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Afterschool Lesson Plan Database

Lesson Plan

This lesson was excerpted from the Afterschool Training Toolkit under the promising practice: Tutoring to Enhance Science Skills

Description:

This lesson is one example of how you can implement the practice of Tutoring to Enhance Science Skills. In this activity, students take the results, or data, from different experiments and learn to make data tables.

Note:

This is the second lesson in a series. Start with Interpreting Data from Birdfeeders.

Learning Goals:

• Understand data as pieces of information
• Learn how data can be represented in a table
• Construct a data table from experiment results
• Interpret data from a data table

Materials:

• Notebook paper
• Pencils
• Clear ruler
• Graphing paper (optional)
• Large chart paper for K-2 students (optional)

Preparation:

1. Connect with the school-day teacher to review student's needs.
2. Review the lesson, printouts, and Tips for Tutoring Students in Science (PDF, 60KB).
3. Print all of the PDFs for this lesson. If you are working with more than one student, make copies as needed.

Safety Considerations:
There are no safety precautions for this lesson. However, if simple experiments are conducted in expanding this lesson, follow appropriate safety precautions such as using goggles or safety spectacles.

What to Do:

• Engage students by identifying what they already know about displaying data.
  • Begin by reviewing data as pieces of collected information. Typically, data represents something that can be observed and measured, from how often it rained in the last week to how much chlorine is in local pools.
  • Ask students to show you a sample of a data table or graph they have made. This may be a crumpled sheet of paper with numbers clustered randomly, representing something they have observed and measured.
  • Review the Sample Data for Data Tables (PDF) and ask the student to make a data table from one of the examples. Note what the student understands and where the student needs to modify her/his thinking.
• Explore data tables. Review the Guidelines for Making a Data Table (PDF) and the Checklist for a Data Table (PDF).
  • Ask students to select an example from the sample data and create a data table.
  • As students work, review any vocabulary associated with data representations. Watch for typical errors and help students learn to identify them, check their work, and correct errors independently.
• Explain the results. Ask students to explain how they organized the data in their data tables. Review students' data tables using the data table checklist. If you feel that sufficient progress has been made, ask students to continue with other sample data sets.
• Extend learning if you have extra time. Use school-day science lessons or the Internet to collect additional data for more data tables. If you are familiar with Microsoft Excel®, teach students to create electronic data tables.

Evaluate (Outcomes to look for):

• Student participation and engagement
• Answers that reflect an understanding of what data is, and that it represents pieces of information
• Answers that reflect an understanding of how data can be organized in a table (use the data table checklist).

Standards:
Click this link to see additional learning goals, grade-level benchmarks, and standards covered in this lesson.