​NGSS Lesson Planning Template

Grade/ Grade Band​: 3-5​th​ grade Topic:​ Is it living Lesson #​ ​__6__​ in a series of ​_7___​ lessons
Brief Lesson Description​: Mission crew will need to sustain themselves when they land on Mars. This lesson helps students think about how
to support life and deal with misconceptions about what is living and what is not living.
Performance Expectation(s):
4-LS1-1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth,
behavior, and reproduction.
4-LS1-2 Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their
brain, and respond to the information in different ways.

Specific Learning Outcomes: Students will engage in a field research study to determine the conditions for supporting life on Mars. Based
on observations, categorizations, and evaluations about Earth conditions, students will begin a narrative about how to support the Mars
mission crew once they get established on the surface.
Lesson Level Narrative
Now that we are on the surface of Mars, it is time to transform the surface so that is can support life. Your tasks is to figure out what on
Mars needs to be transformed, what about Mars makes it inhospitable to life currently and how can we change it? You will construct the
criteria for supporting life based on observations that you have made about planet Earth.

Science & Engineering Practices: Disciplinary Core Ideas: Crosscutting Concepts:

Developing and Using Models to test LS1.A Structure and Function Systems and System models
interactions concerning the support of life ● Plants and animals have both ● A system can be described in
on Mars. internal and external structures terms of its components and their
that serve various functions in interactions
Engaging in Argumentation from Evidence growth, survival, behavior, and
● Students will construct an reproduction.
argument based on their ●
observations about what is living
and what is not living. They will
come up with the best criteria for
supporting life on Mars.
Possible Preconceptions/Misconceptions:
Students will need to know that the atmosphere on Mars is thin and cannot currently support life on the surface. In addition, it is very cold,
has a carbon dioxide based atmosphere, and has a source of water, which is a BIG BINGO. Students will need to have this discussion with
you about what can happen on the surface to help transform the surface to support Earth based life. So, the mission crew would need
breathable air, use the water to support plant life, plants make O2 as a byproduct of photosynthesis. Preconceptions of students may
include seeing food as substances (water, air, minerals, etc.) that organisms take directly in from their environment Anderson, C., Sheldon,
T., Dubay, J. (1990). The effects of instruction on college nonmajors' conceptions of respiration and photosynthesis. ​Journal of Research in
Science Teaching​, 27, 761-776. Students may also think that food is a requirement for growth, rather than a source of matter for growth.
They have little knowledge about food being transformed and made part of organism.

LESSON PLAN – 5-E Model

Engage: Web on board. Have students discuss what
it means to be alive. Write what they say on the
board. Ask them what else is alive. Have each table
have pictures of alive things and non living things.
Have them discuss what they have in common and
what is different. Discuss how to observe and
record.
EXPLORE: Lesson Description – What should the teachers ask and do? What will the students do?
Go outside for them to observe the environment. Have a recorder write on the paper. Go inside and share what they found and why they
decided what they found were alive. Pass out sand activity materials. Let them observe and record what they see in their cups.

EXPLAIN: Concepts Explained and Vocabulary Defined:

Share what they see in their cups and predict what is going to happen if they find water. Students in groups with jobs: recorder, presenter,
and materials manager.

Vocabulary
Alive
Environment
Observe
Organisms
ELABORATE: Applications and Extensions:
Add water. Have students record what happens. Decide if one of them is alive.

EVALUATE:
Create a chart on the board of what is alive and what is it. Discuss why they think so. Clean up materials.
Formative Monitoring (Questioning / Discussion): Create the chart of living or non-living

Summative Assessment (Quiz / Project / Report): Discuss how we would explore the environment on Mars and the characteristics of
living organisms.

Elaborate Further / Reflect: Enrichment: