Victoria Charron

SED 482
Dr. Lyon
November 21, 2014
Microteaching Report
The lesson my team and I covered was on an invasive species called the Asian Tiger
Mosquito. Our goal was to get students to understand an example of how an invasive species
works and how they become invasive through relocating to a new region and adapting to outcompete the other species in the environment. The Big Idea of our lesson was how natural
selection and change in gene frequency allow species to adapt to their new existing environment
and can potentially lead a species to become an invasive species. The main learning objectives
for this lesson were for the students to learn how to use a model to make a working explanation
of how an invasive species uses takes over an environment using words like natural selection,
adaption, gene frequency and evolution. Throughout the lesson, the teacher asks probing
questions to help students remember what they have been taught over the lesson. We started by
going over what would be expected for the students throughout the day. After that we explained
what a model was and why it was important using the classes input. When we were sure that the
students had reviewed properly and had all the tools they needed to move on, we introduced an
article for them to read about the Asian Tiger Mosquito. Once the students had read, we had
them create a model showing how they believed the mosquito was able to take over an
environment and become invasive.
In the days leading up to the lesson, the students have been able to cover a wide variety
of topics that build their schema so that they may understand the more dense topics. Three days
before the lesson, the students reviewed natural selection and began to discover how it can lead
to an invasive species taking over an environment. Two days before this lesson, the students
were introduced to gene frequency and how it works. The day directly before this lesson, the
students did a lesson that was designed to help students understand how gene frequencies make it
possible for species to adapt to a new environment. By the time our lesson rolled around,

students should already grasp all of these concepts, and now be able to make them in a complete
model. As the unit continues, the students solidify their understanding of invasive species and
begin to explore how we can stop the spread of these species. Students then construct a poster
showing their ideas. The last day of the unit, students present their posters and critique each
others to give feedback.
There are many important pieces of having a good lesson. One of the vital concepts for
making a lesson successful is including great teaching practices. Some of these practices are
communicating the big idea, pressing for model based science, facilitating science talk,
pressing for scientific argumentation, student interaction, vocabulary development, authentic
science tasks, framing and adapting (Lyon, 2014). Of these, the main focus of our lesson was on
communicating the big idea and pressing for model based science. We made sure that we were
very clear with our students on what they should be learning during the lesson.
One of our other priorities was to explain what a model was and why it is important to
science. We then had them use the model to explain a concept. I felt like this was a particular
strength of ours because it was our main focus throughout the lesson. Our classmates agreed, as
they scored us in mostly the YES! and only a few in the somewhat categories. Our
classmates specifically commented on how they liked how we related the model to a fashion
model and were able to make it very relevant to high school students. I would rate our group in
the implementing category on the communicating the big idea SSTELLA practice. I chose this
category because we very well explained our big idea and what was expected of the students.
For the pressing for model based science I would rate our group at the implementing level also. I
believe we were able to make the inquiry open ended by having our students make the models
themselves. We then had them share with the other students, much like what scientists would do
in real life.
One critique we received from our peers was on the adapting and applying concept in the
contextualization section. Many of our peers commented that we didnt really provide
opportunities for students to contribute their life experience or funds of knowledge. This would
definitely be an area of opportunity for us to work on. Another area that our classmates
referenced as a weakness was pressing for explanation and argumentation. For this section, I

would rate our group a introducing. This maybe because even though we asked them to
explain their models to each other, it was very rushed and not instructed very well.
Although our lesson seemed affective at teaching the students about invasive species and
how to use a model, there is always room for improvement. As future teachers, we strive to
grow and have the best lesson we possibly can. Because of this, we take time to think about how
we should revise our lessons. One suggestion from our peers was that the model was strongly
teacher led and didnt give the students a real chance to explore. To help change this, we would
tell the students less of what to add to their models. In our original lesson we were certain to tell
them the words they needed to include and how it should look. I agree with my peers critique
that though this is often helpful, it can be detrimental to our students learning. If they are told
what to do they still may do it though they do not understand the concept. We want to strive to
have our students think for themselves like actual scientists would. This is why we have certain
practices like our scientific and engineering practices.
Another suggestion was that we might have made was making this a two day lesson. The
review of concepts and discussion of the model took much longer than we thought it would and
it left the end of the lesson very rushed. If we would have done this in two days, we could have
given our students much more time to discuss the importance of the model and why we use them.
On day two we would start with the introduction of the mosquito. We would have started giving
the class the article and allowing them much more time to dissect the article and take out the
important points they need. This would also allow them to get more time to put their ideas on
paper. After students had done this, we could have them present to the whole class, instead of
just another group. This would also give us a chance as teachers to see the progress that the
students are making in designing models. This could help with one of the practices that our peers
said we needed to work on which was the pressing for explanation and argumentation concept.

References
Lyon, E. SED 482: Methods of teaching science. ASU. (2014). Pages: 23-27.