Instructional Software

Lesson Idea Name: Erosion in the Community

Content Area: Science
Grade Level(s): 3rd grade

Content Standard Addressed: Students will be able to make observations of the local environment to
construct an explanation of how water and/or wind have made changes to soil and/or rocks over time.

Selected Technology Tool: BrainPOP

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable and goes directly to the lesson):

https://www.brainpop.com/science/forcesofnature/erosion/

Type of Instructional Software:

☐ Drill and Practice X Tutorial ☐ Simulation ☐ Instructional Game ☐ e-books/e-references

Features of this software (check all that apply):

X Assessment Monitoring/Reporting
X Allows teacher to create customized lessons for students
☐ Multi-user or collaborative functions with others in the class
☐ Multi-user or collaborative with others outside the class
X Accessible to students beyond the school day
X Accessible via mobile devices
X Multiple languages
X Safety, security and/or privacy features

Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy Level(s):

X Remembering X Understanding X Applying ☐ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☐ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration:

X Infusion Level: Students may work at a higher Bloom’s Level, but they do not have any “Voice or Choice”
during the activity and most of the decisions are made by the teacher.

☐ Integration Level: We would like to see ALL lessons/activities reach this level. The project is student-
driven. Students have “Voice and Choice” in the activities, selecting the topic of study and determining the
technology tool to demonstrate mastery of the standard. The teacher becomes more of a facilitator.
☐ Expansion Level: The projects created are shared outside of the classroom, publishing student work and
promoting authorship. This could be reached by showcasing the project on the school’s morning
newscast, posting the project to the classroom blog, or publishing via an outside source.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL): My activity will follow the Universal Design for Learning framework by
allowing all students to learn and review concepts in the way that works best for them. Students will be able

TFrazier, 2021
 Instructional Software
to choose which BrainPOP activity they want to complete after watching the video based on their personal
preference, and there will also be multiple different activities to choose from when working in groups to
support each student’s learning style and how they like to present information. This lesson offers multiple
ways for students to be engaged including watching videos, completing activities, doing group work, and
presenting their knowledge in whichever method they choose. For presenting their knowledge, students can
choose from creating an online presentation, drawing a picture, building their findings with clay, or making an
informational poster. Overall, there are many choices for how each student wants to complete the lesson
based off of how they learn best and what will help them retain information most effectively.

Lesson idea implementation: I would start this lesson by asking students what they already know about
erosion. After discussing this for a minute and reflecting on it as a pre-assessment, I would play the “Erosion”
BrainPOP video and let students watch it on the Smartboard. After watching the video, students would be
able to choose between completing the quiz, challenge, or vocabulary activity on BrainPOP to test what they
have learned and review to see what they know. After completing an activity, the students would come back
as a whole class to discuss what they learned. Then, I would ask students if they have noticed any erosion in
their community or any environment that they are familiar with. As students think about examples of erosion
in the local community, I would put students into groups to complete a lesson activity. For this activity,
students will get to choose between creating an online presentation, drawing a picture, building their findings
out of clay, or making an informational poster. In their final project, students would have to show how water
and wind have changed the rocks and soils in the area that they have identified. In addition to their visual
piece, students should also be able to explain verbally how erosion has worked in the community or area that
they have modeled.
Because students are creating a project of some kind, they are practicing higher order thinking in evaluating
how erosion has changed land and creating a model of the changes. It allows for differentiation as students
are able to choose the way that they want to create a final project. To extend learning, students will be able
to use the Internet to look up local examples of erosion and find more information to add to their
explanation. In total, this lesson will take about 45 minutes to an hour. I will conclude this lesson by asking
groups to present their final creation to the rest of the class, and I will write feedback on a rubric and share it
with the group after the lesson.
Reflective Practice: I think this lesson could be really helpful and fun for students because they get a choice of
how they want to learn and present information. The BrainPOP video allows for an engaging introduction to
the lesson that will spark their interest to learn more about the topic. Completing one of the BrainPOP
activities will allow students to test what they know as well as give me insight to what I need to go into more
detail about based on the student feedback. Working on groups will allow students to collaborate with one
another and create a visually appealing product that would require higher order thinking. To extend this
lesson, students could find more examples of erosion outside of their community and attempt to make visuals
to show those changes from erosion using graphic design software. This would allow more technological
integration and reach higher LoTi levels.

TFrazier, 2021