How to Design an Effective Science Lesson
Developing Lessons Which Engage Students in Critical Thinking
Nov 10, 2008
When designing science lessons, the key elements to address are content, understanding, engagement, and critical thinking. For students to really understand the content in a lesson, the lesson must challenge their views and beliefs about the lesson findings. When their views and beliefs are challenged, which are based on prior knowledge and experiences, students have the opportunity to really understand what is happening in a science lesson.
This approach helps students internalize the content being investigated and develop connections with other science content previously studied. Additional attributes of an effective science lesson involve student developed questions, hands-on minds-on investigations, and sharing of investigation findings with peers. When designing an effective science lesson teachers need to take all of these factors into consideration.
Designing an Effective Science Lesson
The following steps describe how to design an effective science lesson (not necessarily in lesson format order):
Science Content – what science content will the lesson focus on, such as: fluid dynamics, air pressure, motion, biomes, rock cycle, etc.
Standards – all lessons are standards driven and must effectively represent the standard students are learning.
Assessment – how will students be assessed to determine their level of understanding about a concept? A performance assessment is the most effective, followed by making representations of connections with other science concepts.
Science Process Skills – decide the process skills students will use in the lesson. Visit Problem Solving and Science Process Skills for a detailed description of these skills.
Complex Reasoning Skills – define the critical thinking strategies students will engage in as they conduct an investigation.
Lesson Format – using a problem-based learning (PBL) approach is the most effective method of actively engaging students in critical thinking and challenging their views and beliefs. Visit Scientific Method and Problem-Based Learning for an overview of the scientific method and PBL connection.
An Example Effective Science Lesson
The following lesson is an example effective science lesson provided as a guide – Dancing Coins!
Description of Problem – a coin mysteriously dances on top of a glass soda/pop bottle.
Materials – empty glass soda/pop bottles, coins,and cups of tap water (enough materials for students to work in pairs).
Content – conduction of heat, relationship between temperature and gases, and energy.
- In a closed container of any gas, there is a direct relationship between temperature and pressure; as temperature increases, so does pressure. The pressure increase is caused by the increase in motion of the gas molecules as they become warmer. The added energy (provided by the warm hands) increases the motion of the gas molecules until they lift the coin. As some of the gas escapes, the coin drops
Science Process Skills – observation, inference, and identification of variables.
Complex Reasoning Skills – comparison and deduction.
Standards – the following national science education middle school standards are addressed:
- Energy is a property of many substances and is associated with heat... Energy is transferred in many ways (Standard B.3.1).
- Heat moves in predictable ways, flowing from warmer objects to cooler ones, until both reach the same temperature (Standard B.3.2).
Instructions – select coins which fit on glass bottle openings without falling into the bottle.
Student Activity – students dip coins in water before placing on top of glass bottle. The water will create a seal between the coin and bottle. Students then place their hands on the bottle and observe what happens to the coin (the coin will start to tap on the top of the bottle as the warm air breaks the water seal). After students have shared their initial findings, allow them to alter the investigation to determine how new variables affect the investigation.
Assessment – challenge students to make a visual model of the various forms of energy transformations which occurred to make the coins dance on the top of the bottles.
- One student example: sun, food energy, body heat, air molecule expansion, air molecule energy to move coin, air molecule contraction as molecules cool after escaping bottle.
Students Engaged in Learning
Challenging students to think about what is happening in a science investigation is the best approach for designing science lessons. Students learn and retain more science content information when engaged in the learning process.
As students retain science content, they develop the ability to make connections with other science content ideas and develop a better understanding of science. Rote memorization of science facts will not produce the same results that hands-on minds-in effective science lessons produce in the long run.
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