Kylee Bulington 

InTASC Standard:  Standard #4: Content Knowledge. The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning experiences that make the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the content (InTASC, 2013).

 

Brief Description of Evidence: In my EDUC 224 Scientific Inquiry course during the fall semester of 2016, I created and implemented a lesson plan in a first grade classroom. The learners used bubbles in order to visualize how wind makes things move in different directions. In this lesson, the learners expanded on their prior knowledge of wind and how it works. By using an observation sheet, the learners recorded their idea of what happened when they blew the bubbles outside in the wind.

 

Analysis of What I Learned:  After completing this lesson plan, I have a better understanding of how to create a lesson plan that expands the prior knowledge of the learners. The class had a few lessons about wind before I presented them with the bubble activity. I learned how to use tools of inquiry such as the observation sheet, to help the students master the concept of wind. This lesson plan was supported by Jean Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development which includes schema and constructivism. Schema is the construct of how learners learn and how they will continue to expand over a course of time. The learners had prior knowledge of how wind works and I presented them with an activity that strengthened their knowledge by performing an experiment with them that demonstrated wind moving. It is important that the learners know about what wind is and how it works, because it is something meaningful that they encounter every day when picking out clothes to wear or deciding whether or not they want to play outside.

How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the InTASC Standard: My competence in this standard is shown by my ability to design and implement a lesson plan in a class at an elementary school. By using a picture book, experiment, and observation sheet I was able to help the learners understand the concept, visually see how wind moves, and reflect on what they learned from the experiment. By completing this lesson plan I understand that expanding on prior knowledge ensures the opportunity for the learners master the content that they were taught and apply it to other learning experiences. I created an atmosphere that allowed my learners to expand their knowledge of the content area which made it meaningful for each individual student.