I chose to create a lesson template in contrast to the Powerpoint I made in module 1 because instead of a typical lecture-style lesson, I wanted to give students ownership of the material and have them guide their own learning about this topic.

Course: SNC2D

Unit: Chemistry

Related Expectations:

C1.2 analyse how an understanding of the properties of chemical substances and their reactions can be applied to solve environmental challenges

C3.6 describe the process of acid–base neutralization (i.e., an acid reacts with a base to form a salt and often water)

C3.7 describe how the pH scale is used to classify solutions as acidic, basic, or neutral (e.g., a solution with a pH of 1 is highly acidic; a solution with a pH of 7 is neutral)

Students will begin by using research to fill out the first part of the activity sheet:

Students will then use a level 3 (guided) inquiry model in the following in-class activity:

→ They will be given a question but no method or solution

Problem: Ms. Borg finds an unlabelled container of liquid after her classes’ labs today. She knows the substance is relatively-safe but does not want to dump an overly acidic or basic solution into the sink...what should she do?

Safety note: Go over with students the importance of not tinkering with mystery chemicals unless in a controlled classroom environment with permission and supervision from a teacher

(See student handout)

E3.2 describe the anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system (including the nasal cavity, trachea, larynx, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli, and oxygenated and deoxygenated blood) and the mechanisms of gas exchange and respiration

E3.4 explain some of the mechanisms of interaction between a mammal’s different body systems (e.g., the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the respiratory and circulatory systems)

After already learning about the respiratory and circulatory systems, the students will use this flipped classroom strategy to learn about gas exchange. If I were to do this with my class, I would post the video and accompanying student handout (see attached) on the Google Classroom for students to access at home. Upon return to class the next day, students will have a discussion about what they have learned and the assigned questions to make sure they have all completely understood. Next, students will work in groups to write a first person narrative story about the journey of oxygen into the body and create a visual (poster, storybook, comic, etc.). For more details about the in-class activities, see the attached lesson plan.

Video: https://youtu.be/mZvzl8KH6iI

Lesson Plan/handout: See attached

For this activity, students will use Think-Pair-Share to determine the reliability of an article.

Health bracelets and magnetic therapy have become more popular in recent years, but do they work? According to the article below there are many benefits to magnetic therapy.

Requirements: computer lab or internet access for students to access article and conduct their own investigation of its reliability.

Students will be given the link to the article to review on their own for 5 minutes before connecting with their partner to go over their ideas. 

The task: read through the article and determine if it is a reliable source of information. Include at least 3 reasons to support your point of view.

Students will be given 20-30 minutes to discuss with their partner and create a bullet point list of what they found followed by a one-paragraph reflection about the importance of checking your sources. To be evaluated by the teacher by means of a rubric.

The results:

In this case, I would begin by working on a case study with the class. The case study for this topic is called HeLa, and refers to the story about Henrietta Lacks. The students read her story, piece by piece, and try to diagnose her symptoms. In the end, they discover that she has cancer. The story goes on to explain that her cancer cells were cultivated by doctors without her permission to be used in cancer research. This opens up an opportunity to discuss the ethical issues of this in class. I try to do an interesting real-life application in my science classes as much as possible; however, I find it difficult because they are time consuming to create and very time consuming regarding class time. 

After opening up about the topic of cancer, I would then move into the lesson about cancer and cell growth gone wrong. This particular lesson was geared towards a grade 10 academic class (biology unit). My typical teaching style in science uses a PowerPoint presentation and provides the students with a fill-in-the-blanks worksheet or a printed copy of the slides. I find that when the students have to copy little to no words from the board, it gives them time to listen more and/or jot down notes that I am saying. 

By looking through this lesson, you will note that important words appear in different colours, giving students the hint to write/highlight those words. I also use a lot of pictures, making the lesson very visual. Lastly, there are a few slides with questions written in big, red font. These are questions that I use to start discussions in class. 

As you can see, my default teaching style is lecture-based, but I try to keep the students interested by engaging them in discussion or making real-life relations.