Inquiry-Style Learning & Lesson Plan

Grade Level: 3rd Science Lesson: The Cell (3 Day Lesson Series) Background Concepts The study of living things is known as Life Science. Since the basic unit of all living things is the cell, all things like plants human beings and animals have cells. As the basic unit of life, cells represent the foundational underlining that drives scientific research. In emphasizing their importance to the study of living things, cells abound the composition of life, and embody a key to new advancements in science.

Elementary understanding and familiarity with this basic life unit gives school-aged students the exposure and fundamentals to help their learning of Life Science. Early introduction to understanding the function and parts of the cell helps students move toward more advance cellular topics and concepts in Life Science. Goals & Learning Outcomes The following statements encompass the learning outcomes for this lesson. • Students will gain early exposure to biological concepts, and demonstrate understanding for the definition and role of the cell.

• Students will recognize a select set of vocabulary words associated with cellular parts and functions. • Students will be able to identify several parts of the cell. • Student will associate cellular functionality with common life items or entities. • Students will demonstrate the ability to make a distinction or distinguish between animal and plant cells. • Students will recognize the general size of a cell. Learning Style The students will use an inquiry-style to attain the learning outcomes.

According to the West Virginia Department of Education (2014), "Student understanding is the central focus of inquiry learning. Students actively participate in inquiry learning experiences by developing questions and investigating to find solutions.

Teachers facilitate learning as students engage in active problem solving, the construction of meaning and the communication of new understandings to students, teachers or other important adults." The structured activities of this lesson plan will allow student to form questions and investigate: the scientific content lends itself to "to students asking questions and investigating as they develop a deep understanding of the concepts developed (West Virginia Department of Education, 2014).

The teacher, however, should be aware that an inquiry-style process is not homogeneously initiated by student investigative inquires: "teachers guide student learning by selecting, designing and planning learning tasks, asking probing questions, observing students at work to identify misconceptions and planning follow up experiences (West Virginia Department of Education, 2014)." Day One Framing the Lesson Plan: Opening The teacher opens the lesson with a slide show with various large, highly visible images of living cells, with no labelings or wording.

The teacher simply tells the students to view the slides and to hold any questions, until further direction. Upon completion of the slides, the teacher will then circulate five three-dimensional models of a cell structure that can be opened as cross-sections. In tandem, the teacher will distribute two three-dimensional cross sections of a cell. The teacher may expect to hear the word, "cell" as the students view the models.

However, as the students view or investigate the three-dimensional models, and have likely become inquisitive as to what they have been viewing, the teacher can introduce the name of basic definition of the viewed subjects. For instance, the teacher could state, "The images that you have seen in our slide show today were all images of a cell. The models shaped like a sphere are models of a cell. The cell is the basic unit of all living things or organisms.

An organism is a living thing that is made up on at least one or more cells." The opening serves several objectives. First, the opening intrigues students to start to form questions about what they are viewing. It also introduces students to the general two-dimensional and three-dimensional shape and structure of a living cell. Distributing the cross-sections can stimulate probing with the full models, and influence questions about the inside or parts of the cell. Activity 1 The first activity hinges on the lesson opening.

If not already in process, students will then be instructed to open the cross-sections of a cell. Each student will then be able to recognize that while the cell represents the basic unit of life, each cell has parts. Students can then begin to recognize that the cell is comprised of other parts. Next, the teacher will distribute a prepared sheet with several images of power sources covering the first half of the page such as a battery, power outlet, power generator, etc.

The second half of the page will feature a cell with a structure representing the mitochondria, or "power house" of the cell, with a few other cellular parts surrounding the mitochondrial structure for positional orientation. The students should reference the three-dimensional model and color with marker or crayon the mitochondria on the prepared sheet the same color that the mitochondria is depicted according to the three-dimensional shape. Similarly, the students would then be instructed to locate the nucleus and color it on the prepared sheet according to the three-dimensional model.

The teacher then can associate.