Title – Lesson Plan 11: Let The Questioning Begin

By – Alex Johnson-Jimenez

Subject – Science, Social Studies

Grade Level – 5th-6th Grade

NOTE: This is lesson 11, the final lesson, of the Colonization of Mars Thematic Unit.

This unit can also be found

here

.

Objective:

Students will practice their skills of interviewing on guest speakers and make well
informed decisions on which two of the five will be accepted as the first candidates for the mission to colonize Mars.

Materials Needed:

Typed copy of the list of interview questions that were designed in lesson 10

Guest speakers: a doctor, an architect, a college professor (preferably from the science department), a police officer, a local political leader, computer technician. Try and get a mix of men and women and racial diversity if at all possible.

Estimated Time: 60 min.

Motivation:

The guest speakers should be contacted several weeks in advance and then again several days before the scheduled date of appearance. The speakers should be informed of the unit that is being studied, where the students are in their development of their projects, and the role they will take in the unit of study. Inform the speakers that each will have approximately 3 minutes to inform the students of who they are, what they do for a living, and the importance of their positions in society. It may be helpful if they just wrote up a little ditto to read during their turn. The speakers also need to be aware that they will be interviewed by a group of approximately 5 students on why they, as a representative of their career field, should be the allowed to be the first colonists on Mars.

Once the students are all seated, present the guests to the class by name and occupation. Inform the students that the guests speakers are here as representatives of their career fields and wish to interview for the privilege of being the first colonists on Mars.

Tell the students to listen carefully but do not ask any questions. They will be interviewing one of the candidates later on.

Procedure:

1.Once all the candidates have spoken, lead the class in a round of applause for their presentations.

2.As you hand out the typed copy of the interview questions, inform the students that they will be interviewing one of the candidates by using the questions they designed. Remind students that good interviewers take turns asking questions, that the questions do not need to be in order, that they must listen very carefully and then record the candidates answer as best as they can under the question that was asked. Demonstrate how to ask a question; “Question number 5. Why should a member of your career be one of the first colonists?” Tell the students that they need to say the question number so that their group members can cross it off their sheet so that the same question is not asked more than once.

3.”What do you do when the interview is complete?” Someone will respond with, “thank the person and tell them you will call them in a few days” or something similar. Check for understanding and answer any questions before they begin.

4.Direct each of the candidates to a group of students and inform the group that they have 15 minutes to conduct their interview. Total time: 18 min.

5.Once all the interviews have been conducted, thank the candidates and give them another round of applause for taking time from their work to help the class out.

6.Give the students 5 minutes to talk about the candidate amongst themselves. Total time: 5 min.

7.While the students are discussing, write the name of each candidates occupation on the board.

8.As a class name pros and cons for each occupation in terms of what they can or can’t do for making the colonization of Mars successful. Total time: 5 min.

9.As a class decide on which two candidates seem most appropriate for this mission – voting is probably the best way. Total time: 2 min.

10.Discuss how difficult it is to make these decisions and that they have only considered 5 careers. List 6 or 7 other careers that they could also consider.

11.Take any questions or comments and then inform them that they need to continue working on their projects. The projects are due at the end of class tomorrow, so that they can present on the following day.

12.Inform them that their homework for the evening is to write a letter of thanks to the person they interviewed for taking time to help them with their project.

Evaluation:

Teacher will monitor the students during the interview process. The teacher will assess the students for taking turns, being polite, using good listening skills, writing what was being said accurately, and following directions.

Homework:

Students are to add the last three words to their private word list and write their letter of thanks.

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Alex

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