Inquiry Lesson Plan Template

Teacher: Sean Fowler

Title & Topic: The
Solar System/The
Order of the
Planets
Standards:
Arizona Common Core Standard
Concept 3: Earth in the Solar System
PO 1. Identify the known planets of the solar system.
Next Generation Science Standards

Grade Level:
5th

ESS1.B: Earth and the Solar System

The orbits of Earth around the sun and of the moon around Earth, together with the rotation of Earth
about an axis between its North and South poles, cause observable patterns. These include day and
night; daily changes in the length and direction of shadows; and different positions of the sun, moon,
and stars at different times of the day, month, and year.
Common Core State Connection:
ELA/Literacy
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.2.E
Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented.
ELA/Literacy
SL.5.5: Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in presentations
when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes. (5-ESS1-2)

Mathematics
MP.4 Model with Mathematics. (5-ESS1-2)
Objective (Explicit & Measurable):
There are 8 planets in our solar system, all at different distances from the
Sun. The further a planet is away from the Sun, the longer it takes the
planet to complete one orbit.
Students will be able to determine the correct order of the planets in the solar
system by understanding the amount of Earth years, or at times Earth days, it
takes the planets to orbit the Sun.
Evidence of Mastery (Measurable Assessment: formative and summative):
Working in groups, students will use a model of the solar system to put the
planets in the correct order. The planets will be connected to the holes in the
model of the Sun, with the dowels that the planets are permanently connected
to models of the planets.
At the end of the lesson, students will write a one-paragraph reflection,
explaining why planets orbit the Sun at different lengths, due to their distance
from the Sun.
Sub-objectives, SWBAT (steps that lead to completion of objective; sequence from
simple to more complex):
-Students need to know how long it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun to determine what an
Earth year is
-Students need to know what a year means
-Students need to know that the Sun is the center of the solar system
Lesson Summary and Justification: (summary gives detailed information about what
students are doing. Justification why is this lesson being taught)

This lesson is being taught to not only introduce the students to the planets of the solar system,
but to allow them to determine the correct order of the planets. This lesson is taught using a
guided inquiry based approach that will allow the students to apply what they will learn in the
Power Point to the in-class activity.
The lesson will begin with the students using prior knowledge to determine how long a year on
Earth is. Once the amount of days in a year is clear, students will be asked why a year is 365
days. Teacher will use a visual aid to assist the students with understanding the orbit of the
Earth around the Sun, which shows them what a year means. Teacher will also ask the students
to determine what happens when an object orbiting another goes further out. The students
should be able to determine that the further out an object orbits, the longer it takes for it to
complete the orbit. Teacher will then move on to the main characteristics of the Sun and the 8
planets in the solar system; roughly 3 facts per object. The main fact that the students should
pay attention to will be the amount of time it takes each planet to orbit the Sun in Earth years or
Earth days (Earth days for planets that orbit closer to the Sun than the Earth). The order of the
facts of the planets will be given from the largest planet (Jupiter) to the smallest planet
(Mercury). Since the students will be determining the correct order of the planets, this is why the
order for facts cannot be the same as the order of the planets. Once the facts of the planets are
given, the students will begin an activity where they will use models of the Sun and planets to
put the planets in the correct order. There will be a PowerPoint slide for the students to reference
during this time that shows the Earth years or days for each planet. Students will be divided up
into 5 groups for the activity. After a time the teacher determines, the groups will each explain to
the teacher their justification for the order they created. If all groups are correct, the lesson will
move on. If all groups are incorrect, teacher will give hints to the students to guide them in the
right direction. If one or more groups are correct, teacher will allow students to collaborate with
one another and share their justifications. The goal will be for the students to teach one another
and test ideas. Once the activity is complete, the teacher will show a slide with a picture of the
correct order. The next slide will have the distances in miles of the planets as they are from the
Sun. Teacher will reiterate that the further away an object is, the longer it takes to orbit the Sun.
Teacher will then show a to-scale picture of the Sun and the planets in the solar system, so that
the students can see their size compared to the rest of the objects, specifically the Sun. Teacher
will then ask the students to write a paragraph explaining why some planets have shorter or
longer years than others. Once complete, students will turn in the paragraph to receive
participation points for the class.

Background Knowledge: (What do students need to know to complete this lesson)

-The length of a year on Earth
-What a year means
-The planets orbit the Sun
Misconception: (what possible misleading thoughts might students have?)
-The Sun and planets orbit the Earth
-A year on Earth is the same for other planets
-The planets are the same size

Process Skills:
-The students knowledge of what an Earth year means
-Interpreting different Earth years, or Earth days at times, to determine different distances from the Sun
Safety: (what safety rules and items need to be addressed?)
-Not to poke one another with the dowels
-Not to throw the objects at one another
-Not to hit anyone with the objects
Inquiry Questions: (testable in the here and now.)
1. Do closer objects circle around faster or slower than further objects?
2. Is there a correlation between the different dowel lengths?
Key vocabulary: (list and define)
Materials: (list item and possible

1. Orbit
2. Earth year
3. Earth day

quantity)
1. 5 model groups of the Sun and the 8 planets
2. Sheet of paper for the students
3. PowerPoint presentation
4. Globe
5. Large ball (to represent the Sun)

Engage - In this section you should activate prior knowledge, hook student
attention, pose a question (IQ#1) based on your lesson objective that students
will seek to answer in Explore.
Teacher Will:
Students Will:
-Enthusiastically tell the students we will be learning
about space
-Ask the students how long a year is
-Ask the students what a year means
-Demonstrate visually what an orbit looks like
-Go through PowerPoint that give characteristics
about the planets

-Be quiet and listen

-Raise their hand if they know the answers to
how long a year is and what a year means
-Raise their hand if they do not understand what
orbiting the Sun means
-Take notes about the characteristics

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation and Teacher Notes:

-Have enough room in the class to demonstrate an Earth year with a globe
-Have another resources available to demonstrate an Earth year if students are not
comprehending
Explore - In this section students should take the lead and actively use materials
to discover information that will help them answer the question posed in
Engage. Teachers may choose to give steps to follow, especially for younger students,
but the goal is for students to discover some or all of the sub-objectives of the lesson.
Teacher Will: (Do closer objects circle around
Students Will: (list all steps)
faster or slower than further objects?)
-Walk around the class as the groups work on their
solar system models
-Focus on groups that are struggling
-Answer questions that will not give a direct answer
(guide them)

-Talk with one another and discuss ideas

-Compare notes
-Discuss the order before they attempt to put
the model together
-Suspend judgment on the model is wrong. They
must explain the reason why they disagree
-Compare with other groups to determine their
reasoning for the order of their model
-Record observations or ideas

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation and Teacher Notes

-Tell groups that are struggling to make a chart for Earth year amounts and ask if there
is some sort of order for the planets based off of those differences.
Explain In this section students share what they discovered, teacher connects
student discoveries to correct content terms/explanations, students
articulate/demonstrate a clear and correct understanding of the lesson sub-objectives
by answering the question from Engage before moving on.
Teacher Will:
Students Will:
-Call on a group or groups that got the
-Quietly listen to the other groups
wrong order first
explanations
-Ask one group member to explain their
-Wait to be called on by teacher
findings
-Listen to the teacher expand on the

-Listen to groups explanations

-Allow groups that got the right order to
give their explanation
-Further explain the right answer of the
order of the planets

right answer

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation and Teacher Notes

-Look for meaning in the reasoning for groups that may be wrong, to elaborate to the
class how they determined their order. This is better than simply telling the students
they are wrong.
Elaborate In this section students take the basic learning gained from Explore and
clarified in Explain and apply it to a new circumstance or explore a particular aspect of
this learning at a deeper level. Students should be using higher order thinking in this
stage. A common practice in this section is to ask a What If? question. IQ #2
Teacher Will: (Is there a correlation between the Students Will:
different dowel lengths?)
-Ask the students if they used the different dowel
lengths to get the right answer
-Explain to students, that did not notice the
differences, that the different lengths of the dowel
represent the distances of the object to the Sun
-Ask the students what the difficulty may have been
if all of the dowels were the same length

-Raise their hands and wait to be called on

-Listen to teachers questions

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation and Teacher Notes

-Make a chart of the different Earth years for the planets on the board, to show how to
properly sequence the planets if the dowels were all at the same length.
Evaluate In this section every student demonstrates mastery of the lesson
objective (though perhaps not mastery of the elaborate content). Because this also
serves as a closing, students should also have a chance to summarize the big
concepts they learned outside of the assessment.
Teacher Will:
Students Will:
-Ask the students to pull out a sheet of
-Take out a piece of paper
paper
-Quietly write their paragraph response
-Tell the students to write one paragraph,
-Raise their hand if they need help from
approximately 4-6 sentences, explaining
the teacher
why planets orbit the Sun at different time
frames
-Ask the students to use a real world
example in their paragraph
Closure: (revisit objective, IQs and make real world connections)
Tell the students that their objective was to determine the correct order of the planets in the solar
system, and they were able to determine the right answer by having an understanding of what an Earth
year and an Earth day is. Explain once again that a year on every planet is the same for all, in relation
to their own orbit around the Sun. Finish the lesson by showing the students a model of the solar
system, and also show them the size of the planets, to scale, compared to the Sun.

Concept Map Make sure you include a copy of your updated Concept Map.
Map has clearly defined lesson flow that addresses desired learning
outcomes.
Evidence that feedback was used to edit and improve the lesson.
SOA Make suggested edits to build a better lesson.
Evidence that feedback was used to edit and improve the lesson.
Best Practices List the Best Teaching Practices you will use. List the
section, how the practices will be used and the purpose.
Best Practices Listed along with section (engage, explore etc.)
How the practice will be used and the purpose of.

Exit Ticket Rubric

Exit Ticket
Question
What causes
the planets to
have longer or
shorter Earth
years than
others?

Excellent-3

Average-2

Student successfully
describes what
causes planets to
have longer or
shorter Earth years
than others. They
also use real world
examples to further
expand on the
explanation.

Student successfully
describes what causes
planets to have longer or
shorter Earth years than
others.

Needs
Improvement-1
Student explains
that planets have
different Earth
years, but does not
uses examples or
further explain as to
why.

Sean Fowler
EED 411
12/5/2015
Lessons Reflection
For the lesson I conducted in my internship class, I decided to teach the students
about the solar system. My mentor teacher gave me the freedom to choose whatever
standard I wanted, and that I did not need to teach a lesson that built off of what she was
already doing with the students. She was transitioning to astronomy, which was exactly
what I wanted to teach. I told her that astronomy is my favorite subject and it is a great
topic to teach students to get them excited about science. Knowing that I had to come up
with some sort of activity for the lesson, I searched the Internet and found a number of
great ideas. Ultimately, I found a great activity off of Pinterest and decided to incorporate
that idea into my lesson.
Rather than purchasing the activity, which was sold online, I went to Michaels to
build my own solar system. Due to the high cost of the materials, I limited the amount of
solar systems that I would make to 5 total groups. I would have preferred to make 6 or 7,
to accommodate the number of groups in my internship class, but I was content with the
$60 I was already spending. I painted the balls I purchased to resemble the Sun and the
8 planets in the solar system.

It was crucial to have them resemble the actual planets, because the students
would need to identify them by their appearance. The purpose of the activity in the
lesson was not for the students to be able to identify the planets solely by their
appearance, but their correct order from the Sun, according to their Earth years or Earth
days. The dowels that connected the planets to the Sun were at different lengths, in
order for the students to determine which is further away from the Sun. The dowels were
permanently connected to the planets, but the other end could be placed in and out the
Sun.
When it came time to teach the lesson, I began by asking the students if they
knew what a year on Earth meant. They had previously covered the orbit of the Earth
around the Sun in a previous lesson, so I had many students raise their hands to
answer. I called on one who correctly told me what a year means, and I then had him
come to the front of class to demonstrate the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, using a
globe. I placed a basketball at the center of the class and had him walk around the Sun
one time, while holding the globe. I reinforced the students knowledge by showing them
what the Earths orbit looks like.
I then asked the students if the orbit would take a shorter or longer time if the
Earth were placed further from the Sun. The students collectively answered and told me
that it would take longer. The students seemed to have an understanding of the length of
an orbit around the Sun if objects are placed at different distances. To reinforce this, I
told the students that any planet closer to the Sun than the Earth is defined as having an
orbit in Earth years, and any planet further from Earth is defined as having an orbit in
Earth years.
From largest to smallest, I presented the 8 planets in our solar system using a
PowerPoint presentation. For each planet, I included a picture and some basic facts
about the planet. Though the facts were different for each planet, each slide included the

Earth day or Earth year length of orbit time around the Sun. I told the students to take
notes throughout the presentation, because they would then need to place the planets in
the correct order from the Sun later on. Once all of the planets were covered, I displayed
a slide that had the pictures of each planet I crafted for the students to use as a
reference during the activity. The slide also had the Earth days and Earth years for each
planet displayed, in order from largest to smallest.
The students were split up into groups of 5 and I placed a bag with the Sun and 8
planets in each of them. Before the students pulled the activity out of the bags, I told
them that they could use the slide displayed to place the planets in the correct order
around the Sun from closest to furthest. The students did not have any questions to ask,
so I had them proceed with the activity. I walked around the room, observing the
students to see if any of them were having trouble. For the most part, it took the groups
a few minutes to figure out the correct order. But once they began placing the dowels
into the Sun, they started to notice that the dowels were all different lengths. After
approximately 10 minutes, all of the groups had the 8 planets placed around the Sun in
correct order from Mercury to Neptune.
After the activity was complete, I had the groups explain to me how they were
able to put the planets in the correct order. Four of the groups told me that they were
able to identify the different dowel lengths, and that the shorter ones were closer to the
Sun and the longer ones further away. Only one group properly used the Earth day and
Earth year lengths on the slide to put the planets in the correct order. For the exit ticket, I
had the students write a one-paragraph answer, explaining why planets orbit the Sun at
different lengths, due to their distance from the Sun. The students had similar answers,
each with different examples. This let me know that they had a great understanding of
the lesson and paid attention to all aspects.

After speaking to my mentor teacher, she told me that my lesson went great and
she also told me that the students appeared to really enjoy every aspect about it. As far
as classroom management is concerned, she said that, for the most part, I did an
excellent job. I used positive reinforcement to keep the students in line by verbally
acknowledging those who were on task. The only time she noticed room for
improvement was when a student came up to the front multiple times to take a closer
look at some of the pictures from the PowerPoint presentation. After the first time, I
should have told the student to stay in their seat or face some sort of punishment.
As far as the lesson is concerned, the only thing that my mentor teacher
suggested is for either all of the dowels to be the same lengths or for the students to
write down the correct order before they are hands on with the materials. Since most of
the students noticed the different dowel lengths, it would have been better for them to
write down the correct order first, based off of the Earth day and Earth year lengths.
Overall, I believe I did an excellent job with the lesson with little room for improvement.
When Katie Gagen and myself teamed up for the lesson we conducted in our
cohort, we both agreed that we wanted to teach a lesson that was geared more towards
the 7th or 8th grade level. It took us some time to figure out which topic we could cover,
and we ultimately decided on DNA mutation. We chose mutation because there is still
somewhat of a misunderstanding and a misconception as to how species evolve. Rather
than covering evolution, we decided to cover what happens before a species evolves.
One of the first things I was thinking about, before contemplating the actual
lesson, was the activity we would conduct. I thought of a great activity for the cohort to
conduct, to show how a mutation can help an organism survive better than another. If an
organism that is preyed on blends in better if they are more camouflaged, due to a
mutation, they have a better chance at survival and will be able to pass on their genes to

their offspring. Once I had the activity figured out, Katie and I constructed our lesson
plan around it.
We chose to begin the lesson by having Katie reference what we notionally
taught in the previous lesson, which was DNA. From there, I transitioned to mutation and
explained how a mutation in the DNA coding is what causes either noticeable or
unnoticeable changes in an organism. To better explain the process, and to give the
students a visual representation of mutation, I found a clip from the television show
Cosmos, where Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about a mutation that occurred in a bears
egg cells thousands of years ago, which caused the brown fur in one of its offspring to
turn white. This helped the offspring hunt better in the white background, due to an ice
age that occurred at the same time.
While the video was playing, I paused it and asked the cohort what advantage a
bear with white fur has in a white background. Two members of the cohort correctly
answered by telling me that they would be able to sneak up on animals better than the
bears with brown fur. The white fur allowed the bear to sneak up better on its prey, which
in turn allowed the bear to survive and pass its DNA to its offspring. This process carried
on through several generations and gave rise to the Polar Bear. After the video was
finished, I reiterated that a mutation, in this case, favored an organism and that is exactly
what natural selection is. It is not that species chose to change their appearance or
traits, a change randomly occurs and if the change is favorable to its survival, it will be
passed on.
After further review of what DNA mutation is, Katie explained the activity to the
cohort while I passed out the white and black papers. The white papers had 10 black
dots and 10 white dots, and the black papers had 10 white dots and 10 black dots. We
gave the cohort only 5 seconds to cross out as many dots as they could. The object of
the activity was to show the students that if a species that is preyed on blends in better

with its surroundings, they will survive better and pass on their genes to their offspring.
As expected, all of the students crossed off all of the visible dots on the their papers and
only a few students were able to see the dots that were the same color as the paper.
Following the activity, we showed the cohort a YouTube video about a species of
pocket mice in New Mexico. Thousands of years ago a volcano erupted, and once the
lava hardened, it turned parts of a remote desert floor much darker. Over thousands of
generations, the mice that had darker fur survived more than the lighter colored ones.
The dark rock better concealed the mice with dark fur. If those mice where to venture out
onto the lighter color desert floor, where the mice with the lighter colored fur resides,
they would stand out to predators. The same goes for the mice with lighter fur, venturing
onto the dark, hardened lava rock. Through DNA testing, scientist discovered that the
only difference between the two mice is a gene that controls fur color. The lesson was
concluded by having the cohort come up with their own definition of what mutation is and
we called on a few of them to share. The ones that shared their definition were correct,
which told Katie and I that they retained the information quite well.
For pedagogical content knowledge, in both lessons, I used my background
knowledge of the solar system and mutation, in order to construct a well, thought out
lesson for each. The immense knowledge I have in each subject allowed me to explain
both topics well enough for everyone to comprehend. I am passionate with science and I
am sure that passion was visible to students in my internship and the cohort. Students in
my internship were transitioning to astronomy, so the lesson I taught on the solar system
was a great jumping off point. The students thoroughly enjoy hands on activities, which
caused me to come up with the activity of the planets. I knew that they would be excited
to work in groups, because they are a very sociable class. Showing the students pictures
or videos would not have given them the same level of satisfaction as they felt during the
activity. The same goes for the cohort page. We always enjoyed an activity where we

were challenged. A fun challenge is always a great way to keep the students engaged. I
kept it simple with the assessment in each of the lessons I conducted. It is possible to
assess how the students retained the information, without making it a dreadful
experience. Both lessons went quite well, and that is a tribute to mine and Katies
knowledge of the material.