Concept Attainment Model of Instruction

Lesson Planning Guide

Name:_____​Amanda Houghton, Micah Howe​____ Date___​October 7th 2012_​__ Time_​45 minutes_

Grade Level: ___​3rd​__ Subject:______​Science​_____ Cooperating Teacher ______________

I.​ ​Utah State Core Curriculum Standard(s)

● Standard 2 Objective ​1

II.​ ​Lesson Objective(s)/Goal(s)

Objective:
● Students will understand how to classify living and nonliving things in an environment.
Indicators:
● Students will identify characteristics of living & nonliving things.

III.​ ​Preparation (teacher materials, student materials, etc.)

Background for Teachers:

Your students may have trouble distinguishing between living, nonliving, and once-living things. Children
may consider everything that moves to be alive, including cars and clouds. Often children pretend that
objects are alive so that they can talk to them. Children also have difficulty comparing once-living objects
with objects that have never lived. Living and nonliving scientific terms. Children are accustomed to
hearing living or dead. By exploring various objects, students will be able to distinguish between things
that are living, things that were once-living, and things that are nonliving.
Characteristics of living things are: able to grow, reproduce (make more organisms like itself), eat and
drink, move, and are made of cells. To be alive, an object must do all five.

Teacher Preparation:
● Select and define a concept and select the attributes.
● Develop positive and negative examples.

Teacher Materials:
● Pictures (on Powerpoint) for presentation
● Worksheet for Assessment

Student materials:
● Yes/No Cards
● Pen or Pencil
● Whiteboard

Target vocabulary:
 ● Living
● Non-Living

IV.​ ​TechnologyUse:
● Powerpoint
● Projector/Smart Board to display pictures

V.​ ​Instructional Procedures:

a.​ E
​ ngage/Hook:

Present a series of pictures containing a variety of Living/NonLiving examples. Students will use their
“Yes” and “No” cards to guess whether the picture is a “Yes” or a “No”. As more pictures are presented,
students will begin to make more educated guesses.

● First Picture: A Butterfly

Ask the students “Is this a Yes or a No?” Give them some time to think about their answer and make their
hypothesis by holding up the Yes or No card. Then, you can tell them the answer. “This picture is a Yes.”

● Second Picture: A Car

Ask the students “Is this a Yes or a No?” Let them guess. Give them enough time to think about their
answer. Once they have shown their guess with the Yes or No card, you can tell them “This picture is a
no.”
Now we can make assumptions or generalizations about Yes pictures and No pictures. Ask the class to
come up with a list and write them on board as they come up with them. Then move on to the next
picture.

● Third Picture: A Tree

Have the students guess whether this picture is a Yes or No. Have them guess by holding up their cards,
then once appropriate time is given, you may tell them the answer. Students may adjust their
generalization list as needed. Continue this process for all the pictures until the class has discovered that
the Yes pictures are Living and No pictures are Nonliving.

● Fourth Picture: A Cloud

● Fifth Picture: A Book
● Sixth Picture: A Flower
● Seventh Picture: A Clock
● Eighth Picture: A Person

b.​ I​ ntroduce the process to the students.

● Now that the students have made guesses and tested these guesses, they should have come up
a generalized statement that “yes” pictures are Living and “no” pictures a Nonliving.
c.​ ​Present the examples and list the attributes.

● As a class discuss the different attributes that living things have an write them on the whiteboard.

d.​ D
​ evelop a concept definition.

● Living things are made of cells.

● Living things obtain and use energy.
● Living things grow and develop.
● Living things reproduce.
● Living things respond to their environment.
● Living things adapt to their environment.

If it is missing one of the characteristics listed above, it is non-living.

e.​ ​Give additional test examples.

Put the students final hypothesis to the test by asking:

● Is a Statue living or nonliving?

● What about a Bear?

● A Pencil?

f.​ ​Discuss the process with the class.

● After you have come up with the various attributes for living and nonliving things, give each
student a blank piece of paper.
● Have the students use a black crayon to write the acronym CEERG at the top of their
paper, in big letters.
● Have students use different colored crayons to write each of the following vertically
underneath the letters: C stands for cells, the first E for Energy, the second E for
Environment – respond and adapt, the R for Reproduce, and the G for Growth and
development. Something must have each of these characteristics to be considered living. If
it is missing one of the characteristics listed above, it is non-living.

g.​ E
​ valuate.

1. Ask the students to get out their whiteboard

● Have each student write a living thing that has not yet been discussed.
 ● Have each student write a nonliving thing that has not yet been discussed.

○ After each run through, check each students offering to gauge for understanding.

2. Hand out the living/nonliving worksheet to the students. (attached)

● Assign students to draw a line from each item to the correct classification (Living or Non-living)

● Upon completion, collect the worksheets

VI.​ ​Accommodation(s) for Diverse Learner(s)

The photos presented transcend language barriers and allow all students to participate.

VII.​ ​Evaluation of Student Progress (also embed in instructional procedures)

a.​ P
​ re-assessment:

● During engage/hook the teacher will gauge student knowledge of the topic as they begin to

develop hypothesis and re-evaluate these guesses until they find the concept definition/rule.

Since each student will be guessing for each picture the teacher can determine student

understanding during this activity. The class discussion to form the rule will also help is

pre-assessing students.

b.​ F
​ ormative/informal assessment:

1. Whiteboard Response

2. Living/NonLiving Matching worksheet

Living/Non living Worksheet:
References:

Wilkinson, A. (2011, April 2). Living and NonLiving. Retrieved October 4, 2014.