Effective Instruction and Authentic Assessment

The following is a plan I created for a science unit on the solar system. Included is a lesson plan for the first day’s lesson, the assessment I created for the unit, a rubric for the assessment as well as one of my student’s two-column notes and assessment results. This is a small example my ability to plan whole units, individual lessons and authentic performance assessments. The student artifacts are also a small demonstration of the effectiveness of my instruction.

CONTENT STANDARDS
· Science: Standard 4 grades 5-8 benchmark 7: There are basic components of the solar system (for example: sun, planets, moons); Standard 6 grades 5-8 benchmark 9: The rotation of the Earth on its axis, in relation to the Sun, produces the day and night cycle and the orbit of the Earth around the Sun completes one year.

KNOWLEDGE
· Understand the basic components of the solar system, their relative locations and properties.
· Understand how our calendar is based on the rotation and revolution of the earth around the sun and why we have leap year.

SKILLS
· Ability to name and give details about the basic components of our solar system.
· Ability to explain how our calendar is based on the rotation and orbit of the earth and why we have leap year.

RELEVANCE
NASA plans to spend $17.6 billion dollars exploring our solar system in 2009. The U.S. currently has over thirty active space probes not including our work with the International Space Station. Modern space exploration has become almost common place and current technology gives us crystal clear views of our solar system as well as the outer reaches of space.
Aside from meeting CMCS, this lesson introduces students to the basic layout of our solar system, its components and how it affects our daily lives. It gives students a basic understanding of what we are spending so much money to explore, the basis for the Gregorian calendar and what they could be seeing when they look up at the night’s sky.

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
The concept of the leap year will need to be introduced and explained as it is not covered in the textbook. It occurs every four years and is a good tool for connecting our calendar to the orbit of the Earth.
The textbook covers the contents of different planets and distances. Some background knowledge in gasses and conversion from Standard English distances to metric would be helpful.
The lesson could be enriched with some background knowledge on the names of the planets and current space exploration (Mars explorers & International Space Station), telescopes (Hubble space telescope & Keck Observatory) and discoveries.
Be prepared to discuss why Pluto is no longer a planet, solar and lunar eclipses and possibly comets, meteors and asteroids hitting Earth.

VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
No vocabulary development is required aside from leap year. Lesson introduces solar system, planet, orbit, revolution, rotation, Sun, inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars), outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune), meteoroids, asteroids and comets.

MATERIALS
Textbook (Science Horizons Sterling ed. Silver Rurdett Ginn Inc., 1993) two column notes, magazines such as National Geographic or pictures of some sort (Internet, DVD, overheads etc…) to enrich the lesson and display more current space exploration. A globe, or basketball, tennis ball and flashlight can be used to demonstrate the daily rotation of the Earth and cycles of the moon. The NASA (http://www.nasa.gov) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov) websites have many resources available to enrich this lesson.

INSTRUCTION
Distribute the 2-column note handout and discuss the objective of this lesson, how to use the 2-column note handout and the objectives of this unit. Model how to use the 2-column notes as you start the lesson.
The remainder of the lesson is whole group reading of the text combined with lecture and discussion. Enrich the lesson with the materials outlined above depending on the available technology. A globe, or basketball, tennis ball and flashlight can be used to demonstrate the daily rotation of the Earth and cycles of the moon.

ACCOMMODATIONS
· Enrichment- Without leap year, how long will it take for the month of July to occur in winter? What is a lunar calendar?
· Remediation- Additional graphic representations and review. Use other graphic sources such as the internet, National Geographic, Astronomy and documentary videos such as Nova or Cosmos. Drawings on the chalk board to illustrate the concepts as they are discussed. Demonstrations with the globe and a flashlight.

ASSESSMENT
Written test containing matching, fill in the blank, one short essay and a performance assessment (Enclosed).

SCORING CRITERIA
“Explain why we have leap year.” Rubric (Question #11)
6 Points - Explains that leap year maintains the alignment of our calendar to the Earth’s orbit of the sun. Can also be explained numerically (eg.365 versus 365.3 or 1.2 days difference every four years).
3 Points - Explains that leap year keeps our seasons at the same time each year but doesn’t make any direct connection to the Earth’s orbit.
0 Points - Makes no connection whatsoever between the Earth’s orbit and our calendar.

Solar System Drawing Rubric
70 Points - Accurately depicts the sun, all eight planets and the asteroid belt in the correct order and correctly labeled. Drawing does not have to be to scale.
Subtract five points for each each missing planet or if the asteroid belt is missing or in the wrong location.
Subtract one point for each unlabeled or mislabeled components.
A total of five additional points may be awarded for additional details such as rings on Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Sun spots, sun flares, a storm eye on Jupiter or Neptune. Moons, meteors or comets. Additional labeling of the inner and outer planets. Etc…

FOLLOW UP
Continue to spark interest in astronomy and science by talking about such occurrences as the phases of the moon, visible planets and stars, additions to the International Space Station or new pictures from probes and the Hubble Space Telescope. Topics such as celestial navigation and ancient astronomy can also be integrated into history lessons.