Planets and Computers

I worked with two classmates to develop and present a condensed lesson on planets.  It was designed for grade 3 students and needed to involve technology in a way that enriched the lesson.  We used a youtube video clip, a smart board interactive component and the use of a website during the lesson.  The URL for the website is http://www.sunaeon.com/#/solarsystem/.  We got the “students” (our classmates) to come to the front of the classroom and sit on the carpet.  We played a Timon and Pumba clip from The Lion King where Timon and Pumba discuss the stars and wonder what they are made up of.  We then had the students discuss what they thought the stars were made of and then revealed that Pumba was right, that stars are big burning balls of gas.  That led to talking about our star and the planets in our solar system.  We talked about the orbit and rotation of the planets, drew what this looked like on the smart board and them used some student volunteers to show what a planet looks like orbiting around the sun.  We showed the students how to use the Suneon website to gather information about all of the planets and then let them loose on the computers to find the answers to their “ticket out the door,” which was a scavenger hunt of information that could be found in the website.  After a few minutes to complete their scavenger hunt the students came back to the front where they used the smart board to name each of the planets correctly to finish the lesson.

I believe the lesson was successful.  We worked as a teaching team effectively and used different ways of teaching to involve the different kinds of learners in the classroom.  Our lesson used technology in an effective way that could not have been replicated without the technology.  It allowed the students a chance to get up and move to and from their computers and during the orbit activity.  It involved aspects that would appeal to kinesthetic learners, auditory learners, and visual learners.  I would absolutely use this lesson plan in a real life teaching situation.  We have shared our lesson plan on our class website so that our classmates can use it too! 

Teaching Standards: K1, K2, K4, K5, P1, P3, C1, C2