6660 STEM Lesson- Heredity (Traits)

This week I prepared a lesson plan on the topic of Heredity. My 5^th grade science class began by reading an article to get familiar with the vocabulary for this lesson. Next, I drew three circles on the board creating a triple Venn diagram. I wrote one of the following words next to each circle: “curl,” “wink,” and “wiggle.” All of the sudden all the students were watching to see what was going to happen next. Then I asked my students if they had any talents. Not many raised their hand. Finally, I said “get ready to discover some of your talents today!” We surveyed our class to see how many students could curl their tongue, wiggle their ears (without touching them), and wink their eyes (left and right- one at a time). My students were very excited and enjoyed this activity immensely.

Next, I explained to them that these talents are inherited form their father, mother or even another generation back. For homework they were asked to survey their family and make their own triple Venn diagram. Then we discussed learned traits, therefore, we named what are talents they could learn or have learned. We briefly talked how the inherited traits were encoded in their DNA as well as DNA replication. If I were to implement this lesson I need to take into consideration those students that do not live with their biological family or relatives. I would speak to those students before the lesson to see what their take is and if I needed to make any adjustments.

The lesson template we were provided made creating a lesson plan much easier because it prompted me what I needed to include for the lesson to be complete (Walden University, 2010). Most of my lesson plans are two pages and did not address as much criteria. In addition, the 5E’s Lesson Plan Format “guides effective teaching” (Hammerman, 2006). These last few weeks I realized how important it is to include engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation in my lessons to ensure my students are getting the skills and content in a way their can understand it. Each student learns differently therefore it is important to address all the learning styles. Furthermore, I was able to include STEM in my lesson.

Science- vocabulary and content

Technology- Powerpoint showing talents

Engineering- students used items around the room to create a large Venn diagram

so that students themselves could step into it for their survey.

Mathematics- Students took a survey of trait such as hair color, eye color, height.

They tallied up the votes and analyzing the diagram.

“STEM education offers students one of the best opportunities to make sense of the world” (Lantz, 2009).

References:

Hammerman, E. L. (2006). Becoming a better science teacher: 8 steps to high quality instruction and student achievement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Lantz, H. B., Jr. (2009). STEM education: What form? What function? SEEN Magazine. Retrieved on September 3, 2009 from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/46324/CRS-CW-4119145/artifacts/STEM_Education.pdf

Walden University (2010). New Science Instruction Plan. Retrieved on May 13, 2010 from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/46324/CRS-CW-4119145/artifacts/New_Science_Instructional_Plan.docx