JoinWhy Do Fireflies Light Up?
NSTA Playlist
Assessment Instructional Materials Is Lesson Plan Life Science Multilingual Learners NGSS Three-Dimensional Learning Elementary Grade 4
Sensemaking Checklist
What Are NSTA Playlists?
Playlists are bundles of resources to support contemporary Science/STEM teaching and learning placing equity at the center of instruction. These playlists contain instructional materials and/or assessment tasks for classroom use paired with professional learning resources to support implementation.
Description
This playlist features a fourth-grade, life science unit and includes all teacher and student materials. In the unit, students answer the following driving question: Why do fireflies light up? This playlist includes four resources:
- The unit and all supplementary materials
- A Science and Children article that depicts language in use–a science classroom where students are developing language and disciplinary knowledge and practices simultaneously
- A web seminar archive that provides opportunities to deepen understanding of the use of models in the classroom
Playlist
1 - Why Do Fireflies Light Up? Grade 4 Life Science Unit
Students, as scientists, make observations of fireflies in the backyard and the woods. Students ask questions and establish the driving question: Why do fireflies light up? Students obtain information about the firefly's internal and external structures. Students develop a model of the firefly's structures and their functions to describe the effect of the firefly light-up structure. Students investigate the function of sight and explain how people and other animals can see an object. They develop a model to show what causes an object to be seen: light reflected off an object enters the eye. They obtain information about the predator-prey relationships associated with fireflies. Students interpret data from investigations about bats and how bats use their sensory system to avoid eating fireflies. Finally, students revise their model and explain the driving question: Why do fireflies light up? Fireflies light up to find mates and warn predators to stay away.
2 - Formative Assessment of English Language Proficiency in the Science Classroom (Science and Children)
This Science and Children article by Okhee Lee and Rita Januszyk describes a framework for language in use in a science classroom where students are developing language and disciplinary knowledge and practices simultaneously. Using a lesson set in the fireflies unit, this article provides student work samples and recommendations for using formative assessment to promote language proficiency for ALL students. This article provides discussion and student work examples for the LightBox Investigation lesson set for this unit, as well as classroom recommendations for using formative assessment to promote language proficiency for ALL students.
3 - Archive: Teacher Tip Tuesday: Supporting Ambitious Science Teaching, January 26, 2021
This is a web seminar archive from Ambitious Science Teaching. Melissa Braaten leads this professional learning opportunity and demonstrates how teachers can find ways for all students to participate in science, making science compelling to a wider group of learners. The students develop explanatory models to make their science ideas visible. These models become shared resources for classroom communities to make sense of phenomena together.
Acknowledgements
Why Do Fireflies Light Up? Grade 4 Life Science Unit was developed by:
- Rita Januszyk and Alison Haas (unit writers)
- Kathy Renfrew for the science notebook lesson inspiration
- Grade 4 science teachers and students at Avery Coonley School, Downers Grove, Illinois