NB 27 4th Grade Microscopic Life Unit

Fourth Grade Microscopic World Unit
Home \| Microscopic Home \| LE 1 \|LE 2 \| LE 3 \| LE 4 \| LE 5 \| LE 6 \| LE 7 \| LE 8 \| LE 9 \| LE 10 \| LE 11 \| LE 12
Unit Overview The Unit Overview contains a summary description of the unit and individual lessons. It features essential/unit questions that align with the unit benchmarks.	Unit Blueprint The Unit Blueprint is a comprehensive table that aligns individual lessons, essential/unit questions, benchmarks, and assessments. This interactive tool contains links to teacher-generated sheets, student work samples, helpful teacher tips, and video clips (if applicable). LE 1: Observing a Penny LE 2: Dot to Dollars LE 3: Communicating Your Observations LE 4: Using a Microscope LE 5: Strands of Thread LE 6: Introducing Microscopic Life in a Pond LE 7: Investigating Single-Celled Organisms LE 8: Exploring Single-Celled Organisms through the Internet LE 9: Microscope Performance Assessment LE 10: Multi-Cellular Plants LE 11: Specialized Cells within an Organism LE 12: Summative Assessment Drawings and Observations Checklist (MS Word) Drawings and Observations Checklist (PDF) The checklist should be used throughout the unit to foster high quality microscope drawings. The checklist is not in the same format as the rubrics used in previous units. Due to the unique nature of drawing microscopic items, students cannot be assessed in the same manner. Drawings in this unit will not have the same level of detail. Download the entire Unit Blueprint (Adobe^® Acrobat^® PDF)
Unit Benchmarks The Unit Benchmarks provides a list of benchmarks (learning goals) for the unit. Project 2061 by the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences was used for selecting enduring, developmentally appropriate benchmarks. The benchmarks are organized by chapters from Benchmarks for Science Literacy.
Research on Student Misconceptions Research on Student Misconceptions contains research about common student misconceptions related to the unit of study. Research from the Research Base (Chapter 15) of Benchmarks for Science Literacy is primarily used. Additional research is used to supplement areas not addressed by Project 2061. ***The literature does not contain relevant information on elementary students' misconceptions and misunderstandings about cells and microscopic life.
Resources The Resources web page provides an annotated bibliography of web sites, videos, and books related to the unit of study. It contains hotlinks to relevant sites. Library Resources Report Card: Descriptors/Benchmarks Report Card: Teacher's Key for 1s, 2s, and 3s

Fourth Grade Microscopic World Unit