CI /MSMM 5E Lesson Plan Template

5E Lesson:
Exploration Time: 30 minutes
What the Teacher Will Do What the Teacher Will Say
Probing/Pressing Questions
Student Responses (correct responses)
Possible Misconceptions
Instruct students to go to
www.iNaturalist.org and
create an account and join the
classroom group. Allow a few
minutes for students to
explore the website.
What do you notice about this
website? How could it be useful?

Introduce the website as a
community and a resource
that we will use after our
outdoor activity

Explain that we are about to
go outside and take pictures of
different plants/animals. The
students with the most
observations of animals in
DIFFERENT taxonomic
groupings will increase in
ranking

Take students to outdoors area
Ask students to look for
wildlife, and take pictures of
their observations
(and try to make sure pictures
are as clear as possible!)

Classify animals/plants that
appear to be of the same
taxonomic grouping
What markings or physical
characteristics suggest that these
animals/plants belong to the same
grouping?

Upload images to your profile
on www.iNaturalist.org

Instruct students to write a
caption for each image which
describes the animal/plant and
where it was found (in a pot,
by a pond, in a brightly lit
area)
What role could this animal/plant
play in the area where it was found?

Ask the students to post a
question that they would like
answered for each
plant/animal

Encourage students to discuss
their reasoning with their
classmates
Did you find multiple types of
animals/plants, or did you find
many of the same animals/plants?

CI /MSMM 5E Lesson Plan Template

What types of plants/animals did
you find the most of? Why would
that plant/animal be present in the
area? What job does might it carry
out?

Pull up pool of classroom
images and carry out
discussion
Do you see similarities between
your classmates pictures and
yours? What properties can you
identify? What evidence do you
have to claim that this plant/animal
belongs to a certain taxonomic
group?

Announce winner!


Ask yourself:
Are students making sense of their observations?
Constructing arguments with evidence and critiquing reasoning of others?
Modeling?
Looking for patterns?
Asking questions?
Investigating?
Analyzing data?
Designing Solutions?