Water Cycle Lesson Review

The objective of this week’s lesson was for students to understand the water cycle and be able to explain how it affects out area. This was done by giving students a blank handout of the water cycle and their task was to label and fill in facts while watching a video and through class discussions. We then created a model of the water cycle by using a large bowl, coffee cup, and plastic wrap. When put out in the sun the water from the bowl should evaporate and then condense on the plastic wrap and fall into the coffee cup. Their final assessment was to write a story of a drop of water as it moves through the water cycle including each phase using PowerPoint.

Overall I could consider this lesson to be a success. Students were able to fill out their handout on the water cycle with important facts after watching the video and through class discussion.  Students were able to create the model and explain how the model represents the water cycle. I know students were able to do what I wanted because they have correctly labeled their handout and were able to explain how their model worked using the new concepts they learned.

Students enjoyed the video because it showed computer images created by NASA on the water cycle. Unfortunately, it did not give very much information. Through discussion as a class and a review game of the water cycle I found students were able to get the information they needed. Next time I teach this lesson I would still show the NASA video, but I would also find another one that provided students with more information. I also noticed that my students need more work on their note taking skills. They were provided with definitions that they either did not write down or wrote it down word for word. Students need to learn to get down important facts quickly because some teachers will not wait. They also clearly need to work on their spelling. Even though the words were written in the video and on the board they still did not spell them correctly. Next time I will plan ahead and add these words to their spelling list for the week.

Overall, using the backward design process worked well for me. I liked thinking of what I wanted the students to be able to do by the end of the lesson, the questions asked to lead them there, and what they will be able to do. It was hard to think of an assessment before coming up with the learning process that would lead up to that. However, in the end I found it was easier to write the learning activity when I knew where it was going to lead. Overall it was a successful lesson and with small adjustments it will be more successful next year.