Science Grade 7: Dichotomous Keys

Core Content Coaching

PurposeTo provide support for grade-level, unit content planning

Resources for planning

• Teacher Yearly Resource Document (or Yearly Itinerary)

• CRM 6: Adaptations

• Blank Pacing Calendar

• 7th Grade 4th Six Weeks Lessons: Dichotomous Keys Pacing Guide & Lessons

• Computer with Internet Access

Teacher yearly resource document

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Jan. 5

Heredity & Reproduction

6 7 8 9

12

Internal & External Structures

13 14 15 16

19

Student/Staff Holiday

20

Dichotomous Keys

21 22 23

26

Natural Selection & Selective Breeding

27 28 29 30

Feb. 2

Plant Physiology & Adaptations

3 4 5

Plant Response to Stimuli

6

9

Plant Cell Review & Photosythesis

10 11 12

Energy Flow

13

16

Student Holiday

17

Energy Flow

18 19 20

4th Six Weeks Planner (33 days)

7.1A-B, 7.2A & C, 7.3D, 7.4A7.11: Organisms & environments. The student knows that populations & species demonstrate variation & inherit many of their unique traits through gradual processes over many generations. The student is expected to:

•7.11A: examine organisms or their structures such as insects or leaves & use dichotomous keys for identification.

TEKS & Student expectations

Content TEKS Skills TEKS

1. What are the state standards for this unit?

2. Deconstruct the TEKS: Verb, Noun, and Context

Examine: to look at (something) closely and carefully in order to learn more about it, to f ind problems, etc.Use: to do something with (an object, machine, person, method, etc.) in order to accomplish a task, do an activity, etc.

1. What are the state standards for this unit?

2. Deconstruct the TEKS: Verb, Noun, and Context

Examine: to look at (something) closely and carefully in order to learn more about it, to find problems, etc.Use: to do something with (an object, machine, person, method, etc.) in order to accomplish a task, do an activity, etc.

CRM 6: TEKS & Acquisition section

Teacher Content support

How to Use a Dichotomous Key

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0e9GkL3Ow4

Understanding Classification Using a Dichotomous Keyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX0vh7iGOvw

Although the video has very loud music (mute- it is unrelated to the content of the video), it moves through the steps of how to use a dichotomous key to identify a fictional organism.

ScienceFusion Grade 7 Teacher Edition: Tutorial: p. 411

• Explain variations of external features of organisms as a population or an individual.

• Compare external features of populations or species with other populations or species.

PRIOR LEARNING

2013 STAAR Question: 7.11A

F 12%

G 19%

*H 67%

J 2%

Based on the data and distractors, what key points should teachers emphasize during lessons?

• Begin with the first set of questions.

• Take one step at a time.

• Isolate each set of questions with a cover sheet, as needed.

Activities to emphasize this point included

in the curriculum:

1.Common Object Dichotomous Key

2.Intro to Dichotomous Keys

3.Shark Identification Key

4.Performance Assessment: Discovery of a

New Species

Activities to emphasize this point included

in the curriculum:

1.Common Object Dichotomous Key

2.Intro to Dichotomous Keys

3.Shark Identification Key

4.Performance Assessment: Discovery of a

New Species

Components of a good lesson plan

1. Engage Student Interest

2. Review/Scaffold to TEKS

3. Student-Centered Activities directly relating to the depth and complexity of the TEKS

• Labs, Activities, Videos

1. Organize and Practice Vocabulary

2. Reading & Comprehension Strategies

3. Writing Opportunities & Scaffolds

4. Daily Listening & Speaking Opportunities

5. Differentiation

6. Formative Assessment & Reteach

Embedded in lessons: Engage Student Interest

• Common Object Dichotomous Key

• Making a Biological Drawing

Recommended in lessons:Review / Scaffold to TEKS

• ScienceSaurus Reading: Using an Identification Key p. 164

• Think Central Unit 5, Lesson 3: Digital Lesson (Sections 11-12)

• Common Object Dichotomous Key

• Intro to Dichotomous Keys

• Next Step Inquiry: Shark Identification Key

• Performance Assessment: Discovery of a New Species

• 7.11A Guided Practice

• National Zoo: ID a Treehttp://nationalzoo.si.edu/education/conservationcentral/walk/walk4_broadband.html

Embedded in lessons: Student-Centered Activities directly relating to the depth and complexity of the TEKS (Investigations, Activities, Videos)

Embedded in lessons:Organize and Practice Vocabulary

• Dichotomous Word Parts

• 7.11A Cloz-ing in on Science

Embedded in lessons:Reading & Comprehension Strategies• ScienceSaurus Reading: Using an Identification Key p.

164

• ScienceFusion SE: Using a Dichotomous Key p. 316-317

• Comprehension Strategies

• Shared Reading Recommendation: Have each student in a pair read a paragraph at a time and then have the non-reader summarize the section.

Embedded in lessons:Writing Opportunities & Scaffolds• Exit Tickets

• You are a scientist who has stumbled into a "lost world." You come across a species of vertebrate (an animal that has a skeleton) that you have never seen before. You notice that it is similar to some animal species at home. Imagine that you have been able to watch these animals at a fairly close distance. You have also examined the bones of ones that have died. As you have been observing and examining this species, you have been recording notes and images. In your journal, record the animal’s characteristics that you have observed. Include at least one illustration. Review your notes and write up a plan about how you will use specific characteristics that you think will be most helpful to identify one or more of the animal’s closest relatives known to scientists at home. How will you approach classifying this new species?

• Journal Entries

• What observations, knowledge, skills, and tools have you used to identify a living or nonliving thing? Use one specific example to explain the process you used to identify that object.

• Why do scientists rely on dichotomous keys to help them identify organisms?

• As an expert entomologist, a scientist who studies insects, you have an intern who has just returned from the deep forests around the Congo River. Your intern is really excited, because he believes he has discovered three species of insects there that have yet to be classified. He has even developed a dichotomous key for these new identifications. What criteria will you use to determine a) whether his insects are indeed “new” species, and b) if the dichotomous key he constructed works and is acceptable?

• You have inherited a large aviary, essentially a building filled with a variety of bird species from all over the world. Your relative was not a very organized caretaker, however. The birds are let loose all over the place. The chaos is overwhelming, and you think you can make some profit as a tourist attraction. So, you decide to organize the birds by their native continent. Within each continent, you would like to develop exhibits by habitat. You have asked world bird experts to come help you, but they are all too busy. You are on your own. Generate a procedure for organizing your aviary by outlining the main steps you should take.

• Scaffolds: Sentence Frames, Word Bank, Talk then Write, Write/Share/Revise, Think/Share/Write

Embedded in lessons:Daily Listening & Speaking Opportunities

In order to classify a new species, a

scientist should…

Scientists use dichotomous keys to…

• Special Education:

1. Mixed-Ability Partners2. Science Glossary3. Word Bank4. Sentence Frames5. Shared Reading6. Word Parts7. Computer Interactive8. Practice9. Modeling10. Opportunity for Reteach11. Reduced Number of Species for Identification12. Separate Sets of Pictures & Dichotomous Keys13. Cover Sheets for Chunking

• English Language Learners:

1. Mixed-Ability Partners2. Dual Language Science Glossary3. Word Bank4. Shared Reading5. Sentence Frames6. Word Parts7. Modeling8. Opportunity for Reteach

Embedded in lessons:Differentiation

• Intro to Dichotomous Keys

• Next Step Inquiry: Shark Identification Key

• Journal Entries

• Exit Ticket

• Performance Assessment: Discovery of a New Species

• Dichotomous Keys Quiz

Embedded in lessons:Formative AssessmentFormative Assessment

Reteach Options

• ScienceSaurus Reading: Using an Identification Key p. 164

• Think Central Unit 5, Lesson 3: Digital Lesson (Sections 11-12)

• 7.11A Guided Practice

• 7.11A Cloz-ing in on Science

• How to Make a Dichotomous Key Reteach

• National Zoo: ID a Tree

Higher level questions• “Research shows there’s a link between critical thinking skills and increased student achievement in the

classroom.” (Moore & Stanley, 2010)

• Higher level questions must be planned in order to be implemented effectively in the classroom.

• Levels of Questions

• Knowledge

• Comprehension

• Application

• Analysis

• Synthesis

• Evaluation

• Plan and provide a variety of questions at each level and build student knowledge and critical thinking by providing Higher Level Questions.

Lower Levels of questions

Higher Levels of questions

Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluate

What is a dichotomous key?

How do scientists identify

organisms?

How do you properly draw

and label organisms?

STAAR-Released Question Slide 10

How is a step of a dichotomous key

related to a specific structure on an organism?

What changes would you make to the structure of a

dichotomous key? Why?

How would you evaluate the

discovery of a new species?

Recommended Anchors of Support

Anchors of SupportOther Resources

•Interactive Word Wall- Current, working models with student contributions • Interactive Word Walls Article: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/files/ss1103_45.pdf

• “Word walls can be arranged on cupboard doors or classroom walls, or hung from the ceiling with wire and string.”

• “Maximum instructional potential and efficiency are achieved when interactive word-wall construction is aligned with lessons and students are allowed to participate in the process. As a result, walls are usually built over many days and are finished as a unit nears completion. Word walls support units and are changed or replaced as units change.”

• Interactive Word Walls Rubric: Next Slide

• ScienceFusion Textbook, Science Glossaries, Dual Language Science Glossaries

Academic vocabularyLESSON COMPONENTS PAGE

CURRICULUM ROAD MAP