This semester course meets for 45 minutes 2x a week for the course of 10 weeks. It is taught to 1-8 learners. Learners do not need to have any background information to be successful in class.
My typical live online class structure consists of a “lecture” with an interactive slideshow that encourages group discussion. Next we review the activity students will be working on together so they can be familiar with work before finishing the activity on their own as independent homework. For every 45 minutes of in-person class-time, students should expect 15-30 minutes of independent “homework” time, outside of class, to complete tasks and receive feedback. While each week will slightly vary based on project length, the general flow of the class will go as follows:
• Introduce concept
• Station lab
• Notes and extension
• Project / assessment
*each cycle takes 2-3 weeks to complete*
In this class I will be using Kesler Science materials including 5E lessons, projects (Elaboration), station labs, and related reading articles. No purchase of Kesler Science products is necessary when enrolling in the class (your enrollment fee covers the learner cost towards the curriculum). Please note that only enrolled students have the publisher’s permission to use this material (the publisher has stated that students may not share this material outside of the classroom per the licensing agreement).
Station Lab: Students explore new concepts and answer questions to gain foundational knowledge. There are 8 stations to choose from – 4 “input” stations that give students new information and 4 “output” stations that allow students to test their understanding of this information. Station titles are as follows: Read It, Watch It, Explore It, Research It, Write It, Illustrate It, Organize It, and Assess It. Having various formats for students to choose from gives them the opportunity to discover which format they learn best in but also exposes them to the same information 8 different ways.
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Topics Covered:
• Organism Relationships
• Food Chains and Food Webs
• Energy Pyramids
• Earth’s Layers
• Rock Cycle
• Volcanoes
• Erosion and Deposition
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NGSS Standards Covered:
MS-LS 2-1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
MS-LS 2-3 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
MS-ESS 2-2 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spacial scales.
MS-ESS 3-2 Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
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Tentative Course Schedule (activities may be shifted or removed based on student needs)
Week 1: Course Introduction, Organism Relationships
Week 2: Food Chains
Week 3: Food Webs
Week 4: Energy Pyramids
Week 5: Week 1-4 Evaluation, Earth’s Layers
Week 6: Earth’s Layers
Week 7: Rock Cycle
Week 8: Weeks 5-7 Evaluation, Volcanoes
Week 9: Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition
Week 10: Review all material learned, Final Summative Assessment
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