What SCIENCE UNDERSTANDING(s) do I want the students to know, or to understand?
The content descriptor in focus for this unit of work is: Earths rotation on its axis causes regular changes, including night and day (ACSSU048). More specifically, students will: recognise that the Earth, the sun and the moon are spheres know sizes of the Earth, the sun and the moon relative to each other represent the Earth, the sun and the moon using models (ensuring their sizes correspond) recognise the sun as the largest celestial body in the solar system understand that the apparent movement of the sun from east to west is attributable to the Earths rotation know that the Earth orbits the Sun and this journey takes one year (365 days) know that the moon orbits the Earth and the journey takes 28 days know that the Earth spins around on its axis every 24 hours What SCIENCE INQUIRY SKILLS do I want the students to have? From this unit of work students will acquire and utilise a range of science inquiry skills including: questioning and predicting, planning and conducting, processing and analysing data and information, evaluating and communicating. However, this unit focuses on developing the students skills in communicating. The students will: Engage in small group and whole class discussions to share ideas and observations Represent ideas using informal representations Collaborate ad communicate with other students to plan and carry out an investigation Discuss with group members what was discovered in an investigation Represent information using informal and formal representations What understanding of SCIENCE AS A HUMAN ENDEAVOUR do I want the students to carry out? This unit will help students to realise that science involves the construction of justifiable explanations to improve their understanding of the natural world. The students will: making predictions about changes and phenomena in the environment WHEN and HOW will I gather and record this information? The assess the students learning of the relevant Science Understanding(s), Science Inquiry Skills and their understanding of Science as a Human Endeavour, I will assess the students throughout the unit using formative assessments. This will include: Observation Class discussions Group discussions Brainstorming sessions Guided questioning Exploratory/investigative play At the end of the instructional unit, I will use a summative assessment to evaluate the students learning in relation to the intended learning outcomes (as detailed above). Students will write an information report on a topic related to space and/or the solar system of their choice.
Lesley KONG 100096415
EDUC 5192 SCIENCE M 2016
YOUR EVALUATION OF THE UNIT (not assessment related)
Choose two things to evaluate (reflect upon) during or after the unit. 1. To what extent did the unit provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge, understandings and skills of the curriculum content? The unit provided students with the opportunity to demonstrate a wide range of understanding. The open ended poster (summative assessment) allowed the students to demonstrate their understandings of the science concepts covered without restraint. However, some students needed assistance in the construction of their posters to ensure that they included all the important information relevant to their topic of choice. 2. What range of achievement of learning was demonstrated by students? The students demonstrated a wide range of learning. At the beginning of the unit, most of the students demonstrated basic understanding of the science concepts covered. As the unit progressed, their understanding developed and they demonstrated a more comprehensive grasp of the science concepts. This was evident from the formative assessments conducted throughout the unit and the summative assessment at the end of the unit.