Appendix 1

LESSON PLAN
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

LESSON ORGANISATION
Year Level:
15/02/16

Time:

45 50 mins

Date:

Students Prior Knowledge:

1. Students can already recognise that
earthquakes can cause tsunamis

Learning Area: Science

2. Students already demonstrate knowledge of

how people measure significant geological
events
3. Students have a general pre-exisiting
understanding about natural disasters events.
Eg. That there are different types, different
levels of severity and they know how the
different types can be caused.

Strand/Topic from the Australian Curriculum:

Sudden geological changes and extreme weather events
can affect Earths surface. ACSSU096
General Capabilities (that may potentially be covered in the lesson)
Critical and
Literacy
Numeracy
ICT
competence

creative thinking

Ethical
behaviour

Personal and
Social
competence

Intercultural
understanding

Cross-curriculum priorities (may be addressed in the lesson)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
histories and cultures
Proficiencies:(Mathematics only)

Asia and Australias engagement with Asia

Sustainability

Lesson Objectives (i.e. anticipated outcomes of this lesson, in point form beginning with an action verb)
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:
Students develop detailed background knowledge of a certain natural disaster event that they have chosen to
study
After research, students use MyHistro to demonstrate an in-depth understanding about the history of a certain
natural disaster event that has occurred in a certain location. Eg. The history of floods in Queensland or the
history of tsunamis and earthquakes in Indonesia etc.

Teachers Prior Preparation/Organisation:

1. Laminated pictures of natural disasters for
introduction
2. Assignment information sheet
3. Make sure myHistro works on Ipads
4. Make sure Ipads are charged and available to
use for the lesson
5. Make a list of possible natural disaster events
for students to chose from.
6. Resarch and find useful resources and websites

Provision for students at educational risk:

1. Block any apps or websites that may be a
disturbance or distraction to students with
learning disabilities
2. Place student with English as their second
language with strong academic students who
help them if they need.


for students to use to research about their
natural disaster

3. Place students who are visually impaired

closer to the front to ensure they know how to
use myHistro.

LESSON EVALUATION (to be completed AFTER the lesson)

Assessment of Lesson Objective and Suggestions for Improvement:

Could the students easily access and understand useful information about their chosen
natural disaster?
Could the students easily use myHistro to demonstrate the history of their natural disaster
in a certain region?
What part of the activity did students like and not like?
Did the students show any signs of difficulty or confusion in regards to what was being
asked of them?

Teacher self-reflection and self-evaluation:

Were students interested in their research topics and the myHistro activity?
What did students struggle with the most?
Was the ICT tool too difficult for them to understand how to use?
Did the ICT tool enhance student learning or was it not that beneficial?
Were the lesson objectives met?
How could the lesson be improved?

[OFFICIAL USE ONLY] Comments by classroom teacher, HOPP, supervisor:

LESSON DELIVERY (attach worksheets, examples, marking key, etc, as relevant)

Time
9am

Motivation and Introduction:

1. Welcome students back and have them sitting at their desks.
2. Re-introduce topic of natural disasters

Resources/References
Align these with the
segment where they will
be introduced.

Today we are going to continue on looking at natural

disasters: the different types and how they are caused. Then
we will be doing some research and an activity to start our
natural disaster research projects!

3. Stick laminated images of natural disaster events on the whiteboard.

Approx. 5 6 natural disasters
4. Ask students to name the different natural disasters. Whoever puts
their hand up and names the disaster correctly is to come up and
write the name below the picture.
5. Then, students are asked to tell the teacher anything they already
know about that natural disaster. Eg. What causes them, how they
are measured, any examples of events.

9:10

This can act as a form of assessment. The teacher can

observe what students know about natural disasters at this
point.

6. Hand out and go through assignment information sheet.

9:20

The sheet outlines the instructions for the entire assignment

project (the timeline, research notes, the storyboard, imovie,
news article etc.)

Due dates clearly outlined

Marking rubric

List of approx.. natural disaster events to choose from. Eg.

Queensland floods, Sicily Volcanic Erruptions, Boxing Day
Tsunami, Cyclone Tracey etc.

Students choose what natural disaster they want to study.

The teacher then assigns students into groups of 3 4 with
other students who have chosen the same natural disaster
event.

These groups will be the people they will do their

assignments with

7. Inform students that the activity today wil be going towards their
assignments. However, if they do not finish this part today, they will be
able to continue working on it another day.
Lesson Steps (Lesson content, structure, strategies & Key Questions):
1. Hand out 2 iPads to each group.
2. Students need to research their natural disaster event, where it
happened and any other cases of the same even tin the same region
in that past.
Eg. If students are studying the Queensland floods, they need
to research if there have been floods in Queensland in the
past and if so how many and where they were. They then
need to put these past events in time order.
3. Demonstrate to the students how to use myHistro on the smartboard.
http://www.myhistro.com/dashboard
4. Students need to go onto myhistro and follow my demonstration.
5. After having gathered their information, students need to work
together to put their information on their timeline on myHistro.

9:50

6. Students can then get images to add to their timeline.

Lesson Closure:(Review lesson objectives with students)
1. After students have worked on their myHistro, some groups may
come up to the front of the class and demonstrate their timelines.
They can explain what they learnt from the timeline and if


there is any pattern over the time period or locations of the
events.
2. Students need to save their timelines so they can access it again to
continue working on it in another lesson.
3. Ask students what they liked about the activity and what they have
learnt from it.
9:55
Transition: (What needs to happen prior to the next lesson?)
1. Ask students to hand up Ipads
2. Ask students to put anything else on their desks away and sit and
wait for further instructions.
Assessment: (Were the lesson objectives met? How will these be judged?)
1. Go through the assessment checklist and ask yourself these
questions about the lesson
2. When asking the assessment questions, focus on one or two groups
and choose to reflect on other groups at a different time. This will
allow a closer reflection of whether or not the activity and lesson was
effective.
3. Reflection will be on the 2 lesson objectives.