Instructional Software

Lesson Idea Name: Woah, How Energy Flows!

Content Area: Science

Grade Level(s): 4

Content Standard Addressed:

ISTE Standard 6a: Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of
their creation or communication.

S4L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy
within an ecosystem.

b. Develop simple models to illustrate the flow of energy through a food web/food chain beginning with
sunlight and including producers, consumers, and decomposers.

Selected Technology Tool: Microsoft PowerPoint

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

Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy Level(s):

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

Levels of Technology Integration:

☐ 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.

X 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):

A way to support variety in the classroom is by giving students the option to work individually or in groups.
Working with a partner is beneficial for students who thrive on collaboration. Additionally, partner work is a
fantastic way for students to learn from one another. Alternatively, students may work alone for a more
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 Instructional Software
personal learning experience.
PowerPoint is a fantastic software for students to display their learning through. The software includes
endless customization options for students to make their presentations unique to their own style. Aside from
the style and format of the slides, students can customize the fonts, images, and include videos or voiceovers
to their presentations.
Lesson idea implementation:

At the beginning of the lesson, students will watch my e-Book about energy flow and food chains. The e-Book
and previous lessons regarding food chains will have students well prepared for the activity. I will display the
directions for the activity on the Smart Board; Students will have the opportunity to work individually or with
a partner to create a PowerPoint presentation of the food chain. Students will be required to include one type
of producer, consumer, and decomposer for their presentation. The presentation should chronologically
follow the order of the food chain.

Once students have determined which organisms, they would like to include in their food chain, they will
write a short sentence identifying the organisms they chose and which category the organism falls under
(producer, consumer, or decomposer) and how the energy flows from each organism to the next. To extend
the lesson, we could have a class discussion about the vocabulary words for the unit and how we use them in
sentences. To conclude the lesson, students will be asked to submit their PowerPoint presentations and fill
out an exit ticket matching the definitions of the vocabulary words to their corresponding term.

Reflective Practice:

I feel that this activity impacts student learning by giving them the freedom of creativity. Our world is vast and
contains a multitude of organisms and students have the freedom to choose whichever organism best fits
their food chain model. Additionally, student learning is impacted through repetitive use of vocabulary terms
throughout the lesson to further solidify their understanding of these terms. As an extension of this lesson,
students can play a Kahoot game where they will be shown an organism and must determine whether the
organism is a producer, consumer, or decomposer.

TFrazier, 2021