2. Lesson overview
2. Lesson overview
The lesson starts with Mrs Deller inviting children to complete a pre-lesson survey. This would enable her to assess the impact of the dramatic strategies later on. A duologue (a dramatised discussion between Charles and how wife, Emma) introduces the children to a mystery scientist (Charles Darwin) and his hypothesis that a moth with a 30cm (11.5 inches) proboscises could exist. The children are then guided, by Mrs Deller, to consider what Darwin would have been like, as a scientist. They also examined the materials Darwin would have used, on the table top. Following this they conveyed their views of Darwin's character traits through generating a tableau of him as a scientist. To actively consider Darwin's hypothesis about the process of evolution they enacted the movements of moths collecting nectar from orchids and demonstrated how population changes arose over generations (and consequently hundreds/thousands of years). At different points in the process freeze frame was used to stop the children and ask them to think about what had just happened. All the children are actively involved, even if they are waiting for their turn to be a moth or flower (orchid). Finally, they are invited to question Darwin himself by putting him in the hot seat. To assess the impact of these strategies on the children’s learning a post-lesson finding was and contrasted to the pre-lesson assessment.
The lesson starts with Mrs Deller inviting children to complete a pre-lesson survey. This would enable her to assess the impact of the dramatic strategies later on. A duologue (a dramatised discussion between Charles and how wife, Emma) introduces the children to a mystery scientist (Charles Darwin) and his hypothesis that a moth with a 30cm (11.5 inches) proboscises could exist. The children are then guided, by Mrs Deller, to consider what Darwin would have been like, as a scientist. They also examined the materials Darwin would have used, on the table top. Following this they conveyed their views of Darwin's character traits through generating a tableau of him as a scientist. To actively consider Darwin's hypothesis about the process of evolution they enacted the movements of moths collecting nectar from orchids and demonstrated how population changes arose over generations (and consequently hundreds/thousands of years). At different points in the process freeze frame was used to stop the children and ask them to think about what had just happened. All the children are actively involved, even if they are waiting for their turn to be a moth or flower (orchid). Finally, they are invited to question Darwin himself by putting him in the hot seat. To assess the impact of these strategies on the children’s learning a post-lesson finding was and contrasted to the pre-lesson assessment.
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