Melissa Renae Turton DTL: Assessment Two 18511970

Lesson Plan Analysis and Revision:

Stage 4 Science (Bin Liner) Lesson

Name: Melissa Renae Turton

Student ID: 18511970
Word Count: 2115

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Melissa Renae Turton DTL: Assessment Two 18511970

Part A: Observe and Analyse a Lesson (994 words)

Evaluate the lesson plan according to the following NSW Quality Teaching model elements.
Comments incl. evidence for evaluation score (2 sentences)

1. Intellectual quality

1.1 Deep knowledge

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: The knowledge in this lesson is deep as it sustains focus on key ideas
and concepts throughout the entirety of the lesson. As a stage 4 Science lesson
on waste management, this lesson demonstrated deep knowledge through a
consistent focus on the effects of plastic bags and the importance of
biodegradable alternatives.

1.2 Deep understanding

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: The students demonstrate a deep understanding of the lesson
content throughout the entire lesson. This is evident in how the students
problem solve and construct explanations, as well as draw conclusions, in the
cause/effect and pro/con activities.

1.3 Problematic knowledge

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: The lesson demonstrates knowledge as socially constructed, with
multiple perspectives presented and explored to allow for judgements to be
made by the students. Through the use of cause/effect and pro/con activities,
the students are encouraged to explore the purpose and impact of plastic bags
and biodegradable bags from differing perspectives.

1.4 Higher-order thinking

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: Most of the students demonstrate higher-order thinking in at least
one major activity within the lesson. Students demonstrate higher-order
thinking in the final newspaper bin liner activity where they combine, reorganise
and apply their knowledge to transform meaning.

1.5 Metalanguage
1–2–3–4–5 Comments: There is low evidence of metalanguage with this lesson, with the
lesson proceeding without the teacher or students commenting on the specific

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language used. Metalanguage could be incorporated by allotting time in which

students can ask questions about the key terms including ‘high-density
polyethylene’, ‘sub-cause’, or ‘sub-effect’.

1.6 Substantive communication

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: Substantive communication and sustained interactions between
teachers and students is present throughout the entire lesson. In every activity
students were required to work in collaborative pairs to express ideas and
problem solve, while also communicate these ideas with the class and the
teacher.

2. Quality learning environment

2.1 Explicit quality criteria

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: There are only general statements made in regard to the desired
quality of the work during the teacher-directed instruction on how to make a
biodegradable bin liner. To ensure students have a reference point for
development, the teacher could demonstrate examples of quality answers for
the cause/effect and pro/con activities.

2.2 Engagement
1–2–3–4–5 Comments: All students were seriously engaged and deeply involved in the
substance of the lesson almost all of the time. Through the variation in activities
and a shift between teacher-directed and student-centred learning, the
students sustained concentration all lesson.

2.3 High expectations

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: The lesson inherently encourages most students to participate in
challenging work and are recognised for taking risks in their learning. This
is evident in how the teacher encourages the students to take risks in the
construction of their own biodegradable bin liner and recognises them for these
creative decisions.

2.4 Social support

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: The lesson demonstrates positive social support, with supportive
comments and behaviours directed at most students. This social support is
evident in how the teacher circulates the classroom to assist students in their

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written activities, as well as how the teacher encourages peer support during
class demonstrations.

2.5 Students’ self-regulation

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: All students in the lesson demonstrate a high level of initiative in
regulating their own behaviour, allowing for the lesson to proceed without
interpretation. This self-regulation is evident in the lack of attention the teacher
was required to direct towards handling student misbehaviour, instead focusing
on teaching and learning.

2.6 Student direction

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: There is low evidence of student direction, with students only given
one opportunity to exercise control over an aspect of the lesson. Rather than
only providing students with control in the final bin liner activity, this lesson
would benefit from allowing students to decide what activities they’d like to do
most and if they’d prefer to undertake them alone, in pairs, or in larger groups.

3. Significance

3.1 Background knowledge

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: The students background knowledge is referenced briefly but
remains trivial and of no substantial relation to the lesson. The lesson could be
improved by initiating the lesson with a mind map that includes all the
information students have already learned about waste management.

3.2 Cultural knowledge

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: This lesson demonstrates no evidence of recognition or value
towards anything outside of the dominant culture of knowledge. This could
have been improved by including an activity that allowed the students to
research how a diverse range of cultures approach waste management
differently.

3.3 Knowledge integration

1–2–3–4–5 Comments: In this lesson the teacher made no meaningful connections to other
subjects or other key learning areas, restricting the knowledge to one single
topic. To ensure a high level of knowledge integration, this lesson could have
included an activity that addressed the history of waste management in turn
linking to the history key learning area.

3.4 Inclusivity

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1–2–3–4–5 Comments: Students from all groups were included in all aspects of the lesson,
with each students’ work treated as significant and equivalent to one another.
The teacher demonstrates inclusivity through the inclusion of all students in
class discussion, and the assistance of all students in their practical activity.

3.5 Connectedness
1–2–3–4–5 Comments: This lesson ensures students build connections between the
content taught and situations outside the classroom, with the content
becoming personal and significant to each student. This high level of
connectedness is evident in the bin-liner construction activity, where students
are encouraged to make biodegradable bin-liners to dispose of their own
rubbish at home.

3.6 Narrative
1–2–3–4–5 Comments: The teacher, only loosely and on occasion, utilises narrative to
enrich student understanding in the waste management lesson. Narrative could
be used to enhance the significance of the lesson by including a specific case
study that outlines the production of ‘high density polyethylene’ and it’s use in
Australia.

Identifying Areas for Improvement

Identify the four NSW QT model elements you are targeting for improvement.

QT MODEL

1) Metalanguage 2) Background Knowledge

3) Cultural Knowledge 4) Narrative

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Part B: Revise the Lesson Plan (246 words)

Syllabus: Science Stage: Stage 4 Topic: Earth and Space

Outcomes Assessment Students learn about Students learn to

SC4-13ES Explains how Informal formative ES3 Scientific Classify a range of the
advances in scientific assessment. knowledge influences Earth’s resources as
understanding of the choices people renewable or non-
processes that occur make in regard to the renewable.
within and on the Earth use and management
influence the choices of the Earth’s Investigate some
people make about resources. strategies used by
resource use and people to conserve and
management. manage non-
renewable resources,
e.g. recycling and the
alternative use of
natural and made
resources.

Note: Not all activities may be captured by the video. Assume they were covered by the teacher.

Time Teaching and Learning Actions

5 mins Lesson Preliminaries/Administration
 Settle students into the classroom.
 Mark the roll.

5 mins Mind-Mapping Activity

 Investigate students’ prior knowledge on the waste management topic. Ask
students ‘What do you understand by the term ‘waste management’?’ and
‘What do you understand by ‘renewable alternatives’?’.
 Use digital mind-mapping resource (eg. Bubbl.us) to prompt students to share
their knowledge base as a class activity.
10 mins Direct Instruction
 Welcome students and remind them of the topic.
5 mins  Introduce students to high density polyethylene as a non-renewable resource
used to make plastic bags.
 Carry out metalanguage ‘mini-lesson’ (2 minutes). Define and describe term
‘high density polyethylene’ and allow students opportunity to ask questions to
clarify understanding of key topic term.
 Key ideas for this lesson are cause and effect with questions being “why do we
use so many plastic bags in Australia?” and “what is the effect on the
environment?”

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 Another key idea is solutions with questions being “what have governments
done to solve problems caused by plastic bags?” and “what can citizens do to
solve problems caused by plastic bags?”.
 Final key idea is diverse waste management practices with exploration of
different cultural groups in Australian society.
 Give overview of activity:
 Designing renewable alternatives to plastic bags using newspapers.
Teacher will show students a design and they will improve that design.
 Give overview of thinking tools to be used:
 Think-pair-share
 Case-study Exercise
 Cause-effect map
 Video: Diverse Waste Management Practices
 Pros-Cons-Questions

10 mins Case-Study Exercise

 Give students a case-study exploring the history of ‘high density
polyethylene’ production and its broad use in Australia.
 Students have 5 minutes to read and engage with information and images
within the case-study.
 Teacher circulates classroom to assist students in their understanding.
 Teacher will lead a class discussion (5 minutes) and prompt students to
discuss what they found interesting or surprising within the case-study.
10 mins Think-Pair-Share Activity
 Give students true/false statements worksheet with questions like “the average
plastic bag is used for only 5 minutes but can take up to 1,000 years to break
down in the environment.”
 Students have 2 minutes to individually answer the questions (think).
 Students then have 1 minute to discuss their responses with the student sitting
next to them (pair).
 Teacher will then lead class discussion based on worksheets for 5 minutes
(share).
10 mins Cause-Effect Mapping Activity
 Give students cause-effect map worksheets.
 Students have 2 minutes to think of as many reasons for why we use so many
plastic bags in Australia.
 Go around the class to check student understanding. Highlight the link between
the causes identified and the production of high density polyethylene bags.
 Students have 2 minutes to list as many sub-effects of the production and use of
plastic bags. Circulate to assist students.
 Carry out ‘mini-lesson’ (2 minutes). Define and describe the term ‘sub-effect’.
Allow students to ask questions in regard to the language used and the explicit
requirement of this language.
 Teacher leads brief class discussion to summarise the environmental effects
identified by the students.

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7 mins Video: Diverse Waste Management Practices

 Show students a news report (5 minutes) that details the diverse and difficult
waste management issues facing indigenous communities in Australia.
 Follow up video with a 2-minute teacher-directed discussion summarising waste
management issues and importance of biodegradable alternatives in rural
environments.
 In discussion allow students to input their own cultural experiences with waste
management.
5 mins Direct Instruction
 Teacher to show students how to construct a biodegradable bin liner by folding
4 sheets of newspaper. The bin liner will fit into the teacher’s waste-paper
basket.
5 mins Pros-Cons Activity
 Teacher invites students to highlight the pros and cons of the biodegradable bin
liners.
15 mins Student-Centred Activity
 Students to identify ways to improve the bin liners using the MAS sheet.
10 mins  Students to work in pairs to refine the newspaper bin liners. Circulate around
the room to assist students.
 Students demonstrate their improved designs to the teacher, using the teacher’s
waste paper basket as a test.
 Teacher to encourage peer support during demonstrations.
 Summarise and close the lesson.

How am I measuring the outcomes of this lesson?

Learning Outcome Method of measurement and recording

SC4-13ES Informal questioning of student understanding as the
lesson progresses.

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Part C: Academic Justification (Words: 875)

With the aim to enhance the overall quality of the bin-liner lesson, I chose four areas for
improvement and modification based on the coding scale within the NSW Quality Teaching
Model (QT Model). The areas modified within this lesson include ‘Metalanguage’,
‘Background Knowledge’, ‘Cultural Knowledge’, and ‘Narrative’, with my justification for
these modifications to be discussed hereafter.

Firstly, this lesson plan lacked a sufficient inclusion of metalanguage, with teaching pedagogy
failing to prioritise time to “question the structure and function of the language”
(Department of Education and Training (DET), 2006, p.20). Although the teacher introduces
key terms such as ‘high density polyethylene’, he fails to directly clarify their meaning or
question any difficulty in interpretation. In an attempt to improve the inclusion of
metalanguage, this lesson plan was modified to include two-minute ‘mini-lessons’ at key
juncture points where the teacher provided commentary on the specific vocabulary being
utilised. Campbell & Campbell (2008) emphasise the importance of drawing attention to
contextual vocabulary, with the understanding of key topic words a critical step “before
learners can progress academically” (p.10). They furthermore note how research has
suggested there is a correlation between the clarity of the “teaching vocabulary” and the
depth of a “student’s background knowledge” (Campbell & Campbell, 2008, p.10). The state
of these ‘mini-lessons’ as an effective pedagogical modification is further reflected in the
studies of Basturkmen, Loewen & Ellis (2002) who state that a short focus on metalanguage
provides “learners with a time-out” (p.2) that in turn assists in deep knowledge acquisition in
content heavy topics.

Secondly, this lesson plan failed to adequately acknowledge and explicitly build upon
students’ background knowledge within the topic. To improve the level of background
knowledge incorporated within the lesson, this plan was modified to begin the lesson with a
five-minute digital mind mapping activity that identified the students’ prior knowledge of
waste management. Halikari, Katajavuori, & Lindblom-Ylanne (2008) dictate prior knowledge
as “the most important factor influencing learning”, with it heavily shaping future knowledge
acquisition and the capacity “to apply higher-order cognitive problem-solving skills” (p.1).
They further note how the learning process is disadvantaged from the beginning without the

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recognition of the students’ prior knowledge base, as there develops an imbalance between
the “instructors’ expectations of student knowledge and the students’ actual knowledge”
(Halikari et al., 2008, p.1). Campbell & Campbell (2008) reinforce the effectiveness of this
modification, stating that by simply asking students what they already know, and by clarifying
key concepts before instruction, “teachers can raise student achievement levels” (p.10).
Therefore, by altering the lesson, all students are provided with the opportunity “to make
connections between their knowledge and the substance of the lesson” (DET, 2006, p.40).

This lesson also failed to effectively incorporate cultural knowledge, subsequently fostering a
low level of understanding of “knowledge and skills [from] diverse social groups” (DET, 2006,
p.42). To improve the incorporation of cultural knowledge, this lesson was modified to
include a five-minute digital video that explores the diverse waste management options of
rural and indigenous communities in Australia. Aikenhead (2001) states that a high level of
cultural knowledge is vital in teaching and learning as it ensures the creation of a positive
learning environment that allows students to engage in “cultural negotiation” (p. 339). With
teachers traditionally harbouring a strong allegiance to dominant western ideals of science,
Aikenhead notes that the inclusion of diverse cultural perspectives is specifically vital for
indigenous students in STEM subjects (2001, p.339). With 32.73% of NSW public school
students from either Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background (ABS, 2018), the
presence of diverse cultural perspectives is critical in allowing these students to learn “within
their own life-world cultural framework” (Aikenhead, 2001). Thus, by altering the lesson plan,
both Indigenous and non-indigenous students are afforded an environment that “recognises
and values claims to knowledge from multiple social groups” (DET, 2006, p.42).

Finally, this lesson plan also lacked a successful use of narrative, with no stories used “to help
illustrate the knowledge that students are addressing in the classroom” (DET, 2006, p. 50). To
improve the level of narrative employed within the lesson, this plan was modified to remove
the think-pair-share activity and instead include a ten-minute close reading of a case-study.
The case-study would specifically detail the history of ‘high-density polyethylene’ production
and its use in Australia. With the NSW QT Model noting case-studies as effective forms of
narrative expression, this modification acts to enhance the “significance of the substance of
the lesson” (DET, 2006, p.51). Booney (2015) reinforces the effectiveness of this modification
stating that narrative case-studies are proven to strengthen connections between “specific

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academic topics and real-world societal issues” (p.21). Moreover, Norris, Guilbert, Smith,
Hakimelahi, & Phillips (2004) state how the use of case-study based narrative is specifically
successful in scientific learning areas that place considerable emphasis on dense information
output. Noting how narrative in scientific learning contexts increases the persuasiveness of
the information presented, Norris et al., (2004) argue that narrative explanations are more
concrete when compared to the “organisation structures found in argumentative prose”
(p.553).

Thus, through this deep analysis of the lesson plan modifications, it can be concluded that
the changes made to the areas of ‘Metalanguage’, ‘Background Knowledge’, ‘Cultural
Knowledge’, and ‘Narrative’ improved the overall quality of the bin-liner lesson.

Portfolio Link: https://melissarturton.weebly.com/

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References
Aikenhead, G. (2001). Integrating Western and Aboriginal Sciences: Cross-Cultural Science
Teaching. Research in Science Education, 31, 337-355.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2018). Table 13: Schools, Australia 2017 (no. 4221.0).
Retrieved from https://www.acde.edu.au/acde-analysis-of-2016-census-statistics-of-
aboriginal-torres-strait-islander-teachers-and-students/.

Basturkmen, H., Loewen, S., & Ellis, R. (2002). Metalanguage in Focus on Form in the
Communicative Classroom. Language Awareness, 11(1), 1-13. doi:
10.1080/09658410208667042

Bonney, K.M. (2015). Case Study Teaching Methods Improves Student Performance and
Perceptions of Learning Gains. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education, 16(1), 21-
28. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v16i1.846.

Campbell, L. & Campbell, B. (2008). Beginning With What Students Know: The Role of Prior
Knowledge in Learning (pp. 7-21). Thousand Oaks, United States: SAGE Publications,
Inc.

Halikari, T., Katajavuori, N., & Lindblom-Ylanne, S. (2008). The Relevance of Prior Knowledge
in Learning and Instructional Design. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education,
72(5), 1-8.

Norris, S.P., Guilbert, S.M., Smith, M.L., Hakimelahi, S., & Phillips, L.M. (2004). A Theoretical
Framework for Narrative Explanation in Science. Science Education, 89(4), 535-563.
doi: 10.1002/sce.20063.

NSW Department of Education and Training. (2006). Quality Teaching in NSW Public Schools:
Classroom Practice Guide. Retrieved from https://app.education.nsw.gov.au/quality-
teaching-rounds/Assets/Classroom_Practice_Guide_ogogVUqQeB.pdf.

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