Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETSSTemplate I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name
Rachel Storey
Position

5th Grade Teacher

School/District

Knight ES/Gwinnett County Public Schools

E-mail

Rachel_storey@gwinnett.k12.ga.us

Phone

770-921-2400

Grade Level(s)

5th Grade

Content Area

Earth Science

Time line

Three 45 minute class session (potentially more if needed)

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you
expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks? ) Please
put a summary of the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and numbers that indicate which
standards were addressed.

Content Standards

NETS*S Standards:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

8. Analyze how surface features of the earth are caused by constructive and
destructive processes (GPS, ITBS)
8a. Identify and explain how surface features are caused by constructive processes
such as deposition (deltas, sand dunes), earthquakes, volcanoes and faults (GPS)
8b. Describe and illustrate surface features caused by destructive processes such
as erosion (water, rivers, oceans, wind), weathering, impact of organisms,
earthquakes and volcanoes (GPS)
8c. Explain the role of technology and human intervention in the control of
constructive and destructive processes including seismological studies, flood
control, dams, levees, and storm drain management (GPS)
Creativity and Innovation
Communication and Collaboration
Research and Information Fluency
Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making.
Digital Citizenship
Technology operations and concepts

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Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)
In this lesson, students will identify a local erosion problem and then design a solution to the problem using
TinkerCAD. The best design(s) will be chosen to have a prototype printed on the schools 3D printer. This
lesson will be a culminating event at the end of the science unit on changes in earths surfaces. Students will
need to be experts on constructive and destructive forces on the earth, as well as humans involvement in
these changes.
Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or
want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate
interest about the topic? Additionally, what questions can you ask students to help them focus on important
aspects of the topic? (Guiding questions) What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring
to this topic and build on?) Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry.
They should not be answered with a simple yes or no and should have many acceptable answers.
What are constructive and destructive forces?
How do constructive and destructive processes affect the surface features of the Earth?
How do humans and technology play a role in the control of constructive and destructive processes?
Assessment (What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning? What can students do to generate new
knowledge? How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)? How will you assess
what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?) You must attach copies of your assessment and/or
rubrics. Include these in your presentation as well.
Students will design a solution to a local erosion problem using TinkerCAD software. Their designs will be
based on erosion solutions they have learned about through their lessons on constructive and destructive
forces of the earth. Students designs will be formatively assessed during the design process using a rubric that
follows the schools engineering design process. The same rubric will be used to assess the design at the end.
Their designs will be accompanied by their choice of presentation. See attached documents for examples.
Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resourcesonline student
tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etchelp elucidate or
explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students
have to complete this project?)

TinkerCAD: Students will design their prototype to prevent erosion using this online design software.
3D printer: to print the winning designs.
Presentation Symbaloo: Allow students to choose the method in which they are presenting their
information. This has choices that cover many learning styles. This choice board is available all year
long and students should choose presentation methods they are comfortable with.
Students will need to choice school computers or their own devices.
Students will post final design presentation to the class seesaw account, a padlet, or another location
the teacher has designated. This location should be a place where students will be able to see
everyones presentation.

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Instructional Plan
Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this lesson? How can
you find out if students have this foundation? What difficulties might students have?)
In order to successfully complete this task, students should have a 5th grade understanding of constructive and
destructive forces of the earth as well as efforts humans have contributed to these forces. The following are
example activities that could be useful in building this foundation. Many of these items can be used to flip
classroom instruction.

Vocabulary: Students can define the following important vocabulary words they will encounter in this
unit using Doodle Buddy or something similar (such as paint or Google Drawings). Then students can
practice their understanding of the words by playing this game. The words are: mantle, crust, core,
lithosphere, epicenter, seismic waves, plate tectonics, erosion, weathering, deposition, fault,
earthquake, volcano, constructive force, destructive force, dome mountains, fold mountains, focus,
magma. (More words could be added).
Earths Structures: Students should understand the basic structure of the earth and how it moves to
create its landforms. AIMS earth science has mini books on this topic. Students can test their
understanding with this game. They can also watch this PowToon. Students can practice their
understanding by playing any of these simulations or by reading the information.
Shaping the Earths Surface: Students travel in
time to see how different forces changed the
earths surface.

Layers of the Earth and Plate Tectonics: Students

will learn about the layers of the earth and the
theory of plate tectonics.

Erosion: Students will learn about erosion and

experiment.

Constructive and Destructive Forces Scavenger

Hunt: Students will go on a digital scavenger hunt
looking for the answers to the worksheet.

Constructive Forces: This presentation provides

pictorial examples of contructive forces of the
earth.
Destructive Forces: This presentation provides
pictorial examples of destructive forces of the
earth.

Constructive/Destructive Forces: This

presentation is lengthy but goes into great detail
about the different kinds of weathering and
erosion.

Erosion Lab: Students will become House

Hunters and chose the best house for them
based on the type of erosion it endures.

Plate Tectonics Lab: Students learn about how

the earth moves using food.

Role of Technology in Earths Surfaces: This is a key component in students understanding of this
task. Students must understand that humans can have an impact on earths surfaces. They can learn
some of the ways by watching this powtoon

Students will also need to have an understanding of the online program TinkerCAD and how it works. It would
be best for students to have time working through the tutorials provided. This also means that each student
should have their own account. Allowing students to have this time to play, whether in class or at home, will
build their confidence in designing their solution to a local erosion problem.
Students will also need to have identified an erosion problem. This issue could be at home or more local to the
school. They will need a picture to plan their design with.

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Management Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the use
of digital tools and resources. How and where will your students work? (Small groups, whole group, individuals,
classroom, lab, etc.) What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this
lesson? Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson and explain how you will resolve or
trouble-shoot them? Please note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as
throughout the process. Be sure to indicate how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that
occurred as you implemented and even after the lesson was completed.
Each student will be expected to produce an individual product, however they will be working in teams to
design their solution. Working in teams will allow them the opportunity to bounce ideas off one another and
create the best possible design, as well as assist in troubleshooting. It would be best for the teacher to
purposefully choose groups with personalities in mind as well as spreading out identified experts in TinkerCAD.
The teacher will identify those students by paying attention to how they perform in the tutorials.
The teacher should also be sure to secure enough digital devices for each student in the class. This may be
done by signing up for a computer lab time, signing out laptop carts, and/or allowing students to use personal
devices. Keep in mind that many students may not have a device that is compatible with TinkerCAD. Should
acquiring the appropriate amount of computers be a problem, a small group set of computers can be rotated
through designated groups. Students can work on earth surface activists (such as a paper design of their
solution, vocabulary review, study guide review, lab time) while waiting their turn to design on the computer.
Since they should have their own account, they should design at home as well. If computers becomes a bigger
issue, students can design their solution on paper and the winning design will be selected to use TinkerCAD to
create their solution for the 3D printer to create a model of.
Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will
use with this lesson. How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the
students' roles in the lesson? How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or
creativity levels of Blooms Taxonomy? How can the technology support your teaching? What authentic,
relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete? How will they build knowledge
and skills? How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and collaborate with each other
and others? How will you facilitate the collaboration?
I will be the facilitator in this lesson. I will be monitoring students as they work in groups to design their solution
to a local erosion problem. The nature of this task forces students to analyze and understand a local erosion
problem and create a solution that will prevent further issues. They are taking what they have learned during
their earth science unit on constructive and destructive forces of the earth and applying it to a real world
problem. By choosing an erosion problem on their own, they have shown that they can identify erosion issues
in the real world. By designing a solution, they are using their creative problem solving skills. Their solutions are
not isolated unto themselves or the location they picked. They will be sharing their design solutions with the
entire class by creating a presentation of their choice then posting it on a digital portfolio. Students may even
choose to share their solutions with the owner of the location they chose. As a facilitator of this lesson, I am just
making sure that the students are engaged and on task, and that they have the tools they need to succeed.

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Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and
abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with others? How will you provide extensions and
opportunities for enrichment? What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)
Differentiation is accomplished in the following ways:

All digital resources have the ability to be read aloud.

Rewordify is used by need to simplify difficult texts.
Groups are assembled based on students personalities (color personality test), heterogeneous based
on scientific understanding, and each group will have a TinkerCAD expert who can help with technical
issues when the teacher is not present.
Students will complete their task individually while having the support of a group.
Possible extensions could include writing a letter to the owner of the location where the erosion issue
was found and proposing their solution.
Students are encouraged to choose the method of presentation that motivates them. They may even
use traditional methods such as a poster or speech if the choices are not suitable to them. They may
also petition the teacher to use another presentation tool if it is not already listed.

Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect upon their work? Will students be
asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself? What will be your process for answering the following
questions?
Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
In what ways was this lesson effective?
What went well and why?
What did not go well and why?
How would you teach this lesson differently?)
The closing event will consist of the students posting their finished presentation of their design to Seesaw (or
another digital portfolio platform) where students will vote on their favorite designs through a google form.
Students will also be asked to leave feedback on the designs of 3 classmates, and respond to those who left
feedback on their design. In order for the design to be chosen, the design must a favorite of the class as well as
have a top score on the graded rubric. The winning design (or designs depending on the schools 3D printer
resources) will be chosen to be made into a prototype using a 3D printer.
Students will also be asked to leave feedback on the entire experience in a short response format. As a
teacher, I would also be monitoring their engagement during the process of the activity in order to gage
whether this was a worthwhile activity.
Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please
provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.
3D printers are expensive, and finding quality lessons that dont waste those resources is hard to come by. I
think this activity allows students to apply their science content in a real world context, and then earn the right
to print their design. I have not had the chance to implement this lesson, but I have implemented others like it.
This lesson ended up taking more than three 45 minute sessions. The students were excited to design but had
user issues with TinkerCAD. They got better with the program over time, but I am glad they had the practice
prior to other bigger projects using TinkerCAD in the future. It was a huge help to identify students who could
be experts with this software and assist their classmates when I was not able to. Looking to the future, I may
enlist the help of high school volunteers to assist in this process as well. Overall, it was an exciting project for
the students and they are looking forward to having a design printed.

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