Q&A: Are there science teachers out there? I ... - Education Reference

Question by Miss A: Are there science teachers out there? I need help with a lesson plan?
I?m creating a 5-lesson science unit plan for grades 4-5 about observation for my grad midterm. I need an introductory lesson plan idea that teaches students how to use the skills of observation.

The rest of my unit has students observing states of matter (2), solvents, and force and motion. Any (credible) help is greatly appreciated!!!

Best answer:

Answer by grahamrobb
How Observant Are You?

This activity demonstrates our ability to remember details accurately. Testimony about personal experiences is frequently used during an investigation, and can even make or break a case.

How accurately do people remember what they have seen?

What factors may play a role in what we can remember and describe about something we have witnessed?

Consider these questions as you do the following activity.

Directions:
Observe the picture for exactly 30 seconds. Look at everything you think might be important. After 30 seconds, answer the questions on the next page on a sheet of paper. (Do not read the questions before you look at the picture!)

How observant were you? Compare your answers to the picture.

Questions About the Picture

Additional Challenge:
Try this activity with another picture. This time, put the picture away overnight and try to remember what you saw in the picture.

How Observant are Other People?

In the last exercise you may have forgotten some details, and remembered other things incorrectly. As you experienced, your own memory can sometimes fool you. But what about other people?s memories?

Try out these exercises to see how witnesses to the same scene remember different details. Think about how useful an individual?s testimony can be. Does it help to have several witnesses to a scene?

Directions:
Choose several people to be observers and choose two people to be investigators.

Allow the observers to look at the picture or this picture for 30 seconds. The investigators should not look at the picture.

After 30 seconds, the investigators should begin questioning the observers. Each Investigator should question each observer. Then, the Investigators should attempt to reconstruct the scene based on the ?eyewitness testimony?.

Questions for Investigators

Compare the comments that the observers made. How many details were mentioned? Did some statements conflict with other statements? In what way? Why?

Culminating Activity
Objective
To create a Lego? figure identical to the shape the rest of your teammates have:
Materials
Players
Legos
Check Points that are marked for each team
Timer/Stopwatch
Whistle (Optional)

Procedure
Preassemble Lego structures into as many teams as you plan on having, such as 3. Make sure all of these preassembled structures look the same, except for coloring.

You can use different size blocks to achieve the same shape, as long as it looks similar in the end (e.g. 2 single-height blocks instead of 1 double-height block), although you can choose not to.

Players are divided into teams of as close to equal players as possible.

The teams are then again divided in half giving each original team a Team A and a Team B. For example, if you started out with 3 teams, after the teams are split again, you will have Team 1A, Team 1B, Team 2A, Team 2B, Team 3A and finally Team 3B.

Now all of the team As should stay on one side of the playing field and all the team Bs stand at the other side where they can?t see the As.

To start out, each team A is given a different figure made out of legos.

Meanwhile, each team B is given a set of separate legos that can form the figure their corresponding team has (Team 1A and Team 1B).

Between where the A?s and B?s are located, check points are set up. These check points can be set up using traffic cones or such, and one of each is labeled with a team name (Team 1, 2, 3).

Each Team A and Team B designates a runner for each round of the game. When round one begins, an instructor, standing in a central area (such as the check points), blows the whistle or calls out for the first runner. The first runners from every team run to the check point and meet with the other member from there team (Ex: first runner from 2A and 2B meet).

When the players meet, the player from team A tries to describe their figure to the player from team B and relays whatever other additional information they think is necessary.

The players have 45 seconds to communicate the features of the figure. After the 45 seconds the team members go back to their teammates and relay what they learned. The build team works as a group to try and replicate the structure just described. The describing team tries to gauge how well the other side understood them and what they should tell them at the next run.

There should be at least 3 runs, depending on how many people are in each group (more people ?> more runs). After the number of runs is complete, all the groups should come together and compare structures. If you decide to play again, play with a different structure and reverse the team roles (build team now becomes description, description team now becomes the build team)

Conclusion
After this activity, explain to the students how the activity demonstrates the importance of effective communication and observation skills. More than likely, a couple of teams will have designs that are drastically different from the actual design. Point these out if you need an example of how one side can easily get confused or doesn?t hear what they need to hear.

ENJOY.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Source: http://www.qiyic.com/archives/3819

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