Developmental Lesson Plan 1

Teacher Candidate: Jessica Godshall Date: September 20

Group Size: 18 students Allotted Time: 50 minutes Grade Level: 3rd

Subject or Topic: What is light?

Common Core/PA Standard(s):

3.2.3.B2 Explore energy’s ability to cause motion or create change. Explore how energy can
be found in moving objects, light, sound, and heat.

3.2.3.B5. Recognize that light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object or travels from
one material to another.

Learning Targets/Objectives:

● The third-grade students will explain how light travels by drawing a model, applying it
to a scenario, and describing their reasoning.

Assessment Approaches: Evidence:

1. Scenario sheet 1. Students solve the probe, write at least
2. Drawing models two sentences describing their
3. Turn and talk reasoning, and draw a model of the
scenario to help guide their thinking.
2. Observational
3. Observational
Assessment Scale:
Proficient - Student describes that the light reflects off of the sign and they would be able to
see it. Describe their thought process with at least two sentences. Draw a model to represent
description.
Basic - Student is not sure if they would be able to see the sign, but they demonstrate their
reasoning and model that the tree would block the light from reaching the person under the
tree.
Below basic - Student does not demonstrate understanding of light travel.

Subject Matter/Content:
Prerequisites:
● Energy - The power or ability to make things move, work, or happen.

Key Vocabulary:
● Light - a form of energy that you can see
● Ray - a straight path or beam of light.
● Reflect - to bounce or throw back
 ● Absorb - to soak up

Content/Facts:
➢ What does light do?
■ It allows us to see
■ It is a source of energy
■ It travels in rays
■ It can be reflected and absorbed

Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies:
● Put Apple in the Dark probe on the screen, give each student a copy, and hold up a red
apple.
● Tell the students to imagine they are going to take the apple into a closet where it is
totally dark. There are no windows or cracks around the door, and no light can enter the
room. Read the list of options to the students, and tell them to think about which one
best describes how they would see the apple in the dark.
● Have the students think about their answer and why they think that. Have them think
about where they came up with that idea, if it came from something they read, their
own experiences, what someone else has said, or it seems logical to them.
● Once the students have decided on their answer, have them share in pairs. Each student
listens to the other’s idea without interrupting. Then they discuss the differences and
similarities of their answers and decide if they want to change their answers.
● Ask a few students to share their answers with the class. Ask if anyone has any
different ideas. Have students paste the Apple probe in their science notebook.
● Tell students the correct answer, and tell them that we are going to learn why it is true.
● Tell students that we are going to be learning about light, how it travels, and how it
helps us see.

Development/Teaching Approaches
● Turn off lights and close blinds. Show slideshow and discuss each slide.
○ What is light? Light is a form of energy that you can see.
○ What are sources of light? Sun, artificial, bioluminescent
○ How does light travel?
● Shine a flashlight at the ceiling. Ask how light travels.
○ Away from its source in straight lines, rays or waves
■ Turn on low lights. Model on the board how to draw how light travels.
Have students draw a model of how light travels in their science
notebooks. Turn lights off.
○ How does light help us see? Ask for suggestions.
● Shine a flashlight into a box. Ask students if they can see the light.
● Ask what happened to the light? Explain that light can be absorbed.
○ Turn on low lights. Draw a model of how light is absorbed. Have students draw
their model, and turn off lights.
● Put students in pairs. Have students stand on opposite sides of the classroom. Have
one student draw a picture in pencil on a sticky note, and place the sticky note in the
 bottom of a box. Ask their partner if they can see what it is. They should have
difficulty seeing it in the dark. Students can switch roles.
○ Ask class why they weren’t able to see it. Explain that we cannot see things
when there is no light or not enough light.
○ Give each pair a flashlight and have them shine the flashlight on the sticky note,
and see if they can see what the picture is then.
● Have students come back to their seats. Explain that light reflects off of objects into our
eyes. Show a diagram of the eye and explain how light is reflected into the eye so that
we can see images.
○ Turn low lights on and have students draw a model of how light is reflected in
the eye. Draw a model with them.
● Give the students an independent probe. “You're walking down a street late at night.
There are no lights nearby, but the moon is out. If you were walking under a tree, and
couldn't see the moon, but there was a sign just past the tree, could you read it? Why
or why not?”
○ Have students draw a model of the scenario to help guide their thinking. Have
students write at least two sentences to describe their reasoning.

Closure/Summarizing Strategies:
● When students have completed the scenario handout, give them a few minutes to
reflect on what they learned today. Have them discuss as a table what they learned
today and if their thinking changed at all from the beginning of the class.
● Have each student start a page in their science notebooks. Have them write one
sentence saying “I used to think…” and one sentence saying “Now I know…”
explaining if their thinking has changed at all as a result of the lesson.
● Say “Well done, friends. Today we learned about how light travels and how it lets us
see. Tomorrow we are going to talk more about shadows and how light travels.”

Accommodations/Differentiation:
● For a student with a mild intellectual disability, I would intentionally group and pair
her with students who will support her and work through each section at a slower pace.
● For the scenario handout, I would give her one that already has the model drawn on it. I
would give her three options of explanations. I would read each explanation to her, and
have her select the one that describes how light travels as represented in the model.

Materials/Resources:
● Apple in the Dark probe
● Power point
● Flashlights
● Cardboard box
● Sticky notes
● Science journals
● Pencils
● Scenario handout
 Keeley, P. (2019). Formative Assessment Probes: Apple in the Dark. ​Science and

Children, 056​(05), 15–17. https://doi.org/10.2505/4/sc19_056_05_15

Lambert, K. Tools for Formative Assessment, Techniques to Check for Understanding,

Processing Activities. ​OCPS Curriculum Services,​ 4/20

Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary. (2020). ​Learner’s Dictionary.

https://learnersdictionary.com/

Mifflin, H. (2008). ​Houghton Mifflin Science: Student Edition Single Volume Level 3

2007​ (1st ed.). HOUGHTON MIFFLIN.

Price, J. (2015, August 7). ​Ray of Light.​ BetterLesson.

https://betterlesson.com/lesson/642197/ray-of-light

Spilsbury, R. (2018). ​Investigating Light (Investigating Science Challenges).​ Crabtree

Publishing Company.

Spilsbury, L., & Spilsbury, R. (2013). ​Light and Sound (Essential Physical Science)​.

Heinemann.

Reflective Response:
Report of Student Learning Target/Objectives Proficiency Levels

Remediation Plan (if applicable)

Personal Reflection Questions

Additional reflection/thoughts

Appendix:

Name:______________________
Final Scenario

You're walking down a street late at night. There are no lights nearby, but the moon is
out. If you were walking under a tree, and couldn't see the moon, but there was a sign just
past the tree, could you read it? Why or why not? Draw a model of the scenario. Write two
sentences to describe if you could read the sign, and why or why not.

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