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WVSU LESSON PLAN FORMAT (Updated 1/13)

Teacher Candidate: Ashley King


Date: 3-18-14
School: Andrew Jackson Middle School
Grade/Subject: General Science 6th Grade
Unit Topic: Forces
Lesson Topic: Forces Change Motion
Lesson 1
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES/ STUDENT OUTCOMES
1. Students will examine the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on a note card,
penny, and block.
2. Students will assess balanced and unbalanced forces on the note card, penny, and block.
3. Students will identify what Newton and Galileo studied/determined.
WV CSOS
1. SC.O.6.2.22 apply the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on motions of objects.
2. SC.O.6.1.10 utilize experimentation to demonstrate scientific process and thinking skills
(e.g., formulating questions, predicting, forming hypothesis, quantifying, or identifying
dependent and independent variables.)
3. SC.O.6.1.1 realize that scientists formulate and test their explanations of nature using
observation and experiments.
NATIONAL STANDARDS
1. Collect, analyze, and use data to explore and explain related science concepts.
MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
Overall Time: 60 minutes
Time Frame: 15 minute teacher intro and demonstration
30 minute student activity in groups
15 minute regroup for assessment and closure
STRATEGIES
Teacher/ student led discussions
Group practice
Teacher modeling/demonstrating
Cooperative groups
Think, pair, share
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION/ ADAPTATIONS/ INTERVENTIONS
(Learning Styles, Students with Special Needs, Cultural Differences, ELL)
Brainpop videos: I will use closed captioning for those who learn better by reading, the

video for those who are visual learners, and audio for those who are auditory learners.
I will use hands-on learning for those who are kinesthetic learners
I will use group work for students who work better in groups than individually.
I will use think, pair, share
PROCEDURES: Introduction/ Lesson Set
I will show the students a picture of Sir Isaac Newton and ask can you identify this man? I will
also show the students a picture of Galileo and ask them can you identify this man? I will then
ask students Who is Sir Isaac Newton? and What did he do? I will ask the same questions
about Galileo. I will then ask the students if they know what: velocity, vector, acceleration, and
mass are. I will then ask them if they can tell me what a force is. I will ask the students if they
know how many laws Newton has, and if they do, ask them to tell me what each of them are.
PROCEDURES: Body & Transitions
I will have a picture printed of Newton and Galileo: see attachments
I will hold up the picture of Newton and Galileo.
I will ask the students can you identify these men?
I will ask the students what did they do?
If the students do not know what either of these men did, I will tell them that: Newton
wrote a book called Mathematical Principles of Nature of Philosophy; he formulated
the laws of sound; invented calculus; and discovered prisms. Galileo realized that the
earth revolved around the sun; Galileo discovered that a moving object will continue to
move even if there is no force acting on it. Newton restated Galileos conclusion in his
first law.
We will then watch a Brainpop video on Newton
The students will answer questions on the quiz after the video, to make sure they paid
attention and grasped the content of the video.
I will tell the student that Newtons first law is: an object in motion stays in motion and
an object in rest stays at rest until acted upon by an unbalanced force.
I will tell them that they will see this law occurring during our activity today.
I will then ask the students if they can give me any examples of Newtons first law
Examples include: car suddenly stops and you strain against the seat belt; when riding a
horse the horse suddenly stops and you fly over its head; the magician pulls the table
cloth out from under a table full of dishes; car turns left and you appear to slide to the
right
I will then tell the students what they will be doing for the rest of the class period.
The materials for the experiment will already be set up on their desks.
I will tell them the directions to the Penny on a Card Experiment
The students will hold onto the cup with one hand, and with the other hand, they will
flick the card slow. The students will then observe what happened to the penny. They
will repeat the process with flicking the card fast.
They must flick the playing card twice per person in the group.
They must not flick the cup or penny around anywhere.
I will ask the students to write down their hypothesis for the experiment before they do it.
I will then ask the student to pair up in their group and talk about what their hypothesis is.
They will then share with the entire class the best hypothesis from each group.
They will be asked to write down their observations, and they will do the experiment.

We will come together as a class and I will ask them what happened to the coin
They will fill out the data/observation charts and they will answer the questions on the
handout and turn it in as an exit slip.
I will then tell them the definition of inertia (Newtons First Law)
I will then introduce the definition of a force and ask the students where force was
applied in the experiment.
I will explain to them the directions for the blocks.
Each group member will flick the bottom block of a stack of blocks fast one time, and
then slow the next time.
They will make a hypothesis of what may happen when they do this. They will think,
pair, share again.
They will then do the experiment and write down the observations.
We will then discuss what happened when the blocks were hit.
Students will then tack up materials in the middle of the desk.
PROCEDURES: Closure
I will give the exact definition of what Newtons First Law is one more time to the students and
ask the students how we applied it to the classroom today. I will take up their data sheets with the
questions they answered. I will then dismiss the class when class is over and collect the exit
slips.
ASSESSMENT: Diagnostic
I will ask the students the definition of balanced and unbalanced forces, and vocabulary that goes
along with this unit. (objective 1)
I will ask students who Newton is. (Objective 3)
I will ask students to explain Newtons Law (Objective 3)
ASSESSMENT: Formative
Observe students as they begin the process of understanding balanced and unbalanced forces
(objective 1).
Observe students as they work collaboratively to figure out answers to unbalanced and balanced
forces (objective 2).
Assess students as they answer the quiz questions from Brainpop. (objective 3)
ASSESSMENT: Summative
The exit slip (objective 1 and 2)
MATERIALS
Smartboard
Internet access
Computer access
Blocks
Pennies
Pencil
Paper
Textbook
Cups
Data sheet(see attached)
Pictures of Newton and Galileo (see attached)
Notecards

EXTENDED ACTIVITIES
If Student Finishes Early: they will check to see if their hypothesis they made before the
experiment was correct and then read their leisure book they are required to bring to class every
day.
If Lesson Finishes Early: the students will begin to make flip book for Newtons three Laws
If Technology Fails: the Brainpop video on Newton will be summarized by me I will informally
formatively assess the students to make sure they understood everything I said.
POST-TEACHING
Reflections:
Planning:
The part of my planning that helped me the most with my lesson delivery was finding
examples of Newtons first law of motion that applies to the real world. The students could relate
to what an object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest
unless an unbalanced force is applied to the object actually meant. I used the example of a
physically active person and a lazy person. The lazy person is going to experience more inertia if
that person decides to become active one day than the person who is physically active because
they are going to resist change, which is inertia. I was very nervous about my approach to
teaching the concept of Newtons First Law, but I think it actually turned out considerably well
(for my first time that is).
For my next lesson, I will plan differently. I like the way that I engaged the students into my
lesson, instead of using direct instruction to tell the students about Newtons Laws. I think that
allowing the students to relate their own personal experiences to the lesson helps them to relate
the information. I think that for my next lesson on Newtons Second Law: force equals mass
times acceleration, I am going to be more organized than I was for the first lesson. I actually
taught two classes today, and the second one I taught went a lot better than the first class. I
finally realized by the end of first period where the information needed to fit into the lecture to
make it make since. Placing the information in the correct ways will be a change I will make in
my second lesson.
Student Response:
In second period, I used the example of what would happen to a lazy person if they would
try to change their lifestyle compared to someone who is already fit and active. They said that
the body of a lazy person would want to resist change, which is inertia. They were able to
understand what inertia was because I simply related it to their life experiences. Second period
also did a very good job with the lab, where the first period was very disruptive. Second period
answered my questions during the lab like: what is your hypothesis of flicking the card with the
penny on top and what is going to happen to the stack of blocks if you only apply a force to the
bottom block. In both classes some students told me that the penny was going to fly off or the
whole stack of blocks was going to fall over. Also in both classes they told me that the blocks
were going to fall straight back to the table in their original stack minus the bottom block, and
that the penny would drop into the cup. Some of the students got the correct results, and some
students got incorrect results. When each part of the lab was finished I asked the students what
should have actually happened and why. To that, they responded with the correct answer: the
force was applied to the card and not the penny so the penny should have dropped into the cup,
even though it fell over. They also said that the blocks should have dropped back down to the
table because there was no force being applied to any of the other blocks these were correct. I
asked second period of they enjoyed the lesson, to which they responded yes and that I should

teach this same lesson in the future.


I think that the reason the students really understood what was supposed to happen today with
the blocks and the pennies was because I really explained it very well to them from the
beginning of class. My introduction about Newtons Laws was very interesting to the students
because I related the information to their lives.
Strategies:
Incorporating the students into my lesson worked very well. I think that they felt as though
they could contribute to the lesson openly, and that they could get their ideas out in the open.
Almost every student said at least one thing! I am not sure that I should have had a lab with the
first period though. They were rowdy even though I would tell them to quiet down and listen.
Second periods behavior is much more mature than first periods, and they were able to handle
the lab. I probably shouldnt have started out with a lab on my first day of teaching, especially in
first period. I think second period was fine, and I would leave the activities of the lesson alone if
I had to go back in time to change what I would have done. Think, pair, share did not work for
first period, but it did work for second period.
If this was my own classroom, I would have had a completely different lesson plan for first
period than second period, but since this was only my first time teaching, I think that it would
have made things much more complicated to plan two different lessons that both taught
Newtons first law.
Data Based Decision Making: I received the diagnostic scores on Friday after my students took
the diagnostic assessment. I realized I had big shoes to fill because the students did not do
exceptionally well on the test. I knew I had to thoroughly explain Newtons first law and the
vocabulary that goes along with it, especially the word Inertia.
Period 1s Data
# of student
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Sex
M
M
F
M
F
F
F
F
F
M
M
F

Diagnostic Assessment
4/10
5/10
5/10
6/10
6/10
6/10
6/10
7/10
8/10
8/10
9/10
9/10

For period one, I assigned each student a number so that their names would still be confidential.
I listed whether each student was a male or a female, and I listed their diagnostic assessment
score. 92% of the students scored a 50% or better on the assessment, but this doesnt tell me
much about the scores. Also, I noticed not a single student got a 100%. So I broke the questions
up individually to see what questions were most frequently answered wrong, and this is the
results I got:
In period one, 7 out of the 12 students missed question 1. The students were to match
the word Inertia with the correct definition. This data tells me that 58% of the class does
not know the word Inertia and I will have to go over this thoroughly when I teach
Newtons First Law. 4 out of 12 students missed the second question, which was matching the
vocabulary word acceleration to the correct definition. This tells me that 67% of the class
understands what the word acceleration is, but I still need to clear up misconceptions when I

Diagnostic Assessment- Frequency of


Incorrect Answers P.1
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

Incorrect answers

teach my second lesson: Newtons 2nd law of motion. Question 3 and question 4 were not
missed. In these questions students were asked to match the vocabulary words force and
mass to their correct definitions. This data tells me that 100% of the students who took the
diagnostic assessment understand those words, and that I will be able to use these words in
my class without the students being confused as to what I really mean. Only three students
missed question 5 which asked to match the definition of a net force to its correct definition. I
will have to cover this, because this is what Newtons 3 laws are based off of, and to
understand Newtons laws the students will have to know what a net force is. Question
number 6 was a true false question with the statement: Newtons first law states that for
every force there is an equal or opposite force. This data shows me that 9 out of the 12
students did not know what this law was, and that I will have to reinforce that this is false
when I teach my first lesson on Newtons first law because I am not sure if these students
have even ever been introduced to Newtons Laws. 3 students missed number 7. It was a
true/false statement that stated: Newtons second law states that force =mass x acceleration. I
will reinforce this statement when I teach Newtons second law that this is true. Students will

learn this anyway, because that is what my lesson is based on, and I will not have to change my
lesson. 5 students missed number 8, 6 students number 9, and 4 students missed number 10.
These statements were: Newtons third law states that every time one object exerts a force on
another object, the second object exerts a force that is equal in size and opposite in direction
back on the first object, the standard unit for force is called the Newton (N), and Newtons
second law states that the acceleration of an object increases with increased force and decreases
with increased mass. These students need to know all of these true/false misconceptions because
they are fundamental portions of Newtons Laws. I will have to really emphasize all of the areas
covered on this assessment, except for mass and force, but a good reminder/refresher never hurt
anyone.
Period 2s Data
Period 2 Student #
Sex
Diagnostic Score
1.
M
2/10
2.
F
3/10
3.
M
3/10
4.
F
3/10
5.
M
4/10
6.
M
4/10
7.
M
4/10
8.
F
5/10
9.
M
5/10
10.
F
5/10
11
M
5/10
12.
F
6/10
13.
M
6/10
14.
M
6/10
15.
M
7/10
16.
F
7/10
17.
F
7/10
I did the same thing as I did with period one. The scores for this class were much worse than in
period 1.The scores range from 20% to 70% correct. 17 students took this assessment. I then
broke down each question to see what they got wrong so I know what I need to reinforce in my
lesson plans. This is what their data looks like:

There was not a question that had the whole class answer correctly for this period. This
means I will have to go over EVERYTHING in my lesson plans I have already planned! These
questions were the same as period 1s, but all of the questions were more frequently missed than
first period. This may also have to do with the class size difference too. I think that the students
are relatively unfamiliar with this information, and I will have to relate Newtons Laws to the
students so that they can understand the material better. I will see how much I have taught them
when I compare the summative scores with the diagnostic scores at the end of my unit.
So I planned accordingly when we went over Newtons first law today. Since I was
teaching Newtons First Law today, I made sure to go over what was missed on the
diagnostic assessment about Newtons First Law. This would be the vocabulary word
inertia, force and mass (for reinforcement and for those students who missed this
question), the definition of Newtons first law. All of these are numbers 1, 3, 4, and 6 on the
diagnostic assessment. I made sure to start with these because I knew my students did not
know these ideas because they did not get them right on the diagnostic test.
As they watched the Brainpop video, I observed them to make sure they were paying
attention and did not have confused faces. I then formally assessed the students to make sure that
they paid attention by giving them the quiz at the end of the video. They did a great job, and I
knew they were ready to move on to the activity that I had planned for them, the penny lab. As
we discussed, I formatively assessed the students by asking them questions to make sure that
they understood what Newtons First Law meant. I then let them do the experiment and went
around the room formatively assessing the students on their abilities to do the lab, and their
understandings of the lab, and how Newtons first law applied to the penny and blocks being
affected. I also took a formal formative assessment of the students when they did their lab page.
Here are the charts from each period for their grades on their lab work:

Out of 27 students, only two students did not get a 100% on this portion of the assessment.
Those two students both missed number four, and the only reason that these two students
missed this was because they did not even attempt it. This tells me that the students were
disengaged, or they really didnt understand how the lab related to Newtons first law,
which is what the question asked. On Wednesday, when I teach my next lesson, I will
review what we did today, and these questions to make sure that all students understand. I
think, according to this class, I did a good job of clearing up the misconceptions that came
from the diagnostic assessment.
This is period twos chart:

Out of twenty-four students, twenty-two students got all of these answers correct. Just like
period one, I think the students were disengaged from the lab at this moment. Just in case
they were not disengaged and just did not understand the question about how the lab
related to Newtons First Law, I will make sure to go over this on Wednesday as part of my
introduction.
I know that my students learned what Newtons first law is in both classes. I know they

know this because I informally had a formative quiz with them at the end of the day to find
out what they learned from the activity. Both classes as a group were able to tell me word
for word what Newtons First Law states. I also know they learned there are different
kinds of forces: friction, contact, and gravitational. I showed the students the example of a
book sitting on a desk. The book has a gravitation pull on it, pulling it towards the earth,
and the table is pushing up on the books (a contact force). The students were able to restate
to me these exact things at the end of class as a group. I also know that they learned that
there are balanced forces and unbalanced forces, and that they have a decent
understanding of what each mean. They know that when there are balanced forces, they
have a net force of 0, because the forces cancel each other out and it is like there is no force
being applied to the object. They also answered this for me in my formative quiz. They
know that unbalanced forces happen when motion occurs.
I learned that classroom management is important. Once you lose the management, you lose
the entire class on engagement. Second period is well behaved, but first period on the other hand
is not. Even Mr. Holston has a hard time keeping them in line a lot of the time. So I definitely
had my work cut out for me. I also learned that a lot of the times, the quiet kids in the classroom
know almost more than the students who talk all the time. I do not know why they do not convey
their knowledge to everyone else! I was really nervous about teaching these lessons, but now
after I taught the first one, I am not so nervous about the second two. I am ready for whatever is
to come my way in my very near future! I am glad that I did the diagnostic test so that I could
see where my students were when it came to the knowledge of Newtons Laws and their
understanding of it. My understanding of their understanding helped me to relay the information
to them in a way I knew they would understand.

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