V.

The Lesson Plan (2 days)

Monday April 21
Topic: Origins of life
Standards: 5.3.12.E.2, 5.3.12.E.3
Enduring Understanding:
All living matter comes from living matter
Nonliving things cannot produce living things
Careful observations in science can lead to great conclusions
No observation should outwardly be accepted as law
Essential Question:
Where did life come from on this planet?
How can the scientific method be useful in designing experiments?
Objective:
SWBAT make scientific
observations
SWBAT draw conclusions as to the
origin of life
SWBAT recognize that living
things cannot come from nonliving
things.
Assessment:
Students will be asked to make
observations of various examples of
Redi, Spannalanzani, and Pasteurs
work
Students will write a final
conclusion paragraph that makes
argument from evidence generated
during their experiment.
Students will use the evidence from
their experiment to poke holes in
the theory of spontaneous
generation, and will also evaluate
the work of scientists who were
able to disprove the theory of
spontaneous generation.
Instruction:
Lesson Beginning:
Students will be asked write a few sentences as to how life would be different for
them if they lived during the 1700s instead of today.
Background Info: A PowerPoint presentation on the experiments of Redi, Pasteur,
and Spallazani will be given. Several images of data from the scientists
experiments will be shown, and as a row, the students will be asked to make
observations of what is happening in the experiment. They will also be asked to
determine the control and experimental variables in the experiment. Without ever
having been taught the conclusions that could be drawn from the experiment, the
students will be asked to come to their own conclusions regarding how the
experiment implicates the origins of life.
Biogenesis & Spontaneous Generation Lab: After this brief introduction students
will receive the Scientifically Testing Spontaneous Generation Worksheet, and a
scenario of a commonly held belief from the 1700s regarding the origins of life
(rats come from garbage, frogs come from dirt, mice come from moldy grain,
rotting meat produces flies). They then must use the worksheet to guide them
along designing their own experiment that can be used as evidence against the
theory of spontaneous generation, and evidence for the theory of biogenesis.
The students will work in groups to design an experiment to disprove some of the
commonly accepted ideas of people in the 1700s
Differentiation:
All IEPs and 504s will be followed as specified
Information will be displayed in a visual and audio way (interacting with the
SMARTBoard, as well as oral presentation)
Students will kinesthetically engage, getting out of their seats to answer questions
and to work cooperatively as a group
Groups will be mixed heterogeneously so that lower students can benefit from
aide from higher students
Materials:
SMARTBoard, paper, pencils, coloring implements, computer, 1700s belief
scenario, Scientifically Testing Spontaneous generation worksheet
Prior Knowledge:
Scientific Method, DNA, Gene Technology
Closure:
Students will be asked to write on the back of their Do Now sheets, questions they
still have or want to explore about spontaneous generation and biogenesis. The
questions will be collected by the instructor and gone over the next day
Assignments:
Read Section 14-1 in the textbook on the origins of life