Savanna Williams
Lesson Author: Antwuan Stinson
Lesson Title: Should Scientists Bring Extinct Species Back from the Dead?
Stage 1 – Desired Results
Lesson Plan I.D.: 33258
Established Goals (Include ACOS standards in this section):
SC(9-12) Genetics
Elective
ELA2013(9)
ELA2013(9)
5. Describe inheritance patterns based on gene interactions.
1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. [RL.9-10.1]
2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its
development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is
shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the
text. [RL.9-10.2]
Literacy Standards(9-10) 1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts,
attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions.
Understandings (Students will understand that …): Students will understand that scientists have the
technology to bring extinct species back to life, but there would be long-term effects for doing so. Students
will understand some of the effects of bringing extinct species back to life and make a judgement call about
whether or not they think scientists should do so.
Essential Knowledge (Students will know …):
Students will have knowledge of
 What extinct species are
 Characteristics of different extinct species
 What biotechnology is and
 How a scientist would use biotechnology to bring extinct species back to life.
Essential Skills (Students will be able to …):
Students will be able to
 Express their opinions and backup those opinions with facts
 Read an interpret a scientific article
 Work together in a group setting
 Orally speak in front of group
Essential Question(s): What long-term effects could bringing extinct species back to life have on our
planet?
Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Performance Task(s): I will evaluate the students through the station teaching and discussion to see how
their minds have developed. I will ask questions to prompt the discussion, such as “well what facts can you
pull from the article to support your opinions?”, “What are some long-term effects of having these species on
our planet again?”, and “What are the pros and cons of using this technology?” These questions will not be
used to teach the class but rather to facilitate the discussion as a way for me to gauge what they took from
the lesson.
Secondary Education Lesson Plan Template
Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook © 2004
Savanna Williams
Lesson Author: Antwuan Stinson
Lesson Title: Should Scientists Bring Extinct Species Back from the Dead?
Lesson Plan I.D.: 33258
Other Evidence: I will evaluate their essays for grammatical correctness and also to see if they know how
to cite areas of the article that they use for their arguments to support their opinions.
Stage 3 – Learning Plan (Include approximate time for each activity in the learning plan)
Materials needed for the lesson:
 Whiteboard
 Projector
 The article, “Back From the Dead”
The article should be projected on the whiteboard and there should be printouts for the students.
Bell ringer (if one is used): The question, “What does the word extinct mean?” will be projected on the
board and students will answer while I take roll and prepare the article to be used later. (2-3 minutes)
Review of relevant, previously learned information: I will review information about cloning technology
as an introduction to the new biotechnology that is discussed in the article students will be reviewing later.
Introductory Activity: After students complete the bellringer, ask students, “Should scientists bring extinct
species back to life?” Poll the class and record the results. Call on 3 or 4 students with differing opinions and
ask them to support their opinion. (5-7 minutes)
Body of the lesson:
1. Project the PDF of the article, “Back From the Dead,” on a whiteboard and print the article for the
students. The students should read over the article silently to themselves and ask any questions. The
teacher will answer the questions while reviewing the article in Step 2. (5 minutes)
2. The teacher will review the article with the students and go over the “How to Make a Mammoth”
diagram on page two. This will introduce biotechnology to the students and show them how
scientists can use this technology to try to bring extinct species back to life. Explain to students that
for their assignment, extinct species aren’t just limited to the woolly mammoth; they can use any and
all extinct species if they choose to do so. (10 minutes)
3. After the article has been explained and any questions answered, ask the class again, “Should
scientists bring extinct species back from the dead?” Record the results again. The class will have a
discussion about why their opinions may or may not have changed. (10 minutes)
4. After the class discussion, students will write a two-page essay on their opinions, back them up with
reasoning and facts, and explain why their opinion changed or why it did not change. Students will
cite 3 facts from the article. (25 minutes)
Preview of the next lesson: In groups, students will develop a skit to persuade a group of scientists
whether or not to bring extinct species back to life. Ask the students to begin thinking of ideas for their skit.
Related out of class assignment: Students will finish their essay for homework and it will be due the next
day.
Secondary Education Lesson Plan Template
Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook © 2004
Savanna Williams
Lesson Author: Antwuan Stinson
Lesson Title: Should Scientists Bring Extinct Species Back from the Dead?
Lesson Plan I.D.: 33258
Description of co-teaching strategy used in this lesson. If co-teaching was part of this lesson,
describe: co-teaching model used, how and why this particular strategy was employed, role (lead
teacher/secondary teacher), and details of the implementation of the co-teaching model.
For this lesson, I would use station teaching. For the station teaching, I would modify Step 2 by splitting the
class into two groups after they read the article. One group would be learning about extinct animals while
the other group learned about the types of technology that scientists have to bring the extinct species back to
life. The students would stay at their stations for 10 minutes and then rotate. During the stations, the
students would ask any questions they may have had about the article. I don’t think it matters which teacher
taught which station, but I do think that this would be a good way to teach more material about the subject
and have more of their questions answered than would be answered in a larger group setting. The students
will get the attention they need to address any problems they may have with the lesson because the teachers
won’t be focused on so many students at once. The station teaching will last a total of 20 minutes and then
the students will come together again for Step 3. The discussion will last 10 minutes then students will have
15 minutes to begin writing their essays.
For differentiation, while the students are reading the articles, I would also play an audio tape of the article
or if one wasn’t available, I would read the article aloud while the students read along silently. This would
help the auditory learners to learn from the article as well as students who struggle with reading. I would
condense the article for special education students. I could also put students into groups of 4 and assign each
group an extinct species. Then they could form an opinion around whether or not that particular species
should be brought back to life. For example, a dodo bird is a lot different from a woolly mammoth as far as
size and characteristics so students might have a completely different opinion about bringing a dodo bird
back to life. That might be a good way to differentiate because it would teach students about different extinct
species rather than just extinct species as a whole like the original lesson focuses on.
I believe that this lesson will flow better with the co-teaching strategy than it would with the original lesson.
However, instead of the students switching stations, the other teacher and I would just rotate to the other
students so that there would be less moving around in the classroom and taking up learning time. Also, it
would reduce students horseplaying. I like the overall idea of this lesson because it is a way to see how
students’ minds develop over the course of the lesson and how their opinions change with new information
and knowledge that they have just gained. This is done through polling the students before and after the
material is presented to them. I feel like this will keep the students engaged in the lesson and give them the
opportunity to grow closer to the classmates as they discuss each other’s points of view.
Secondary Education Lesson Plan Template
Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook © 2004