Blended Best Practices: Science, Grade 6
Overview
This resource was created by Tawnee Jewell in collaboration with Jennifer Jones as part of the 2019-20 ESU-NDE Digital Age Pedagogy Project. Educators worked with coaches to create Unit Plans promoting BlendEd Learning Best Practices. This Unit Plan is designed for 6th Grade Science.
Unit Plan
BlendEd Learning Best Practices
Unit Title: Earth’s Systems
Content Area Skills: Gather, Analyze, and Communicate the evidence of the flow of energy and the cycling of matter in Earth’s Systems
Digital Age Skills: Empower Learner, Global Collaborator
Duration of Unit: 2 weeks
Unit Author: Tawnee Jewell
BlendEd Coach: Jennifer Jones
Overview of Unit:
This resource was created by Tawnee Jewell in collaboration with Jennifer Jones as part of the 2019-20 ESU-NDE Digital Age Pedagogy Project. Educators worked with coaches to create Unit Plans promoting BlendEd Learning Best Practices. This Unit Plan is designed for 6th Grade Science. In this unit students will develop an understanding about how the different processes on Earth all interact. Students will learn about how energy and matter cycle through each of Earth’s spheres.
Empower Learners | |
| Empower Learners is a transitional segment to Cyclical Unit Design. The purpose is to both Review prior learning and Preview upcoming learning. |
| Learning Objectives | |
| Content Area Skills: | Student Friendly Learning Objectives: |
| SC.6.13.5 Gather, analyze, and communicate evidence of the flow of energy and cycling of matter associated with Earth’s materials and processes. | I will learn about the different cycles and spheres on Earth and how they and explain they relate to one another. |
| SC.6.13.5.A Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity. | I will learn about how the sun powers all of the systems on Earth. I will be able to communicate evidence about how the energy from the sun moves through the different Earth cycles. |
| Empower Learner Activity | |
| Detailed Description (self-assessment, goal sheet, action plan)Students will fill out this google form before the unit to find out how much they know. They will be given the same assessment at the end of the unit to find out how much they have learned. The students will rate themselves on 8 learning objectives. The scales ranges from 1 - “I have no idea” to 5 “ I feel like I have mastered this topic.” | |
| Link to Empower Learner Activity |
Knowledge Application | |
| The purpose of Knowledge Application is to promote deeper-level learning through student creation of learning artifacts demonstrating both Content Area and Digital Age Skills. A key goal is to provide some degree of control over how students will show what they know[a]. |
| Artifact Profile | ||
| Title of the Artifact: Choice Board[b] | ||
| Detailed Description: The students will be given a choice board (3x3). They will be asked to complete 3 of the tasks. They have to choose one task from each column. The students will have choices on whether they complete these tasks on their devices or they can choose to do some tasks “hands-on.” Each square has “must-do’s” and “may-do’s” listed for the students to understand and meet the minimum requirements or chose to go beyond to minimum for higher learning. | ||
| Content Area Skills Addressed:SC.6.13.5, SC.6.13.5.A | Digital Age Skills Addressed:Empower LearnerCreative Communicator | Link to Rubric: rubric |
Knowledge Deepening | |
| During Knowledge Deepening, the Content Area Skills required of the Learning Artifact are broken down into bite-sized tasks. A key goal is to provide some degree of choice over how students practice Content Area Skills. |
| Task 1: Station Rotation (Introduction) | ||
| Description: Students will complete a station rotation consisting of vocabulary review (quizlet), concept review (worksheet), a knowledge quiz (edpuzzle), and teacher lead group. | ||
| Component: | Must Do’s: | May Do’s: |
| Whole Group Instruction | Introduce Concepts and give an overview of what the students are going to be learning and what is expected of them. | |
| Small Group Instruction | Station rotation - EdPuzzle, worksheet, quizlet | |
| Independent Practice | Edpuzzle, worksheet, quizlet | Can continue to work on the quizlet at any time. Linked into my Canvas. |
| Collaborative Practice | Quizlet live |
(Organized by Activity Type)
| Task 2: Enclosed Biome Project | ||
| Description: Students will create enclosed biomes. They will have a choice in deciding what type of biome they will create (aquatic or terrestrial). They will then have to research everything they will need to do, and have, to create the biome (in a large jar). They will be compiling their information on a google slides[c] presentation, each student will be given their own slide. Once they have completed their research and shown me exactly how they plant to create their biome, I will order the supplies. | ||
| Component: | Must Do’s: | May Do’s: |
| Supplemental Input | Online research | YouTube, pinterest |
| Student Processing of Key Concepts (Vocab / Skills) | Group discussion of idea and materials | |
| Recording / Representing Content | Complete their assigned slide. | Include a linked video on their slide either of themselves talking or one they have found. |
| Guided / Gamified Practice | Whole class discussion | rubric for slide presentation |
| Worked Examples | Create biome | Do both aquatic and terrestrial biomes |
(Organized by Instructional Model Components)
| Task 3: “Selling” an artifact created in the Choice Board | ||
| Description: Students have to choose 1 item they created in the Choice Board and “sell” it to the class. They must use vocabulary words they have learned in this unit and be able to describe how the system they are showing is a cycle. | ||
| Must Do’s:Choose an artifact and present it to the class in a manner that shows you understand the concepts we learned in class. | May Do’s:Students can choose to create an infomercial to sell their product to the class. | Resources: Link to Choice BoardRubric for Selling the Artifact |
Direct Instruction | |
| Direct Instruction scaffolds the learning process for all students. A key goal is to incorporate BlendEd strategies to effectively differentiate instruction in order to maximize learning. |
| Learning Path | |||
| Day # | Description | BlendEd Model | Resources |
| 1 | Pre Self-Assesment - Vocab | self-directed | Self-assessment |
| 2-3 | Introduction to Unit | station-rotation | Edpuzzle, worksheet, and quizlet (no teacher station, I chose to roam about the room checking on students during this) |
| 4 | Introduce Biome Project | Whole group | Slides Presentation |
| 5 | Create Slide for Biomes | Collaborative Whole-Group and Self-Directed | Same as above |
| 6 | Create the Biomes | Project-Based | Pictures |
| 7-13 | Choice Boards | Whole group discussion, self-directed, | Choice Board |
| 14-15 | Artifact Selling | Self-Directed | Teacher checks on student progress. Roaming the room to help keep students on task |
| 16 | Post Self-Assessment - Vocab | self-directed | Self-assessment |