Rationale for 8th grade Mass and Density Lesson

Alverno Advanced Education Ability: Communication Using verbal,

nonverbal, and media modes of communication to establish the environment
of the classroom and to structure and reinforce learning.
Wisconsin Standards for Educator Development and Licensure:
Standard 4 The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional
strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem
solving, and performance skills.

This lesson on mass and density was created for an 8th grade suburban
classroom. The classroom is in a suburb of Milwaukee. The district, students
and staff, are primarily of Caucasian decent. The middle school where I am
placed serves about 675 students in grades five through eight with less than
10% receiving free or reduced lunch. The school is near even in female and
male students. The above demographics closely reflect the classroom that I
am observing and teaching in. Even though the demographics paint a picture
of a homogeneous group, other variables are in play in this classroom,
particularly religion. I do not know each students affiliation; however, I can
see that they have strong feelings regarding their religion. This was
particularly evident when the subject of evolution came up when they were
studying the history of the Earth. Many of the students firmly believe in
evolution while many others believe that each part of the Earth was created
by a supreme being. My cooperating teacher uses these differences as an
opportunity to open discussion within the class. Each side is invited to
participate and provide evidence to help support their ideas. All students are
asked to remain on topic and to be respectful of other points of view.
The purpose of this lesson was for students to be able to make a
distinction between mass and density and apply it to theories of the universe
and conduct themselves appropriately in a lab situation, using materials
appropriately and following the lab directions. Using the SMARTBoard to
introduce the lesson and relate it to a popular TV show was a way to draw
students in. After the hook, I modeled an experiment with the intention of
illustrating the principal that while mass does not change, you can change
the volume of the object to affect its density. The instructions were then
clearly communicated and displayed on the SMARTBoard for students to
refer to. I demonstrated my understanding of the Alverno ability of
communication when I stated my expectations clearly at the beginning since
we would be using lab equipment and students would be able to move freely
around the room and collaborating as others were working.

Wisconsin teacher standard 4 states that teachers know how to teach. I

demonstrated my ability to do this by knowing my audience and the content
and how to make sure that the environment would be conducive to learning.
I knew that this particular class could be a little chatty and off task if given
too much freedom, so I designed the lesson to include student response and
engagement at the beginning, followed by small group conversations at
tables as they were working, and finally coming back together to discuss the
conclusions they discovered.