Understanding by Design Group Planning Template

Title of Unit:
Lives of Cells: Science Content in Language & Performance Arts

Group Members:
Cody Hart
Tabitha Miller
Katie Anderson

Grade Level(s):
Secondary, 9th Grade

Curriculum Areas:
Language Arts, Speech, Biology

Briefly Describe the Scope and Sequence of the Unit

Language Arts – Will begin with the beginning of the school year
Reading and comprehending (finding key ideas) – 2 weeks
Ability to identify the topic – 1 week
Research strategies – 1 week
Writing strategies – 1 ½ week
Beginning research

Biology – Will begin with the beginning of the school year

Cells and Organelles – 2 weeks
Bacteria – ½ week
Medicine and Technology/ Science connections – 1 week
Natural Science and Ecology – 1 ½ week
Writing like a scientist. Researching and finding credible material – 1 week

Speech – Will begin with the beginning of the school year

Limited preparation – 2 weeks
Oral report of Biology/Language Arts paper
Selecting audience – 1 week
Speech organization – 1 weeks
Speech writing strategies for informative speaking – 1 week
Speech delivery – ½ week

Sequencing: The Biology and Language Arts units work simultaneously as students examine a scientific
text and produce a research paper. The speech component is introduced after research papers are
completed, as students reconstruct their research into a presentation format. This is a thematic progression
focusing around a text and research/speech strategies and also progressive, beginning with simply
techniques and working toward more complex techniques which result in a final product.

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Idaho State Standards Addressed:
Biology
Goal 5.3 Necessity to conserve natural resource
Goal 13.3 Understand the cell is the basis of form/function
Goal 5.2 Understand the relationship between science and technology

Language Arts
Standard 1: Reading
Standard 2: Comprehension
Standard 3: Writing process

Speech
Standard 6.2 Acquire speaking skills
Standard 6.2.2 Identify and use elements of classical speech forms
Standard 6.2.4 Analyze the occasion and the interests of the audience and choose effective.
verbal and nonverbal techniques
Standard 6.2.8 Deliver expository presentations that provide evidence in support of a thesis

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Enduring Understandings & Big Ideas

• Big Ideas:

- Connections: Each subject requires the ability to draw on prior knowledge to understand
newly presented information, and requires the use of a number of skills: reading, researching,
writing, speaking, and analyzing in order to complete the final project.
- Transfer: Helping students understand connections between science, language arts skills and
oral presentation. Skills developed in one discipline are also beneficial and interconnected to
another.
- Organization / Structure, simple to complex: There is a specific organization/structure that is
involved in communicating within each discipline. An understanding of science implies that
there is an interconnected organization throughout all life.
- Technology: Science and technology is a particular subject addressed in The Life of a Cell
giving opportunity to address issues of technology. There are different technologies used for
each final project.
- Analysis: Scientific, literary and oral analysis of a central text will demonstrate different
means by which to consider a given perspective.

• Enduring Understandings:

- Ability to elicit ideas out of a text, interpret concepts and clearly explain conclusions in
writing.(Application/perspective/interpretation/explanation)
- Reading strategy development (interpretation/application)
- Cell as the fundamental unit of life (explanation/interpretation)
- Intimate connection between science and technology. (Interpretation/perspective/explanation/
empathy)
- Natural resources are vital and need to be maintained. (explanation/interpretation/application/
perspective/empathy/self-knowledge
- Research strategy development. (interpretation/application)
- Speech organization and delivery. (application)

Empathy and self­knowledge are minimally stressed in this unit, due to the factual nature of the central 
text. 

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Essential Questions
• Why …
- Does science progress technology
or does technology progress
science, why?
- If all life is made up of the same
basic unit, why are we not
identical?
- Can speech be used to effectively
communicate scientific concepts?
- How can speech progress
environmental awareness?
- What is the most effective way of
communicating biological
concepts?
- Are reading and writing
connected?
- What reading and writing
strategies are most effective for
scientific research?
Knowledge and Skill
Participants will be able:
• To…
- Conduct independent and group research.
(application/interpretation)
- Extract key ideas and themes from text.
(application/interpretation/explanation/perspect
ive)
- Organize and prioritize information.
(interpretation/application)
- Communicate biological ideas through
connections to prior knowledge in a
scientifically appropriate manner.
(explanation/interpretation/application/
- perspective)
- Apply evidence in support of a thesis.
(explanation/interpretation/perspective/
- application)
- Use classical expository speech forms.
(application)
- Select appropriate vocabulary and utilize
conventions of language.
(application/interpretation/perspective)
- Read and evaluate other’s material and
construct scientific and literary reviews of the
expository text. (application/explanation/
- interpretation/perspective/empathy/self-
knowledge)
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Assessment Evidence
• Vignettes
Performance Tasks

Science has just written and is in desperate need for review articles concerning the topics addressed in The
Life of a Cell. Due to the fact that the book was written quite some time ago, the research involved has
been called into question. Your task is to construct a scientific review to be submitted to Science
concerning their request. The pieces that will be included in the upcoming scientific journal need to
include proper review article format, citations, and be pertinent to the topic at hand. The review must
analyze a primary research article that addresses one of the topics found in the book of essays.

In-class project: The editor of The Literary Review has noticed a sharp decline in the number of literary
review abstracts which address scientific texts and has requested that you write a review of Lewis
Thomas’s The Life of a Cell. He notes that the publication is less interested in the scientific integrity of the
articles, as the literary techniques used to communicate the information to the reader. The editor would
like the review to follow the format of a literary abstract and focus on the efficiency/inefficiency of the
author to convey technical information in an accessible manner to a non-scientific audience.

You have been contacted by the International Conference on Science and Technology to deliver a ten
minute informative presentation to thousands of people in the scientific community when they gather in
Malaysia for the distinguished conference. The conference committee has requested that your presentation
focus on any topic addressed in Lewis Thomas’s The Life of a Cell; the purpose of the presentation is to
inform the audience of a specific scientific concept. The committee requires that you submit a paragraph
that includes the topic and thesis of your presentation, a presentation outline and list of required materials
(technology, handouts, etc.), and that you arrive prepared to deliver your informational speech on the day
of the conference. The presentation must cite and utilize scientific research and be organized in a platform
speech format.

Scoring tools:
• Checklists
• Rubrics

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Learning Activities

Speech Lesson Titles:

1. Introduction to Informative: Engaging in Mediums for Scientific Communication
2. Structure Discovery: Outlining & Organizing the Informative Speech
3. The Meat of the Matter: Constructing Informative Main Points
4. To Begin & End: Writing Introductions, Transitions, & Conclusions for Informative Speech
5. The Peer Review: Small Group Evaluations of Student Speeches

Biology Lesson Titles:

1. Scientific Review Articles: Organization, content, audience, and credibility
2. Researching for Credible Material and Identifying Themes
3. How to Write a Scientific Review Article
4. The Peer Reviewing Process
5. Presentation of Major Ideas in Scientific Reviews

Language Arts Lesson Titles:

1. Excavating Abstracts: Examining Literary Abstracts for Profession Techniques
2. Play-do Paragraphs: Reconstructing Paragraphs
3. Peer Reviewing
4. Facts to Paragraphs: Techniques in Grouping Information and Paragraph Construction
5. Presentation of Literary Abstracts

Statement on Differentiation:
All classrooms will utilize grouping methods that divide students based on prior knowledge and readiness
levels. We will evaluate student knowledge levels using formative and summative assessments from
previous and current units. Checks for understanding will ensure that prior knowledge and readiness of
students has been evaluated. Flexible pacing will be used to provide options for individual student needs.
We will make the unit accessible to all students through visual, auditory and kinesthetic activities.