Student Name: Kelesi Malani

Student Number: 18051588

Designing Teaching and Learning 102086

Science
Lesson
Plan
Analysis
and
Revision
102086 Designing Teaching & Learning
Assignment 2: QT Analysis Template

Evaluate the lesson plan according to the following NSW Quality Teaching model elements.

Evaluation score – refer to NSW QTM Classroom Practice Guide for each element
Comments incl. evidence for evaluation score (2 sentences)

1 Intellectual quality
1.1 Deep knowledge
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: Task requires students to address significant concepts and key ideas about
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and waste management, and the concepts/ideas were
all connected to a central focus on how bin liners/plastic wastes can affect the
environment.

1.2 Deep understanding

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: Students were required to provide information that they already knew, and
learn more, whilst working in pairs, having class discussions and also presenting to the
class to determine what they knew. They also had to solve problems that occur through
current bin liners, and explain why they could damage the environment, whilst providing
new solutions.

1.3 Problematic knowledge

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The various approaches in different tasks enabled the students to question
their own understanding and have discussions around what they knew. Knowledge of
HDPE was gained through use of true/false questions, brainstorming and hands on work,
it was not just taught as a ‘fact’ by the teacher.

1.4 Higher-order thinking

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: Students were required to explain their own knowledge, construct ideas on
better ways to create sustainable bin liners and how to improve the ones they were shown
how to make. They also had to form cause and effect maps which showed they
understood how plastic bags affected the environment.

1.5 Metalanguage
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The lesson required no explicit reference to language, and did not have a
wide range of explanation or definition of particular words. There was also a lack of use
of symbols and ‘specialist’ language.
1.6 Substantive communication
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: Students were encouraged to share and present their ideas firstly in pairs,
then with the class as a discussion and towards the end to explain their improvements on
bin liners. However, it was not an elaborate, or complex topic as it was a basic
introduction to most of their ideas.

Quality learning environment

2.1 Explicit quality criteria
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The teacher encourages the students to think on their own and allows them
time to brainstorm before discussing as a class. When designing the bin liners, initially he
describes step by step procedural actions on how to make it which could cause the
students to not engage as much, however, asking them to improve on that model
increased their engagement and understanding.

2.2 Engagement
1–2–3–4–5 Comments: Students were highly engaged for almost (if not) all of the lesson. They were
contributing to discussions in pairs and the class, giving their ideas, remaining attentive
and focused throughout the class.

2.3 High expectations

 1–2–3–4–5 Comments: The tasks students were asked to complete were not extremely challenging
however they did have to evaluate their own understanding of waste management and
consider ways to demonstrate that understanding by taking conceptual risks and develop
the newspaper bin liners further.

2.4 Social support

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: Students are encouraged when giving their ideas, the behaviour from other
students and the teacher is positive and any contribution is valued. When students are
discussing in pairs, mutual respect is shown, increasing their want to learn.

2.5 Students’ self-regulation

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There was no evidence for disruption shown in the class, all of the students
were able to take initiative and take part in the lesson without having to be disciplined or
corrected by the teacher.

2.6 Student direction

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The teacher in this classroom controlled the tasks, time spent on activities,
pace of completion and criteria students were assessed on. The students were happily
engaged, but still were not directing the classroom.

3 Significance
3.1 Background knowledge
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The initial task of the true/false questions required students to use their
previous knowledge to answer and introduce them to the tasks further ahead. However, it
was more general facts used in the questions. Their own knowledge was used to create a
cause and effect map and identify key issues of HDPE but it was not substantially
incorporated into the task.

3.2 Cultural knowledge

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The tasks given required no explicit recognition or valuing of cultures, as it
was focused on waste management. It touched on waste statistics across Australia and the
local community, but not for particular cultural groups.

3.3 Knowledge integration

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The tasks were solely focused on waste management and HDPE affects on
the environment. The discussions were based around this and did not mention any other
subject or disciplinary areas.

3.4 Inclusivity
1–2–3–4–5 Comments: The students were predominantly from the same cultural and social
backgrounds, and all participated in the class work. There was not exclusion that was
evident due to this reasoning.

3.5 Connectedness
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: Deriving knowledge from their own experience such as using plastic bags
from supermarkets, enables them to create personal meaning and highlight the
significance of what they are learning. The task is highly relevant to their own use of
plastic and required the students to engage with their peers more.

3.6 Narrative
1–2–3–4–5 Comments: The task made no use of narrative a they were not required to use multiple
sources of texts or construct their own stories related to HDPE.

Identifying Areas for Improvement

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

QT model
1) high expectations 2) student direction
3) knowledge integration 4) narrative
 Lesson Plan - Science

Topic area: Earth and Space

Stage of Learner: Stage 4

Syllabus Pages:

Date: 7/07/2020

Location Booked: S2.5

Lesson Number: 2/3
Time: 60 minutes

Total Number of students: 20

Printing/preparation:
Worksheets, laptops,
newspaper and plastic bag.

Outcomes
Assessment
Students learn about
Students learn to

SC4-13ES Explains how advances in scientific understanding of processes that occur within and on
the Earth influence the choices people make about resource use and management.

Informal formative assessment.

ES3 Scientific knowledge influences the choices people make in regard to the use and management of
the Earth’s resources.
Classify a range of the Earth’s resources as renewable or non-renewable.

Investigate some strategies used by people to conserve and manage non-renewable resources, e.g.
recycling and the alternative use of natural and made resources.

Life Skills outcomes

- SCLS-16ES – investigates some practices used in the effective management of the earth’s resources.
- SCLS-1VA – recognizes the role of science in personal, social and global issues relating to everyday life.

CCP & GCs

 Critical and creative thinking
 sustainability
  ethical understanding

Subject Specific Concepts

 Problem solving
 Analytical skills

Discipline Specific Skills

 waste management and sustainability
 conservation
Quality Teaching Elements (lesson focus) Highlight the appropriate areas
Intellectual Quality
This refers to pedagogy focused on producing deep understanding of important, substantive concepts, skills and ideas. Such pedagogy treats knowledge
as something that requires active construction and requires students to engage in higher-order thinking and to communicate substantively about what
they are learning.
1.1 Deep knowledge
1.2 Deep understanding
1.3 Problematic knowledge
1.4 Higher-order thinking
1.5 Metalanguage
1.6 Substantive communication

Quality Learning Environment

This refers to pedagogy that creates classrooms where students and teachers work productively in an environment clearly focused on learning. Such
pedagogy sets high and explicit expectations and develops positive relationships between teacher and students and among students.
2.1 Explicit quality criteria
2.2 Engagement
2.3 High Expectations
2.4 Social Support
2.5 Students’ self regulation
2.6 Student direction

Significance
This refers to pedagogy that helps make learning more meaningful and important to students. Such pedagogy draws clear connections with students’
prior knowledge and identities, with contexts outside of the classroom, and with multiple ways of knowing all cultural perspective.
3.1 Background knowledge
3.2 Cultural knowledge
3.3 Knowledge integration
3.4 Inclusivity
3.5 Connectedness
3.6 Narrative

How the quality teaching elements you have identified are achieved within the lesson.
Teaching Indicators of presence in the lesson
element
High Gives the students to choose whether they want to challenge themselves through their
expectations creativity in creating bin liners and if they would prefer to choose a harder worksheet to
test their knowledge on plastic waste.
Student Teacher provides students with options on how students can complete their work, and
direction allow them to complete it within a time frame.
Knowledge Students are to use skills from other subjects (such as English or IST) to create a
integration brochure/PowerPoint that they can present in class in a later class.
 narrative Students are able to share their own experience of waste management strategies they might
have already been active in during this activity and open up discussion for later in the lesson.

Tim Teaching and learning actions Organisation Centred

e T/S
5 Lesson Preliminaries/Administration Teacher: T
mins Teacher to engage with students and mark the
 Settle students into the classroom. roll
 Mark the roll.
Student:

Resources: Class roll

5 Direct Instruction Teacher: Advises students of lesson plan through T
mins brief summary on board.
 Welcome students and remind them
of the topic. Student:
 Introduce students to high density
polyethylene as a non-renewable Resources: plastic bag to use for example.

resource used to make plastic bags.

 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?”
 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?”
 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
 Cause-effect map
Pros-Cons-Questions
5 Video and Sharing Activity Teacher:
mins  Facilitates by playing video from youtube
 Students are to watch a short video on
‘How Plastic Hurts the World’ Student:
 Share in pairs how they have found  Watches video
plastic to create waste and if they have  Tells stories of their own experience
used any strategies at home to Resources:
reuse/recycle/reduce the use of it  Youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=VUUUxOl715s

10 Think-Pair-Share Activity Teacher: S

mins  Advise students on how the activity will go
 Give students the option of:  Lead class discussion after worksheets are
  true/false statements worksheet with completed
questions like “the average plastic Student:
bag is used for only 5 minutes but  Individually answer questions silently
can take up to 1,000 years to break  Discuss in pairs
down in the environment.”  Take part in class discussion
OR Resources:
 fill in the blanks worksheet with  True / false statement worksheets
questions on HDPE waste in society  Fill in the blanks worksheet
(more challenging complete).
 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 Cause-Effect Mapping Activity Teacher: T
mins  Advise students on how the activity will go
 Give students cause-effect map  Lead class discussion after worksheets are
worksheets. completed
 Students have 2 minutes to think of
as many reasons for why we use so Student:
 In pairs complete worksheet and fill out
many plastic bags in Australia. map
 Go around the class to check  Take part in class discussion
student understanding. Highlight the
link between the causes identified Resources:
 Cause-Effect Map Worksheets
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.
Teacher leads brief class discussion to
summarise the environmental effects
identified by the students.
5 Direct Instruction/Hands On Teacher: T
mins  Instructs students how to construct a
 Teacher gives students the option to biodegradable bin liner.
follow along with their instruction or
to create their own biodegradable bin Student:
liner by using 4 sheets of  Follows along with teacher’s discussion
newspaper. Depending on how  Creates their own bin liner.

much students wants to challenge Resources:

themselves. The bin liner will fit into  Newspaper
the teacher’s waste-paper basket.
20 Student-Centred Activity Teacher: S
mins  Ensures students are being helped and
 Research alternative materials that staying on task
could be used in households as bin  Summarises and closes at the end of
liners instead of plastic and create a the lesson.
product that could be sold.
Student:
 Design in pairs a brochure/  Using laptops to research materials that
PowerPoint presentation that could could be used in households for
 be used to visually advertise for this biodegradable bin liners.
product. Resources:
Summarise and close the lesson.  Laptops

Reflection
What have I learned about the teaching and learning process when preparing this lesson?

There are many ways to encourage students to apply themselves and learn as opposed to
just learning knowledge for the sake of it.

How am I measuring the outcomes of this lesson?

Learning Outcome Method of measurement and recording

ES3 Students are able to investigate strategies used by people
to conserve and manage non-renewable resources e.g.
recycling and the alternative use of natural and made
resources. This is shown through their
presentations/brochures

Other considerations

Complete the table blow by inserting the AISTL graduate standards that you are
demonstrating and indicates the evidence from this lesson that should comply with the
standard.

Graduate Evidence within this lesson

Standards
1 It caters to different levels of learners by providing multiple options
they can choose to do.
2 Waste management can be tedious if it is just explained in theory, but
knowing the content and teaching it with practical elements enables
students to engage more.
3 The different elements including watching a video, making bin liners,
completing worksheets are effective teaching strategies.
4 Encouraging class discussions and group works maintains supportive
and safe learning.

WHS
What are the key risk issues that may appear for and need to be reduced/eliminated in this
lesson? Using your syllabus and support documents as well as other WHS policy- Outline
the key WHS considerations that are to be applied in this lesson?
High stress from the amount of work engagement.
References (In APA)
You must list all references that you have used for the content and resources of this lesson
in this space.

NSW Education Standards Authority. (2018). NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum: Science
Years 7-10 Syllabus (pp. 40-87). Sydney: NSW Education Standards Authority.

Why Plastic Hurts the World. (2018). [Image]. Retrieved 9 May 2020, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUUUxOl715s.
Justification

The ‘Bin Liners’ lesson plan was modified to use a Differentiated Classroom
teaching approach. As Australia is highly multicultural, the diversity each classroom
has the potential to have is highly significant. Educators must therefore be able to
adapt their teaching practices and lessons to cater to all groups of students in order
to create an effective environment where they feel comfortable to learn.
Differentiated classrooms focus on highlighting the uniqueness of each student,
allowing a range of learning opportunities to be available that encourages
engagement in the content (Cassady et al., 2004). These learning strategies include
interactive tasks through technology, discussion, group work and hands on learning
through creative construction.

According to Tomlinson and Moon (2014), “differentiation is a teacher’s proactive

response to learner needs [and is] shaped by mindset.” Educators must endeavor to
change their own mindset and belief in students’ abilities to perform in class. Belief
that a student can do well increases their self-efficacy and willingness to challenge
their own knowledge. An important element of differentiated instruction is that a
teacher must aim to know each student and their personality traits, in order to
effectively demonstrate this in class (Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2011). This approach,
although time consuming, is highly effective in science classrooms as the content
heavy subjects can be stressful and tedious for a student to learn if not planned well.
The Quality Teaching (QT) framework enables teachers to identify and plan classes
to the highest standard. Lessons should incorporate students engaging in deep
knowledge and understanding of the content, where their comprehension is
challenged and provoked by critical thinking. In this lesson plan, there were four
elements from the QT model that were modified to make improvements on the initial
class, these include High Expectations, Student Direction, Knowledge Integration
and Narrative.

In the original lesson, after a brief overview of the lesson plan the class went directly
into a ‘Think-Pair Share’ activity, however, the modified plan added a short summary
video on plastic waste affects on Earth that could be used as an icebreaker.
Students are then encouraged to share a story on their own experience with
sustainable approaches they may use at home. This helps to identify the relevance
and importance waste management may have on an individual, through the
narrative element. Students also had to complete the same activities that were
relatively moderate in complexity, this meant that most students were generalized to
have the same intellectual capabilities. This could lead to a lack of interest and
boredom in classes if students feel that the concepts are too challenging or easy for
them. In the improved lesson plan, the addition of an extra worksheet that requires
students to fill in the blanks is a subtle and swift way to enable students who want to
quickly stimulate their knowledge on plastic bags, as opposed to choosing whether a
statement is ‘true’ or ‘false’. Further on, the chance to create their own bin liner
without following the instruction of the teacher implicates the trust and high
expectations an educator may have in their students. These changes will also give
students the opportunity to direct their own learning.

Designing brochures and PowerPoints in class enables students to research on their

own, and gain a deeper understanding for the content. It enforces problematic
knowledge, and causes dialogue and discussion to form their own ideas. Through
research and presenting their findings, students are able to integrate knowledge
from other subjects such as English and Information Software and Technology to
convey their ideas. These modifications enhance the learning environment for
students and inspire them to apply themselves to topics that are monotonous if there
is a lack of interest or understanding.

Applying differentiated classrooms elements to science classes are more effective,

than traditional classrooms as they provide opportunities for all ranges of learners to
engage in content, and are highly interactive which is essential in laboratory
experiments and understanding key concepts. Although it has been found that there
are many misconceptions with this approach such as unfair workloads and that
students are less likely to be prepared for standardized testing, studies have shown
that individuals have progressed largely in their educational outcomes (Rock et al.
2008), 2008). That is why the modification of this lesson plan focused on this
approach to teaching, as it increases the participation of students and encourages
them to take risks in their work, leading to a greater sense of belonging in a
classroom.
References:

Cassady, J., Speirs Neumeister, K., Adams, C., Cross, T., Dixon, F., & Pierce, R.
(2004). The differentiated classroom observation scale. Roeper Review, 26(3), 139-
146. https://doi.org/10.1080/02783190409554259

Tomlinson, C., & Moon, T. (2014). Assessment and student success in a

differentiated classroom (1st ed., pp. 1-29). Hawker Brownlow Education.

Rock, M., Gregg, M., Ellis, E., & Gable, R. (2008). REACH: A Framework for
Differentiating Classroom Instruction. Preventing School Failure: Alternative
Education For Children And Youth, 52(2), 31-47.
https://doi.org/10.3200/psfl.52.2.31-47

Tomlinson, C., & Imbeau, M. (2011). Leading and managing a differentiated

classroom (1st ed., pp. 1-12). ASCD.

Learning Portfolio Link:

https://kmalani.weebly.com/