Fadi Sulaiman, 18095643, Bin Liners Lesson Plan and Revision.

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102086 Designing Teaching & Learning
Assignment 2: QT Analysis Template

Evaluate the lesson plan according to the following NSW Quality Teaching model elements.

Evaluation score – refer to NSW QTM Classroom Practice Guide for each element
Comments incl. evidence for evaluation score (2 sentences)

1 Intellectual quality
1.1 Deep knowledge
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: Knowledge is very deep as it touches on various focuses in key ideas or concepts
throughout the lesson. Specifically addresses key ideas and concepts on the science, fauna,
environment and commercial aspects of plastic bags.

1.2 Deep understanding

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: Most student’s level of understanding are high and sustained throughout the lesson.
Students constantly answer the questions asked by the teacher and during the construction of their
bin liners, the students display deep environmental and commercial understanding relating to the
content.

1.3 Problematic knowledge

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The problematic knowledge relating to multiple perspectives are explored through
questioning and socially constructed ideas are addressed. The teacher explores the multiple
perspectives such as questioning the nature of easy, environmentally unfriendly commercialism and
the harm that comes to the animals and environment that suffer consequently.

1.4 Higher-order thinking

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The lesson results in most students displaying higher order thinking in multiple
activities. The students in their responses to the teacher’s line of questioning and during the
construction of their bin liners demonstrate great understanding of the multiple facets relating to the
differences of plastic bags and newspaper bin liners.

1.5 Metalanguage
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There is a low level of metalanguage within the lesson terminology with it displayed
minimally but not at any great length or depth. A greater attempt at using symbol systems such as
visual images and possibly giving the students definitions relating to the science behind the content
that address the aims of the lesson.

1.6 Substantive communication

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There is a high level of sustained interaction that happens a fair amount during the
lesson with both the students and teachers involved in the conversation. This was displayed through
the lesson as students were able to contribute their perspective at length during the discussion
portion of the lesson and when they were able to describe their bin liners.

Quality learning environment

2.1 Explicit quality criteria
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The criteria relayed to the students were thorough in explanation throughout the lesson
and the students looked at developing their work using this criterion. The teacher explicitly
described the criteria step by step and the students worked within these parameters which was
evident in how they created their bin liners.

2.2 Engagement
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There is a serious level of engagement by the students with the enthusiasm to engage
in the class evident throughout the lesson. The students were engaged and not disruptive during the
lesson, often providing responses.

2.3 High expectations

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1–2–3–4–5 Comments: The work incorporated in the lesson is challenging and forces students to take risks and
think creatively. The process of creating the bin liner is done with not only the creation in mind, but
rather the multiple implications involved regarding the environment, commercial and social aspects
that force students to take risks with ideas that they must create.

2.4 Social support

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: Social support within the class is at a very high level from the students being supportive
and the teacher valuing contributions from the students. The level of support from the students in
their pairs was high as they helped bounce ideas off one another and the social support in clapping
their classmates’ projects displayed this as well.

2.5 Students’ self-regulation

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There was no disruption from the students in the classroom with all of them
demonstrating non-interruptive and autonomous behaviour. Throughout the lesson, no student
misbehaved, and they were all in charge of their own behaviour.

2.6 Student direction

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There is a fair amount of student direction with the students being able to engage in the
direction of aspects of the lesson. During the creation of the bin liners and the explanation of their
work, the students were able to take control of how they wanted to display their work and the ways
they went about building it.

3 Significance
3.1 Background knowledge
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The students background knowledge is very limited in the construction of the lesson
and is related to the lesson in a minimal fashion. The lesson needs to incorporate more layers of
background knowledge that relate to things such as the student’s experienced background and
cultural knowledge, and possibly relate it to their understanding of pop-culture or media.

3.2 Cultural knowledge

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There are limited references to cultural knowledge that occur sporadically throughout
the lesson, that are just brushed on. The lesson should incorporate various perspectives relating to
culture when tackling a social issue as there are many different cultural perspectives that can be
incorporated into a lesson which improve relatability through relating the lesson to the students own
individual cultural knowledge.

3.3 Knowledge integration

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: There are various connections between topics that create a link between different
subjects within the lesson. The integration of different levels of thought that go into the creation of
plastic bags such as science, commercialism and accessibility.

3.4 Inclusivity
1–2–3–4–5 Comments: The teacher attempted through the lesson to engage with all the students with equal
significance and not excluding any particular individual or group. The lesson involved the teacher
insisting on students to all come up and give their own unique takes on the bin liner creation and
giving all the students significant praise when deserved.

3.5 Connectedness
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments: The students were able to explore the relations between the knowledge they possessed
and the important topic that related to the outside world. The effort in the lesson to get the students
to create their own bin liner using their own knowledge, that they would be able to take home and
work on, displayed a great level of connectedness.

3.6 Narrative
1–2–3–4–5 Comments: Narrative in the lesson is used in a minor sense and is connected to the content. There
is a need to incorporate real stories relating to the environmental dangers that would make the lesson
much more engaging for the students, whether this relate to a particular instance, a historical account
or text that extends the knowledge on the topic.

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Identifying Areas for Improvement

Identify the four NSW QT model elements you are targeting for improvement.

QT model
1) Metalanguage 2) Background knowledge
3) Cultural knowledge 4) Narrative

Lesson Plan – Bin Liners

Syllabus: Science Stage: Stage 4 Topic: Earth and Space

Outcomes Assessment Students learn about Students learn to

SC4-13ES Explains how Informal formative ES3 Scientific knowledge Classify a range of the
advances in scientific assessment. influences the choices Earth’s resources as
understanding of people make in regard to renewable or non-
processes that occur the use and management renewable.
within and on the Earth of the Earth’s resources.
influence the choices Investigate some
people make about The metalanguage strategies used by people
resource use and surrounding scientific to conserve and manage
management. knowledge. non-renewable resources,
e.g. recycling and the
Other students’ alternative use of natural
cultural/background and made resources.
knowledge and
perspectives. The ability to draw upon
their cultural/background
knowledge and share it
with others.

Note: Not all activities may be captured by the video. Assume they were covered by the teacher.

Time Teaching and Learning Actions

5 min Lesson Preliminaries/Administration
 Settle students into the classroom.
 Mark the roll.

7 mins Direct Instruction

 Welcome students and remind them of the topic.
 Introduce students to high density polyethylene as a non-renewable resource used to
make plastic bags.
 Key ideas for this lesson are cause and effect with questions being “why do we use so
many plastic bags in Australia?” and “what is the effect on the environment?”

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  Another key idea is solutions with questions being “what have governments done to
solve problems caused by plastic bags?” and “what can citizens do to solve problems
caused by plastic bags?”
 Give overview of activity:
 Designing renewable alternatives to plastic bags using newspapers. Teacher will
show students a design and they will improve that design.
 Give overview of thinking tools to be used:
 Think-pair-share
 Cause-effect map
 Pros-Cons-Questions

4 mins Language-Picture Slideshow Activity

 To add context to the lesson thus far, draw the student’s attention and discuss images
relating to lesson such as environmental hazards and then word associate the image with
text relating to the scientific metalanguage. (2 minutes)
 Have students read from excerpts from texts in the slideshow that relate to the scientific
context and the jargon relating to specific language and symbols to build their level of
knowledge in language and literacy. (2 minutes)
7 mins Think-Pair-Share Activity
 Give students true/false statements worksheet with questions like “the average plastic
bag is used for only 2 minutes but can take up to 1,000 years to break down in the
environment.”
 Students have 2 minutes to individually answer the questions (think).
 Students then have 1 minute to discuss their responses with the student sitting next to
them (pair).
 Teacher will then lead class discussion based on worksheets for 2 minutes (share).
5 mins Cause-Effect Mapping Activity
 Give students cause-effect map worksheets.
 Students have 2 minutes to think of as many reasons for why we use so many plastic
bags in Australia.
 Go around the class to check student understanding. Highlight the link between the
causes identified and the production of high density polyethylene bags. Ask about their
own personal use of polyethylene bags at home and outside of home.
 Students have 1 minutes to list as many sub-effects of the production and use of plastic
bags. Circulate to assist students.
 Students have another minute to share what their particular background (culture, religion,
country, SES) views are on plastic bags.
 Teacher leads brief class discussion to summarise the environmental effects identified by
the students.
5 mins Direct Instruction
 Teacher to show students how to construct a biodegradable bin liner by folding 4 sheets
of newspaper. The bin liner will fit into the teacher’s waste-paper basket.
4 mins Pros-Cons Activity
 Teacher invites students to highlight the pros and cons of the biodegradable bin liners.
7 mins Environmental Perspective Activity

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  Show an interactive video relating to stories/examples of environmental disasters relating
to rubbish and plastic bags. (2 minutes)
 Take three minutes to ask around the class for students own personal experience or
background knowledge relating to the environmental harm narrative addressed in the
video whether it be through their lived experiences, knowledge or pop/media culture and
then, share my own experience.
 In one minute, discuss the various perspectives that exist in other cultures, religions and
countries.

15 mins Student-Centred Activity

 Students to identify ways to improve the bin liners using the MAS sheet.
 Students to work in pairs to refine the newspaper bin liners. Circulate around the room to
assist students.
 Students demonstrate their improved designs to the teacher, using the teacher’s waste
paper basket as a test.
 Students in their pairs create a back-story behind the creation of their bin liner product
and relate it to the narrative discussed earlier.
 Teacher to encourage peer support during demonstrations.
 Summarise and close the lesson.

How am I measuring the outcomes of this lesson?

Learning Outcome Method of measurement and recording

SC4-13ES Informal questioning of student understanding as the lesson
progresses.

Academic Justification

The changes made relating to the lesson plan were done with the additional focus of narrative,

metalanguage, background knowledge and cultural knowledge in mind. I felt the lack of narrative

throughout the lesson was apparent, with no “stories written, told, read, viewed or listened to

help illustrate or bring to life the knowledge that students are addressing in the

classroom” (NSW Department of Education and Training, p. 50). One of the major adjustments I

did involved the creation of an environmental perspective activity which incorporated the use of the

Information Communication Technology (ICT) to communicate the serious implications that relate

to environmental ruin due to plastic bags. The ICT can extend to subjects outside of IT in schools

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as Sonia Livingstone (2012, p.11) explains “the ambition is that ICT use will improve educational

outcomes across the curriculum, as revealed in examination grades and other standardised measures

of assessment.” This was done through the medium of a video, which shows stories of past

experiences where plastic bags affected an environmental landscape. Vallie Dawson (2008, p. 204)

states that the benefits of the ICT medium “include the development of students’ critical thinking

skills, ease of data collection and manipulation, increased access to knowledge in a visual format,

and enhanced motivation and engagement.” In the last Student-Centred activity of the class I also

included the student’s own creation in pairs, of their own background narrative relating to the bin

liners and have it reference the narrative they saw earlier. Through the ICT, I was also able to lead

into the shared discussion of background and cultural knowledge. Both forms of knowledge are

discussed through the students and I sharing our personal experiences and perspectives relating to

the content. Sharing in this sense is the most imperative aspect to gain insight into the shared

collection of cultural and background knowledge that the students possessed, which I felt was

missing in the original lesson plan. Rina Manuela Contini and Antonio Maturo (2010, p. 1538)

describe the shared knowledge as cross cultural knowledge with its basis founded in interactive

education “that can be activated through contact, cooperation and sharing of experience.” This

shared discussion gives students the ability to learn their fellow students background and possibly

gain a new insight into the content of the lesson. Regarding background knowledge Jennifer Gore

(2007, p. 24) believes the “concern is also with connecting to students’ out-of-school backgrounds,

recognising the rich and diverse array of experiences students bring with them to school.” The

sharing aspects of the new lesson plan address this along with the cultural knowledge which Gore

(2007, p. 24) recognises “draws attention to the potential value for student learning of integrating

aspects of their learning, both within and between topics and subject areas.” This was also

important to me due to the movement away from the singular method of perspective only through

the dominant cultural knowledge that may lead to a feeling of a lack of inclusivity within students.

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Another adaptation to the lesson plan includes the new activity, the language-picture slideshow

which was added due to the lack of discussion through scientific language or explanations, both

from the teacher and the students themselves. This has now been included through the use of words

and images as the students will read texts and view imagery that relates to scientific metalanguage.

The form of metalanguage will involve interaction between students and the teacher through

‘teacher talk’ which is imperative. ‘Teacher talk’ involves the teacher’s knowledge and experience

being used in the dialogue between student and teacher to develop the students understanding of

metalanguage and literacy (Geoghegan, O’Neill & Peterson, 2013). Deborah Geoghegan, Shirley

O’Neill and Shauna Peterson (2013, p. 128) echo the sentiment of its importance by stating “the

research suggests that when students’ acquire the metalanguage and metacognition for learning, as

they have in the schools in this study, there is heightened engagement and ability to articulate their

learning.” This justifies the use of metalanguage in this sense to create an environment where

students are able to retain and discuss their newfound knowledge more proficiently. Other changes

incorporated into the lesson plan involved changing the initial table on what the main aspects of

student learning were to suit the changes to the activities. The aspects include students learning

scientific metalanguage, the ability to learn from their other student’s cultural and background

knowledge. There were also adjustments to the times that individual activities took to fit the time

constraints associated with changing and adding activities.

URL: https://fwsulaiman.weebly.com/

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 References

Dawson, V. (2008). Use of Information Communication Technology by Early Career Science

Teachers in Western Australia. International Journal Of Science Education, 30(2), 203-219.

doi: 10.1080/09500690601175551

Contini, R., & Maturo, A. (2010). Multi-ethnic society and cross-cultural perspectives in the

school. Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences, 5, 1637-1645. doi:

10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.07.339

Geoghegan, D., O’Neill, S., & Petersen, S. (2013). Metalanguage: The ‘teacher talk’ of explicit

literacy teaching in practice. Improving Schools, 16(2), 119-129. doi:

10.1177/1365480213493707

Gore, J. (2019). Improving pedagogy: The challenges of moving teachers toward higher levels of

quality teaching. Making A Difference: Challenges For Teachers, Teaching, And Teacher

Education, 15-22. Retrieved from

http://file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/Gore,%20J._Improving%20pedagogy%20(Chap_.

pdf)

Livingstone, S. (2012). Critical reflections on the benefits of ICT in education. Oxford Review Of

Education, 38(1), 9-24. doi: 10.1080/03054985.2011.577938

NSW Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development

Directorate. (2006). A Classroom Practice Guide. Ryde NSW.

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