This microteaching report summarizes a lesson on calculating heat that was aimed at high school students. The lesson began with a review of temperature, heat, and phase changes. Students then discussed calories and developed an equation to calculate heat using examples related to food. They practiced using the equation to calculate the caloric content of different foods. The lesson connected to a larger thermodynamics unit and could be improved by spending more time developing the equation using food examples and discussing answers to strengthen understanding.
This microteaching report summarizes a lesson on calculating heat that was aimed at high school students. The lesson began with a review of temperature, heat, and phase changes. Students then discussed calories and developed an equation to calculate heat using examples related to food. They practiced using the equation to calculate the caloric content of different foods. The lesson connected to a larger thermodynamics unit and could be improved by spending more time developing the equation using food examples and discussing answers to strengthen understanding.
This microteaching report summarizes a lesson on calculating heat that was aimed at high school students. The lesson began with a review of temperature, heat, and phase changes. Students then discussed calories and developed an equation to calculate heat using examples related to food. They practiced using the equation to calculate the caloric content of different foods. The lesson connected to a larger thermodynamics unit and could be improved by spending more time developing the equation using food examples and discussing answers to strengthen understanding.
This microteaching report summarizes a lesson on calculating heat that was aimed at high school students. The lesson began with a review of temperature, heat, and phase changes. Students then discussed calories and developed an equation to calculate heat using examples related to food. They practiced using the equation to calculate the caloric content of different foods. The lesson connected to a larger thermodynamics unit and could be improved by spending more time developing the equation using food examples and discussing answers to strengthen understanding.
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 5
CALCULATING HEAT MICROTEACH REPORT
TIFFANY CHRISTIAN SED561 DUE: 12/2/14
Microteaching Report Tiffany Christian Arizona State University Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College
CALCULATING HEAT MICROTEACH REPORT
TIFFANY CHRISTIAN SED561 DUE: 12/2/14 Lesson Overview and Design In this lesson, students worked to develop and use an equation in order to calculate how much heat was released or absorbed during a reaction. The lesson was aimed toward high school students and aligned with the Next Generation Science Standard HS-PS3-4: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that the transfer of thermal energy when two components of different temperature are combined within a closed system results in a more uniform energy distribution among the components in the system (second law of thermodynamics) (NGSS Lead States, 2013). The primary objective for the lesson was for students to be able to calculate heat as a quantity of energy by relating variables in an equation. The lesson was framed around the concept of food energy, in which students calculated the caloric content of different food. From this lesson, students would progress to a calorimetry lab in which they would utilize the equation further. The lesson started with a review of what had been covered over the previous two days regarding temperature, heat, and phase changes. It is important that students have a solid understanding of these concepts before moving on to the days lesson as the lesson builds on prior knowledge. Students were all asked to bring in some kind of food that had a label with nutrition facts and did a think-pair-share regarding what component on the label was related to the total amount of energy that the food provided. From there, I discussed Calories, calories and joules and how they were related to one another. Then the students provided insight as to what they believed were the relevant components used to calculate heat. Suggestions were evaluated and we were able to agree on the necessary components. After the proper equation was developed and the meaning of each component was explained, I modeled how I expected students to complete calculations and provided time for students to complete the remaining problems provided to them. I went over one of the problems with the students and asked the students to defend the answer based on the numbers involved in the calculation and the wording provided in the question. At the end of the lesson, students explored a virtual calorimetry lab in which they calculated the caloric content of different food. The virtual lab served as a preview to the lab that they would be completing in class the following day. Unit Connection This lesson takes place on day four of an eleven-day unit plan on Thermodynamics. The unit is framed through our puzzling phenomenon of Why does a metal pot feel colder than a book when they are actually the same temperature? During previous lessons, students explored the concepts of temperature, heat, and phase changes. The understanding of these concepts was critical in order to progress to the current lesson, as students need to evaluate heat in relation to temperature change. From this lesson and its subsequent lab, students investigate different forms of heat transfer. Students then set out to create their own investigation to further explore the concept of heat transfer.
CALCULATING HEAT MICROTEACH REPORT
TIFFANY CHRISTIAN SED561 DUE: 12/2/14 Throughout the unit, students complete multiple lab activities, each requiring some form of a lab write-up. Each lab write-up is a little more complex than the previous one. This scaffolding provides students with progressive support and gives students plenty of practice with each component so that the lab report for their culminating assessment is less daunting. Lesson Analysis The focal SSTELLA practice of the lesson was Contextualizing Science Activity. The lesson had the potential to be considered Elaborating; however, as it was carried out, I believe that it was Implementing. The lesson was framed using the concept of food and calories. Students brought in their own food sample and used it to calculate the amount of energy it provided using different units. The lesson concluded with using a virtual calorimetry lab in order to calculate the caloric content of different foods; the students chose five of the possible ten foods to investigate. The middle of the lesson, when students developed the equation for calculating heat and applied it to the provided problems, was disconnected from the over-arching frame. In order to reach the Elaborating rating, I could have had the students develop the equation using examples with food, and perform more calculations based on the food they brought in rather than using decontexualized problems. For Scientific Sense-Making, the lesson would be rated Introducing/Implementing for Communicating the Big Idea and Introducing for Pressing for Model- or Problembased Scientific/Engineering Practices. The connection between the big idea and the current lesson and the learning objective were mentioned at the beginning of the lesson, before and after the bell work, but it could have been stated more explicitly. I provided all the questions and used a virtual lab, which walked the students through the activity. The lesson is towards the beginning of the unit, so my intention was to still provide students with adequate modeling of how to perform investigations. The students helped to develop the equation to use to calculate heat, but I needed stronger evidence to describe why certain components were not involved in the calculation. Scientific Discourse was rated Introducing for Facilitating Productive Student Talk and Implementing for Pressing for Scientific Explanation and Argumentation. The majority of the discourse that took place during the lesson followed the teacher initiates question, student responds, teacher evaluates format. All students were encouraged to talk; there were times when students talked in groups and others when they were asked to share ideas with the class. I primarily relied on cold calls in order to ensure full class participation. Due to time constraints I was only able to go over one additional problem from the heat calculations that the students completed. After the student provided the answer, I posed the question Does this answer make sense? As a class we discussed how to evaluate an answer in order to determine its validity using context clues from the problem and basic math. Had there been more time, I would have gone into more depth regarding analyzing and defending answers.
CALCULATING HEAT MICROTEACH REPORT
TIFFANY CHRISTIAN SED561 DUE: 12/2/14 English Language and Disciplinary Literacy Development was Implementing for Promoting Opportunities for English Language Development for ELs through Student Interaction, Implementing for Promoting opportunities for English Language Development for ELs through vocabulary, and Introducing/Implementing for Pressing for Authentic Science Literacy Tasks. Students interacted with each other during the think-pair-shares, small group conversations, and whole-class discussions. Each student was required to talk during the lesson; however, this was easier to accomplish in this setting because there were only eight students to account for. New vocabulary was explicitly introduced and supported using visuals, definitions, and descriptions. When developing the equation for heat, visuals were provided in order to consider their effect on the amount of heat required. Specific heat was specifically defined and explained. The Greek symbol delta was introduced and defined as well. Previously taught vocabulary, such as temperature and mass, were also reviewed. This lesson focused more on science concepts than on scientific/engineering practices. The lesson covered underlying concepts that were necessary in order to investigate the topic further throughout the unit. The virtual lab required students to record information in the form of a lab write-up. For this activity, I provided them with a handout that outlined all of the information that they were required to include. As the students completed more lab activities, this kind of explicit outline would not be provided. The technology that I used was the virtual calorimetry lab. This was a great way to introduce the students to the lab that they would be performing the following day. The inclass lab differs in procedure because the virtual lab has more high-tech equipment than what is available at the high school level. The students are able to practice making predictions, gathering data, and performing calculations using the equation that they developed during class. Revised Lesson This was a decent lesson; however, additional changes should be made in order for it to be more effective. First of all, I would extend the lesson to cover two days. There is a lot of information to cover, and in order to allow more focus on the SSTELLA practices more time is needed. Many of the SSTELLA practices were introduced, but time restraints prohibited me from elaborating on them. In particular, I would have liked to spend more time going over answers from the practice problems and having students defend their answers as well as providing the students with plenty of time to explore the virtual lab. The lesson also did not flow as I anticipated, and the students were offset by the disconnection between the framing concept of food and the development of the equation and practice problems. According to feedback, I should have spent more time on the topic of calories and engaged students in a discussion regarding their prior knowledge of calories. Then I could have used examples of food when developing the equation for heat rather than other objects. The practice problems could also be centered around food, where students calculate the caloric content of different foods based on information
CALCULATING HEAT MICROTEACH REPORT
TIFFANY CHRISTIAN SED561 DUE: 12/2/14 provided. These changes could help to ensure the contextualization of the content (Tolbert, Stoddart, Lyon, & Solis, 2014) The feedback I received alerted me that while virtually everyone enjoyed the virtual lab, many did not feel that they were able to spend as much time on in as they would have liked or felt that it was confusing or should have been explained more. I would resolve this by having the students complete the lab during the following class period. I debated on introducing the lab earlier and then continuing the lab on the following day, but because of the way the lab is set up, it would be difficult to do so. I would, however, introduce them to the concept of calorimetry prior to developing the equation and remind them of the process prior to them completing the lab. The students also felt that they did not have many opportunities to discuss the concepts discussed. In order to address this, I would incorporate more student discussions into the lesson and use more talk move to promote deeper understanding and further elaboration from students (Michaels & OConnor, 2012). Students would share with each other during the newly added discussion regarding calories. I would also assign student groups and have the students first discuss with one another what they believed to be necessary components of the equation. Then one group would present their findings to the class, while other groups were given the opportunity to agree or disagree. After their discussion I would prompt students with additional questions, if necessary, and provide visuals in order to bring them to the conclusion of the true equation. I believe that these additions would help the students to be able to develop understanding of the content, whereas the way the lesson was presented often provided the students with the necessary information. This would create a more authentic, inquiry-based learning experience (Windschitl, 2008). References National Research Council (2012). A framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. National Academies Press: Washington, D.C. Michaels, S., & O'Connor, C. (2012). Talk Science Primer. Cambridge: TERC. Tolbert, S., Stoddart, T., Lyon, E., & Solis, J. (2014). The Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core State Standards, and English Learners: Using the SSTELLA Framework. Issues in Teacher Education, 23(1), 65-74. Windschitl, M. (2008). What is inquiry? A framework for thinking about authentic scientific practice in the classroom. In Science as inquiry in the secondary setting. Arlington, Va.: NSTA Press.