What is the Lesson Plan Workshop?
The annual Lesson Plan Workshop is offered approximately one month before the annual SciREN events. The purpose of the workshop is provide researchers an opportunity to write a lesson plan with the guidance of experienced science educators. The workshop is aimed towards both new and returning SciREN participants and all researchers will complete a lesson plan by the end of the workshop.
In the first portion of the lesson plan workshop, researchers will learn about the thought process behind lesson plan preparation and how to connect their research to the NC essential standards and other national standards. The second part is dedicated to small group discussion between researchers and educators. This gives researchers a chance to discuss their research and their lesson plan ideas and determine how their work fits into the classroom curriculum at different grade levels. It gives educators the opportunity to form relationships with local researchers and guide researchers to writing lessons for their grade level. In the third part, researchers will use the ideas from their discussion with educators to actually write a lesson plan. Finally, the researchers and educators will break up into small groups and the educators will give the researchers feedback on their lesson plans. After writing their lesson plan, it is rare that researchers will find out if teachers actually use it in their classrooms, so this is a unique opportunity for researchers to get feedback directly from educators.
I’ve been to a previous Lesson Plan Workshop. Should I attend this year?
Yes, we strongly recommend that all researchers attend the Lesson Plan Workshop, even if they have participated in previous workshops. The workshop is intended bring researchers through the entire process of lesson plan preparation, from the brainstorming stage to having a completed lesson plan. Whether you’ve written hundreds of lesson plans or this is your first time, the workshop will help you streamline the lesson planning process, while getting feedback directly from educators who could potentially use your lesson plans in their own classrooms.
Example Lesson Plans Online
- SciREN lesson plans
- Smithsonian: http://ocean.si.edu/for-educators
- BRIDGE: http://www2.vims.edu/bridge/search/bridge1output_menu.cfm?q=lesson&Audience=school
- Duke Engineering Boeing Fellows: http://boeingfellows.pratt.duke.edu/make-it-happen-plans