Kelsey Piper

Teac 452V
Lesson Study Summary Report
12/14/14
Science Content Summary
For my first lesson, I adapted my lesson to fit the requirements of the Next Generation
Science Standards and the Nebraska State Science Standards. Students created a computational
simulation to illustrate the relationships among management of natural resources, the
sustainability of human populations, and biodiversity for the Next Generation Standards (HSESS3-3). This lesson required students to use mathematics and computational thinking and to
analyze and interpret data. To meet the Nebraska State Science Education Standards for this
lesson, students had to evaluate the impact of human activity and natural causes of Earths
resources, such as groundwater, rivers, land, and fossil fuels (SC12.4.2.c). Students would
analyze and interpret data, synthesize ideas, and evaluate models, and clarify concepts and
explanations to meet the inquiry standards for the Nebraska State Science Standards
(SC12.1.1.g).
The second lesson was also planned to meet requirements for both of these standards. To
meet the Next Generation Science Standards for the second lesson, students had to construct and
revise and explanation based on evidence for how carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from sugar
molecules may combine with other elements to form amino acids and/or other large carbonbased molecules (HS-LS1-6). To successfully complete this assignment, students would have to
plan and conduct an investigation. Students will also have to complete two Nebraska State
Science Education Standards for the second lesson. They must investigate and describe the
chemical basis of the growth, development, and maintenance of cells (SC12.3.1). Finally, to meet

an inquiry standard, students will design and conduct an investigation that can lead to the use of
logic and evidence in the formulation of scientific explanations and models.

Common Misconceptions
For the first lesson, students will build off of their previous knowledge about renewable
and non-renewable resources. Students learned about resources during their freshman geoscience
classes. The main objective of the first lesson is for students to understand the relationship
between natural resources, time, and the consumption rate. After completing the activity, students
should realize that the more non-renewable resources we use, the faster we will run out of them.
Once students understand the correlation between time and consumption rates, they can learn the
concept of sustainability. Sustainability means using the minimum amount of resources so that
we can have these resources in the future. Toward the end of the lesson, the class will learn how
humans consumption of resources can lead to adverse effects on the biosphere.
One common misconception I saw throughout this lesson was the idea that the words
renewable and recyclable were interchangeable. For example, at the beginning of my lesson I
presented students with a PowerPoint that contained 6 different pictures. Students had to decide
whether these pictures were renewable or non-renewable resources. One of the pictures I
projected was an aluminum can. One student said that aluminum cans were renewable because
we can recycle them. We then had a discussion during class how non-renewable resources could
be recycled, but not renewable.
For my second lesson plan, we would be covering the topic of macromolecules. In this
experiment, we will be using Beano, an enzyme-based dietary supplement that breaks down
starch into glucose. We lack the enzymes in our stomach to digest starch. If starch isnt broken

down in our stomach, it moves to our intestines. The starch can then be broken down in the
intestines, but it results in gas. However, if we use Beano, starch can be broken to glucose in the
stomach, which allows the glucose to be absorbed into our blood stream. In this experiment, we
will be testing if Beano does in fact break down starch in to glucose, and if the pH affects the
enzyme in Beano. There are two main objectives during this experiment. Students should be able
to explain the difference between sugars and starches. It is important that students understand
that polysaccharides can be broken into monosaccharaides. The second objective is that students
should know enzymes are made up of proteins, and they can be affected by pH and temperature.
A common misconception among students about enzymes is that once the reaction occurs
they cannot be used again. However, this is not true. Enzymes are never consumed or used up
during the reaction. Enzymes can keep reacting over and over again. This was proved during our
experiment. When we mixed Beano into our beans and water mixture, we used a glucose-testing
strip to observe the amount of glucose that became present over time. Over time, the glucose
strip went from aqua to sea green to dark green. This indicated that the Beano was still breaking
down starch to glucose after several minutes. If enzymes would be used up once in a reaction,
the glucose-strips would have not changed colors. However, there are factors that affect how well
enzymes function. We learned that by testing different pH levels in our experiment.

Context and Students

My practicum this semester was at Lincoln East High School. Lincoln East is a part of
the Lincoln Public School District. I was placed in a sophomore biology class during first hour.
My practicum teacher was Miss Morrow. Lesson one and lesson two were both taught to my first
hour students. However, lesson one was conducted during first quarter, while lesson two was

conducted during second quarter. During first quarter, there were twenty students in the room.
This classroom had nine girls and eleven boys. Second quarter we gained two new students. That
made for a total of twenty-two students with ten girls and twelve boys in the classroom. I did not
get a chance to work with any English language learners during this class period. However, there
was one student in the classroom that had special needs. This student had an IEP and it stated
that a paraprofessional would accompany him to class, everyday. He had a behavior plan that
stated he was allowed to leave the room if he became frustrated or agitated. He was allowed to
take test in the resource room, and was given extra time on assignments.

Lesson Comparison
1st Lesson
Materials: Videos, Lab
(lima beans, red kidney
beans, brown paper
bag), worksheet

Lesson Plan
1) Engage
-Showed more the
merrier video
-Students split pictures
into non-renewable or
renewable resources.

2) Explore
-Renew-a-bean lab

2nd Lesson
Materials: Video, Lab
(refried beans, Beano,
glucose-testing strips,
water, cups, spoons,
marker, lemon juice,
Drano), procedure paper,
worksheet
Lesson Plan
1) Engage
-Review cracker/saliva
experiment
-Watch Beano videos
-Draw and show how
starch moves through the
body
-Ask questions about
starches and enzymes
-Explain what students
will be doing that day

2) Explore
-Review components

Justification for changing (or not changing)

teaching approach
I kept my materials close to the same, besides
the actual materials needed for the lab.
However, in lesson two, the videos were more
informational. I also feel like the worksheet
was better developed than the first lesson.

I used videos for both of my lesson plans. The

students seemed to be engaged in the first
video, so I thought having them in the second
lesson plan would be a great learning tool.
The short activity during lesson one was
meant to get the students interactive in the
discussion. However, it was too easy for them
and most didnt find it interesting.
For the second lesson, I modeled how starch
moves through our digestion system. After
this, I asked more challenging questions,
which lead to a class discussion. Also,
understanding these questions was crucial to
designing their own experiment later on in the
lesson.
One suggestion during our peer review was to
incorporate more inquiry. The first lesson

* Students put white

renewable beans and
black nonrenewable
beans into a bag.
Students will model the
concept of sustainability
by pulling different
amount of beans out
each round.

3) Explain
-Worksheet
-Class Discussion
*PowerPoint

4) Elaborate
-Endangered species
* Provide each group
with an endangered
species notecard. They
should decide which of
the three ways
(Agriculture,
development, or
industry) humans have
impacted this animals
environment.

needed for as experiment

-Ask the two questions
that we will solve during
this experiment
-Have each student make
a hypothesis for each
question
-Have students in groups
create their own
procedure.
-Each group will carry
out their experiment.
3) Explain
-Results Table
-Worksheet
-Class Discussion

No Elaborate Section

plan lab was a hands-on, but a minds-off

lesson. Students were given a procedure, and
didnt have to do much critical thinking to
complete the lab.
The second lab forces students to use their
critical thinking skills to come up with a
procedure to test the two key questions. They
must then carry out the experiment how they
designed it. This is a hands-on, minds-on lab.
Student will use scientific method for the
second lab and build a scientific community
among their peers.
I thought that the worksheet and class
discussion was a great way to wrap up class,
but for the second lesson I changed a few
things.
The worksheet for lesson one consisted of 5
short answers. When reviewing these, I saw
they were too simple for students. However,
the worksheet for my second lesson had more
questions and it required students to pull from
the previous knowledge they had learned at
the beginning of the week. It was a much
better way to tie in all the components from
the chapter.
For the discussion part of lesson one, we went
over the students results and then I presented
a PowerPoint. I felt like the PowerPoint killed
all engagement of the students. For the
second lab, we talked about students results,
and I kept the discussion going by asking
some of the conclusion questions and
explaining them.
I did not do an elaboration phase for my
second lesson because of the time. The
second lesson took two days and we needed
to be moving on to the next section.
Although, I thought that the first elaborate
was a great extension of knowledge.

Assessments
There were a number of formative assessments throughout my first lesson plan. The first
formative assessment was during the engage phase. Students must identify a resource as
renewable or nonrenewable. This formative assessment allowed me to observe the students past
knowledge. During this time, I noticed that students had a misconception between renewable
resources and recycling. A formative assessment was during the worksheet and discussion parts
of this lesson. We gathered data as a class, and discussed the answers to the questions. This
allowed me to see if students understood the relationship between resources, time, and
consumption rate. Since we covered the answers in class, students turned in their worksheets for
participation points. Unfortunately, no student artifacts could be collected from this section of the
lesson. The final formative assessment was during the elaborate phase. Students put the animal
species under the environmental aspect they thought caused it to be endangered. Students were
able to see the relationship between human impacts and species sustainability. A summative
assessment was not included in this assignment. However, this material was covered one the
following test.
As in my first lesson, there was many times when formative assessment was used during
this lesson plan. This allowed me to see if students understood the videos and remembered the
concepts we had talked about during the week. The next formative assessment was done when
Miss Morrow and I went around talking to each group about their hypotheses and procedures.
This allowed us to see if students could handle creating a experiment on their own. This also
allowed us to adjust to the students need the next day when we actually conducted the
experiment. Finally, students were given a worksheet after their had completed their experiment.
This was used as a summative assessment for a grade. These allowed us to see if the students

actually comprehended what was going on in the experiment. It also forced them to use their
critical thinking skills by posing hypothetical questions.

Self-Analysis of Teaching
I used videos as engaging tool for both my first and second lesson. My students seemed
to like when videos are played during the class, so I thought videos would be a good way to start
class. The engage activity that I did for my first lesson was too simple and didnt create much
classroom discourse. So, for my second lesson, I came up with more questions that would create
classroom discourse and would also be useful when designing their experiment. The next thing I
did during my engage phase was present the two questions that we needed to answer during our
experiment.
The explore part for my first lesson was having them do an activity. One of the
suggestions during the peer review session was to input more inquiry. So, during my second
lesson students had to design their own experiment to solve what Beano does to starch and how
pH affects how well an enzyme works. This was much more grade level appropriate, because
students were having to problem solve to create a procedure. The activity in the first lesson was
very hands-on, but mind off. Also, during the first lesson, students didnt discuss much of the
activity. The second lesson forced students to work together to solve a problem.
During the explain phase for the first lesson, students finished the worksheet that went
along with the lab. I then had students tell me the results of their lab and I posted them on the
board. After this discussion, I presented a PowerPoint to explain the concept of sustainability.
For my second lesson, I also used a worksheet and had a classroom discussion, but I altered it
based on the students reaction to the first lesson. The worksheet for my second lesson asked

more questions. These questions also made students pull from their previously learned
knowledge from that week. For the discussion, we talked about their results and some of the
conclusion questions. I did not give a PowerPoint because it seemed to disengage the students
during the first lesson.
For my second lesson, I did not add an elaboration phase for a couple of reasons. We
conducted this lesson plan on a Thursday and Friday. On Monday, we were starting a chapter
over cell structure and function. This lesson already took two days; we could not spend another
day on this experiment. However, I did receive feedback from during the peer review of my first
lesson. A suggestion was made to allow students to choose their own animal and either give a
presentation or write a summary of how humans are affecting that animals environment. That is
something I will definitely do if I am allowed to teach this lesson again.

Conclusion
For the first lesson, my students were supposed to learn about the relationship between
natural resources and sustainability. They also learned how humans use of natural resources
could affect our environment. My problem with this lesson was I didnt collect much evidence to
prove that my students learned this concept. The evidence I gathered was the feedback during the
class discussion over the worksheet. As a class, we gathered each groups data for questions one
and two. It would have been useful to take a picture or record the results to use as data for this
lesson study. Also, my teacher used this activity as participation points since we reviewed the
questions in class. I did review these student artifacts, but we did not keep them. The responses
varied throughout the worksheet. I think that these questions were not direct enough. They left a
lot up to interpretation by the students.

For my second lesson, students were supposed to understand that Beano is an enzyme
that can break down starch into glucose. Also, they would learn how well Beano works in
different pH levels. I saved more student artifacts during this lesson plan. During the explore
phase, I had students write down their hypothesis for each question that was being asked during
this experiment. Students were not graded on their hypothesis or their procedure, but this forced
students to design their own experiment. To see if students understood how to create an
experiment, Miss Morrow and I walked around to each group throughout the class period. We
had to give the okay on their experiment before they could start. We could then see how well
students understood the material by looking how well they did on their worksheet.
I learned a lot of things from this lesson study. My biggest mistake was not recording and
collecting as many artifacts as possible during the first lesson. Being the first lesson, I was more
nervous about presenting to the students. Things went so fast during those fifty minutes that
looking back I know I should have recorded more student data. Also, I think this lesson study
really made me focus on the type of activities I present in my classroom. When I was writing the
first lesson, I thought that the activity would be great. However, I quickly learned that this
activity was not very engaging and was below their grade level. As a new teacher, some activities
sound like a great idea, but fall apart in the classroom. This lesson study showed me what I have
to improve in the future.
Overall, I had a great time in the classroom. I had a fairly small class size compared to
the other sections of biology. I was really blessed to work with such a great group of students.
Getting up and teaching in the classroom was very helpful. This allowed me to practice and
improve my instructional methods before student teaching.

Sources Cited
"Beano Lab." Pleasanton.k12.ca.us. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.pleasanton.k12.ca.us/avhsweb/ogle/Anatomy/notes/BEANO LAB.pdf>.
NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
"Renew-A-Bean." Clarkson.edu. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.clarkson.edu/highschool/k12/curriculum/documents/ACT - Renew-ABean.pdf>.
Science Education | NDE." Science Education | NDE. Nebraska Department of Education, 6 Oct.
2010. Web. 15 Dec. 2014. <http://www.education.ne.gov/science>.
"Top 10 U.S. Endangered Species Threatened by HUMAN Population." Top 10 U.S.
Endangered Species Threatened by Runaway Human Population. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/7_billion_a
nd_counting/species.html>.