One of the most time-consuming parts of teaching is lesson planning. It’s often a barrier to trying new instructional strategies, even when we’re confident they’ll be a game-changer in the classroom. If you’re considering integrating phenomena into your science lessons to engage your students and encourage them to think critically about the world around them, we have good news: there are ways to streamline your lesson planning process to create meaningful and engaging units in less time. This post will uncover a few time-saving strategies for designing phenomena-based lessons that will transform your classroom into a student-driven, project-based learning environment.
Strategy #1: Work smarter by using AI tools to find the phenomena!
The first step in the planning process is understanding the phenomenon or big idea that will bridge the gap between multiple disciplines. The concept should be relevant, intriguing, and open-ended enough to spark curiosity and give students the opportunity to explore the central theme across subject areas. Use tools to work smarter, not harder in the initial process of phenomenon identification. In a recent post, we identified several websites that can help you identify and incorporate phenomena into your lessons, but you can also use AI tools in lesson planning to help you initiate the brainstorming process.
One popular educational AI tool is MagicSchool (reviewed here). This site offers an abundance of tools that support phenomena-based instruction:
- Make It Relevant! allows you to describe the topic with standards and your student population in mind.
- Real World Connections generates examples to make the content more meaningful and increase student investment.
- The Project-Based Learning (PBL) tool can help you create project plans related to a specific phenomenon.
- The Unit Plan Generator assists in creating comprehensive unit plans.
- 5E Model Lesson Plan helps you structure lessons to finalize the content and plans.
To learn more about how AI can transform your planning process, check out this TeachersFirst special topics collection, AI for Lesson Planning.
Strategy #2: Offer opportunities for student voice and choice in learning.
One main goal of phenomena-based instruction is to help foster and develop student autonomy. Once you determine the driving question, it’s time to allow students to discover why and how something happens. Students can then engage in scientific research, learn about the topic’s history, analyze data to understand their findings, and explore various literature on the subject.
After completing their investigations, students can use a choice board to select how to show their learning. You can customize a choice board to suggest different presentation methods and project templates. This method puts the project design into their hands. You can make choice boards using familiar tools such as Google Slides and PowerPoint, or with newer design programs like Canva for Education (reviewed here) and Kami (reviewed here) that offer templates so you don’t have to start from scratch!
To learn more about creating choice boards, check out this on-demand OK2Ask workshop, “Engage & Inspire: Choice Boards for Differentiation, Part 1” (reviewed here).
Strategy #3: Collaborate for cross-curricular connections.
Collaboration and cross-curricular connections are crucial to bringing your lesson or unit to the next level! Teaching with phenomena lends itself to multiple disciplines and creates opportunities to plan with colleagues. Microsoft and Google both have excellent collaborative tools teachers and students can use. You can also use websites like FigJam (reviewed here), Padlet (reviewed here), and Wakelet (reviewed here) to share resources that overlap and support the big ideas of the phenomenon with other teachers.
Here are a few examples of ways you can connect a phenomenon across subject areas:
- Literature: Find relevant stories, poems, and novels that relate to the phenomenon or additional questions and investigations students come up with during their projects.
- Math: Use mathematical concepts to help students understand and analyze the data for the phenomenon.
- Social Studies: Have students investigate the phenomenon’s historical, social, or political implications.
These tools and strategies will help you create more meaningful and engaging units while streamlining your planning process. As you continue to embrace phenomena as a core component of science education, you will inspire curiosity, creativity, and lifelong learning! Happy planning!