my website contains a ‘dot
edu.’ Students will thus learn the difference between an
educational site, and a personal site. I will warn students
however, that sometimes websites can be deceiving, and
when doing research on the internet, it is best to either ask a
librarian for assistance in finding credible websites, or rely
on websites you know to be factual (e.g. pbs).
Students will have an individual computer or two students
will be working together per one computer.
If the teacher is unable to schedule the computer lab for the
date of this lesson, much of the material can be delivered
through an overhead projector—a group of four students
can come up to the classroom computer and work through
the website in accordance with the lesson.
A handout regarding the lesson (asking questions and
including directions concerning navigating through the
website) will be distributed so students can work
independently on computers.
The quiz will be printed out if the teacher cannot schedule
the computer lab for the lesson (further instructions are
List any teaching help you
may have
(2 pts.)
Introduction of Lesson
(3 pts.)
provided below*). If the teacher can get the computer lab,
all students will take the quiz online.
The classroom teacher can assist me in maintaining order
throughout the lesson.
After the students sit down and start up the internet, I will
ask students to open up the homepage. I will then explain
how to navigate throughout the site and ask students to look
at the handout and complete the assigned task.
*If the teacher is unable to get the computer lab, I will put
the outline of our lesson up on the over head projector and
ask students to give me ideas surrounding the main themes
(brainstorming). The group at the computer will then
confirm whether or not these hypotheses are correct, listing
information from the website as their source.
Curriculum Framework
that your lesson will help
the students meet (5 pts.)
Lesson Procedure
(8 pts.)
7.2 Identify sites in Africa where archaeologists have found
evidence of the origins of modern human beings and describe
what the archaeologists found. (G, H)
1. I will begin by asking the students to access the internet.
Should they not how to do this, I will be roaming around the
computer lab ready to assist.
2. I will then pass out the accompanying worksheet for
students to work through as they navigate the site, with
questions stressing important themes and vocabulary words.
3. I will then ask students to look at the worksheet and ask
me if they have any questions.
4. They will then use the website to go through the
questions—this is an example of formative assessment as
they can discover what they don’t know and prepare for a
short quiz at the end of the website. Should they have any
questions regarding the content of the website, I will be
roaming around the classroom to assist, keeping the
students attention focused on the worksheet.
5. Students will take the quiz after having navigated through
the website and worked through the worksheet.
6. We will then conclude our visit to the computer lab and
go back to class. In class students will reflect on what they
saw on the website, what they liked/didn’t like. I will then
ask them how they thought the quiz went and how effective
they thought the website was as a teaching tool.
Should the teacher be unable to get the computer lab, I have
prepared an alternative lesson procedure.
1. I will start by stating that I have developed a website over
How web site is used
during lesson (8 pts.)
Wrap Up of Lesson
(5 pts.)
the course of the semester and today we (the class) will use
it to help further our understanding of hominids and early
civilizations.
2. I will then ask the students to choose groups of four
whom they would like to work with. Each group will have
their turn at the classroom computer. The students will
brainstorm ideas about hominids and civilizations (as they
have been studying) and the group on the website will
confirm whether or not the class’ hypotheses are correct.
Each team of students will be responsible for about one
content page. They will be the official fact checkers.
3. Repeat steps 5 and 6—the quiz can be printed out.
The primary use of the website is to reinforce or elaborate
on topics students have already studied, as well as give
theme broader themes to consider. The website will not
merely repeat what has been learned in the textbook—it will
give students a chance to see videos and pictures related to
what they’ve been studying and see the material in a far
more concise form, not in an exhaustive textbook.
Furthermore, the worksheet will be difficult enough where
the students cannot rely upon former knowledge to answer
the questions, as all material will be taken from the website.
This means that students will have to be studious and
engaged when scrolling through the site—they cannot
immediately progress to the quiz without having spent time
on previous questions. Moreover, even though students
have been tested on some of this material before, they will
be presented with new ideas which will necessitate
navigating the website with purpose. The website is
intended to follow a chronological and historical
progression, from early isolated humans, to the birth of the
first civilizations. This will force students who have been
studying the material in the textbook in blocks (often
skipping over some sections of the text) to try and connect
the material together and see broader themes (such as
humans developing a sense of community which was stated
in my objectives). The website will allow students to
synthesize material and even draw their own conclusions.
In this sense, they will not merely be asked to learn new
material, but to learn how to think and reflect on what they
have learned.
I will conclude the lesson by asking students to list off the
answers to the worksheet handed out in the beginning of
class. I will then ask students to give me their thoughts on
the lesson, as well as their conclusions on the material. By
doing so, I will learn whether or not the website was
How will students be
assessed? (5 pts.)
How will you know if
students have met the
objectives stated above?
(5 pts.)
Web-based Quiz
(10 pts)
effective. While most of these students are incapable of
writing a three paragraph essay, I can at least gain insight to
what they were thinking and what they would have put in a
writing assignment. This discussion will also give other
students ideas—perhaps one student’s remarks will
encourage another student to speak up and elaborate his or
her thoughts on the matter. This part of the lesson will
primarily use a whiteboard so that I can write the students
ideas up on the board and the students can copy the ideas
into their journals (because the students cannot take the
textbooks home they keep notes in a composition
notebook—the notes from my lesson will help students in
studying for assessments).
In addition to the worksheet which the students are to work
through while exploring the website, students will be asked
to complete one of the following assignments for
homework: A Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting
early hominids and modern humans.
Or
A drawing of an original civilization, showing division of
labor, trade, permanent residences, domestication,
irrigation, etc.—these words are all bolded terms in both the
website and the textbook. This will emphasize the students’
creativity, but also show the teacher that the students went
through the website and were able to understand the
content, and are now applying what they know to fit their
own imagination. Some (but not all) of these students are
special needs kids and I think this would be an appropriate
activity that can also measure their understanding of what
they have learned.
In both cases, the students must draw upon what they
learned from the website to create either an analytical Venn
Diagram or a labeled and purposeful picture. Students will
be expected to use vocabulary words—the efficacy of my
lesson is thus measurable and I will be able to tell if the
students do not understand the material.
1. What do paleoanthropologists do?
A. Study the earth.
B. Study the changes in humans.
C. Look for early humans by analyzing
remains.
2. Which of the following is a characteristic of being
bipedal?
A. Being able to walk on two feet.
B. Being able to write.
C. Being able to hunt for food.
3. What does division of labor mean?
A. Doing work individually.
B. Doing work as a group.
C. Delegating one person to do one job, while another
person focuses on another job.
4. Why did some of the earliest civilizations need to use
irrigation techniques?
A. There wasn’t enough water to farm.
B. There were no animals to hunt.
C. The animals they domesticated needed water to drink.
5. What was the name of the first hominid discovered?
A. Lucy
B. Handyman
C. Homo sapiens