STEPP Lesson Plan Form

Teacher: Miss Shauna Brown

School: Lincoln Middle School

Date:
Grade Level: 8th

Title: Space Mission Type Comparison

04/16/15

Content Area: Science

Lesson #:1 of 1

Content Standard(s) addressed by this lesson: (Write Content Standards directly from the standard)
NSES (A): SCIENCE AS INQUIRY: Abilities Necessary to Do Scientific Inquiry- A1

Understandings: (Big Ideas)

Students will be able to identify the different technologies that exist for space exploration. Students will
learn what type of information can be gathered from each mission type and the adnatages and
disadvantages of each.
Inquiry Questions: (Essential questions relating knowledge at end of the unit of instruction, select
applicable questions from standard)
What are the 4 mission types used to explore space and other planets?
How do we use these different technologies to gather information about the planets?
Evidence Outcomes: (Learning Targets)
Every student will be able to identify understand the different space mission technology types.
Every student will be able to identify the differences between the different space mission types
Every student will be able to give examples of the information each type of mission can gather.
Every student will be able to know the advantages and disadvantages of each mission type.

List of Assessments:
I will assess the lesson objective by having students discuss out loud the understandings of the mission
types from the Strange New Planet activity and relate it back to actual space technology. Students will
fill out a work sheet that contains the information the technology gathers, advantages and
disadvantages of each mission type.

Colorado State University College of Applied Human Sciences

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STEPP Lesson Plan Form

Planned Lesson Activities

Name and Purpose of Lesson
Should be a creative title for you and the students to
associate with the activity. Think of the purpose as
the mini-rationale for what you are trying to
accomplish through this lesson.
Approx. Time and Materials
How long do you expect the activity to last and what
materials will you need?
Anticipatory Set
The hook to grab students attention. These are
actions and statements by the teacher to relate the
experiences of the students to the objectives of the
lesson, To put students into a receptive frame of
mind.
To focus student attention on the lesson.
To create an organizing framework for the
ideas, principles, or information that is to
follow (advanced organizers)
An anticipatory set is used any time a different
activity or new concept is to be introduced.
Procedures
(Include a play-by-play account of what students and
teacher will do from the minute they arrive to the
minute they leave your classroom. Indicate the
length of each segment of the lesson. List actual
minutes.)
Indicate whether each is:
-teacher input
-modeling
-questioning strategies
-guided/unguided:
-whole-class practice

Mission Type Comparison identifying differences between space technology and the
advantages and disadvantages of each.

45 minutes
Last class students used different mission types to discover a new planet, this activity
was titled Strange New Planet. The students made telescopes, performed a Fly By and
explored the new planet with an orbiter and rover. I will be teaching after Mr. Behrens
finishes his Strange New Planet activity so I will use that to transition into my activity. I
will start by asking the students about the missions they just used to learn about this
new planet. This will connect what they did to discover this new planet with actual
missions that are used to discover information in space.

0-5 minutes: Class will discuss the different mission types they learned about during
Strange New Planet Activity (checking for understanding).
5-20 minutes: Power Point presentation on different mission types including definition,
information collected with the certain type of mission and videos or pictures that tell
more about the certain type of technology (teacher input). There will be videos and
images from different technologies to model how they work (modeling).
During presentation students will be asked to think of ways that the mission type they
used during Strange New Planet had an advantage compared to others, and how it had a
disadvantage (questioning strategies).

Colorado State University College of Applied Human Sciences

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STEPP Lesson Plan Form

-group practice
-individual practice
-check for understanding
-other

20-35 minutes: students will take the time to fill out their work sheets. This work sheet
has columns titled Type of Information [gathered], Advantages, and Disadvantages
(individual practice).
35-45 minutes: students will share answers from the worksheet (checking for
understanding).

Closure
After discussing the answers from the Mission Type Comparison worksheet I will review
Those actions or statements by a teacher that are
what we have gone over by starting with the Strange New Planet activity and tying in the
designed to bring a lesson presentation to an
information about the mission types. I will have students repeat back to me (as a class)
appropriate conclusion. Used to help students bring
the 4 types of missions we talked about.
things together in their own minds, to make sense
out of what has just been taught. Any Questions?
No. OK, lets move on is not closure. Closure is used:
To cue students to the fact that they have
arrived at an important point in the lesson or
the end of a lesson.
To help organize student learning
To help form a coherent picture and to consolidate.
Differentiation
To modify: I will go slower, reiterate, make the connection to the activity they did for
To modify: If the activity is too advanced for a child,
them to grasp the concept in another way.
how will you modify it so that they can be successful? To extend: have students research or think of way these different types of missions are
To extend: If the activity is too easy for a child, how
used. (Example: Hubble Space Telescope, Mariner Mission).
will you extend it to develop their emerging skills?
Assessment
How will you know if students met the learning
Mission Type Comparison worksheet
targets? Write a description of what you were
Informal class discussion
looking for in each assessment.

Colorado State University College of Applied Human Sciences

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STEPP Lesson Plan Form

Post Lesson Reflection

1. To what extent were lesson objectives achieved? (Utilize assessment data to justify
your level of achievement)
I feel that my lesson objective was achieved. My objective was for the students understand
the differences among space mission types and after my lesson the students showed a
strong understanding of this topic. They were able to explain each mission type to me and
how they differed from each other.

2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would you make if you were to
teach again?
If I were to teach this lesson again I would like to teach the Strange New Planet activity as
well. The Strange New Planet activity put a hands on perspective my lesson. I felt that my
activity was a little too dry for the students, especially after just completing something so
engaging. The part that I taught was really just tying together the loose ends of the Strange
New Planet activity and I dont feel like I was really able to teach and have students
engaged in my lesson because of this.

3. What do you envision for the next lesson? (Continued practice, reteach content, etc.)
The next lesson in the unit is entitled Marsbound and it takes students through a series of
questions and inquiries to determine what they would need to go on a mission to Mars. This
incorporates my lesson because the students will have to use their prior knowledge of the
different space mission types and determine which one best fits their mission.

Colorado State University College of Applied Human Sciences

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STEPP Lesson Plan Form

Worksheets Used:

Colorado State University College of Applied Human Sciences

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