Final Submission

NSTA Learning Center PDE3 Portfolio
NGSS Professional Learning

through the NSTA Learning
Center Portfolio
PDE3
Section C - Winter
With Lauren Kaupp
Learning Results Portfolio
Ember M. Brock
Name:
Type your name and date on these lines
Date: December 7th, 2020 - February 26th, 2021
Course Number: SC185639

Section Number: 299485
Table of Contents
Section Page
Number
Professional Goals 3
Culminating reflection on personal growth 6
Pre-Post Assessment 9
Pre-Post Assessment Analysis 12
Lesson 1
Lesson Plan 14
Work Samples 19
Reflection 20
Lesson 2
Lesson Plan 22
Work Samples 27
Reflection 28
Lesson 3
Lesson Plan 30
Work Samples 38
Reflection 39
2
CAPTION
What is this piece of evidence?
This section is a set of short responses to the provided prompts
regarding personal professional goals and the connection
between my participation in this NGSS course with the school's
professional development plan.
How does this evidence demonstrate an application of your

Professional Goals
learning in the course?
This section is evidence of my learning and application of
knowledge by showing a personal reflection on the application of
lessons and knowledge within my classroom as well as the impact
of my participation within the larger grade level team and school
community.
Professional Goals
Your professional goals:

My professional goal and the reason behind my enrollment in this program is to become
one of the curriculum leads for my school. I want to have a strong understanding of the NGSS
and the application of the standards in various settings to best benefit the students. I want to
make a positive impact and a lasting difference for the students.
During my time at the school, there is a disconnect between the curriculum program
choices and the application in the classes. We also do not have vertical articulation of plans or
data. I would like to help bring more understanding and flexibility to the school that can help
when the teachers in different grades need to align their lessons with each other and with our
new STEM teacher.
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I wish to positively influence and guide my grade level team to a more balanced and
uniform approach to the NGSS and the implementation at our school. My goals also are
aligned with the school's need to have a strong continuum of learning across the grade levels.
Currently, the disconnect is most notable between 2nd grade (where I am currently placed)
and 3rd grade, when testing begins. I want to help my students, and the other students in the
grade, develop a strong foundational understanding of the science content and standards to
prepare them for the higher level academics and testing requirements in the coming years.
How this PD impacted your professional goals:

Participating in this PD has helped me to learn more about the NGSS and how different
teachers are able to implement the standards in their classrooms and communities. I was able
to read about and learn from teachers with various experiences and backgrounds in order to
help guide my thinking and practices.
Through my research and exploration of the forums, I was able to gain insights and
practical knowledge of different modifications teachers were and are successfully using to
help their students meet the standards. This is greatly beneficial to my professional growth
and desire to meet my goals. I am able to learn from the experiences of others about the
challenges and opportunities within similar communities and bring that knowledge to my
school and classroom. I am able to read about different approaches and resources that work to
bring into my own teaching and learning.
My goals are to help improve the school to the benefit of the students, not only this
year, but in the future as well. Interacting with other teachers, through the webinars and
forums, has allowed me to take notes on things that I would not otherwise have been able to.
The self-paced and self-guided learning in this PD course has also helped me to navigate and
collect information on the topics and strategies that will be the most beneficial and
meaningful to my school and community, rather than a traditional PD course where I am only
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able to learn about the perspectives being presented in a given time period.
This PD was more informative than many of the other, more traditional and more
structured courses I have participated in. I was able to work for and target the benefits of my
school and students rather than work to meet the expectations of the professor. This relieved
the stressful aspect and allowed me to feel comfortable exploiting the information and
resources available to me through the NSTA site. I feel that I am well on my way to reaching
my professional goals.
How the PD impacted student learning:

This PD course has positively impacted student learning within my classroom and grade
level by allowing me as the teacher more knowledge and insights into the standards and
expectations. By having a better understanding of the NGSS, I am able to make appropriate
modifications and accommodations to meet the needs of the students without compromising
on the content or structure of the lessons.
My participation in this course has also helped to improve student learning by allowing
access to resources and materials that were previously unavailable to us. I am able to draw
from a wider variety of readings, experiments, activities, and so on to meet the students at the
academic performance level they are at rather than attempting to teach them with an
overwhelming amount of modifications. We were able to take curriculum and lessons that the
school is currently using and adjust them slightly to ensure that no student is left behind or
unchallenged. I am better equipped to ensure I can provide relevant, engaging, and
challenging educational experiences for all the students, rather than having to find or create
resources to do so just within my classroom.
I have also been able to positively impact the students and other teachers in my grade
level by sharing the knowledge, information, and resources from this PD course with them. I
was able to share my lessons and modifications with the rest of my team and help them work
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with their students to make sure we are collectively moving forward.
How your professional goals fit with your school-wide professional

development plan:
My professional goals align with the school's goals and plans because we are uniformly
aiming to have all of the teachers trained in multiple areas to provide the students with a well-
rounded, well-implemented curriculum and create a staff that can help each other in all areas.
I would not be able to do so without a stable foundation in understanding the standards
themselves and the implications within the schools.
CAPTION
This section is a personal reflection on my learning and
growth. This is evidence of the results from application of
knowledge gained through this Professional Development
Course.
Culminating Reflection and
Personal Growth
This is a personal analysis of each lesson and the impacts seen
in my classroom. This is a reflection on the students abilities
as well as my own throughout the duration of the NGSS /
NSTA course and the implications for teaching in the future.
Culminating reflection, including personal growth

My personal and professional growth goals were aligned with the need to understand
the NGSS and how to teach lessons that can both meet the needs of the students and
integrate the standards with the content we currently teach. Throughout this Professional
Development Course, I was working on building a stronger understanding of the standards
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themselves and practicing the application with the lessons that I modified. I can see through
my lesson plans and the modifications that I made that there is a huge difference between the
ones I taught prior to the course and the ones here in the portfolio. I can also see a difference
in the level of student knowledge retention. I am not quite where I would like to be yet; I
am not knowledgeable or practiced enough to be a curriculum lead, but I am making notable
progress. I hope to continue to explore the NSTA site and resources available to make sure
that I have everything I need to best serve my students.
I believe that my students have benefited from my lessons, participation, and

reflections from this course because of the re-introduction to topics and concepts that we
had attempted during the full-distance learning. Teaching during a pandemic has been an
endless series of challenges that no one really knows how to deal with, let alone the schools.
In our rush to keep the kids safe, we changed and eliminated a lot of the exploration aspects
to the lessons since the students are not allowed to share items or be in contact with each
other. I am glad that I was able to bring some of the experiences back into the classroom
through this course. I am pleased that I learned enough about the NGSS performance
expectations to find a way to integrate experiments back into the lessons without
endangering my students.
With each lesson, I was able to adjust to meet the students' needs fairly easily. Since
much of the lessons were based on the students' designs and they were responsible for their
own experiments, I did not have to worry too much about keeping them engaged or on-task.
My primary concern was the language as a barrier for the students. My students are not the
strongest readers and half of my class population are second language learners. I did not want
the language to be the reason why the students did not succeed. This was easy to modify and I
made sure to include a lot of visuals and modeling in the lessons.
The way that the students are split into two groups allows for regular small group
instruction and general accommodations that meet the needs of all the students in that
particular group for the day. Looking through the lesson plans and reflecting on my teaching
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experience, I made more accommodations and modifications while I was teaching than I had
originally planned, however, I did not lose any time. We were able to finish each lesson on
schedule. I have found that it is much harder to write down everything that I do to meet the
needs of my students since most of the adjustments happen as the students encounter
problems. I am able to adapt to the situation and guide them without needing to completely
plan for each scenario.
From my experiences, these on-the-spot adjustments are the best way to assess and
meet the needs of the students. It can be completely personalized and targeted to the skills
that they need to develop but with the benefit of progressing the child to a goal. This is also
helpful in the pandemic because I cannot have the students help each other or work in pairs
without protective measures and planning.
In the end, I found that all of my students were able to make progress and have
demonstrated high levels of comprehension and retention. They are excited to be in school
and very happy to have the hands-on experiences. These three lessons have proven to be a
great test to the ability of the kids to stay safe while being responsible for their own learning.
They show a promising growth in just three lessons and I am planning to have more of these
types of activities. The best evidence was their creations in each lesson; from the seed pods to
the icy pops, the students created wonderful products that helped them to understand the
content on a whole new level.
Allowing the students to generate their own products and be in control of the lessons is
more in-line with the teaching style I had prior to the global shutdown. When my priorities
shifted into keeping the kids safe, but also trying to get them ready for third grade, without
the class having finished first grade, I just wanted to focus on the academics. The class as a
whole had been lacking foundational skills at no fault of their own. Now that we have
developed more stable foundations to build on, I feel that more of these hands-on activities
and lessons will push the kids to their full potential. I want to make sure that I am really
teaching every student, not just the ones who have been able to keep up through the digital
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transition. I want all of my kids to succeed and be prepared for next year.
CAPTION
This is a personal reflection on the results from my pre-/post-
assessment of the course.

Analysis of Pre-/Post-
assessment
This is an analysis of the provided pre and post assessment for
this section. I have looked at my responses to the different
sections and reflected on the impact it has had on the
implementation of the lessons in my classroom.
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Analysis of Pre-/Post-Assessment
What does the pre-/post- self-assessment show you about your learning?
Brock: Pre-/Post- Assessment
This shows that I have learned quite a bit about the NGSS and how to create and adapt
lessons to help my students meet the standards. It shows that I learned a lot from the
interactions with other teachers and through reading about their experiences.
I think that I did learn a lot about the website and the amazing resources that are
available, however, I did not find the student side to be very applicable to my students or
school demographics. I think that this course was a great way to expose teachers to the
wealth of information on NSTA and NGSS, but the student side is really only for a certain
community.
My responses also show that the experiences of the SciPacks and peer responses were
not as helpful as general participation and exploration on the NSTA site. I feel as if I just
completed the responses and SciPacks for the assignment credits, not because the experience
had value for me as a professional resource. These are not really items or tools that I would
use with my students for several reasons and I did not find it helpful to have to comment on
other's reflections when the value was in reading the post.
I feel as though this is a good opportunity to elaborate on my answer for the "challenges
of implementation" question. I do not mean that teaching during COVID is a challenge as
much as I mean that the social distancing, the cleaning, the regulations, and everything else
that is impacting teaching in general will also be challenges for teaching the NGSS. I can
create a wonderful lesson and amazing unit, but as in this case, I am handling a lot of it for the
students. The hands-on aspect is really hard to include since we have to follow the safety rules
and regulations. I refuse to put my students at any greater risk than their communities
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already hold and I will do everything I can to keep them safe. This makes teaching NGSS
harder since a lot of the hook activities are meant to be done in pairs or groups.
I also commented that a challenge would be resources. The community I teach in is of

low-SES and therefore not able to provide materials for us to use in class. A lot of the
resources we have are sourced from the teachers and staff at the school. Trying to find
specific items usually means that I need to go buy it myself and make sure that I have enough
for each child to work independently.
Overall, I had a really great experience in the course and I really loved that it was self-
paced. I feel that I learned more from being allowed to explore instead rushed to complete
assignments just for the grades. I really am grateful for the chance to share resources with the
other teachers at my school.
CAPTION
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This is a lesson plan adapted from an available lesson on
the Mystery Science site. This lesson plan focuses on
exposing the students to the basics of plant needs.
Lesson Plan 1
How does this evidence demonstrate an application of
Based on
your learning in the course?
https://mysteryscience.com/
This is the planning of an inquiry based lesson and
plants/mystery-2/water-
includes modifications to further the students'
sunlight-plant-growth/571?
understanding. I am adding in variables to the
r=54978367
experiment to challenge the students' thinking. I am also
adding in the science journal to help expose the students
to documentation practices as well as integrate math and
writing to the lesson.
Standards:
2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to
grow.
Lesson Objective:
Students will conduct an experiment primarily independently to discover the basic needs of
plants as they grow.
Essential / Guiding Question:

What do plants need to grow?
Materials
★ Television and laptop
★ Student Science Journal Notebooks
★ Folder paper
★ Blank paper
★ Pencils
★ Erasers
★ Cups (x4 per student)
★ Sticker labels (for each cup)
★ Soil (about 2 pounds)
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★ Chia Seeds (one packet)
★ Paper Towels (x2 per student)
★ Trays (to place the cups on in the closet)
★ Spray bottle (to water the seeds)
★ Whiteboards, markers, and erasers
★ Rulers (with centimeters)
Time Line (A/B)

There are two groups of students, due to the pandemic, who alternate between campus and
digital learning. The outline of the lesson plan and dates will have varying times because of the
different schedules and events each group of students will encounter throughout the week.
There will be no times or explicit dates due to the fact that this lesson is being taught with two
different groups of students that are slightly out-of-step with each other.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6
Planting Day Growth Growth Growth Growth Conclusions

Observations Observations Observations Observations
General Lesson Plan

Section Directions
Pre-assessment Have the students log in to their laptops and take the pre-assessment.
Inform the class that this is just to see what they already know and what
we are going to need to cover.
Help them with the images and language as needed.
Review Pass out a piece of folder paper and ask the students to draw out all the
steps of a growing plant.
Have the students share their steps one at a time and write each on the
board. Allow the students to correct each other in a positive way so that
we have a complete life cycle of a plant.
Exploration Play the MysteryScience video for the students and ask them if they
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remember when we did a similar experiment at the start of the school
year.
Each time the question slide appears, have the students discuss their
answers and memories for a few minutes before resuming the video.
Hands-on We have Chia seeds instead of Radish seeds.

activity
Ask the students if they can remember the long experiment we did while
we were full distance. About having the plants in the closet and outside.
Allow the students to recall and discuss for a few minutes until everyone
is on the same page.
Now that everyone remembers what it was like when Ms. Brock did it for
you, it is your turn to do it yourself! Yay!
Walk through each of the steps to set up the experiment with the
students. Help them with the harder steps from the slides and carry the
cups around for the students so they are still able to socially distance.
We will be testing several variables: no sunlight, no water, no soil, and a

control).
Journal Have the students use their new notebooks to document "planting day".
They need to draw a diagram of the seeds, the cup, and each setting that
they will be observing (i.e. closet and outdoors, water, no water, no
sunlight, no soil)
They will need to write their predictions for each cup in their journals as
well.
Check - in The students will check on their plants at the end of each day to take
(1 week) notes and draw their diagrams.
They will document the growth of each cup in centimeters.
They will have a detailed and labeled diagram for each cup each day.
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They will make predictions about each cup for the next day.
They will revisit their predictions from the previous day and see if they
were right or wrong.
They can generalize the ideas to other plants during class discussions.
Class Discussion Guiding Questions:

(end of the
week) What are your observations? What have you noticed?
Why do you think that the plants were able to grow? Why do you think
the plants didn't grow?
Do you think that this is true for all plants?
What about people? Do you think people can grow if they don't have
everything they need? Why?
Adaptations and Modifications
Target Student Accomodations

Population
ELL (low) Strong, repetitive visuals.
Guided practice with the teacher.
One - to - one support with the teacher as needed.
Read instructions to the students, rephrasing as needed.
Step-by-step demonstration for the experiment portion of the lesson.
Extra supplies as needed.
Writing on the board to provide examples and sentence frames.
15
Additional time (as the day permits and with high student interest)
ELL (mid) Strong, repetitive visuals.
Teacher and peer support and modeling as needed.
Gen Ed (low) Repetitive instruction
Strong visual aids
Teacher and peer modeling
Reading the questions and directions to the students, rephrasing as

needed.
Supporting with guiding questions.
Extra materials and supplies as needed.
Gen Ed (high) Encourage and model more informative labels and detailed notes.
Challenge predictions and request more detailed explanations.
16
Less support for the writing portion but with more guiding questions
to encourage stronger literacy skills.
More "check-ins" with less direct teacher support.
17
CAPTION
This evidence is a collection of student work samples
from the first lesson.

Student Work Samples Lesson 1 your learning in the course?
This is evidence of the application of my learning in this
course because it shows the growth of the selected
students after the conclusion of the lesson. It also
includes the data of the basis for the selection.
Student Work Samples
For the student work samples, I chose three students (the same from the pre-assessment) and
decided to type out their notes from their journals.
I selected these students because they showed various levels of performance and
understanding. I have included the pre-assessment data here along with a detailed analysis of
the student work.
I did not want to risk exposing any identifiable information or risk the students' privacy. I
chose to type the selections with all the students' spelling and grammar to keep the evidence
authentic.
I also chose to just include the first writing piece related to the experiment and the last, to
show the progression of the plants as well as to show the students' growth in understanding.
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CAPTION
This is a reflective journal from the implementation of
the first lesson.

Lesson 1 Reflection
This evidence demonstrates my learning and application
of knowledge from this course by showing personal
reflections and options upon the completion of a lesson
in my classroom. I discuss the planning, implementation,
and next-steps in my reflection piece.
While I was planning the lesson, I had hoped that this would not be too easy for the
students since we did the experiment at the start of the school year. I wanted to revisit this
because we had been working in a fully digital classroom at the time and I wanted the
students to get to experience the plants for themselves rather than through a screen and
pictures.
I think that the experience we had while fully distance learning was valuable, because a
large majority of the class was able to recall the life cycle of a plant with accuracy. They
remembered the general and major events as well as working on our digital journals.
I am glad that they got to experience the experiment for themselves and that I was able
to incorporate more of the hands-on aspects for the class this semester. They learned to draw
diagrams, with labels, and track the growth of the chia sprouts. I was able to spend more time
on the science lesson since they have a stronger background and we were able to talk more
about the different variables. We weren't limited to one variable and a control.
The students were also able to generate better discussions and journal better
predictions than the first time that we conducted the experiment. They now had a better
understanding of what predictions were and how we could revisit them. I also was able to
spend more time teaching the kids how to restate their thoughts with less sentence
structures.
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This lesson was easy to adapt to the different academic performance levels in my class,
since I was able to provide more or less structure for each day and each learning task
accordingly. Some of my students needed to work with me to complete the writing portion
while others just needed the prompts. This allowed us to move through the lesson together,
even though we are learning independently.
I feel that revisiting this experiment with the knowledge I gained from my participation
in this course allowed me to redesign the lesson so that it is engaging for the students in a
new way and allowed them to experience the experiment in a more powerful way. The
students were able to get more out of the lesson in a short amount of time. While I was
reading through the forums, I saw that there are other teachers who are changing lessons and
changing the activities to meet the needs of their students within the limitations that the
pandemic created. They were modifying the conduct of experiments and journaling which
inspired my modifications to the lesson. I also was able to take the school environment and
use it as a vehicle to enhance the student experience.
In the future, I would like to take a more hands-on approach with the class, driven by
the "explore" aspect of the NGSS. Hopefully next year will not have many limiting factors and
we will be able to return to a normal conduct in school. It will be easier to create meaningful
experiences throughout the year without having to worry about distancing.
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CAPTION
This document is a lesson plan adapted from the
Mystery Science website to better match the students'
needs and to have the kids be more involved with the
Lesson Plan 2
learning process.
https://mysteryscience.com/
plants/mystery-1/seed-
dispersal/84?r=54978367
This is evidence of my application of knowledge in the
design and planning of an inquiry-based lesson to meet
the NGSS standards with my students.
Standard:
2-LS2-2 - Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or
pollinating plants.
Lesson Objective:
Students will develop a simple model or series of simple models to show different ways seeds
are dispersed in the environment.
Essential / Guiding Question:

How do plants travel around the world to new habitats?
Materials
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★ Folder paper
★ Blank paper
★ Pencils
★ Erasers
★ Paper clips
★ Tape
★ Whiteboard, markers, and erasers
★ Construction paper
★ Miscellaneous craft supplies for each student as they request.
★ Mystery Science "End of Mystery Assessment" paper (one per student)
Time Line (A/B)

There are two groups of students, due to the pandemic, who alternate between campus and
digital learning. The outline of the lesson plan and dates will have varying times because of the
different schedules and events each group of students will encounter throughout the week.
There will be no times or explicit dates due to the fact that this lesson is being taught with two
different groups of students that are slightly out-of-step with each other.
The general lesson plan is expected to be completed in a day, however, the schedules change
weekly and student attendance is unpredictable. This lesson may have to be split to
accommodate the different groups of students. I will split the lesson according to the dates
and times available to me at that point and in the best way to serve the students.
General Lesson Plan

Hook Start by having the students take out their science journals and draw what
they think a seed looks like.
Then ask the kids to draw a seed that can fly and see what they can create.
Finally, ask the students to create a seed that can float.
Make sure that the kids have labels on their pictures to point out the
important parts and help explain what their pictures are showing.
Exploration Play the "Exploration" video from the Mystery Science site.
Pause during the Discussion slides and give the class time to share their
thoughts. Write down each new theory on the board and see if the
students agree with each other or have anything to add.
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Pause during the Quick Check slide and ask the students if any of their
flying seeds looked like the ones we just saw. What are the similarities?
What are the differences? Do they think that maybe the Koa seed could
have flown 10,000 miles around the world? Do they have any other ideas?
Write the different seed adaptations on the board (parachute, wing, glider).
Draw diagrams to help the students remember.
Pause the video after the wind exploration and have the students take
notes on the different seed adaptations for wind movement in their
science journals.
Resume the video for the ocean movement section.
Pause on the Quick Check. What happens to the coconut? What is it

doing? Why do you think that is? Since we know that the Koa seeds didn't
fly, could this have been it? Does this match your predictions?
Pause again on the cross-section of the coconut. Review the parts and
their roles in protecting the seed. Do the kids think that a chia seed would
survive the ocean? Why not?
Resume the video and allow the students to see if they were on the right
track.
Write the three ways of seed movement / dispersal on the board. (wind,
water, animals).
On the Discuss slide, allow the students to look at their notes and the
board to try to figure out what animal could have possibly carried the seed
10,000 miles around the world and over oceans. Write all their thoughts on
the board.
Once the students are out of ideas, reveal the answer and let the students
react before continuing to the hands-on activity.
Hands-On Pass out one taped up paper clip to each of the students, as well as one
piece of construction paper.
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Inform the students that the taped clip is their seed. They need to make a
way for their seed to travel so that it can grow on its own. Each student is
able to ask for more materials and can create their own designs.
Once the students have a design for travel that they want to test, they can
go with the teacher out to the balcony and drop it over the rail. It must be
dropped.
We will do the drop and retrieve test three times and see which designs
work and which ones don't. The students who need to redesign their seed
pods can return to their desks and try again.
The successful designs can continue to test their against their classmates
or wait inside for everyone else to finish their three rounds.
Discussion / Those who had designs that were consistently successful can hold them up
Reflection for everyone to see.
What are the things that are similar between them? What is different?
Why do you think these worked the most? Why do you think these went so
far?
Do you think that these seed pods would work if we tried them in another
place? What if it was more or less windy? Why or why not?
(The students get to take home their fancy seed pods)
Conclusion Pass out the End of Mystery Assessment to each of the students and have
them answer the questions. Remind them to use complete sentences and
write neatly.

Population
24
Strong visual aids

needed.

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CAPTION
Student Work Samples Lesson 2 What is this piece of evidence?
This document is a collection of three student work
samples showing the final assessment for this lesson.
This final assessment targets seed dispersal methods
using short answers and fill-in the blank style questions.

This evidence shows that I am able to take the content
knowledge and understanding of NGSS and apply it to
existing programs to modify and design meaningful
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lessons and experiences for the students to promote
their knowledge acquisition. This selection of samples
also show that the students are building a stronger
understanding of the content and concepts rather than
just repeating information.
Student 1 Student 2 Student 3
Since this End of Mystery Assessment was done with paper and pencil, I wanted to eliminate
any chance of revealing identifiable information of the students. I have typed out the students'
responses, including misspellings, to keep the answers authentic without having to take
photos of the individual students' work. I do not want to risk the privacy of my students in this
portfolio.
These students were selected based on the data from the pre-assessment. These students are
also the same three that I referenced in the previous lesson. I want to keep the work samples
consistent throughout the portfolio to showcase the student growth and best demonstrate
the lasting effects of each of the lessons.
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CAPTION
This evidence is a reflective journal and analysis of the
student work samples related to the Lesson 2 Plan and
implementation.

Lesson 2 Reflection your learning in the course?
This reflection of lesson design and analysis of student
comprehension shows that I am able to apply the
knowledge of the standards to a real general education
classroom setting with results to showcase student
progress.
The students' work shows that they are able to retain information from the video as
well as through their hands-on experiment. I noticed that the information in the final
assessment focuses on the wind and the birds more than the ocean. I am unsure if it is
because the students did not fully understand the question on the Mystery Science paper or if
it is because that is the information that stood out to them the most.
When we reviewed our answers as a class, about half the students had an epiphany
moment when one of the boxes in question four was meant to have ocean or water travel.
They said that they were thinking about the experiment we conducted, which did not involve
water dispersal for seeds.
I would like to redesign the lesson to include a more varied experience for the students.
They connected with and retained more information about the topics through their
interactions with the experiment and were able to give more details about seed dispersal by
wind and animals than they were by water or ocean currents. I feel that there could be more
challenges and design elements within the experiment for the students that can allow them to
meet the standards in a stronger way, encompassing all the forms of seed dispersal.
Overall, the lesson was really engaging and I am glad to put the advice from the forums
to use in my classroom. Through this course, I was able to read about other teachers'
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experiences and styles of integration with the Mystery Science program. I was able to learn
from my peers and make changes to the lesson that would better benefit the students in my
classroom. I was also able to modify the experiment to our environment and the current
pandemic by having the students be responsible for their own "seeds" rather than just one
"tree". I also was able to have the students go outside and release their "seeds" into the wind
over the edge of the balcony, more in-line with how trees and vines really operate. We didn't
have to pretend as much as the Mystery Science video demonstrated. We also were able to
practice the engineering design aspect by revisiting our "seeds" and the students had multiple
opportunities to create an effective travel design.
In my original plan, my original thought while progressing through the Cohort and the
assignments, was to connect the portfolio and the lessons to our Agriculture content.
However, after seeing the forms and reading through the other teachers' experiences, I
decided to revisit the topics and content that I felt needed to be reinforced. Reading about
how the students at other schools and in other grade levels were able to work in the new
environment, with the new learning conditions, I decided to change up the work and focus of
the portfolio. I wanted to make sure that my class had worthwhile experiences to take with
them into the future, not just completed lessons. I wanted to change everything and I had a
rather short turnaround time to complete it all, but in the end I feel that it paid off for the
benefit of the whole class.
In the future, I would like to create an opportunity for the students to also experiment
with ways that the "seeds" could travel across the "ocean" or through water. I think a pool
would be a little risky to use in the pandemic since I have no way to ensure the water quality
or cleanliness, and I also would need to make sure that everything is easy to prepare and clean
in a timely manner to avoid affecting the other classes in our building. I want to revisit the
NSTA site to see if there are other teachers sharing their lessons and ideas that I can learn
from. I believe that by giving the students more opportunities to experiment, they will retain
knowledge and comprehend the content far easier than if we simply read about it or watched
a video.
29
CAPTION
This piece of evidence is a lesson plan for the design of
healthy ice pops using edible plants based on a lesson
found on the NSTA website with modifications made to
meet the needs of the students and promote
comprehension of the standard.
Lesson Plan 3
https://www.nsta.org/lesson-
plan/designing-healthy-ice-pops
This is evidence of my learning in this course because it
demonstrates an application of knowledge as well as an
appropriate use of resources made available through this
PD course.
Standard:
2-PS1-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials
by their observable properties.
Lesson Objectives:
Students will be able to classify plants using different categories/ classification qualities.
Students will participate in an integrated STEM activity to experience the process of research,
design, evaluation, modification, and presentation.
Essential Question:
What are fruits and vegetables and how can we use them to create tasty, healthy icy pops?
30
Materials:
★ Pencils
★ Erasers
★ Whiteboards, markers, and erasers
★ Ice pop ingredients (vary)
★ Blender
★ Knife
★ Small paper cups or other mold for the ice pops
★ Toothpicks or popsicle sticks
★ Internet and student laptops
★ Non-latex food safe gloves
★ SciShow Kids What's the Difference between Fruits and Vegetables?
Time Line (A/B)

Due to the grouping for reduced capacity in the pandemic, there are two different groups of
students. Each group is present on alternating days and alternating Wednesdays. The lesson
plans will not have any dates or times because of the varying schedules and the need to teach
this lesson twice in different conditions with different students.
This lesson is designed to take place over the course of a week for each group.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Hook and Introduction and Taste Test and Taste Test 2 and Conclusion and
Classification Planning Review voting Sharing
Practice
General Lesson Plan:
Hook After returning from lunch, ask the students what they ate.
Write down everything that they say onto the board.
Now ask the students to figure out which food items are fruits, vegetables,
31
and main dishes. Create a chart and write down the students thoughts.
Encourage them to justify their answers with reasons.
Prepare the SciShow video on the TV and have the students take out their
Science Journals.
Play the video once through just so the class can watch.
During the second playthrough, pause the video to have the students take
notes and discuss.
● 0:30 - What are the scientists who study plants called? (Botanists)
● 0:35 - Did you know that a tomato is a fruit?
● 0:46 - What do you think? How can we tell the difference between
fruits and vegetables?
● 1:03 - Sometimes the which parts of plants are edible? But only
sometimes right? Can I always eat the flower?
● 1:07 - What are vegetables? (roots, stems, leaves, and flower buds
that we can safely eat)
● 1:30 - carrots are roots, so that means they are what? (vegetables)
● 2:16- If it is part of a flowering plant that has a seed in it, it's a what?
(fruit)
● 2:19 - Have the students copy the categories and images on the
screen into their notebooks, but add in labels for each of the parts
(root, stem, leaf, bud, flowering plant, fruit, vegetable, seed)
● 2:28 - What is spinach? Why do you think that? (vegetable)
● 2:43 - What about a cucumber? Fruit or vegetable? Why? (fruit)
● 3:09 - Last one, what about green peas? Fruit or vegetable? Why?
(fruit)
● 3:28 - Challenge Mode! This fruit doesn't have seeds, what is this
fruit? (pineapple)
● 3:31 - This fruit has seeds that are too small to see, what is this fruit?
(raspberry)
● 3:34 - This is a root so that means it's a what? (vegetable). Do you
know what this vegetable is? (radish)
● 3:35 - This is a stem we can eat, so that means it's a what?
(vegetable). Do you know what this vegetable is? (celery)
● 3:35 - This is a leaf, so that makes it a what? (vegetable). Do you
recognize this vegetable? (spinach)
Let's add to that list. Turn to a clean page in your notebook and write Fruits
on the left page, Vegetables on the right page.
32
Classification Have the students start listing things that they know are fruits and
Practice vegetables to get the lists started. Remind the students to write one plant
per line so that it is easy to read.
Once the students run out of ideas, have them take out their laptops and
open their browsers to look for new fruits and vegetables.
The kids can raise their hands and share when they find a new fruit or
vegetable to add to the list. Have the students spell it out for the rest of the
class.
Each time they find a new plant, they have to provide justification as to why
it is a fruit or a vegetable and they cannot just say "because they looked it
up". They must be able to tell if it is a root, leaf, stem, bud, or off of a
flowering plant.
The teacher should make sure that the plants that the students are
researching are really safe to eat. Double check the students' work before
having them add it to the list.
Introduction Ask the students if they know how to make an icy pop. Have they made one
before?
How are icy pops made? What have you used before?
Do you think we can make a healthy icy pop that still tastes good? What do
you think should go in it?
What do you think is going to taste good? What do you think other people
are going to want to eat?
Have the students line up on the paw prints outside and pass out the pre-
made icy pops (made the previous afternoon). Ask them to share their
thoughts and what they think these were made out of. (strawberry puree
and water).
Planning Return to the classroom and pass out a piece of folder paper to each of the
kids.
33
Have the students create "recipes" for icy pops using only healthy
ingredients.
Remind the students that there are things like coconut water which can be
used but we have to be careful because some people have allergies.
Encourage the students to create 3 or more "recipes".
The students can share their ideas and check with their peers to see if
everyone can eat their icy pops. If some of the students have the same idea,
it can be the kids choice if they want to create a different recipe or stick to
the ones they have.
After sharing, the kids can look over their lists of recipes and pick their
absolute favorite that they wish they could make.
We will share with the class and everyone will vote for the top three that
will get made.
Teacher will copy down the top three recipes and the students can take
their papers home so that they can make the rest.
The teacher will buy the ingredients and make the top three icy pops for
the class to taste test.
Taste Test and The next day, start by having the students stand outside on the paw prints
Review to complete the initial taste test of the top three icy pops.
The students need to pay attention to what they like and what they want to
change about the icy pops.
If the class decides that there is nothing to change and they are all very
happy with the three flavors, we can move on to the next phase.
If they do want to make changes, we will sit down and discuss their
thoughts. The kids can share about what they think will make the icy pops
better without compromising the "healthy" aspect.
We can chose or create new recipes and the teacher will prepare them to
34
be tasted the next day.
Taste Test 2 If the students enjoyed the first round of icy pops then we can skip this
and Review step.
If the students want to try a new recipe or two, then we can use today to
taste test those and review them.
We will have a discussion after the taste test and talk about why they liked
or didn't like the icy pops. The students will each get to share their ideas
and talk to each other about what they think is the best icy pop.
Sharing Once we have a set of recipes that the class all are agreed upon as tasty, we
can introduce the Presentation.
It is going to be the students' jobs to create a name for these three icy pops
and a way to share them with the other students in our grade level.
Should we have a fancy name? Should we have a catchy name? Should the
names just be the fruits that are in the pops?
How will we let the other classes know about the icy pops? How can we get
it to them? Will they get to choose which icy pop flavor they want? When
will the other students be able to get the icy pops? How can we make sure
that no one is allergic to the icy pops in the other classes? How many icy
pops do we need? How can we ask the families if it is okay to pass out icy
pops?
As the students generate answers to these and other questions that arise,
have their suggestions and solutions on the board.
Divide the tasks up to the students and allow the teams / individuals time
to prepare their solutions. If one team is making flyers to send out to the
other classes, then another team can be the ones figuring out how to get
the flyers to the other classes. Each team or individual will need to work on
their assigned role.
Once the students have everything ready to go, we can distribute and share
the icy pops (made by the teacher in a sanitary manner) with the other
classes.
35
We are going to have to distribute the next day.
Conclusion Have the students look at the three flavors of icy pop that we have and
and final count the number of fruits and veggies. Which do we have more of? Why do
assessment you think that is?
Allow the students to briefly discuss their thinking and explain their ideas.
Do you think you are going to try this at home with your families? Think
you can make healthy snacks for your siblings and cousins?
Once the students are ready, have them log in and complete the post
assessment on their laptops. Provide the same supports as during the pre-
assessment.

Population
36
Strong visual aids

needed.
37
38
CAPTION
This document is a collection of student work
samples as evidence of the learning and
growth of students during this lesson.
How does this evidence demonstrate an

application of your learning in the course?
Student Work Samples Lesson 3 This is evidence of my learning through the
professional development course because I
used the lessons and resources that were
available to me through the NSTA site to
modify and conduct a lesson suited to my
students and school community during the
pandemic.
I have typed out the lists generated by the students in their personal science notebooks.
I wanted to completely remove any identifiable items to protect the students' identities. I did
not want to take a photo of or scan the notebooks in case there were indicators that could be
overlooked or other personal information.
Some of the items were written on the board during class and the students were able to copy
it into their notebooks. This was a good jumpstart to their independent learning and individual
generation of lists.
These students were selected based on the data from the pre-assessment. These students are
also the same three that I referenced in the previous lessons. I want to keep the work samples
39
consistent throughout the portfolio to showcase the student growth and best demonstrate
the lasting effects of each of the lessons.
CAPTION
This piece of evidence is a reflection on the third lesson
taught as part of the NGSS / NSTA unit to demonstrate
my understanding and ability to design lessons which
benefit the students I serve.
Lesson 3 Reflection
This reflection demonstrates my application of knowledge
gained in this PD course by showcasing the analysis of the
lesson and student experiences.
Throughout the third and final lesson I have designed for my students, I was able to
observe the students learning in a meaningful way. Since we have been teaching hybrid, a lot
of the hands-on components for lessons in all subject areas have been omitted. In our rush
and out of necessity to protect the health of our students, it was easier to take away elements
of lessons instead of modify them.
With this PD course, I have been able to take my time in planning and really figure out
how to incorporate experiments and interactions back into the classroom. I was able to design
my own lessons based on the curriculum, content, and resources available while also
modifying the activities to meet the needs of my students. I did not feel rushed or limited in
my designs as I am with everything else we need to complete.
I noticed that these lessons were far more engaging and fun for the students, and
myself, compared to the more structured, required lessons in our day. The effects of the
pandemic in the classroom are more than anyone could've predicted and we are still trying to
40
figure things out as we go. We are still learning to teach in this new world setting. Slowly, we
are working to bring back the interest and engagement to our classrooms. Safely, we are
bringing the joy back into schools.
Out of all the lessons that I was able to teach and create for this portfolio, I noticed the
longest lasting outcomes with this third lesson. This lesson was not just science or academic
knowledge, this was applicable to their lives. This hands-on activity is something that the
students can do at home with their families that encourages healthy habits and choices. This
lesson was something that I wanted to do to get kids excited about their own health and to
show them that you can have tasty treats that are good for you. It is not always cakes and
Takis that are snacks.
I was very pleased to hear that my students are continuing to practice healthy choices
and find out that they have a favorite fruit. A few students did make their own ice pops over
the weekend following the lesson and told me about it. One family even introduced the idea of
using coconut water to mix the fruit in instead of plain water or juice.
The kids loved sharing with their friends and families once the lesson was over. Even
without having the students create the ice pops themselves, the experience was very
meaningful and has stuck with them. Hopefully it will be a permanent positive change in their
lives. Maybe I can find a way to bring this experience back and challenge them even further in
their recipes and tastes.
I am thankful for the resources and opportunities I have had through my participation
in this Professional Development Course. I would not have been able to create these new
experiences and experiments for my students otherwise. I am excited to continue exploring
the NSTA site and find new things to share with my students and my school.
41

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NSTA Learning Center PDE3 Portfolio

NGSS Professional Learning

Learning Results Portfolio

Date: December 7th, 2020 - February 26th, 2021

Course Number: SC185639

Culminating reflection on personal growth 6

Pre-Post Assessment Analysis 12

How does this evidence demonstrate an application of your

Your professional goals:

How this PD impacted your professional goals:

How the PD impacted student learning:

How your professional goals fit with your school-wide professional

Culminating reflection, including personal growth

I believe that my students have benefited from my lessons, participation, and

How does this evidence demonstrate an application of your

I also commented that a challenge would be resources. The community I teach in is of

Essential / Guiding Question:

Time Line (A/B)

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6

Planting Day Growth Growth Growth Growth Conclusions

General Lesson Plan

Help them with the images and language as needed.

Hands-on We have Chia seeds instead of Radish seeds.

We will be testing several variables: no sunlight, no water, no soil, and a

They will document the growth of each cup in centimeters.

Class Discussion Guiding Questions:

Do you think that this is true for all plants?

Adaptations and Modifications

Target Student Accomodations

ELL (low) Strong, repetitive visuals.

Guided practice with the teacher.

One - to - one support with the teacher as needed.

Read instructions to the students, rephrasing as needed.

Step-by-step demonstration for the experiment portion of the lesson.

Extra supplies as needed.

Writing on the board to provide examples and sentence frames.

ELL (mid) Strong, repetitive visuals.

Guided practice with the teacher.

Teacher and peer support and modeling as needed.

Extra supplies as needed.

Writing on the board to provide examples and sentence frames.

Gen Ed (low) Repetitive instruction

Strong visual aids

Teacher and peer modeling

One - to - one support with the teacher as needed.

Reading the questions and directions to the students, rephrasing as

Supporting with guiding questions.

Extra materials and supplies as needed.

Writing on the board to provide examples and sentence frames.

Challenge predictions and request more detailed explanations.

More "check-ins" with less direct teacher support.

How does this evidence demonstrate an application of

Student Work Samples

How does this evidence demonstrate an application of

Essential / Guiding Question:

Time Line (A/B)

General Lesson Plan

Finally, ask the students to create a seed that can float.

Resume the video for the ocean movement section.

Pause on the Quick Check. What happens to the coconut? What is it

(The students get to take home their fancy seed pods)

Adaptations and Modifications