Kristen

Balch

Power Lesson Plan: 5E Learning Cycle

Date of Lesson:
Lesson Title: Power
Lesson _2__ of __3_
note: this ended up
being the 3rd lesson.

Time Allotted for this Lesson: ( Lessons can be completed in different time
frames such as one period over several days) 40 minutes

Goals: NGSS / State content standards

HS-PS3-1. Create a computational model to
calculate the change in the energy of one
component in a system when the change in
energy of the other component(s) and energy
flows in and out of the system are known.

Objectives:
Objective 5: Complete calculations involving the
finding of Joules, Watts, Horsepower, Newtons, and
Amps 4 out of 5 times.

Pre-Requisite Knowledge and/or Skills:

A. Prior Knowledge. Students need to have a prior understanding of Force; both the concept and its
measurement. Students also need the ability to basic mathematical equations.
B. Pre-Requisite Skills: Students will need to understand how to complete basic mathematical
calculations, read force scales, and distance measurements.
C. Misconceptions: Because power tools are seen as taking less effort on the part of the user, many
students have trouble with the concept of power as requiring the same amount of work, but done
in less time. I will address this misconception by reviewing last lessons section on manipulating
force and distance and explaining this relationship to power.
D. Scientific Vocabulary: Force, SI units, Work, Joule
Scientific Vocabulary Introduced: Power, Watt, Horsepower, Amps
Prep & Setup (beforehand)

Materials/Equipment/Supplies
How many? Per group or?

Technology

print note sheets

print calculation worksheet

note sheets for all students

PowerPoint, smart board

worksheets for all students

Safety Considerations
None. Students will be taking notes and working individually and in groups to complete calculations on
paper. No safety issues are anticipated.

Kristen Balch

Procedure:
Teacher does...
Time

Students do...

Engage: Motivation/Hook: spark student

interest, arouse curiosity, provide ways for
students to express prior knowledge
Show pictures of different cars and talk about
which one will travel 1 mile in the shortest
time.
What is the difference between work and
power? Elicit classroom ideas and discussion.
Note key questions, procedures,
demonstrations
Explore-facilitate as students conduct first
hand experiences

Explore-facilitate as students conduct first

hand experiences

Does the force measurement scale change if

you pull something twice as fast while
maintaining constant speed? Or, can you
move something faster but maintain the same
force? Allow students to experiment with this.
Utilize same materials from work lesson.

Students experiment with speed, force and

distance, examining the relationship between
them.

Explain- read, guided discussions,

definitions/vocabulary

Explain- read, guided discussions,

definitions/vocabulary

Power is the rate at which work is done, i.e. it

takes more power to do a task faster.

Students take notes on power and how to

calculate.

Explain the units for power: SI unit is the

Watt, English is Horsepower. Give
background behind each.
Describe how power is calculated. (p=w/t) OR
power = Joules/second = Watts
746W = 1hp
Model how to perform each calculation. Then
have students practice based on time
available. Students will practice in groups.

Students observe teacher model calculation,

then practice in groups. For the first type of
each problem, groups will select one student
to demonstrate problem to the class.

Elaborate- facilitate student participation in

experiences and investigations that expand,
extend, solve problems, apply their knowledge
and skills

Elaborate- facilitate student participation in

experiences and investigations that expand,
extend, solve problems, apply their knowledge
and skills

Why does this matter in the real world?

Explain the need to be able to convert from
one system to the other and to figure out
which drill is a better purchase. Discuss how
we would apply the knowledge learned to
figure out how to compare.

Students discuss how we would apply the

knowledge learned to figure out how to
compare two types of power tools.

Kristen Balch
Note key questions, procedures,
demonstrations
Explore-facilitate as students conduct first
hand experiences

Explore-facilitate as students conduct first

hand experiences

Does the force measurement scale change if

you pull something twice as fast while
maintaining constant speed? Or, can you
move something faster but maintain the same
force? Allow students to experiment with this.
Utilize same materials from work lesson.

Students experiment with speed, force and

distance, examining the relationship between
them.

Explain- read, guided discussions,

definitions/vocabulary

Explain- read, guided discussions,

definitions/vocabulary

Power is the rate at which work is done, i.e. it

takes more power to do a task faster.

Students take notes on power and how to

calculate.

Explain the units for power: SI unit is the

Watt, English is Horsepower. Give
background behind each.
Describe how power is calculated. (p=w/t) OR
power = Joules/second = Watts
746W = 1hp
Model how to perform each calculation. Then
have students practice based on time
available. Students will practice in groups.

Students observe teacher model calculation,

then practice in groups. For the first type of
each problem, groups will select one student
to demonstrate problem to the class.

Elaborate- facilitate student participation in

experiences and investigations that expand,
extend, solve problems, apply their knowledge
and skills

Elaborate- facilitate student participation in

experiences and investigations that expand,
extend, solve problems, apply their knowledge
and skills

Why does this matter in the real world?

Explain the need to be able to convert from
one system to the other and to figure out
which drill is a better purchase. Discuss how
we would apply the knowledge learned to
figure out how to compare.

Students discuss how we would apply the

knowledge learned to figure out how to
compare two types of power tools.

Evaluate - determine student progress or

learning

Evaluate - determine student progress or

learning

Each student will take the real life scenario

steps and perform their own calculations, then
decide which drill to buy. Teacher can
evaluate based on individual answers.

Each student will take the real life scenario

steps and perform their own calculations, then
decide which drill to buy.

Closure:

Closure:

Students will create power calculations or

conversions and turn it in as an exit ticket.
They will then switch papers with a partner
and perform the calculation. On the same
sheet of paper, students will write what they

Students will create power calculations or

conversions and turn it in as an exit ticket.
They will then switch papers with a partner
and perform the calculation. On the same
sheet of paper, students will write what they

Kristen Balch
Reflection:
1. How did the students do re: the objectives, and how do you know?
I think about half of the students did very well regarding the objective. Students were responsible for
demonstrating proficiency in many different calculations. This was a lot of material to cover in the short
amount of time available and students would have benefitted from more time to practice. Even less time
ended up being available for this lesson than originally planned, which negatively affected students
performance on the objective. My understanding of students performance was taken from informal
observations of student discussions and in circulating around the room and assisting during individual
and group calculation practice. Furthermore, students were more vocal than usual about their level of
confidence on this topic. I think part of this has to do with the restricted time frame and part of it was that
most confusion came form the mathematical calculations. Students were able to articulate their confusion
more clearly than when learning previous, more abstract, concepts.
Reflection:
2. Describe any changes you made as you were teaching the lesson.
This unit as a whole was shortened to accommodate school activities and a late start due to severe
weather conditions. This meant that the lesson had to be compressed. I ended up teaching this lesson after
the lesson on power, instead of before it. I think this may have lead to some confusion because students
were mixing up the terms for power and energy. I had planned on teaching this lesson directly after work
so that students could take the concepts they learned and continue to apply them to power. Because of all
of this, I had to spend more time than I had planned introducing the topic so that we could properly
review the concept of work and draw the connection. Additionally, I ended up cutting some of the
scaffolding for teaching the different calculations. I felt that I was already tackling too much in this
lesson, but in compressing it for time, I found that all I could do was introduce the formula, run through
the steps, and then allow students to practice on their own or in groups. I tried to make up for the lack of
structure by circulating around the room and giving additional instruction time to those students I knew
would have difficulty.
Reflection:
3. What would you change about this lesson plan? Pay attention to situations where students
either did not learn or already knew.
No students knew the material covered before this lesson. I therefore had to teach the concept to all
students in its entirety. If given the ability, one of the biggest changes I would make to this lesson would
be to take more time with it. I felt that the material covered was a great deal to absorb in the amount of
time planned. This additional time would give me the ability to scaffold the mathematical portion of the
lesson a lot more than I was actually able to do. I would like to have found a way to implement more
exploration into the lesson as well. I feel that these changes would address many of the problems that
students had with this lesson and would raise the number of students demonstrating proficiency.
Reflection:
4. How did the results of this lesson influence the way that you will teach in the future?
The lack of time really contributed to the poorer parts of this lesson. I became flustered, which affected
my delivery of the lesson, and I ended up cutting portions as well. In the future, I think I would try to find
ways to still structure the lesson even with a compressed time schedule. One of the ideas that I might try
is to have students rate themselves on confidence throughout the lesson. I can have more confident
students do individual practice work while reiterate the concept with additional scaffolding and modeling
with other students. Depending on the students, more confident students may then tutor the other students
while they worked on the practice problems. This would still allow for the group work that I had wanted
and allow students who need it to et the necessary support.

Kristen Balch
5. What did you learn?
I have learned that even when pressed for time, I need to appropriately model and scaffold complex
topics. I think I got flustered when I had to compress things for time and simply hoped that students
would be able to figure things out on their own. I overestimated the number of students who would need
help if I followed this route. I need to do a better job of coming up with backup plans. I plan to
investigate different ways of creating flexible grouping so that I will be able to implement these ideas
better in the future.