Backward Design Lesson Plan Template
Teacher Mr. Everett Grade level 8th
Lesson title Force
Step 1—Desired Results
Standards, benchmarks, other objectives as needed (e.g., IEP)—What should students know, understand,
and be able to do as a result of the lesson?
At a minimum, teacher should identify:
California Content Standards
Lesson Objectives
Content Standards:
8.2.e. Students know that when the forces on an object are unbalanced, the objects will change its
velocity (That is, it will speed up, slow down, or change direction).
Next Generation Science Standards:
MS-PS2-2. Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the
sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.
Goal:
1. I want students to understand how an unbalanced force can pressure objects to move.
Objectives:
1. Students will read about force by taking notes from the PowerPoint to get a
2. Students will recognize how air pressure can force an egg into a flask.
3. Students will demonstrate their understanding of force by working in groups on a collage and
individually with exit-slip questions.
Team-Based learning is how I want students to approach this lesson. Students will work in groups of four
to complete the egg experiment and to come up with and answer questions about the experiment and
about the content that students learned at home. Students will at the end of the lesson demonstrate their
knowledge by creating and presenting a collage in the same groups.
Step 2—Assessment Evidence
Performance task—What will students do to show what they have learned?
Performance criteria—How good is good enough to meet standards?
Assessments:
Entry-level Assessment:
Students will answer a poll on the teacher website before viewing the PowerPoint presentation on
the topic “Force.”
Formative Assessment:
Students will view the PowerPoint presentation on Force and take notes. There will be a few
questions at the end of the presentation for students to answer that will help them with the in-class
discussion the next day.
Students will share their thoughts, ideas, and questions about force before starting the Egg
Activity. The teacher will observe and guide students through the discussion.
Students will work in groups of four (assigned by the teacher based on the online poll results) to
complete the activity. Students will then discuss in groups what other objects can be pushed by
force.
Students will then create a collage to demonstrate their understanding about force. They will use
the collage to present their findings about the egg activity and to answer any questions they may
have about force.
Students will complete an exit-slip activity to demonstrate their knowledge about force before
leaving class.
Step 3—Learning Plan
Learning activities (step by step from start to finish, detailed enough for another teacher to follow)
Introduction (at-home activity):
1. Students will log in to their teachers website and answer a quick poll before taking notes while
viewing the PowerPoint on “Force.” Students will answer a few questions at the end of the
presentation to help them prepare for the in-class discussion the next day.
Class Time:
1. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss what they learned about the topic
of “force.” Depending on the results of the online poll, the teacher will guide students to discuss
aspects of the content that students were unfamiliar with. To facilitate the class discussion, the
teacher will not say words like “Correct” and “That’s incorrect” but set students up to answer
each other’s questions by saying, “Your classmate says this is what happens when an object
remains at rest… What do you think about that?”
2. Afterwards, the teacher will explain the egg activity and what to expect when doing the activity.
Students will work in groups of four (assigned by the teacher based on the results of the online
poll) and will come up with questions to answer about the activity. After students complete the
activity, they will then answer their questions they had before starting the experiment.
Egg Experiment Directions:
Peel a hard-boiled egg.
Take a flask and small piece of paper. Add less than an inch of water inside the flask.
The teacher will light the small piece of paper with a match and put it in the flask. Place
the egg upright over the opening of the flask quickly.
Students should draw what they observe and describe their results as a group and then on
paper.
3. Students will then demonstrate what they learned by creating a collage that shows their results
from the egg experiment and the answers to the questions they had.
Conclusion:
1. Students will share their collages with the rest of the class at the end of the period. As a way to
individually practice understanding the content, students will also receive an exit slip that has the
same questions that were included in the online poll to answer. They will complete it
individually and turn it in at the door on the way out of class. This will allow the teacher to
assess student knowledge and (hopefully) progression. The teacher will also include practice
quizzes and additional resources on the teacher website for students to practice at home.
Step 4—Reflection
What happened during my lesson? What did my students learn? How do I know?
What did I learn? How will I improve my lesson next time?
The purpose of this lesson was for students to participate in a flipped lesson where they took notes on the
content being covered at home and then discuss their thoughts, ideas, and questions in class the next day.
I want students to have time in class to discuss the content and learn from one another and the teacher
becomes the encourager and facilitator at that moment. I understand at times students may have a hard
time starting the discussion so it is the job of the teacher to guide students by providing open-ended
questions such as “What did you find most interesting and/or confusing?” After the discussion, I had
students in groups of four write down questions that they may have about force and the egg experiment
that I had planned for the class period. In the same groups, they conducted the experiment, collected the
results, and answered their questions. They demonstrated their results by creating a collage. By doing
this, they continued to collaborate with other classmates in a creative way and presented their collages in
a group setting.
After completing the egg experiment, students learned that air pressure can force an egg into a tight flask,
even when it looks impossible. Since the pressure outside the flask was greater than the pressure inside
the flask, the egg was pushed down into the flask due to the unbalanced pressure. The pressure inside the
flask lessened because the small piece of paper on fire inside the flask took away the oxygen. When the
fire went out, the air cooled and condensed, taking up less space and ultimately less pressure. Students
were also asked to consider other objects that could have the same result, which led them to consider why
this happened to the egg and can it happen again. What I learned about the lesson and will continue to
improve on is having students discuss and share ideas and questions as a class while displaying content
for them to learn before class on the teacher website. For a teacher, to include a flipped lesson into the
classroom takes a whole lot of trust in the process and in their students. However with practice and
repetition, I know that it will be a better experience and students should enjoy flipped based lessons a lot
more.
Resources:
Poll Questions
Poll Questions for Force Lesson
1. A force can cause an object to do what?
a) Speed up
b) Slow down
c) Stay in place
d) Change its shape
e) All of the above
2. What is the unit of measurement for force?
a) Grams (g)
b) Newtons (N)
c) Kelvins (K)
d) Milliliters (mL)
3. Force has both magnitude and what?
a) Speed
b) Temperature
c) Velocity
d) Density
4. What is the formula of force?
a) f = m x a
b) f = m / a
c) f = a / v
d) f = d / v
5. What law declares that an object at rest remains at rest and an object in motion continues in
motion with constant velocity unless it experiences an external force?
a) Galileo’s Law
b) Newton’s Law
c) Pythagorean Theorem
d) Einstein’s Law
PowerPoint on Force
[Link]
Adapted from Tomlinson and McTighe, Integrating Differentiated Instruction + Understanding by Design, ASCD,
2006.
