Lesson plan- Session 1:
Name and Surname: Rachel Paraman S00118748
Section 1
Science overarching idea: Matter and Energy Year Level: 1/2
500 words
Learning outcomes:
Students will create their own dreamtime story about the sun in small groups
Students will make and justify their predictions about what will happen to the plant with
sunlight and the plant without sunlight via drawings or written sentences
Students will verbally describe attributes about the sun eg. Big, bright, hot, summer,
daytime etc.
Australian Curriculum:
Light and sound are produced by a range of sources and can be sensed (ACSSU020)
Use and influence of science (ACSHE022)
Pose and respond to questions, and make predictions about familiar objects and
events (ACSIS037)
Rationale:
Costano (2012) highlights the importance of making the learning relevant and engaging to the
students in such a way that goes beyond students reading straight out of text books and
copying down boards of notes. We are aiming to provide a meaningful learning experience that
the children can take with them beyond the classroom and incorporate into their daily lives
(Costano, 2012), particularly because this cohort of children come from low socio-economic
backgrounds, where access to some resources may be limited. It is therefore important that the
students can walk away from this learning experience with some skills and ideas about how to
Session 1, 2 or 3? Teaching approach:
Indigenous Knowledge
500 words
How does this lesson plan connect and is consistent with the unit of
work?
This lesson plan is the introductory lesson for grade 1 and 2 in relation to
matter and energy, with the energy being the main focus, particularly in
relation to the sun. This introductory lesson is planting the idea into the
childrens minds that the sun is a resource that can provide energy in the form
of light. This links to the next lesson, where students will investigate the
energy that the sun can provide in relation to heat. The final lesson sythesises
the notion of energy as light and heat, to learn about energy as food.
Students will investigate what they can do with the plants that they have
grown and use their mortar and pestals to participate in the MasterChef
challenge, where they will learn about the importance of energy for our
bodies. The notion of the suns light providing energy will be revisited over the
four week period, where the students will investigate and analyse their plant
experiments and make connections to which the suns light has impacted
upon the growth and health of their plants. As you can see, there is a clear
link between each consecutive lesson.
How does the sequence of activities in this lesson plan reflects a
learning process rather than a series of tasks?
This lesson is consistent with Indigenous traditions, where learning is valued
as a process rather than reaching a destination (Aikenhead, 2007) and also
utilise the accessible resource of the suns light energy, because the sun is something in which
everyone has access to and can provide us with a myriad of benefits at a very minimal cost.
We have carefully incorporated the Indigenous dreamtime story, as well as the use of the
native radish plant to achieve the learning standards described in the Australian Curriculum for
grade 1 and 2 science (Australian Curriculum, 2016) for our lesson on energy. This is
congruent with the incorporationalist approach for teaching Indigenous Knowledge described
by Devie Naidoo & Vithal (2014). This lesson is primarily open task based and relies upon the
active participation of the students, in order to be successful. Having the students listen to an
oral reading of the dreamtime story alongside the Indigenous music, creating and performing
their own dream time story, as well as their active participation in planting and growing their
seedlings is congruent with Indigenous traditions, where learning is primarily acquired through
authentic learning experiences eg. oral story telling, singing, dancing and performing under the
modelled instruction of their elders (Aikenhead, 2007). Furthermore this lesson is congruent
with Aikenheads (2007) writing on Indigenous Knowledge learning as a process of coming to
know, rather than learning to know which is primarily embedded within the western science
approach. As teachers, we are merely planting the idea that the suns light can make things
happen. The learning that will take place is consistent with the social constructivist theory
(Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013), where students will acquire and build upon their learning by social
interactions with the teacher (scaffolded role play, discussions and modelling), with their peers
(role play, discussing and comparing predictions) and within themselves and their prior
knowledge (making predictions and justifying their predictions). This lesson could be delivered
to the students in a powerpoint format, where the plant experiment is described and the plant
growth is shown over a four week period, however the students will lack the authentic
experience of investigating and discovering the learning for themselves (Woolfolk & Margetts,
2013). Furthermore, being active participants within the learning (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013)
enhances the connectedness that students feel with their learning. Given that this lesson has
been planned in conjunction with the Australian Curriculum (Australian Curriculum, 2016),
Indigenous Knowledge Systems (Devie Naidoo & Vithal, 2014) and social constructivist theory
with the social constructivist theory, where the children are actively
participating in their learning (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013) rather than having
the knowledge handed straight to them. The dreamtime story and role play is
open ended, which invites the children to start asking questions about the sun
and what the sun can do for us in a creative way and the sharing of each
others role plays opens up the childrens minds to a myriad of possibilities
that the sun can provide for us. This activity will influence the children when
they are making predictions about what they think will happen to their plants
under each condition and why they believe this will or wont be the case. This
lesson is further consistent with the social cognitive theory, where the children
are bringing their own previous knowledge to the class, which is built upon
during their social interaction with the teacher and their peers (Woolfolk &
Margetts, 2013) throughout the duration of the class, as well as the duration
of the plant experiment. All learning that is acquired during this lesson will be
eventuated by the students themselves, participating in the process of
planting and growing the plants and watching the effects of the suns light
energy with their own eyes, rather than simply being told what will happen.
How are the activities appropriate for the age group and diversity of
learners?
The lesson has been carefully guided by the Australian Curriculum (Australian
Curriculum, 2016), which is tailored to be specifically appropriate for each
year level. Keeping this in mind alongside looking across the curriculum
throughout the English domain (Australian Curriculum, 2016), we are familiar
with what the students should be able to do in terms of reading and writing
etc. This lesson caters for a variety of learning styles, including visual learners
(Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013), when we are reading the story. Audio learners
(Woolkfolk & Margetts, 2013), will also be engaged by the audio experience
(Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013) in such a way that allows for an open and rich learning
experience, I am confident that the positive and meaningful learning outcomes will be
achieved.
Lesson plan- Session 1:
Name(s) and Surname(s): Rachel Paraman S00118748 and Diana Nguyen S00153301
Section 2
during the reading to the music as well as the second reading with the
illustrations and listening to their fellow class mates roleplays. This lesson
also compliments hands on learners (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013), where the
students will create and perform their role plays and furthermore when they
are implementing their experiments. Creative students who either like to draw
or perform will enjoy creating their role plays and drawing their predictions,
whilst students who prefer to write have the option to write their predictions if
they wish.
 Specific and detailed activities (600 words)

(In terms of what the students will do)

Students will (respond, create, plan, design...)
Students will create their own dreamtime story about the sun in small groups
Students will make and justify their predictions about what will happen to the plant with sunlight and the plant without sunlight via drawings or written sentences
Students will verbally describe attributes about the sun eg. Big, bright, hot, summer, daytime etc.
...

Tuning in: Dreamtime story read aloud

Students will close their eyes whilst the dreamtime story When the Snake Bites the Sun (Pamela Lofts, year ) is read aloud accompanying the Indigenous music from
the youtube clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU85J_JT7yI) playing in the background.
Students will describe what they imagined whilst the story was being read in a group discussion.
The story will be re-read again, this time showing the children the pictures of the story. Students will then discuss how their interpretation was similar/different to each
others and the story.

Development: Dreamtime story roleplay

After reading the story, discuss what the meaning of the story is and what impact the sun has on the earth during daytime and night time.
Discuss whether the story is true or not and why?
Do we know any other dreamtime stories? Why might the Indigenous people create dreamtime stories?
Hypothesise what would happen if we had no sun. What would our world look like if we had no sun?
Why do we think the sun is important? What are some resources that the sun is important for?
Is the sun really moving or is it staying in one place?
Teacher will scaffold students into creating their own dreamtime roleplay about the sun, working in small groups and explaining what should be included in their role
play. The task should be left as open as possible, allowing for the children to bring their own ideas/ perceptions and creativity into representing what the sun means to
them and in a way that they have chosen to perform it.
Students will perform their story to the class

Consolidation and practice: Planting the radish seeds and making predictions

Link back to the question, What would happen if we had no sun? this is what we will be investigating (the suns light as a source of energy)
Discuss with students what a radish is and what they are used for
Teacher will model to the students how to set up the seedling pots step by step, following the I do, you do process. This means that the teacher will model one step
and the children will follow, then the teacher will model the next step and so on.
Each student will have two plants one that will see sunlight and the other which will be entirely covered
Students will then water these plants every day over the course of the next four weeks and observe how the seedlings have grown under each condition
Students will draw their predictions about what they think will happen to their plants after four weeks. Students can write a sentence to describe their pictures if they
wish. There will be two drawings per student (one for the sunlight plant and one for the darkness plant).

Conclusion: Discuss predictions

 Students will share some of their predictions with the class and class discussion will be based around the predictions made
Who had a similar prediction?
Who thinks something else might happen?
Reiterate what the students need to do each day to keep their plants alive

Extension:
If time permits students can illustrate their dreamtime story as a picture book

Resources:
When the Snake Bites the Sun by Pamela Lofts
Radish seeds
Soil
permanent marker
big cardboard box to cover plants
newspaper
Dettol hand-wash
plastic spoons
cotton
Large plastic cups with holes at bottom
container lids as saucers
jugs of water to be shared on students tables
plastic to cover tables
speaker for music
coloured pencils
References:

Australian Curriculum. (2016). Science: foundation to year 10 curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.australian curriculum.edu.au/science/curriculum/f-10?layout=1

Castano, C. (2012). Extending the Purposes of Science Education: Addressing Violence within Socio-Economic Disadvantaged Communities. Cultural Studies of Science

Education, 7(3), 703-718.

Devie Naidoo, P., & Vithal, R. (2014). Teacher Approaches to Introducing Indigenous Knowledge in School Science Classrooms. African Journal of Research in Mathematics,

Science and Technology Education, 18(3), 253-263. Doi:10.1080/10288457.2014.956407

Woolfolk, A., & Margetts, K. (2013). Educational Psychology (3rd ed.). NSW: Pearson Australia.

Attachments: [please provide all the handouts and other learning/teaching resources to be used. Please refer to them above, in the
description of the activities.]