5E Lesson Plan Template
Subject
Topic
Prior Knowledge
What are students expected to
already know or be able to do
before the lesson?
Learning objectives
What are students expected to
learn after completing the
lesson? These may or may not
be specific and measurable.
Science Process Skills
What process skills will be
developed and where in the
lesson will they be used/
developed by students?
Science and Society
General science Class 5 Date N/A
Biodegradable & Non-Biodegradable materials Unit Environmental pollution Duration 90 minutes – 45 mins per
day
Students should already know:
 About pollution & its types along with its causes and effects (SNC, grade 5, chap 4)
 Identify ways of accelerating the process of dissolving materials in given amount of water and provide reasoning (i.e.,
increasing the temperature, stirring, and breaking the solid into smaller pieces increases the process of dissolving) (SNC,
grade 5, chap 5)
 Highlight the role of microorganisms in decomposition. (SNC, grade 5, chap 2)
 Know-how with the terms decay, ripped, ingested, and digested.
By the end of the lesson students will be able to:
 Differentiate between biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials.
 Observing – while witnessing the change in shape of different materials through their sense of sight. (Explore)
 Experimenting – while experimenting over different types of provided materials and gathering data by giving similar
external conditions to all of them i.e. temperature, placement in a glass beaker etc., and just varying the material type that’s
dipped in the water. (Explore)
 Analyzing data – while drawing conclusions and finding out patterns from the gathered data. (Explore)
 Predicting – while reflecting upon what will happen if we let the materials dipped for more time than we did. (Explain)
By generating all such examples and questions that connects with students’ prior knowledge like the example of a glass breaking
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 down mistakenly or evidencing an overcooked or ripped fruit increases the relevancy for the student to better relate the topic to
Description of an age-
themselves and understand it. All the examples throughout the session are mostly taken from students’ daily life directly or are
appropriate and relevant
connected with it indirectly so that to increase the factor of students familiarity with it because they see these phenomenon
frame that connects your
occurring around them in the society more often and hence by connecting to them they can logically build upon to their existing
science topic with society.
knowledge. Therefore, this would be a learning experience perfectly falling upon the gradient of age-appropriateness.
Additionally, the delivery of the concept will be done through the technique of experimentation which will include testing and
observations over the materials that student already know and use i.e. plastic, tissue & newspaper. Through this, the students
would be able to relate the conceptual idea with what they use in their daily life more efficiently and therefore it will help them to
reflect better.

Time Content and teacher/ student activity Rationale Formative assessment Learning materials
and resources
How are you explaining and illustrating the topic? What are the justifications for the chosen How do you plan to assess What resources will
activities for being relevant to the learning learning as it is happening? you use that will
What are students doing to help them understand the outcome? support the teaching
topic? and learning
activities?
Engage
- Beakers
The teacher will initiate the class by showing the class With the intentions to let students reflect Students will be assessed - Hot & cold
a laminated A3-sized picture of land pollution over long-lasting sustenance to material and through their quality of verbal water
(Appendix A) and will ask; their inability to degrade makes them responses during whole class - Chalk pieces
Day 1 1. What do you see in the image? (Garbage, land harmful to the environment, the class will discussion. - Blackboard,
15 pollution etc.) be started by elucidating student’s prior chalk & duster
mins 2. What type of garbage can you specifically identify knowledge.
in the picture? (Plastic cup, wrappers, wasted food
etc.) Picture analysis would be a firm start to the
3. Which material do you think will get decayed class that will be a quick reflection over
eventually and which one will sustain for long student’s prior knowledge. Then, in-class
period of time from the above picture? demonstration and the example of breaking
Linking to this question the teacher will say; Today we of glass has been placed here to help
will try this out through the materials that are available students understand that a big material gets
to us, to see what kind of materials sustains for long and broken down into many smaller pieces.
becomes a cause to pollution. Whereas, fruit ripening will additionally
reflect how end product differs from what

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Now the teacher will perform some basic in-class we have in the beginning. These examples
demonstration in front of the class. She will instruct will help for the smooth flow to the LO.
students to observe what she is doing.

The teacher will set the apparatus on the front table

while explicitly naming all of them so that to help
students recognize basic science apparatus.

She will place two beakers on the table, out of which

one beaker would have cold water which the other
beaker would contain hot water. Then she will dip a
few chalk pieces of equal lengths and quantity in both
of the beaker and will ask students to keep an eye on
what happens now.

Expected observational findings & students responses

would be that the chalk dipped in hot water
disintegrates or broken down into tiny visible particles
easily without spending much time while the same
chalk in cold water extends its original state for a
longer while and takes more time before breaking
down.

After students are done with observing the

demonstration the teacher will ask;

1. What did you observed? (chalk in water)

2. What do you think chalk sustained for long or got
broken down? (Broken down)
3. Have you ever noticed that similar action of
disintegration or breaking happening at home when
a glass breaks unintentionally into smaller pieces?
(Yes,no)
4. Have you ever seen an over ripped fruit at your
home? That over ripped apple or orange that smells
and if we don’t eat it for a long while it itself start

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 to decay?
 How was it decaying? Who was the
cause to decay?

Expected response; microorganism, Or the environment

we are placing the object in, or I don’t know etc.

 What is the similarity in all of these

examples that we just think of?

Expected response; Original looks or appearance of all

the things that we talked about are changing by the end of
our observation, Or No I cannot think of any similarity
etc.

After all the above questioning in a sequence the teacher

will ask; Does a plastic box gets ripped in a similar way
that an apple gets ripped when it’s been kept for a long
time?
Expected response: No
The teacher will say; Keep thinking and reflecting that
why a plastic box doesn’t gets ripped then throughout the
class, and by the end of it, you will be able to answer
your own query.

Explore

Proceeding, the teacher will divide the class in group

Experimentation is the best suit technique Students will be assessed Per group;
of 4 and will give them the following instructions; for the students to self-explore and learn during their collaboration in 1 beaker
how different materials generates different the group work, active 1 small piece of
30  You will receive apparatus and in your groups results upon the provision of same participation throughout, and tissue paper
mins you will perform an experiment. conditions. This would be a hand on minds verbal responses during the 1 small piece of
 Be careful while you handle the supplies on task that will make students self scaffolding question and group newspaper
because they are delicate and you need to act regulated. Working in groups will help discussions. 1 small piece of
like a responsible researcher while using it. student generate better observational data carbon paper
 The experiments includes hot water, that means and work collaboratively. 1 small piece of
you need to be extra cautious while your

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 experimentation.
 Wear the gloves provided and strictly follow
the precautionary measures and take
responsibility for yourself and the people
around you.
Afterward, the teacher will supply the resources in the
groups.
plastic
All the scaffolding questions will direct Along with 4 clips
students in a way that they will themselves tied with strings.
inquire the properties of biodegradable and
non-biodegradable materials without
specifically knowing the terminologies.

Next, the teacher will write the question on board; What

will happen if these things are dipped in hot water? Then
she will ask students to think over it and work
accordingly while exploring all the supplies that has been
provided to them and think of a way to get to the
conclusions, along with showing all of their findings
from the beginning to the end.
For this experiment, you will have 25 minutes.
(Scaffolding questions applies majorly to this part of the
plan where students work collaboratively in their groups
and teacher acts like a facilitator)

After that students are done with their observations and

data collection the teacher will explicitly ask them to
invest some time in deducing the conclusions from their
data and share their findings in their groups while seeing
if they find any common patterns or something that
attracts their minds, think over why the results came out
the way they did etc.

Then the teacher will praise everyone for their active

participation and critical thinking throughout the
experiment.

Scaffolding questions;
1. Where will you collect data for keeping your
findings safe and handy?

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 2. What are your findings till now?
3. How will you differentiate the final results with
what you had in the beginning?
4. Reflect back to the start of the class, can you think
the start of the class might help you in performing
the experiment anyhow?
5. Can you identify what conditions are we providing
in this experiment that remains same throughout
or that gets changed?
6. Why do you think some materials are giving
different results than others, when all the other
conditions provided are the same?
7. Do you think the materials that are given to you
has any connection that contributes to pollution?
Or does any material that you have at the moment
sustains longer that it’s sustainability can cause
pollution?

Explain
Students would be assessed
Moving ahead, upon teacher’s instruction all of the Classroom discussion and continuation of through the quality of ideas they Blackboard
groups will share their findings in the whole class questioning has been placed here as share from their experiments Chalk and duster
Day 2 discussion. through this students will be able to think and the aspects they can think
20 critically and logically alongside to.
mins Then, the teacher during the class discussion will probe analyzing the data they deduced from the
the students further by asking them; experiments.

What if these materials will be kept for a longer period

of time in the hot water? (Maybe tissue paper gets
vanished, or carbon paper get fade in color etc.)
Through verbal responses and
After collecting student’s responses, she will proceed active participation in whole
forward via reflecting back to the question that she left class discussion.
for students to ponder upon i.e. Does a plastic box gets Through the thumbs up thumbs
ripped in a similar way that an apple gets ripped when down strategy.
it’s been kept for a long time?

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Now the teacher will respond to this question by telling
students that as we know the reason behind the ripening
of apple are the microorganisms, so the microorganisms
feeds upon organic material, apple is an organic material
but the plastic is not.

Now can you tell me what do you understand by the term

organic?
Expected response: No, I don’t remember, etc.

Here the teacher will explicitly tell students that organic

relates to something that has connection with living
organisms or has a property like living organisms – it is
free from chemicals. So, as apple is a fruit that we get
from tree, that is living, means apple was once living, it
means it has the property of living organism therefore
apple is organic and microorganisms can affect and eat The teacher will here explicitly introduce
them. But, plastic is made with chemicals and is a non- students with some key terms relating the
living material that’s why it is not organic and it cannot topic. The reason is that, till here the
be ingested nor digested by the microorganisms. Hence it students are implicitly getting aware of the
does not gets ripe but the apple does. phenomenon and the characteristics
happening, and letting them know the key
Here the teacher will ask students to close their eyes and terms will help them solidify the concept.
show her a thumbs up if they get everything till here or
else show a thumbs down.

Now the teacher will write two terms on the board i.e
Biodegradable & Non-biodegradable.
She will tell students that bio means life and degrade
means to simplify or decay or break down. So all the
material that can be broken down through any life
processes and can be degraded are known as bio-
degradable. Like, tissue paper & newspaper that you saw
in your experiment which got broken down in hot water.
Whereas, all those things that cannot be broken down or
destroyed through life process are non-biodegradable

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 materials like carbon paper & plastic that you see
remained same in appearance from the beginning to the
end of your experiment.

Now the teacher will ask students to tell is about pear,

tire, and food waste biodegradable or non-
biodegradable?
Expected response: pear, remaining food dump –
biodegradable whereas, tire– non biodegradable

What do you think, are non-biodegradable materials

good to be used for environment’s health? Or you think
using those means increasing environmental pollution?
Why?
Expected response: A threat to the environment because
they can’t be decayed, means many stock of used non-
biodegradable materials will lead to a pile of dump and
garbage like we saw in the image that we can’t get rid of Self-reflection question will help the
for a long time. students use their new knowledge to
respond, meanwhile it will give the
teacher assurance of to which extent the
correct concept has been conveyed.

Elaborate
Per pair;
The teacher will then instruct students in pairs and will This activity will help structuring the Students will be assessed Set of flashcards
allot them a set of flashcards and an empty graphic conveyed concept in a way that directly through their in-pair Empty graphic
organizer. (Appendix B) Students will be asked to do targets the LO which asks to differentiate, conversations and correct organizer
10 set, sort and paste corresponding appropriate flashcard so giving students the exposure with identification during the set and
mins to its column. graphic organizer for differentiation is a sort.
Then the teacher will randomly ask students to tell must.
which flashcard they put where.
Evaluate

To conclude the teacher will ask students to think that if Through this the teacher will get the Students will be assessed Exit tickets
they are ask to choose from a beautiful plastic bag and utmost surety of student’s level of

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 15 an ordinary cloth bag; what will be their choice and clearance & understanding to the topic. through the written exit tickets.
mins why? (cloth bag – it is biodegradable)
After general classroom discussion the teacher will
individually provide students an exit ticket – reflect
through one’s (Appendix C). Students will fill it and
will return them back to the teacher. Then the teacher
will briefly restate the day’s learning in front of the
class.

Appendix

A – Laminated land pollution

Zoomed;

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Appendix B;
 Flashcards

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 Graphic organizer
Biodegradable Non- Biodegradable

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Appendix C - Exit ticket – Reflect through One’s!

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 Exit ticket – Reflect through Ones!
Name: _____________________

Write down any one learning from today’s class…

Write down any one muddy point from today’s class…

Write down any one thing that you already knew about the topic before entering the class…

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