George Washington Carver Lesson Plan: Individuals’ Contributions and Identities
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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic George Washington Carver, and supports the standard of analyzing individuals’ contributions to scientific and societal progress. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.
Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Ask students:
- What famous inventors do you know? Why are they important?
- What ideas do you have for a new invention? What problem would your invention solve?
Step 2: BUILD BACKGROUND
Read the description on the George Washington Carver topic page.
- Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
- Have students read one of the five Related Reading articles. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
Step 3: ENGAGE
Students express understanding of George Washington Carver 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 biopic of George Washington Carver that highlights his greatest accomplishments. (Essential Literacy Skill: Determine central ideas)
- Make-a-Map: Make a concept map identifying and explaining three of Carver’s major contributions to agricultural science. (Essential Literacy Skill: Summarize key details)
- Creative Coding: Code a digital museum exhibit featuring artifacts to represent Carver’s inventions and innovations. (Essential Literacy Skill: Make logical inferences based on explicit details)
Step 4: APPLY & ASSESS
Apply: Students take the George Washington Carver Challenge, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.
Assess: Wrap up the lesson with the George Washington Carver Quiz.
Step 5: EXTEND LEARNING
Time Zone X: George Washington Carver: Challenge students to put historical events in chronological order in this interactive timeline game.
Famous Scientists Unit: Continue to build understanding around individual’s scientific contributions with BrainPOP topics.
Additional Support Resources:
- Modifications for BrainPOP Learning Activities: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
- BrainPOP Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.
