Part A Syllabus Outcomes (covered in three periods)

Participate individually or as part of a team in an investigation of some of the features of our solar system Communicate information about the features of our solar system Combining these two outcomes, the goal for the unit becomes: Students, in groups, can identify and communicate some of the features of our solar system Layer C activities: 1. Library exploring: Use the resources in the library and use the internet or websites to explore our solar system and build basic frame knowledge it. 2. Read the definition sheet of solar system: Definition sheet will be given to students at the beginning of the lesson, one or more students can read it out to the classroom and teacher will give a very brief explanation. Use highlight and different color to differentiate content. (Example of definition sheet will be provided) 3. Group discussion in the library about the solar system: Teacher and student communication and peer communication is encouraged, after the discussion students should have a basic understanding about our solar system. Purpose: These three activities are designed so that every student can have the same opportunity to get to know the content of solar system. For example students with better research skill or computer skills may find the library exploring is much easier and work more efficiently, others with better reading skills may find the definition sheet is better for them. Also these activities are designed so it fit the 9 UDL principles: Equitable use; Flexibility in use; Simple and intuitive; Perceptible information; Tolerance for error; A community of learners; Instructional climate. Something important need to be mentioned here is that trip from classroom to library involves physical movement and those student with physical disabilities need consideration. Layer B activities: 1. Class quiz on definition sheet: An in class quiz will be held at the beginning of the second teaching period, which will take approximately 15 minutes. When the quiz is finished, use cross making techniques and teacher give correct answers 2. Group discussion on the result for the quiz: Demonstrate and explain the common mistakes which happened in the quiz 3. In class role play: Assign each student to a planet and show them how each planet positioned in the solar system. (This activity involves a certain level of physical movement, teacher will decide to include or not depending on the situation of the classroom) Layer A activities: 1. Watch a video about solar system (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_RAEESmsrs) (Multimedia presentation will focus students attention and build better interests in this subject area) 2. Assignment of the understanding of our solar system (Format of this assignment is a drawing sheet with brief explanation to cater towards more technical minded students, as well as artistic students)

Part B Syllabus Outcomes (covered in two lessons)

a) Describe qualitatively relative sizes, distances and movements of components of our solar system b) Describe relative movements of the planets, moons and sun We combine these two outcomes to get our teaching objective: Student is able to understand and describe the relative size, distance and the movement of the planet in our solar system, especially the movement of moon and sun. Layer C activities: 1. Hand out the planet data sheet. Students need to analyze and highlight the important idea in the data sheet 2. Read out the important notes they highlighted to the classroom This activity is optional so that students who dont have a good reading skill can participate and students with speaking disability do not need to participate. Layer B activities: 1. Group discussion Discussion of the data sheet in relation to the text book under teachers scaffolding 2. Group presentation Again this activity is optional, teacher will decide to operate or not depending on the time and student ability (e.g. with regard to language). 3. Role play in the classroom In contrast with the first role play, this one is focus mainly on sun, moon and earth system in order to build a deeper and better understanding of the most relevant system we live in. This activity is controlled by teachers scaffolding techniques and specific care needs to be taken for low physical movement. Layer A activities: 1. drawing activity in classroom: Students need to provide a detail understanding by drawing out the relative size, colour and distance of the earth, moon and sun system. 2. Second assignment: Format of this assignment is create an audio presentation (can be like a telling story sort of thing) No written language is involved in this assignment but different research skills and presentation skills are involved. Purpose: Again these activities are design for students so that they will not only learn the material in the syllabus in a variety of ways but also implicate in their own ways of understanding. The principles we follow when we design these activities are the 9 UDL principles.

Part C Syllabus Outcomes (covered in two lessons)

c) Explain night and day in terms of Earths rotation d) Explain the seasons in terms of the tilt of Earths axis and its revolution around the We combine these two to get our teaching objective as: Students are able to describe the theory behind Earths self-rotation and rotation around sun, and are able to use the knowledge learnt to explain some of the events occur on Earth. (Eg: day and night change; season change) Layer C activities: 1. Laboratory section: Introduction on the laboratory use, as practical skill is really important in science subjects. 2. PowerPoint presentation by teacher: Teacher show students how is a well-organized PowerPoint should look like, set up a model on how to present the idea and help students with how to create a PowerPoint with their final assignment (if they choose to use PowerPoint presentation) Layer B activities: 1. Group discussion and student-teacher communication: Create a safe environment on discuss some of the issues of rotation theory. Teachers may use the scaffolding techniques to control the discussion. 2. Watch a short video on earth rotation: The use of multi-media will increase the interest of students on this topic. Video with visual and sound interactions with student will have a better effect than teach them from test book. 3. Textbook notes analysis: (group work) The aim of this activity is get students familiar with the core contents in the textbook and pursue higher and deeper understanding by communication with peers. 4. Short presentation on the use of laboratory: Some students may have accessed the laboratory before this section while others may not. So this presentation will help some of the students to maximize their ability in doing practical in relation to their specific subject, as laboratory work is essential for all science components. Layer A activity: Homework: Students will be asked to write a short report on the earth rotation theory. The format is open and need to be followed in the students contract given in the first section of this topic. For examples, students who assign him or herself as weak in writing will only need to give a 200 words report with diagram explanation but students assign as strong in writing but weak in others need to give a 400 words report with no diagram explanation. The aim of this design is to equalize students potential and try to lift their specialty in certain areas.

Part D Syllabus Outcomes (covered in three lessons)

a. relate the model of the solar system to the observed sky b. examine information collected to assist in predicting events such as appearances of comets, eclipses and other solar system phenomena We combine these two to get our teaching objective: Students are able to use the contents and knowledge from this topic to explain, predict and understand some of the features and events in our everyday life. Layer C activities: 1. Revision on the material covered so far Revision is a tool that we use to consolidate the contents learnt, it will help the students to understand better and clear some confusion they had in learning. It can be carried out by teachers presentation or arise questions from students. It involves prior knowledge activation and some thinking. It is a layer c activity as it does not involve new learning 2. Text book analysis: Again it is important to note that textbook is a good material to learn new things in this topic. After several activities of textbook analysis, students should now be familiar with the structure of the book and be able to check and analyze in their own time. Layer B activities: 1. Research activity: This is the second time of this activity because it is essential for students to have a good research skill in science subject, as they study more science they will have to use a lot of their research skill and be able to get information from outside of textbook. This activity involves some physical movements and teacher should take extra care when operating. 2. watch part of the movie Apollo 13 Multi-media are powerful tools to engage students attention and should be encouraged for using. Movie will not only involve visual but also auditory interaction with students so that students with hearing impairment or vision impairment can still get a good idea about the materials. 3. Group discussion: After the research section and movie, students now need to convert what has been given to them into what they understand. An easy and efficient way of doing so is group discussion. Teachers need to help and control the discussion by applying scaffolding techniques. Because discussion involves much deeper thinking and critical thinking, it is a layer B activity.

Layer A activities: 1. Conclusion and summarize the topic: By doing this activity, students will have a full picture of the past three weeks and should know what they have learnt and what they still confuse, they will have time to ask teacher for the part they still confuse. This activity involves everything in the content, which can be really easy for some students but rather challenge for the others. 2. Final assignment: Format of this assignment is open and students need to refer to the first lesson when they do the students contract. Different ways of presentation will be allowed so that students will different strength will be equalized in the marking rubrics.

Summary
Each learning objective teacher need to achieve will be differentiate into three layers(C, B, and A), within each layer we design several activities or assignment to help and access the learning efficiency for these objectives. In order to achieve the maximum outcomes, teacher need to use scaffolding techniques and include the 9 UDL principles in the activity design so that all the students will have equal access to content.