Angry Birds Lesson Design

- Paul Kumal
Topic: Strong and Stable Structures

Grade: 3 Subject: Science Time: 35-40 min

Resilience Factors:
Social Competence, Problem-Solving, Autonomy, Caring Relationships, High Expectations, Sense of Purpose
and Bright Future

Emotional Intelligence Skills:

Self-regulation, Self-expression, Interpersonal, Decision-making, Stress-management, Internal motivation,
Social skills
OBJECTIVES
<small>Curricular Expectations:
(Overall expectations pg. 73)
1. Investigate strong and stable structures to determine how their design and materials enable them to
perform their load-bearing function
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of structure, strength, and stability and the factors that
affect them
(Specific expectations pg. 74)
 2.2 investigate, through experimentation, how various materials and construction techniques can be
used to add strength to structures
 2.3 investigate, through experimentation, the effects of pushing, pulling, and other forces on the shape
and stability of simple structures

Lesson Goals:
1. Identify the strength of a structure as its ability to support a load
2. Identify the stability of a structure as its ability to maintain balance and stay fixed in one spot
3. Describe ways to improve a structure’s strength and stability
4. Describe ways in which different forces can affect the shape, balance, or position of structures

Social Objectives:
 Mutual Respect, Attentive Listening, Cooperation
MENTAL SET:<small>         Estimated time: 3-5 min
 Building a house of cards; students are provided a set of cards and can work alone or in pairs to build a
tall house of cards – explain that the students can use the cards in any way they please
 Afterwards, ask students what strategies they used to build their houses
 Students can raise their hands to answer
 Ask what shapes they tried, what they noticed if building taller
STATED OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSE: <small>    Estimated time: 1 min
 By working together, we will explore ways of building a strong and stable structure
 Be able to define strength and stability of a structure
 Demonstrate respect, attentive listening, and cooperation with peers
 Have fun!</small>
INPUT:    Estimated Time: 10-15 min
 Introduce and brainstorm definitions for Strength and Stability as a class
 List responses on chart paper as a list or mind map
  Introduce laptop with Angry Birds (AB) game – show level 1
 Discuss the purpose, strength and stability of the structure
 Discuss ways to improve strength and stability of structure
 Show the last level of the AB game and discuss the reimagined structure: what have the Pigs done to
improve their structure?
Modelling/Demonstration:
 Present Jenga blocks as building material
 Build a weaker structure and place toy atop – note how the toy and other forces affect the structure
 Attempt at knocking down the structure/toy and see it fall easily
 Ask students ways to improve
 Improve on structure and attempt knocking it down again
 Reiterate the purpose of protecting the toy, redefine strength and stability of structures
PRACTICE: <small>    Estimated time</small>: 10 min Materials: Jenga blocks, ping pong balls

 Working in pairs or small groups, students will be provided a particular toy and a large set of Jenga
blocks and 1-2 ping pong balls
 Cooperate and discuss how to build the strongest and most stable structure with the purpose of
protecting the toy
 Once time has elapsed, students can take turns trying to knock each other’s structures down with the
ping pong balls – note the strength and stability of each
 The teacher will have used materials as well to build larger structure with more toys, and students can
cooperate in destroying teacher’s structure

CHECKS FOR UNDERSTANDING (Throughout):

 Supervising students building techniques and checking in
 Thumbs up/thumbs down questioning
 Allowing students to brainstorm their own definitions before building structures
 Asking students to repeat objectives and instructions
CLOSURE: Estimated time: 10 min
Thank you for all your participation and ability to work with each other. <small>
Share with each other ideas on how they built their structures.
Ticket-out-the-door: (worksheet)
 Space atop worksheet to define Strength and Stability
 Blank space to draw their own structure using any material or method they would like, for any purpose
they would like as well
CONSIDERATIONS

<small><small>Multiple Intelligences: <small><small>Accommodatio Assessment:

visual/spatial ns: - self-evaluation
interpersonal - Right to pass - observation
</small></small> - Visual schedule on laptop - discussion
- Teacher assistance if
requested

</small></small>
Lesson Plan Reflection

Mental Set
 My first point of reflection occurred in the moment of teaching, as I realized I actually

started the lesson without the mental set – referring back to the structure of the lesson plan, I

noticed the objectives section before the mental set, and directly stated the overall curriculum

expectations, specific expectations, and the social expectations. After this I started to explain

the mental set, but now that the lesson had essentially already started with the objectives, the

mental set lost its purpose. The appeal, curiosity, and engagement that I sought to spark was

hindered as the students were adhering to the lesson objectives rather than freely exploring the

activity. I followed through as if no mistakes were made, and at the end of the lesson explained

that I completed the lesson out of order. Upon knowing this, all of the participants agreed that

the mental set activity would have been more effective had they started with it, because it would

have piqued their interests more for intrinsic purposes of fun and self-motivation, rather than to

try to achieve the objectives I had outlined. Otherwise, the actual content of the mental set

seemed to work well and generated discussion of structures and building techniques.

Objectives

As previously mentioned, I had stated the curricular objectives prior to the mental set. I

quickly reiterated the curricular objectives and lesson goals, and moved forward to present a

prepared document on my laptop with the stated objectives and purpose of the lesson. I used

fairly formal language here and one unanimous recommendation from the participants was to

use more informal, kid-friendly language to present the lesson goals and specific objectives. For

example, changing the social objectives from “mutual respect”, “attentive listening”, and

“cooperation” to goals such as: “share ideas”, “listen to each other”, work together”. I also

realized that the objectives seemed too ambitious and required more focus; I think that specific

expectation 2.3 (impact of forces) should be removed from the lesson plan and implemented in

a separate lesson. This particular Angry Birds lesson seems like more of a building block for

how forces can impact structures, and can be recalled for review in the future 2.3 lesson.
Input/Modelling/Demonstration

I was mostly proud of this portion of the lesson, and received feedback from all of the

participants that the approach to input and transition into practice was engaging for them. I used

a mind map to generate a discussion of terminology and then we crafted definitions for strength

and stability together. They then enjoyed using the actual Angry Birds game as an initial

example of improving strength and stability going from the first level to the last level. I did

receive constructive criticism about my questioning during this phase – I used leading questions

and actually prompted a particular response once (by trying to finish a participant’s train of

thought for them), and prevented the discussion and discourse from opening up naturally.

Practice

There were some transition issues and confusion between the building and throwing

phases. The students seemed to take control of this process and dictated when it was time for

them to start throwing their ping pong balls at each other’s structures. They clearly enjoyed this

part and it was the most fun for them, but to add more structure to the lesson and more

educator control, I would remember to set a specific amount of time for students to build their

structures and then present the ping pong balls after reiterating our social objectives. Another

observation was the restricted way of building a structure due to only one material utilized – next

time, in addition to Jenga blocks I would provide a variety of materials like: Playdoh, small paper

cups, different sized blocks, Lego, etc. I think this would also help further student engagement,

autonomy, and creativity.

Checks for Understanding

I think this is the area where I could use the most improvement, and where I am

currently most self-critical. I led in the mind map discussion, helped define terms as a group,
and provided the exit worksheet, however, as the lesson progressed, I did not engage in many

informal checks for understanding. I listed techniques like thumbs up/thumbs down questioning,

and asking students to repeat objectives/instructions, but did not engage in any of these. I did

use adults as my participants, and I was wondering if my dismissal of the checks for

understanding was because I was trusted these adults and was blinded to their third-grade hats,

or if I simply just did not pay attention to this section of the lesson. I would love to test the lesson

out with actual grade appropriate students if I can in the future, and see if this section naturally

improves or if I am more cognizant of these checks.

Closure

The closure portion of the lesson ran smoothly as well. Each participant discussed their

particular techniques and strategies of building their structures. They also addressed the lack of

variety within the materials and how they felt restricted when trying to add stability and make

their structures stronger. They added that the worksheet was quick and simple enough to

demonstrate their knowledge of the goals, and it worked to illustrate each student’s creative way

of developing a structure. However, my personal thoughts were that the worksheet was a little

dull as it just involved defining terms. I still like that the worksheet was a more independent

demonstration of learning, however, I think in the future I would make it more descriptive with

more chances to apply their learning. For example, a fill-in-the-blanks worksheet that could

involve definitions, scenarios to build or improve structures, different materials, and more.

Overall + Additional Notes

During the mental set, there was an unexpected act from one participant who knocked

over another student’s house of cards. The student called out, “Mr. K! He knocked over my

house!” This caught me off guard and I realized I had not prepared at all for any potential of

misbehavior. I was at a loss for words initially and then referred back to our expectation of
demonstrating mutual respect with our peers. In the future, I would like to implement a check for

understanding for social objectives. I was thinking that this could be done in a similar manner to

‘Two Stars and a Wish’ where students would talk about the peers they worked with directly, or

through prompts such as “I like” and “I wonder” statements (ex/ “I like how Paul took turns”/I

wonder if next time Paul could let me choose the materials”). This could be done vocally as

students discussed their structure, at the end of class, or integrated into the final worksheet for

closure, but I think an assessment/check for social skills would be a great addition to the lesson.

Another important point that I must consider was the clean-up portion of each activity. I

believe it would be a smart idea to implement cleaning up together and resetting the room as a

classroom goal, and label this along with the other goals before the input. I am also more

conscious of monitoring the time of the lesson, and should keep tabs on a clock or possibly

provide a visual timer for the entire class to follow. During the lesson I employed rather random

verbal reminders of time, when I deemed appropriate, and I think they seemed rather abrupt.

Overall, I enjoyed teaching the lesson and was glad my participants were engaged, and

provided some great constructive criticism. I hope I can re-teach the lesson with my new

adjustments, and hopefully for age-appropriate students, in the near future to see if I can

improve the lesson, my performance, and find other areas to work on as an educator.