Appendix 1: lesson Plan

Lesson Plan: Biology (yr11)

Term 2 Week 1: Thurs p. 3+4
*** (In reality: This lesson plan was disrupted by a fire drill/Classroom lockdown- so it ended up being over
2 days)
Unit & AOS: Unit 2, AOS2- Outcome 2
Date 22/4/15
Topic and Focus: Dynamic Ecosystems: Populations
Year Level: 11
Time of Lesson: 10:50am
Duration of Lesson : 95 mins
Class Size: 18 students
Student Learning Objectives and relevant outcomes:
AOS 2: outcome 2- Population dynamics: Carrying capacity of ecosystems, factors affecting distribution
and abundance of organisms including birth and death rates + migration.
The learning objectives for today include being able to read and interpret information presented in graphs
and on maps, draw connections between population changes and factors that influence them (food source,
reproductive style, competition intraspecies and Interspecies, disease).
Students should be beginning to make connections between populations and previous units of work:
reproduction, food webs, adaptations, biotic and abiotic factors within ecosystems.
Assessment/MeansofEvaluationandMethodUsed
Assessment will be through participation in discussions and worked questions with teacher, through learning
activity (polar bears) and through a worksheet to be submitted to teacher at end of class (not formally
marked, but feedback is provided)
StudentTeacherFocus
Focus on developing relationships with students and encouraging participation and engagement with the
topic. Will try to move around the room and learn more names
StudentsBackgroundKnowledge
Studentshaveanunderstandingofquadrats,linetransectsandwhywesampleapopulationandhow
populationsandspeciesinteractwithboththeenvironmentandotherorganismsinthearea.Theyunderstand
predatorpreyrelationships,reproductiveStyles,abioticandbioticfactorsthataffectthesurvivaland
developmentofapopulation.Theyhavesomeideaofhowadaptationseffectdistributionandabundanceof
organismsincertainareasorregionsandhowthismightaffectestimatingpopulationsbasedonsampling
techniques.
ResourcesandMaterials
Powerpoint, online material for discussion/ paired polar bear work, Worksheets printed out. Powerpoint,
online material all Uploaded onto the website for access.
All resources available via:
http://razosbiologyresources.weebly.com/populations.html (Morrissey, 2015)
ClassroomOrganisation
For initial period- Whole group interactions. Polar bear work- in pairs and then full group discussion.
Wolf/Moose question sheet: Individual work.

Flow of the Lesson

1

1. Introduction- Relate populations to previous knowledge. (Discussion+ questioning) Get students to

hypothesise how we might determine populations, why they might be important and what elements
(biotic/abiotic/reproductive styles) might influence how a population grows and shrinks (5-10 mins
depending on how much they have forgotten from last term)
2. Learning Phase 1- using powerpoint, run through the main components of populations: Abundance,
sampling, distribution, age structures. (10-15mins)
3. Working Phase 1- Paired working activity: students work through the polar bears questions alone or in
pairs to see if they can apply the principles from Learning phase 1 (15mins)
4. Collaboration- As a group we work through the questions relating to the polar bear distribution and
population.**This served as a mini summary in the next lesson as the previous class was disrupted before
this could be completed*** (5mins)
5. Learning Phase 2- Finish rest of powerpoint. Work through a sample population graph with the group,
integrating these population graphs with information that they already are familiar with (biotic/abiotic
factors, reproduction) (20mins)
6. Working phase 2: Students are given a moose/wolf question sheet to complete independently as a means
of applying their knowledge about populations and changes within an ecosystem. They have until the end of
the lesson to complete this task, however early finishers are encouraged to work through the Quizlet
questions (link is on the website). (20mins)
7. Summarise: Summarise the key goals of the lesson with the students. (5mins)

Personal Reflection
ReflectiononStudentLearning
The students really had a great understanding of the concepts taught in this class. They picked up the concepts very
quickly and were able to easily apply previous knowledge and ideas to the graphs and to population growth concepts (with
some prompting and guidance). The quality of answers to the moose worksheet questions indicated that they had a
thorough understanding of the work taught in the class, however the majority of students were not yet able to confidently
and succinctly connect all of the elements of ecosystem dynamics together to draw conclusions that displayed high quality
of understanding of the topic.
CommentsonFutureLessonDirections
Studentsneedmorepracticebeforetheirexamdrawinglinksbetweenoldercomponentsoftheunitsuchasadaptations
andreproductiveelementsandthecurrentinformation,howevertheydidverywellwithlinkagesconsideringtheyhad
onlylearntthetopicthatday.
ReflectiononLesson
Lesson flowed as well as can be expected when it is interrupted by a class lockdown/ fire drill and an assembly. Timing
was very accurate and students were really engaged with both active learning phases of the lesson.
ReflectiononStudentTeacherOutcomes
I have successfully learnt all of the students names now after ensuring that I asked them and used their names as often as
possible. I moved around the classroom while I was speaking which improved the level of interaction during discussion.
The outcomes were met and this was visible in their responses to discussion and answers on their worksheets.

Any interesting moments: Students were alittle flat at the beginning of the second lesson, and it was somewhat
difficult to initiate a conversation or get their input. With some probing they gradually warmed up to the lesson,
and by the end were actively engaged in the work and the topic. My mentor suggested picking on a few
students by using their names and getting them to evaluate other students responses as a means to get students
to participate more.