Contextual+Teaching+Assignment

It has often been recognized that real life examples help students to learn concepts more quickly and in a context to which they relate. This idea is at the heart of contextual teaching. Contextual teaching means that instead of providing examples while teaching concepts, a teacher uses the examples as a platform through which concepts are learned. In this assignment, you will develop a contextual activity or demonstration to teach a concept, using the 5-E model as the basis of your lesson planning.



Lesson plan template

Lesson Rubric

Contextual Teaching Lessons
**Man Without A Stomach -** **Mrs. Palmer**: This lesson introduces students to the digestive system through a video of a man who attempted suicide by swallowing bleach. Throughout the lesson, students are introduced to the structure and function of the the organs of the digestive system (including accessory organs), the mechanical and chemical digestion of organic compounds, and different disorders of the digestive system and their causes.

Swetha Singari. This lesson introduces students to Charles Darwin and his theory of Natural selection through a game where the goal is for the species to survive a million years. Throughout the game and the lesson, students will learn natural selections guides evolution of species and the various environmental factors that drive natural selection. Students will also learn about artificial selection and why evolution matters in the current world.

This lesson is intended to follow one that teaches the water cycle and takes the topic a little bit farther by applying the knowledge to water contamination in our world. It contains a video and an article (included in links on the worksheet) about one specific community which is contaminated by a local coal mine. This causes its surrounding families to have cancer and other serious life threatening ailments. Through this lesson, students will be asked to delve further into the topic of water contamination and learn how they might help reduce water contamination themselves. The worksheet attached asks the students to identify household products that contain possibly harmful chemicals. They are then asked to find safer alternatives to these products to take into consideration for future use.
 * Jennifer Nichols: Water and Contaminants**

Tim Edison: Taxonomy This lesson introduces students to taxonomy and use of dichotomous keys. This lesson begins with a video to gain students attention and to show students an example of classifying items. The video is followed up with a worksheet game for students to hone their skills using dichotomous key and correct errors in the use of the key. A final worksheet is given to allow students to practice their skills.

Joe Armour: Heredity This lesson is a reinforcing excersize for students to practice their use of punnet squares and crossing alleles. This lesson begins with a video of a family that has had three generations in a row affected by Huntington's Disease; a rare dominant genetic disorder. The video is followed up by two worksheets, a simple practice worksheet they should be able to complete on their own, and then a more difficult dihybrid cross worksheet, which will be facilitated by the teacher.



Ashley Morgan: DNA This lesson introduces DNA and its structure by the use of video clips, group work, and class discussion. Students will watch two short video clips, the first video will introduce students to the structure of DNA, while the second video explains how DNA is used to solve crimes. The first video is more instructional and background information, while the second video is used to grab the student's attention. The video is followed with a DNA structure worksheet to be completed in groups of two, and then the class will have a short discussion over the worksheet. Students will also be encouraged to ask questions and engage in the class discussion. The final activity is a follow up extension worksheet that asks more in-dept questions based of the first video. Students will complete the worksheet individually and then the class will discuss the worksheet together.

Matt Tunno: Energy (redo changes in bold) <-engage portion This lesson lets the students figure out organisms that fill such roles in an ecosystem such as producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer without actually labeling them. Then, the terms are then put with the lists that the students have created. The lesson applies the 'rule of 10' to a theoretical situation and requires the student to apply it in order to figure out the best outcome. This lesson teaches these topics in a way that follows the 5 E's formula, and assesses their understanding based on the completion of a diagram of an energy pyramid.

David Blackburn: Population Ecology This lesson will require students to discover what restrictions could affect the human population. The students will watch a demonstration which will show visually the limited resources that are available on Earth. After the demo is complete, there is a worksheet with open-ended questions that the students will fill out with a partner that will then lead to discussions, and eventually lead to the topic of carrying capacity. , ,

Mitch Staroscik: Biodiversity This lesson requires students to predict which traits are beneficial based on the surrounding environment. There is a six minute compilation video made from two different Plant Earth DVD's, that will be played without the sound. After the video the class will have a short discussion to talk about the benefits of each trait. There is a worksheet that will be completed with help from the internet, it will show which traits are beneficial in which environment.

Alexander Chapman: Homeostasis This lesson introduces life’s most important process of homeostasis. To show the importance of homeostasis I start the lesson with a demonstration, the demo takes about 5-7 minutes to complete so I continue on with the lesson as the demo finishes. The demo shows how a whale’s blubber keeps their body at homeostasis. As I wait for the demo I go over a PowerPoint telling the class what homeostasis is and why one of the five characteristics of living things. At the end of my PowerPoint I take the abstract concept of homeostasis and make it into a concrete one, using an air condition unit. I come back to the demo to read the results and show that a whale’s blubber keeps them from freezing to death. Finally I hand a worksheet out the overviews my lesson, I have the class hand it in at the end of class for two reasons. 1. To see if they understand homeostasis and also to use it as an attendance helper.

Alexander Weiss: Reproduction This video lesson requires students to watch segments from a National Geographic show called //In the Womb: Cats//. This documentary features the familiar domestic cat and compares it's reproductive processes to another member of the Felidae family, lions. Students will answer questions from a worksheet and create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting cat and lion reproductive capabilities.

In this lesson the students will do a research and presentation activity dealing with symbiotic relationships. The students will be given an organism and they will have to find the other organism that they have a relationship with in the class, and then as partners they will research their relationship and then present it to the class. Sybiotic relationships are important to learn becasue they are very important for ecologists and the survival of many organisms.
 * Curt Dedic:** Illinois Ecology



Sam Boyer: Mitosis In this lesson students will create a model of a cell with construction paper, yarn, plastic silverware, and buttons. They will model what happens during mitosis using these materials. Students will then answer questions on a worksheet, using their textbook for assistance. After completing the activity and worksheet, a supplementary power point will be used to explain mitosis in further detail and to clear up any misconceptions the students may have. The lesson plan, activity instructions, and worksheet are all included in the file below.

Jennifer Richardson: Biochemical Reactions and Processes Students become engaged in this lesson by observing two different bowls of pineapple and jello in groups. After they discuss with their group members, they develop a hypothesis speculating why this is so. During the "explanation" section of the lesson, students gain knowledge about the other biochemical topics required by the state standards. Students will draw on their previous knowledge of macromolecules (proteins specifically), and will expand on the knowledge to see the role of enzymes within the metabolic pathway. The lesson will be extended by the students carrying out an experiment to determine the temperature that the proteins denature at. Finally, an assessment will be a formal lab write up.

Jennifer Olin: Ecosystems This lesson requires students to describe what makes up an ecosystem. They will do so by imagining they are walking through a forest and describing things they might see. From their descriptions they will discover that ecosystems are made up of the interaction between biotic and abiotic factors. They will further explore these interactions by completing a worksheet about energy flow and chemical cycling in the forest ecosystem they described. They will then further their understanding of ecosystems by creating their own ecosystem or researching another ecosystem besides a forest. .

** Dipti Hattangady: Cellular organelles **
====** This lesson introduces students to cellular organelles by an engaging comparison of the organelles to the physical and social structure of a high school. The students will further explore and extend their understanding of organelle function and interaction by interactive cell animations. Student learning will be evaluated based on participation in **====

[[file:Cellular organelles contextual lesson plan worksheet..docx]]
Lori Livas: Behavior During this lesson the students watch a short 4 min. video clip about a lion who was reintroduced to the wild. Working through the questions after the video will allow the students to explore the lion's behavior and touch on key terms from the chapter. Having a class discussion will explain the answers to the questions in more detail and define any key terms mentioned in the exploration part. The students will then continue to explore and extend into more behaviors in multiple different situations. The evaluation methods are endless, but the one outlined is the discussion and then having the students develop their own animal species and write a rationale as to why they gave their animal the characteristics that they did.

Jamal Jordan: Conservation The students will view 2 public service announcements on water conservation. I will then do a couple of demonstrations to give some hands on visual examples. Students will recognize the importance of conserving water. Students will understand the need for water conservation due to the limited fresh water supply.