"What does a Scientist look like?" Lesson Plan

This lesson plan is geared towards high school Biology but can be used in most any science classroom.  I designed this particular lesson plan around my Queen Bee Rearing research but it can be modified to fit other field work.

On a side note, I am hoping to fix the drivers for my Kodak 5-in-1 printer so that I can scan and upload picture samples of my students' scientist drawings. 

An overall conclusion of my lesson would be that it went extremely well.  The students were actively engaged in the learning.  I would conclude that my thoughts of bringing my own fieldwork into the classroom is an excellent way to teach students.  They do want to hear about your experiences and your knowledge first hand. 

Included is a URL for my lesson plan. 
https://w.taskstream.com/Lesson/View/ACF36A49191D1DA90A5A0DD5AE6708D1
**The URL should be used if you would like to access the lesson plan which will include all updates and attachments.  Below is only provided to give an idea as to what this particular lesson plan looks like.**
 
What does a scientist look like?

Author: Jaime Ford
Based on lesson by: Jaime Ford
Date created: 02/21/2012 4:35 PM EST ; Date modified: 02/24/2012 9:57 PM EST

GENERAL COMMENT AREA
General Comments
Basic Information
Subject(s):  Biology, Science
Topic:  What does a scientist look like?
Time/Period:  50 minutes
Grade/Level:  Grade 10

Objectives:
 •Describe the appearance of a scientist
•Discuss queen bee rearing research
•Describe varroa and tracheal mites and how it relates to queen bee rearing
•Discuss careers in research

Assessment/Rubrics Exploration:
Exploration Assessment:
The scientist the students create from the "What does a scientist look like?" is the student's own creativity and is rather abstract. There is no specified requirements for this activity. If the student refuses to participate in this section subtract a 1/3 of the points from the overall total.

Application Assessment:
Included in the PowerPoint Presentation are questions for the students to answer at the end. The questions are open-ended, therefore grading should be appropriate to the thoughfulness the student displays in their answer. If the student refuses to participate subtract 2/3 of the points from the overall total.

Materials:
     •Materials and resources:
      queen bee rearing equipment (Cupularvae Kit and grafting tools)
      frames, queen bee catcher, queen bee marker
      research notebook
     bee rearing magazine
     paper

Content Specific Requirements:
 Explain that grafting tools need to be handled carefully - the tools are sharp (safety) and do belong to FSU (respect).

Standards and Key Concepts

Content Area Standards Display: Collapse All Expand All
WV- West Virginia Content Standards and Objectives Subject: Science Grade or Course: Tenth Grade Science Standard: SC.S.10.1 Nature of ScienceStudents willDetail: # demonstrate an understanding of history and nature of science as a human endeavor encompassing the contributions of diverse cultures and scientists.

National Standards: Life Science/Biology Content Standard C

Essential Questions: What does a scientist look like? What is involved in research? What kind of careers are in the research field?

Instructional Process

Introduction:
Exploration (see attachment below for the "DAST" assessment test) :

On a sheet of paper have students draw what they believe a scientist looks like. After 4-5 minutes (or less) depending on how quickly the students finish, assess drawings with the Draw-a-Scientist Test (DAST). Allow students to tally their own drawing to see how close they came to drawing a stereotypical scientist. This is not to be graded unless the student refuses to take part in lesson; see rubric if this is the case.

Attachments:
1.DAST

Procedure:
Concept Development: (See attachment below for PowerPoint presentation "What does a scientist look like?")

Slide 1 begins with "What does a scientist look like". Ask students if their drawing looks like the stereotypical cartoon drawing of a scientist. Proceed by showing pictures of myself and colleagues as a true scientist. Up until slide 12 provide students with an idea of how research works, which includes producing a question, writing grants, and performing research (specifically bee research as an example), as well as following and continuation of research. I also explore why I was interested in bee research which includes eliminating varroa and tracheal parasitic mites (relate terms to biology content such as "parasite", "mite", "trachea"); slides 7 and 10 have pictures for the students to view and discuss. Explain that eliminating mites is a biology or biological research topic. Show manipulatives from my own research experiment (i.e. Cupularvae kit, grafting tools, queen bee net, etc...). Pass the manipulatives around the classroom for students to view.

Concept Applicaton:
Introduction in the concept application begins by talking about slide 13 "Research Careers". Engage students in various careers in research providing specific examples such as forensic, car design, spybot, etc... Probe students with additional research careers (noting that there are many and that I know I did not cover them all) that they may add to the available list and write on board for the classroom to view. With this discussion, I hope this will open the minds of students who did not previously see research as a career option.

Lastly, slide 14 contains some application questions for the students to individually answer on the back of their "What does a scientist look like?" drawing. See rubric for assessing the open-ended questions in this section.

Attachments:
1.What does a Scientist Look Like PowerPoint Presentation

Closure/Conclusion: Conclude that a scientist is an every day person. Summarize that researching queen bee rearing and resistance to mites is a Biological Research field; however research is a large field and has many career opportunities.

Daily Reflection: The students loved the interactiveness of this activity. I had the attention of every (EVERY) student in the classroom. I believe it is due to the fact that it involves real world research. I believe what will make me a good science teacher is my participation in field work that I can later relate to my students. After this activity the students were still asking probing questions about honey bees up to 3 days later. This may partly be because I brought in a real live queen bee that had recently died but allowed the students to view one up close. Students are asking to see an observation hive in late spring. I hope to reassess the students on the next test as a bonus question to see if they remember what a real scientist looks like.

At this point, I cannot think of any improvements that may make this 50 minute lesson better. My own improvements include better control of the classroom when the students first enter. My intro skills are still weak.