Name: Erin Barger

TE 861B: Inquiry Lesson Sequence

I. Initial Plans (Due October 24th)

II. Revised Plans (Due October 31st)
1. What have you learned from interviews with your students or discussions with your colleagues that
lead you to change your plans?
During a PLC meeting last week (after I had already written my initial plans), the high school
chemistry and physical science teacher brought up something about using Legos to show chemical
reactions, and I realized that using Legos to show the chemical reactions of photosynthesis and cellular
respiration would be absolutely perfect for giving my students a visual of how molecules are broken up
and rearranged to form the products in these reactions. So I was able to borrow some from coworkers
and work it into Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 where I teach those topics.
From my student interviews I learned that most students have at least heard of the term
photosynthesis (or can say it on their own) and they know it has something to do with plants staying
alive. Students are able to express that plants need water and sunlight. Many can state that they also
need carbon dioxide and they release oxygen, but none of the students I interviewed could explain the
mechanics of it and/or why plants do it. This makes me confident that my plan for Lesson 1 will be pretty
solid because students already have some background. However, none of the students I interviewed
knew anything about how our bodies use food (other than some general ideas about how food is
digested in our stomachs and intestines). They know that we need it for energy, but that is about it.
Students could also explain that we breathe in oxygen because we need it, but they seemed to all think
that it just magically turns into carbon dioxide in our lungs, and they have no clue why or how. I needed
to revise Lesson 2 and add more ways for students to gather observations about certain things, like cells
and how food and oxygen get to them, since it seems that this will be the first time that most of my
students hear anything about cellular respiration.
Nothing that my students said in their interviews surprised me when it came to matter and
energy in ecosystems and how populations of organisms change, and I felt no need to drastically change
my plans for either of those lessons.

2. What assessments (both embedded/formative and summative) will you use to assess students'
understandings?
During the lessons I will be asking students to type in ideas, answers, and explanations into poll
pods, which I can view as students answer as well as examine more closely after LiveLesson has ended. I
will ask some students to share their ideas over the microphone, as well. At the end of each lesson I will
give the students an exit ticket with various types of questions (some multiple-choice, some written
answer) to get an idea of how well the students grasped the material, and to give me a closer look into
the ideas of specific students as they explain. The students will also be completing a formal project at
some point during the unit (whenever they personally get to it – most students will complete it around
the time of LiveLesson Lesson 3) in which they will be choosing producers, consumers, and decomposers
from Michigan and designing an accurate food web based on feeding relationships. *All* students
complete this project, regardless of whether they attend my LiveLessons or not, so unfortunately this
doesn't provide great detail into how well I am personally teaching the material in my lessons and how
well they are grasping it (since most students don't attend my lessons). It will, however, help me gauge
how well students understand the vocabulary words of producers, consumers, and decomposers, and if
they understand how to build a proper food web.

Clarifying Your Goals

Performance expectations:

MS-LS1-6. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the
cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
 LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
o Plants, algae (including phytoplankton), and many microorganisms use the energy from
light to make sugars (food) from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water
through the process of photosynthesis, which also releases oxygen. These sugars can be
used immediately or stored for growth or later use.
 PS3.D: Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life
o The chemical reaction by which plants produce complex food molecules (sugars)
requires an energy input (i.e., from sunlight) to occur. In this reaction, carbon dioxide
and water combined to form carbon-based organic molecules and release oxygen.

MS-LS1-7. Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming
new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.
 LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
o Within individual organisms, food moves through a series of chemical reactions in which
it is broken down and rearranged to form new molecules, to support growth, or to
release energy.

MS-LS2-3 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and
nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
 LS2.B: Cycle of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
o Food webs are models that demonstrate how matter and energy is transferred between
producers, consumers, and decomposers as the three groups interact within an
ecosystem. Transfers of matter into and out of the physical environment occur at every
level. Decomposers recycle nutrients from dead plant or animal matter back to the soil
in terrestrial environments or to the water in aquatic environments. The atoms that
make up the organisms in an ecosystem are cycled repeatedly between the living and
nonliving parts of the ecosystem.
MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or
biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
 LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
o Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions
to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all of its
populations.
Student-Friendly Learning Goals
 Describe how photosynthesis in plants helps matter and energy move through an ecosystem.
 Describe how food changes in cells to help things live and grow.
 Describe how matter and energy move through an ecosystem.
 Explain how and why changes to an ecosystem can cause the numbers of plants and animals to
change.

Science and Engineering Practices

 Developing and Using Models
 Analyzing and Interpreting Data
 Constructing Explanations
 Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Crosscutting Concepts
 Matter is conserved because atoms are conserved in physical and chemical processes.
 Within a natural system, the transfer of energy drives the motion and/or cycling of matter.
 The transfer of energy can be tracked as energy flows through a natural system.

Initial Plan

As of right now, these phases are not going to go straight through 1 – 5 in my lessons. I am going to use
my 4 whole-group LiveLessons during my entire unit to cover the above standards, and they will all be
connected back to the same Phase 1 (the driving question). (The lessons are 1 hour long and will occur
on Tuesdays over the course of 4 weeks.) Each lesson is going to stand alone in terms of the phenomena
or activity presented for them to learn from, and each lesson will have some discussion and presenting
of student ideas and explanations. (I will always plan to spend time connecting it back to the original
driving question, though.) So to make it easier, I'm going to break it up by lesson number and put phases
1 – 5 in each one.

Phase 1: Engaging with a problem/Questions.

 How does energy and matter enter, move through, and exit an ecosystem?

Lesson 1: Producers and Photosynthesis

Phase 1: Engaging with a problem/Questions.
 How do plants get food?How does matter and energy first enter into an ecosystem?
Phase 2: Data or observations / Evidence.
 I will provide students with information about scientists who made discoveries that worked
toward our understanding of photosynthesis (such as Jan Baptista van Helmont, John
Woodward, Joseph Priestley, and Jan Ingenhousz). I will provide them with a worksheet and
table (or something) for them to be filling in as we go and they learn about the discoveries of
each scientist.

Clues about Plants

Science Experiment What does this tell us?
 Jan Baptista van Helmont (1600s) grew a
willow tree in a pot for 5 years. He measured
the mass of the soil before and after. The tree
grew in mass, but the soil mass hardly
changed at all.
Joseph Priestley (1771) put some mint and a
candle in a sealed jar, then lit the candle. The
candle quickly went out. He left the jar
sealed. 27 days later, he lit the candle again,
and it burned much longer.
He put a mouse in a sealed jar – the mouse
quickly passed out. When he added a plant in
with the mouse, it stayed awake much longer.
Jan Ingenhousz (1779) put a plant and a
candle in a sealed jar, and let it sit in sunlight
for 2-3 days. Then he covered it in a black
cloth for several days. Then he uncovered it
and tried to light the candle – it wouldn’t
light.
We will come to the conclusion that most of
the mass of plants does not come from the
soil. Formatted: Font: Italic
We will be sure to note that fire needs oxygen
in order to burn, and animals need oxygen in
order to breathe. This will help us determine
that plants produce/release oxygen.
We may also discuss that the mouse releases
carbon dioxide when it breathes, which helps
the plant. Formatted: Font: Italic
We will come to the conclusion that plants
need sunlight in order to produce oxygen. Formatted: Font: Italic

Put an aquatic plant in a jar. In the sunlight,

he observed bubbles forming around the
leaves and green parts of stems. When placed
in darkness, the bubbles stopped.

Phase 3: Finding and explaining patterns / Explanation.

 As I provide this information to students about each scientist, I will ask students to think about
and type into a short-answer poll pod write down (individually) what they think each piece of
information tells us about what plants need in order to grow and what they produce as they are
growing. I will ask one or two students to share their ideas over the microphone about what we
learn about plants from each scientist's experiment. After we go through all of the scientists and
fill in what we have learned about plants, I I will also ask them to type into a short-answer poll
pod write an explanation of what they know about the process of photosynthesis, what its
purpose is, how they think photosynthesis works, etc.. I will encourage them to use some of the
knowledge we have just gained, as well as any prior knowledge.
Phase 4: Alternate Explanations.
 I will ask students to share their ideas over the microphone with the class., and I am also
considering finding some sort of video or article for us to look at. I will ask students to evaluate
the ideas that they wrote down themselves, asking them if hearing other students'
ideas/explanations and watching the video or reading the article made them think differently
about their own, and then make changes if it does.
 On camera, I will show the students little cards (word and chemical formula) with the things that
we know plants need and are involved in the process of photosynthesis – sunlight, carbon
dioxide, oxygen, water, and glucose (sugar). Since water and glucose might not have been
 mentioned prior to this moment, I will ask the students to share in the chat pod something else
we know plants need in order to live (water), and then to share in the chat pod what plants
make for themselves when they go through photosynthesis (food, sugar, etc.). I will arrange the
name/formula cards and add plus signs and an arrow to show the chemical reaction that occurs.
 Next I will pull out two types of molecules made of Legos (Carbon Dioxide and Water). I will
bring out an index card "key" with drawings of each Lego piece and what atom it represents. I
will briefly display my whiteboard of the periodic table and circle Hydrogen, Carbon, and Oxygen
on the board. Based on the key, I will ask the students to tell me in the chat pod which type of
molecule each Lego configuration represents.
 I will display 6 carbon dioxide molecules and 6 water molecules (and a card for sunlight) on the
left side of the chemical reaction. I will then demonstrate the chemical reaction by
disassembling each molecule into its individual pieces, and then use those pieces to build one
glucose molecule and 6 O₂ molecules. This demonstrates that the original molecules are simply
broken up and rearranged into sugar and oxygen, all using sunlight as a source of energy to
make it happen.

Phase 5: Communicate and Justify:

 This phase is supported by asking students to share and justify their ideas over the microphone.
The students are also being asked to write down their explanations and reasoning on their
worksheet (if they choose to write or type into a copy) and into poll pods for me to see. I am
also now strongly considering asking my students to participate in a quick Google Form where I
ask them to explain photosynthesis (or something), giving me data.
 Students will then have a Google Form pushed out to them as an exit ticket that contains
questions related to what they learned in class. There are a couple "choose all that apply"
questions and a couple short-answer questions where students must explain ideas.
 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdN3rL7_Vg4xDxq2lRXYLw1s2y2GREf-
Oe2ueIM2mxgB_zb5Q/viewform?usp=sf_link
Lesson 2: Cellular Respiration in Living Things
Phase 1: Engaging with a problem/Questions.
 How do living things use food for energy?animals use matter and energy from the ecosystem?
Phase 2: Data or observations / Evidence.
 I will ask the students to name things (into a short-answer poll pod) that they need to do every
day in order to live. (Aiming for eating, drinking, breathing, sleeping, etc.) I will ask students to
write down and then share type into another short-answer poll pod what happens if they do not
eat or breathe for extended periods of time.
 I will also ask students to describe what happens when they exercise vigorously (aiming for
getting hot and breathing really hard). I will ask them to write their ideas down. I will ask
students to stop and just focus on what their body is doing, taking notice of slow breathing and
ask them to attempt to feel their pulse through their wrist or neck. I will then ask the students
to stand up and do some form of physical exercise for 30 seconds, such as running in place,
jumping up and down, jumping jacks, etc.. (If they cannot or will not physically participate, I will
ask them to recall a time when they have exercised and how they felt.) Then I will ask the
students to type in a short-answer poll pod some things that they noticed that were different
while or after they exercised, and why that is happening in their bodies.
 I will ask some students to share over the microphone and I will make sure that ideas are
discussed about how our blood pumps faster, we breathe faster to take in more oxygen and
release more carbon dioxide, and our bodies need more energy from food the more we
exercise. (If students bring up how they get warm, we can also discuss how our bodies release
thermal energy into our surroundings. If they bring up tired or aching muscles we can discuss
how their muscles work hard as they move.)
 I will provide a recap and type in a note pod for students to see that we need food and oxygen,
and release carbon dioxide as we live and move around. I will ask the students to brainstorm in
a poll pod where the food and oxygen is used, and where the carbon dioxide is produced.
 I will display a cartoon drawing of plant and animal cells and pull up a chat pod, asking the
student what it is that I am showing them and where we can find them. We will discuss how all
living things are made of cells – some just one cell, and others a large number of cells. For
example, we as humans are made up of anywhere from 30 to 40 trillion cells of many different
kinds. Every cell has a job, and it needs energy to do its job. If it needs energy, that means it
needs food. I will ask students to brainstorm in the chat pod how food gets to our cells.
 I will show the students two images side by side – one of the digestive system, the other of the
circulatory system. I will ask a student (or two) who is confident in their ability to explain the
images and how food travels through them once we eat it. I will make sure that all students hear
an explanation of how when we eat food, it enters our stomach and intestines where the food is
broken down into individual molecules, like sugars. Those sugars (and other nutrients) leave our
intestines to enter into the blood stream. The blood then carries the food molecules to all of our
cells that need them. I will type a shorter version of this information into the note pod for all
students to see.
 After that, I will ask students to brainstorm in the chat pod how the oxygen we need would get
to our cells. We will discuss how it goes from our lungs and into our blood where it is carried to
our cells, too.

Phase 3: Finding and explaining patterns / Explanation.

  I will ask students to write down their own explanations of why they cannot go without eating
and breathing, then ask students to share their ideas over the microphone and provide evidence
for their ideas. Students should be able to explain that we need oxygen from the air, and we
need the stored chemical energy from food. Maybe some could go further to explain what
happens in our cells (cellular respiration).
 I will ask students to write down their own explanations of why they get hot and breathe so
hard during vigorous exercise, then ask students to share their ideas over the microphone and
provide evidence for their ideas. Hopefully some can explain that when their bodies are working
hard, they need more oxygen, and their bodies warm up and release extra heat into the
environment.
 I will show students the Legos that we saw last week to show the chemical reaction of
photosynthesis, which happens inside plant cells to make their food. I will remind them how we
took apart the carbon dioxide and water molecules and used them to form glucose and oxygen
molecules. I will then move the glucose and oxygen to the left side of the equation and remove
everything else. I will ask them to type into a short-answer pod what they think happens next,
explaining how our cells use the food and oxygen. (I will remind them that we have discussed
how carbon dioxide is what we breathe out, and we release a lot more of it when our bodies are
working hard when we exercise.)
 I will ask a student or two to share their explanation of what happens next and why they think
so, using evidence of the things we have talked about. I will also ask them probing questions to
try to explain where the products of the equation (carbon dioxide and water) go after being
produced in the cell.
 I will ask students to type in a short-answer poll pod if they think this process happens in both
animals *and* plants, too, or just animals, and ask them why. I will have one or two students
share their ideas over the mic.
 I will ask students to type in a short-answer poll pod if they think all food has to be used in the
cells for energy, or if other things can happen to that food, too. If so, what? I will read off the
ideas to the class as they pop up.

Phase 4: Alternate Explanations.

 (I will use the explanations below after students have the chance to share their ideas in Phase 3,
so I'll be switching back and forth between Phases 3 and 4 a small handful of times.)
 I will use the Legos and break apart the molecules to show how they rearrange to form carbon
dioxide and water, and add a card that shows that energy is released called ATP. This energy is
used by the cells to do whatever it needs to do. I will relate it back to photosynthesis and how
the original products were also broken apart and rearranged. I will show them that this process
of using food is the opposite chemical reaction of photosynthesis. I will explain that after the
cells produce carbon dioxide and water, both of them will leave the cell to enter the blood
stream since they are waste products. The carbon dioxide will make its way back to the lungs to
be released in our breath. Water is important to our cells and our blood, but some of it is lost
throughout the day through our breath, through sweat, and when we use the restroom. We
have to replenish it by drinking water.
 I will explain how all living things use their food in this way since all living things are made of
cells. Plants make food through photosynthesis, but then their cells have to break that food
down and use its energy to do what they need to do. This doesn't just happen in animals. This
 means that plants also release carbon dioxide, just like we do. But we say that plants give off
oxygen because they photosynthesize more than they break down the food they make. So they
release more oxygen than they do carbon dioxide.
 I will explain that when our food is broken down when we eat it, it isn't only used for energy. We
grow and stay healthy because the foods that we eat become a part of us, becoming part of our
cells, building our muscles, and helping children grow bigger and taller. We can also store some
of the food we eat in the form of fat in our cells so our cells can break it down for energy later if
we need it. The phrase, "You are what you eat" is true, because the food we eat becomes a part
of our bodies.
 I will ask students to share their ideas over the microphone with the class, and I will also look for
a video or article for us to look at that explains the very basics behind cellular respiration. I will
ask students to evaluate the ideas that they wrote down themselves, asking them to think about
how if hearing other students' ideas/explanations and watching the video or reading the article
hearing me explain a few ideas made them think differently about their own, and then make
changes if it does.
Phase 5: Communicate and Justify:
 This phase is supported by asking students to share and justify their ideas over the microphone.
The students are also being asked to write down their explanations and reasoning on their
worksheet in poll pods and in chat pods throughout the lesson. I am also now strongly
considering asking I will then ask my students to participate in a quick Google Form where I ask
them to explain cellular respiration (or something) questions related to the process of cellular
respiration, giving me data.
 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfGFBxl35eepqz_WHqc1vgA4-7wfdCXM-
A7oVIaKBmHhQxLmQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Lesson 3: Food Webs

Phase 1: Engaging with a problem/Questions.
 How do consumers and decomposers obtain energy and matter from the ecosystem?
 How can energy move through an ecosystem?
 How can matter move through an ecosystem?

Phase 2: Data or observations / Evidence.

 I will pull up a share pod with an image of a food web. I will ask students to write down
observations, things that they notice about the food web. I will also ask them to identify where
they think energy and matter are located within this food web/ecosystem. I will ask students to
share some of their observations over the microphone.
Phase 3: Finding and explaining patterns / Explanation.
 I will ask students to then write an explanation for how energy and matter flow through this
ecosystem, using the food web as evidence, as well as any other prior knowledge they have that
can be used to support their ideas. (I will have two separate short-answer poll pods up, one
asking them to provide an example of how energy might move through the ecosystem, and then
another for how matter might move through.) I will ask them to recall what we learned in our
first lesson (about how plants use the sun’s energy to make food for themselves in order to
photosynthesize) and our second lesson (how cells of living things break down sugars [using
oxygen] for energy) and ask them to use this to help them. I will remind them that matter is
what everything is made of, which includes hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen atoms that they have
learned about thus far.
 I will ask students to share their explanations over the microphone of how matter and energy
are flowing through the ecosystem, providing evidence from the food web and their prior
knowledge to support their ideas.
 Along the way, I will be prompting the use of certain vocabulary words to describe the
organisms we see there (producers, consumers, decomposers) and asking students to explain
the roles of each type of organism.

Phase 4: Alternate Explanations.

 Different students will present different ideas over the microphone. I will also look for a video or
article for us to look at that explains the flow of matter and energy through food webs. I will ask
students to evaluate the ideas that they wrote down themselves, asking them if hearing other
students' ideas/explanations and watching the video or reading the article made them think
differently about their own, and then make changes if it does.
Phase 5: Communicate and Justify:
 At the end of this lesson I will give the students a short Google Form to complete asking them to
present their explanation for how matter and energy move through an ecosystem.
 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLNZHKe5tuh4PiyywCteLuC9P4oaFP03Jy2RQy4D
OAXXWlwA/viewform?usp=sf_link
 Around the time this lesson is presented, students will be required to complete a “portfolio” (a
project) in which they create a food web using organisms that live in Michigan. They will
complete this on their own time.

Lesson 4: Changes to Ecosystems

Phase 1: Engaging with a problem/Questions.
 How do changes in populations in an ecosystem affect the flow of energy and matter through
the ecosystem?
 How might changes in an ecosystem affect what lives there?

Phase 2: Data or observations / Evidence.

 I will share my screen with the students with a "Gizmo" pulled up with a food chain showing
grass, rabbits, snakes, and hawks. In the gizmo we can manipulate the numbers of each
organism as well as the populations being healthy or diseased. Once you hit play, you can
observe a bar graph that changes in real time, a data table, and a line graph. (The line graph is
most useful.) I will play out a few different scenarios, changing the populations. Beforehand I
will always ask the students to write down a prediction of what they think will happen and why.

Phase 3: Finding and explaining patterns / Explanation.

 After each of the above scenarios is played out and we are able to see the line graph of the data,
I will ask the students to write down an explanation of what happened and why. Then I will ask
students to share over the microphone an explanation of what happened and why, always
pointing to the graph for evidence and using any prior knowledge.

Phase 4: Alternate Explanations.

 The students will be writing down their ideas and sharing over the microphone, giving students
the opportunity to hear the explanations of other students. They can then change their
explanations if necessary.
 I will also consider sharing a video from Cash Course Kids about food webs, and how if you
remove just one organism from a food web the entire ecosystem could fall apart, but how
ecosystems also have a tendency to try to remain balanced. Instead, I may choose to show a
video related to the removal and return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park and the changes
that took place when the wolves were reintroduced. (I'll need to look carefully at which videos
best suit the purpose of this lesson and the standard.)

Phase 5: Communicate and Justify:

  Some students will be sharing their ideas over the microphone, but I will also design a short
Google Forms assessment where the students can write out an explanation for a scenario that I
will provide about how an ecosystem would change based on a specific change.
 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfRTjcIFe-
9EEdDnITgDxUGU4STqLS9stETscjJ2kLudb_0JA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Scoring Rubric: Total points = /30

Note that grades will be based on how good this lesson sequence would be the next time you teach it.
Some things don’t work when you’re trying something new. That’s OK, as long as you can explain how
you have learned from the experience and how you will make changes for next time.

Component Points Comments

Performance Expectations/Objectives (1.5
pts)
Plans and teaching Phase 1: Establishing
problem (2.5 pts)
Plans and teaching Phase 2: Observation and
data collection (3 pts
Plans and teaching Phase 3: Finding and
explaining patterns in data (3 pts)
Plans and teaching Phase 4: Alternate
explanations (2.5 pts)
Plans and teaching Phase 5: communication
and justification (2.5 pts)
Final report: Students’ learning (6 points)
Final report: Revisions and reflection (6 pts)
Final report: Continuing to work with
students (3 pts)