Albert Einstein Lesson Plan: Individuals’ Contributions and Identities

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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Albert Einstein, and supports the standard of analyzing how his scientific theories impacted our understanding of space and time. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students:

• What are the characteristics of a “good” scientist?
• What is an example of a scientific discovery from real life?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

• Read the description on the Albert Einstein topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
• Assign Related Reading and have students read one of the following articles: “Did You Know?” or “Quirky Stuff.”  Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Assign Albert Einstein Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about Albert Einstein while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• Make-a-Movie: Produce a mini-documentary about Einstein that addresses these questions: What were the Annus Mirabilis papers and what was the significance of each?
• Make-a-Map: Create a concept map identifying Einstein’s scientific contributions and explaining the importance of each.
• Creative Coding: Code a digital museum exhibit featuring figures and artifacts to represent Einstein’s life’s work as a scientist. 

More to Explore 

Time Zone X: Albert Einstein: Challenge students to put historical events in chronological order in this interactive timeline game.

Famous Scientists Unit: Continue to build understanding around individuals’ contributions to scientific progress by exploring more BrainPOP topics.

Teacher Support Resources:

• Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.