Science Curriculum Core 2009

Assignment 4: Planning A Unit Of Work

For this assignment you are to work in a group on the planning and production of a Unit Plan for a Stage 4 - 5 topic, and to contribute to a 1 hour seminar presentation to the class. Your task is to:

1. find four (or at most five) people to work with on the assignment and decide on a Stage 5 science topic you can work on for the next 4 weeks (before prac) and in the weeks before you are scheduled for your seminar presentations (in the last two week of lectures);

2. prepare, by Friday of week 3 in Phase 3, a proposal for a collective piece of work and with clearly defined roles for each group member,. The proposal must be in writing and contain:

• group members' names
• a topic area from the Stage 4 - 5 syllabus
• a working title that sets the broad context for the topic/unit plan

The aim of the assignment is that you will:

• equitably contribute to the design and production of unit plan which is innovative, contemporary and based upon constructivist, problem-based and pupil-centred learning approaches to the teaching of a stage 4-5 Science topic;
• prepare an overview, scenario and rationale for the topic context
• prepare two concept maps, one each for:
  • the main scientific concepts, ideas and principles (knowledge and understanding domain) from both the domain and the prescribed focus area sections of the syllabus
  • the main scientific, communication and ICT skills (skills domain)
• prepare a written unit plan, suitable for use with the NSW Stage 4 - 5 Syllabus, that will cover about half a term’s work (4 - 6 weeks depending on tyhe size and scope of the topic) and that contains the following elements, at least: (the pages must be set to landscape mode to allow space for the detasuls in each column)

Lesson (No. and type)	Objectives and Outcomes	Syllabus references (Domain, PFA, Skills)	Content: Domain	Content: Skills	Student Activities	References and Resources	Author
Note #1	Note #2	Note #3	Note #4	Note #4	Note #5	Note #6

Notes:

1. Lessons should be in sequence and indicate the type of lesson (e.g. teacher-led discussion, laboratory experiment, fieldwork, computer-based learning, teacher-demonstration, library-research , role play, debate, etc. or combinations of these and other types) and what the main content, style, activiies and references/resopurces for each are. Each member of the group will take responsibility for a discrete and continuous sequence of at least 4 or 5 periods (40 minutes per period) of work, organised as two or three single period lessons and one double period lesson - these must be clearly identified by the author's name, as must all associated worksheets/resources authored by that individual;

2. In writing Objectives and Outcomes you should start with those given in the syllabus, and then develop more specific ones from these for each lesson (though not in as much detail or as many of the outcomes which would go into an inbividual lesson plan ). Ensure that the Outcomes relate to the Domain (Knowledge & Understanding, and Skills) and the Prescribed Focus Areas in the syllabus.

3. Indicate the number and type (PFA, Domain, Skills) e.g. PFA 4.1a, Dom4.6.1b, Sk4.17e together with a verbal descriptor of the syllabus section

4. Indicate the Domain topic headings and subheadings, and also the Skills, both from the syllabus (for the Core) and from interpretation for any Optional extensions.

5. Indicate the kinds of significant activities done in each session and give a reference if appropriate (e.g. Practical investigation - pH of common substances; Leaf-litter survey of school oval; Building model of solar system; Mini-play - The trial of Galileo; Role play - Community debate on local telecommunications tower)

6. Note author, title and page details, together with a short description (no more than a sentence or two) for any references or other resources in your specific section. Include a fuller bibliography separately at the end of the unit plan.

3. submit your group proposal by Friday in week 3 in order to have the project approved, and begin assigning the tasks for the different elements of the written work equitably between group members. The assignment of responsibilities will form the basis of the learning contract for the group, and needs to be codified in writing. Each member of the group will take responsibility for one identifiable and discrete section of the final unit plan;

4 present your ideas and materials in a seminar to the whole class in the last 2 weeks of lectures, as rostered . Each group will have 45 - 50 minutes for their seminar-presentation, which should incorporate at least one of the class activities designed for the unit as a demonstration or a small-group activity. Everyone in the group must play a role in the presentation - tasks must be assigned equitably so that everyone participates in both the preparation and presentation of the seminar;

5. submit the written work by the due date.

Authorship, formatting and equitable allocation of tasks.

Each member of the group will be responsible for clearly identifiable parts of the written work and the seminar presentation. All written work you submit as part of the final package must include you name on the title page and on each of the pages that you contrinuted to. The written work and the seminar presentation will be assessed:

1. as a whole package (with all members of the group sharing the assessment)
2. as individually authored components (with the individual author being assessed for their own contribution)

HINT: Use Google Docs with shared access to prepare the plan and also a PowerPoint version for the presentation in class.

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Written work The following must be submitted in hard copy and on disc: a topic overview: a cover page, a contents page, including pagination an overview and rationale of the unit of work setting the context i.e. what is the purpose of student's doing this unit of work in the way that has been developed, in terms of the aims and objectives of science education , the philosophies which have been adopted in designing the unit, and syllabus requirements for 'contexts' for topics/units of work a unit plan in tabular format indicated above two concept maps: (i) domain knowledge & understandings, prescribed focus area knowledge & understandings; (ii) skills a list of references consulted in the preparation of the materials any handout to be used in conjunction with the class activity done in the seminar presentation The unit plans which are of satisfactory standard will be placed onto the internet. You should refer to the MTeach student work already on the web to familiarise yourself with the standard expected (noting that specific requirements may be different in previous years). Individual items of work should have the author(s) identified at the start of the relevant section. If group members are working on different software/hardware platforms, arrangements should be made to ensure consistency of formatting, pagination and layout.

Assessment

Assessment will be based upon:

1. a group mark for the overall Unit Plan and associated materials
2. a small-group mark for the concept map you co-author
3. an individual mark for your specific section of the unit plan
4. a group mark for the seminar presentation
5. an assessment of your individual contributions to that group's efforts

The criteria and assessment rubric for the assignment (PDF)

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