Contextual+Teaching+Assignment

It has often been recognized that real life examples help students to learn concepts more quickly and in a context to which they relate. This idea is at the heart of contextual teaching. Contextual teaching means that instead of providing examples while teaching concepts, a teacher uses the examples as a platform through which concepts are learned. In this assignment, you will develop a contextual activity or demonstration to teach a concept, using the 5-E model as the basis of your lesson planning.

Lesson Plan Template Contextual Teaching Lesson Rubric

Objective Writing Resources
[|Bloom's Taxonomy Key Words] [|Applying Bloom's Taxonomy] [|Taxonomy of Education Objectives] [|Bloom's Taxonomy Model Questions and Key Words]

Contextual Teaching Lessons
__**The Death of Tony LaGuardia - Mrs. Palmer**__ In this lab, students use the concept of osmosis to begin to solve the murder of Tony LaGuardia. After processing their data, students are led through a discussion to help identify the guiding principles of osmosis and diffusion. Students then apply these principles to new scenarios through both a hands on activity and real life examples. Student handout

**Cell Structure and Function** by Max Green, Brandon Parrott, and Kyle Gunlock. This exercise serves as an introduction to the structure and function of cells and how the structure of cells is related to their function. Students will begin by drawing what they think a cell looks like and then compare their drawings to those of their classmates. The students will then visit different stations that feature different cells under microscopes. The students will answer the questions at each station and when each student has visited each station, the teacher will go over the worksheet and then begin a lecture on cell organelles. **Animals Have a Family Tree Too!** by Lauren Clayton, Kari Free, and Fank Savaglio. In this introductory evolution exercise, students will use their knowledge of animal characteristics to group them into related animal groups. As a class, students will use previous knowledge to visually group animals, then brainstorm questions to help identify a "mystery animal" presented to them. Students will then work in groups on a worksheet, filling out a cladogram that will visually represent that related animals share similar characteristics. Once students have had enough time to complete their worksheet, the teacher will lead a class discussion regarding the different student groups' conclusions. We have included our lesson plan, as well as the worksheet pages, in the attached document.

**Rabbit Vs. Environment** by Lauryn Funteas and Kathy Rossetti In this exercise the studetns will get a chance to interactively explore population ecology. Students will complete the rabbit vs. environment game in order to get them thinking about the topic. After the game is completed a lecture on the major principles about population ecology will be given. We have also included the website we used for our extension and a description of the site.

**Mendelian Genetics Coin Toss Activity** By: Ashley Fleming, Tim George, Sam Alderfer In this activity the students will have an introduction to mendelian genetics by developing their own offspring with a partner. This is done by flipping a coin to determine the genotypes of each trait. The students will then draw their child using the phenotypes. After they complete this they will answer questions on a worksheet. (the worksheet is the last page of the lab)

**Agent 007 Protein Synthesis Activity** By Nicole Martinelli and Jill Dorbeck. In this activity the students will get a chance to go through the central dogma of DNA and protein synthesis by decoding top secret DNA messages. After the activity, the students will learn about DNA transcription and translation and possibly sources of mutation from incorrect decoding, as they will see when they try to create their DNA messages. secret agent letter DNA Messages 1-30 Answer Key translation worksheet in which students write down their messages and translate. worksheet that lists all of the amino acid translations



**Ecosystems: Finaeus and Phoebe Activity** By: Katie Greune and Lauren Birkner. In this lesson students will be engaged in a hands on activity that introduces the general terminology associated with ecosystems. In a group students will build a self contained ecosystem, then partner up to complete a vocabulary worksheet which correlates with the structure they have just built.

by: Kevin Templin and Jon DeRew This is an introductory activity to evolution that allows students to be creative without knowing anything about evolution. Students will be creating an organisms to survive on a fictional island to show them the effects of evolution.
 * Survival of the Fittest**