Lesson Plan Evaluations

By Michelle Olshan

Name of Lesson: Build an Animal

URL: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ScienceAnimalsAdaptToEnviron-BuildAnimal10.htm

Grade Level: 9-12 (High School Biology)

Description: This lesson is centered around the diversity of organisms and how they relate to their environment. Before a student can begin working on this lesson they do need to have a working knowledge of ecology and evolutionary adaptations. The students are asked to create an ‘animal’ which could survive in a particular environment of their choosing.

Components of a sound lesson:	Yes	No
Student centered	X
Active learning	X
Higher level thinking skills	X
Hands-on experiences	X
Multiple learning styles	X
Collaboration	X
Incorporates technology		X
Individualized learning	X
Promotes problem solving	X
Purposeful and Meaningful Objectives	X

Name of lesson: What makes a human?

URL: http://chroma.mbt.washington.edu/outreach/HUMAN.html

Grade Level: 9-12 (High School Biology or Anatomy)

Description: This lesson is a good connection piece between units on DNA and cells to a unit on mitosis and meiosis. This is a short lesson that gets students to make good observations about humans in general but to also break down humans all the way to the cellular level.

Components of a sound lesson:	Yes	No
Student centered	X
Active learning	X
Higher level thinking skills	X
Hands-on experiences		X
Multiple learning styles		X
Collaboration	X
Incorporates technology		X
Individualized learning	X
Promotes problem solving	X
Purposeful and Meaningful Objectives	X

Name of the Lesson: A Mendel Seminar

URL: http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?BenchmarkID=12&DocID=42

Grade Level: 9-12 (High School Biology)

Description: This is a 2 to 3 day lesson to look at Gregor Mendel’s discovery of biological evolution. It focuses on Mendel’s book that he wrote on plant hybridization and then helps the students make connections as to how recessive and dominant traits are passed from one generation to the next. I like this lesson because it has students reading a scientific paper, which is unusual in a high school setting. I also enjoyed the fact that the set-up for this lesson is all on-line and that the students must do some research on-line to prepare themselves for the seminar.

Components of a sound lesson:	Yes	No
Student centered	X
Active learning	X
Higher level thinking skills	X
Hands-on experiences	X
Multiple learning styles	X
Collaboration	X
Incorporates technology	X
Individualized learning	X
Promotes problem solving	X
Purposeful and Meaningful Objectives	X

Name of the lesson: How big would you want to be if you were a Cell?

URL: http://www.iit.edu/`smile/bi9226.html

Grade level: can be adapted for all age levels from primary through high school.

Description: This lesson is to teach the students about the size of cells and why cells function best at that size. This is a hands-on activity that has the students create different sized cells and then takes them through the concept of diffusion to see why cells are so small. If you were to use this activity with younger students you would not want to use all of the higher level questioning that is given in the lesson plan.

Components of a sound lesson:	Yes	No
Student centered	X
Active learning	X
Higher level thinking skills	X
Hands-on experiences	X
Multiple learning styles	X
Collaboration	X
Incorporates technology		X
Individualized learning	X
Promotes problem solving	X
Purposeful and Meaningful Objectives	X

Name of the Lesson: Cancer Risks

URL: http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?BenchmarkID=5&DocID=86

Grade Level: 9-12 (High School Biology)

Description: This lesson is about environmental and heredity factors that increase the chances of developing cancer. Before students start this lesson they must have a working knowledge of what cells are, what DNA is, what genes are, and what genetic mutations are.

Components of a sound lesson:	Yes	No
Student centered	X
Active learning	X
Higher level thinking skills	X
Hands-on experiences		X
Multiple learning styles	X
Collaboration	X
Incorporates technology	X
Individualized learning	X
Promotes problem solving	X
Purposeful and Meaningful Objectives	X