Inquiry Practice

Grade level
/subject

9th Grade Biology

Context
description

Students should have knowledge on evolution. This was assessed in the

previous lesson. This lesson is an introduction to the unit of Earths History.
Students will start to think about how long humans have been on the earth
and relate it to the fossil discover of Lucy. My instruction links to student
interest by bringing in an analogy of basketball. This analogy will allow
students to make connections of their prior knowledge to the new knowledge
of Earths history. Students like to actively participate in discussion and
engage in videos. This lesson allows student to participate throughout the
class.

Standards met

Concept
addressed

Objectives

OLSS.SC.BIO.2.1.f The history of life on Earth

The overarching concept for this lesson is how long have humans been on
the earth. This is an introduction to the History of Life unit. This lesson
provides students with the opportunity to engage in learning about the past
and how scientist have found evidence that evolution has taken place. This is
the engage activity of the unit so the students will being to think about the
idea that living things change across a long period of time. Students need to
understand that humans have not been around for a long time compared to
the age of the earth because it will allow them to have a deeper
understanding of what has happened throughout earths history.
The students will be able to:
1. Create an analogy between the evolution of modern humans
and the amount of time in a basketball game
2. Calculate how long modern humans have been on the Earth
based on their analogy
3. Discuss how the Lucy evidence can provide an explanation of
the gap between early humans and nonhuman primates
4. Explain how the fossil record helps to interpret life millions of
years ago.
Vocabulary: Hominid, Evolution

Academic
language
Learning
strategies

Discourse: Scientific writing will be expected in student journals. If student

use another mode of communication in their journal appropriate labels and
keys must be included.
Students will use a whiteboard to complete mathematical problems in the
form of board races

Inquiry Practice

Materials
needed

Think, Pair, Share will be in this lesson when students are discussing
characteristics of Lucy and some of the activities she might have performed
in her daily life.
Computer & Projector
For each student:
Journal
BSCS Book
Writing utensil
White Boards
Dry erase marker & eraser
Instructional sequence:
Segment 1: Bell Opener: How old is the Earth?
Transition 1: Collect bell openers. Talk to students about how old they
think the earth is. Have students get a whiteboard and a dry erase
maker.

Instructional
outline

Segment 2: Engage students by asking the questions What do you

know about basketball? How many minutes are there in a game?
Transition 2: Tell students we are going to do board races along with
the video. Dim lights and start the video
Segment 3: Have students do some of the calculation along with the
video. Board races.
Transition 3: Turn lights back on and have students open their
notebook to the next clean page
Segment 4: Students should open their journals to a new page and
title it Thinking about the past. Next students will be instructed to
write an analogy between basketball and human evolution in their
journal.
Transition 4: Open the BSCS textbook to page 36.
Segment 5: Popcorn read aloud the short passage Digging up the
past
Transition 5: Have students first think about daily activities Lucy may
have engaged in, how she might have looked, and evidence that could

Inquiry Practice
provide an explanation about the gap of humans and early nonhuman
primates.
Segment 6: Write down your thoughts in your journal and share with
your partner. Students have the freedom to express their knowledge in
a mode that they are comfortable with as long as they can explain it to
their partner. (as students are doing this the teacher will be walking
around and checking the analogies the students made)
Transition 6: Refocus class
Segment 7: Share students thoughts on what their answers were and
what they learned about Lucy and early humans
Transition 7: Read aloud the short paragraph on inferences guesses,
and conclusions.
Segment 8: Think, Pair, and Share about whether their
conclusions/answers to the previous questions were based on
inferences with evidence or only guesses.
Closing Segment: Ask students about why scientist should base their
conclusions off of evidence and not guesses.

Modifications

Vocabulary homework will be assigned on this day and is to be complete by

the end of the week.
There is no modifications in this lesson.
Accommodations: Students who struggle with explaining their ideas in the
form of written text will be allowed to use another mode of communication to
express their ideas. Students who feel that they need a partner during the
calculations are allowed to pair up with the person next to them. Calculators
will be available for all students to use.
Formative assessments:
Objective 1: This will be assessed based on student participation and
accuracy of the analogy.
Objective 2: Students will be asked to perform calculation on the whiteboard
during class. I am looking for student ability to set up equations and perform
the calculations correctly. If students are struggling I will introduce one step at
a time to determine where they are struggling when performing the
calculations

Inquiry Practice

Assessments
of learning

Objective 3: Assessed during the think, pair, and share segments during the
lesson.
Summative assessments:
Objective 4: Assessed from the students response in their journal. I am
specifically looking for key characteristics that were pulled from the passage
Digging up the Past
Post assessment will be taken after the Evidence for Evolution lesson.