Gifted Standards Based Lesson Plan: GPS Extension · Name _____ Divergent Thinking Divergent Thinking Station – Teacher Example Follow the directions below to complete the divergent

CCSD Version Date: May 2011

Gifted Standards Based Lesson Plan: GPS Extension

Name of Lesson: Tools of the Trade – Lesson 3

Topic: Relationships & Connections - Critical Thinking

Lesson Summary:

Students will identify the thinking skills that will help them make relationships in their future

research projects. Students will explore the critical thinking skills necessary to understand the

relationship between their thinking skills and their success as a Target student. This will be

accomplished by having the students move through several task stations, each with a different

thinking strand emphasis: divergent, convergent, relationships and connections, and affective. After

completing each of the four stations students will explore the evaluative thinking process by rating

the ideas they generated in the divergent thinking center. To conclude the lesson, students will

identify each of the thinking strands necessary for Target student success.

Gifted Standard and element(s):

G1CG4: Relationships and Connections: Students will make relationships and connections among

various topics and disciplines.

a. Explore critical thinking skills needed to understand and construct relationships.

Supporting Georgia Performance Standard(s) and element(s):

S1L1b Basic Needs of Animals - Identify the basic needs of an animal.

S1L1d Compare and Describe Various Animals - Compare and describe various animals -

appearance, motion, growth, basic needs.

SS1G3.c Identify and describe landforms (mountains, deserts, valleys, plains, plateaus, and

coasts).

SS1G3.a Locate all of the continents: North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia,

Antarctica, and Australia.

Essential Question(s) (Enduring Understanding):

How do I identify relationships within the information/topic of study?

Lesson Essential Questions:

How do I use thinking skills to identify relationships?

Assessment Description/Performance Task:

Constructed response Informal assessment

Performance task Selected response

Brief Description of Assessment:

At each center, students will complete one graphic organizer with the appropriate clues, information,

or ideas. In response to a question prompt, students will complete a short written reflection at the

end of each station task. Students will complete an evaluation of their ideas from the Divergent

Thinking Station.

ALP Thinking Log: Students will reflect on the different types of thinking they used in identifying

relationships.

Instructional Methods:

Prior to the lesson:

Teacher will need to make copies of student task sheet for each station.

Teacher will need to create a poster size version of the Scientist Poster.

Teacher will need to gather 8-10 different habitat related items (1 of each) – leaf, rock, stick,

bark, pine cone, gum ball, acorn, grass (wad), pine straw, flower petals, etc. Place these items

http://picasso.cobbk12.org/index.php?module=curriculum&type=standards&func=display&StandardID=19556&CourseID=389




into an open shoebox or similar container so they may be easily viewed by students.

Hook/Activator:

Students will identify the thinking skills that will help them make relationships in their future

research projects.

Teacher will lead a discussion about the different tools that we use in our everyday lives. Teacher

will show students a variety of eating utensils: a spoon, a fork, a knife, a large spoon, a gravy ladle,

a butter knife, etc.

Teacher will question students about how why we have these utensils, and how each is used;

getting to the idea that different utensils have different functions. Guiding questions can be:

Why do we call these tools?

How do we use them?

Do they all have the same purpose?

How are they alike and different?

The teacher can then lead the conversation into a discussion of the tools of a scientist.

What are the special tools of a scientist?

How do they use these tools?

Do their tools have different jobs?

Is thinking a tool? How?

The teacher will guide students to an understanding that all types of thinking are not alike and

different types of thinking are more useful in certain situations than other types of thinking. The

teacher can generate a list of possible examples from students and point out the differences in each

example of thinking – solving mysteries, puzzles, or problems, brainstorming ideas or solutions,

making judgments, seeing relationships, and understanding oneself, to name a few.

Teaching Strategy:

1. Show students each of the four graphic organizers that they will be using: Convergent

Thinking Matrix, Divergent Thinking Web, Relationships & Connections Chart, & Affective

Scientist (located in this document). Tell them that they will use a different organizer in each

of the four stations.

2. Divide your students into four groups. Each Group will work at a different station, rotating

through the four stations together.

3. Using the task sheet at each station, the teacher will explain how to complete each task.

4. Assign each student a beginning station.

5. After 10 minutes the teacher will ask students to rotate to the next station. Continue until

students have worked at each center.

6. After all stations have been completed, students will use the Evaluative Thinking Student Task

sheet to evaluate their results from the Divergent Thinking Task.

7. Have students discuss their evaluations of the Divergent Thinking Task.

Summary by the Learner:

Students will identify the thinking skills that will help them form relationships within their future

research projects. Have students share the results from all station tasks, asking questions such as:

How were the types of thinking different or alike?

How were the types of thinking helpful in understanding relationships between

scientists, animals, habitats, plants?

Which type of thinking did they find most helpful in identifying relationships?

Differentiation:

More Capable:

1. Students who complete the convergent thinking and/or relationships & connections stations

may select a scientist and draw a picture that illustrates the relationship between the scientist

and the environment where he would conduct his study. Students should include at least two

animals and two plants that would present in that particular habitat.

2. See Divergent Thinking Extension Activity (located within this document).

Less Capable:

1. Less capable students may be paired with a more capable student to work as partners or


buddies. Teacher should act as facilitator, circulating among groups.

2. Teacher may opt to “travel” with a particular group who may need additional assistance,

circulating periodically to monitor progress of other groups.

Materials for this Lesson:

Station Materials:

Divergent Thinking Station Task Copies Convergent Thinking Station Task Copies

Affective Thinking Station Task Copies Relationships Station Task Copies

One open shoebox (for Divergent Thinking Station) containing 8-10 different habitat related items

(1 of each) – leaf, rock, stick, bark, pine cone, gum ball, acorn, grass (wad), pine straw, flower

petals, etc.

Pencils

Vocabulary for this Lesson:

convergent thinking, divergent thinking, evaluative thinking, relationships, affective thinking,

relationships, Attributes, camel, gorilla, coyote, toucan, platypus, penguin, Asia, Africa, North

America, South America, Australia, Antarctica, jungle, desert, rainforest, polar oceans, fresh water,

forest, squid, crustaceans, rodents


Name ______________________ Divergent Thinking

Divergent Thinking Station – Teacher Example

Follow the directions below to complete the divergent thinking task.

1. Select an object from the box on the table.

2. Write the name of that object in the oval on your paper. 3. In the space below, create a thinking web.

4. Make one bubble on the web for each of the many ways this object could be used by different animals. Write your idea in the bubble.

A rain

water bowl

for a bird

Squirrels

use to build

nests

Bugs use it

as an

umbrella in

the rain

Caterpillars

eat them and

build their

cocoons on

them

A glider for

a ladybug

A Deer’s

meal

Insulation

in a rabbit

burrow

A raft to

carry a bug

across a

puddle

Leaf

Divergent thinkers start with a relationship to generate ideas. How did thinking

about the relationship between the item from box and the different animals help you generate ideas? Explain your thinking on the back of this page.


Name ______________________ Divergent Thinking

Divergent Thinking Station

Follow the directions below to complete the divergent thinking task.

1. Select an object from the box on the table.

2. Write the name of that object in the oval on your paper. 3. In the space below, create a thinking web.

4. Connect a new bubble to the web for each of the many ways this object could be used by different animals. Write your idea in the new bubble. Connect a

new bubble for each new idea.

Divergent thinkers start with a relationship to generate ideas. How did thinking about the relationship between the item from the box and the different animals

help you generate ideas? Explain your thinking on the back of this page.


Name _____________________ Convergent Thinking Convergent Thinking

Graphic organizers often help convergent thinkers organize information to find answers and draw conclusions. Directions: Step 1: Sort the cards into categories in the graphic organizer. Step 2: Rearrange the cards within each category so that each row has a relationship (goes together). Step 3: When you have placed everything in the graphic organizer where you think it belongs, pick a title

that tells what the graphic organizer is about.

Topic Title: Category 1:

Category 2:

Category 3:

Category 4:

Convergent thinkers organize their clues to help them find answers and draw conclusions. How did organizing the

information help you identify the relationships between the clues? Explain your thinking on the back of this page.


Name _____________________ Convergent Thinking – Key Convergent Thinking Graphic organizers often help convergent thinkers organize information to find answers and draw conclusions. Directions: Step 1: Sort the cards into categories in the graphic organizer.

Step 2: Rearrange the cards within each category so that each row has a relationship (goes together). Step 3: When you have placed everything in the graphic organizer where you think it belongs, pick a title

that tells what the graphic organizer is about.

Topic Title: Category 1:

Animals Category 2:

(Animal)

Habitats

Category 3: Continents

(Where Animals Live)

Category 4: Foods

(Animals Eat)

Gorilla

Jungle

Africa

Leaves, Buds, Barks, &

Fruits

Camel

Desert

Asia

Dates, Grass, Grains

Toucan

Rainforest

South America

Mostly Small Fruits

Penguin

Polar Oceans

Antarctica

Fish, Squid, and Crustaceans

Platypus

Fresh Water

Australia

Worms and Small Shellfish

Coyote

Forest

North America

Mostly Rats and Rodents

Convergent thinkers organize their clues to help them find answers and draw conclusions. How did organizing the

information help you identify the relationships between the clues? Explain your thinking on the back of this page.


Gorilla

Camel

Toucan

Penguin

Platypus

Coyote

Jungle


Desert

Rainforest

Polar Oceans

Fresh Water

Forest

Africa

Asia


South America

North America

Antarctica

Australia

Dates, Grass, & Grains

Leaves, Buds, Barks,

& Fruits

Mostly Small Fruits


Fish, Squid, and Crustaceans

Worms & Small Shellfish

Mostly Rats & Rodents


Name _________________________ Relationships & Connections

Relationships and Connections Station Directions: Sort and categorize you’re the topic cards in your station. Use the chart to organize the topic card words.

Fill in the blanks in the sentences for each horizontal category to show how the words in that row should be related. Make titles for each category.

Relationships Sentence

Category:

Category:

Category:

Category:

The ____________________ has to go to

the _______________ to study the

________________ that lives near a

___________________.

The ____________________ has to go to



___________________.

The ____________________ has to go to


________________ whose fruit is eaten by

the ___________________.

scientist

plant

animal

habitat

scientist

scientist

habitat

habitat

animal

animal

plant

plant

Target students understand that different things can have relationships. What relationships did you see between the scientists, animals, plants, and habitats? Explain your thinking on the back of this page.


Name _________________________ Relationships & Connections

Relationships and Connections Station - Key Directions: Sort and categorize you’re the topic cards in your station. Use the chart to organize the topic card words.

Fill in the blanks in the sentences for each horizontal category to show how the words in that row should be related. Make titles for each category.

Relationships Sentence

Category: Plants

Category: Animals

Category: Scientists

Category: Habitats

The ____________________ has to go to



___________________.

Kapok Tree

Toucan

Ornithologist

Rainforest

The ____________________ has to go to



___________________.

Pine Tree

Coyote

Zoologist

Forest

The ____________________ has to go to


________________ whose fruit is eaten by

the ___________________.

Date Palm

Tree

Camel

Botanist

Desert

scientist

plant

animal

habitat

scientist

scientist

habitat

habitat

animal

animal

plant

plant

Target students understand that different things can have relationships. What relationships did you see between the scientists, animals, plants, and habitats? Explain your thinking on the back of this page.


Kapok Tree

Pine Tree

Date Palm Tree

Coyote

Camel

Toucan

Ornithologist


Zoologist

Botanist

Forest

Rainforest

Desert


Name _________________ Affective Thinking

New Target Student Directions: Affective thinkers are reflective and make goals for themselves. What

goals do you have now that you are a Target student? What do you think good Target students do with their brain (thinking), heart (feeling), and hands (doing)? How will you

use your brain, heart, and hands to be the best Target student you can be? Write your goals in the bubbles for each part of the Target student.


Name ___________________ Evaluative Thinking

Evaluative Thinking – Strange But True

Directions: Evaluative thinkers often have to judge their own ideas. Look at the ideas you thought of for the divergent thinking activity. Some of the best ideas may seem too

strange to be true. Decide which of your ideas are the most unusual but true. Rank your ideas from the strangest idea to the most common idea.

Least

Common 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Most

Common 10


Thinking Like A Scientist

Documents

Gifted Standards Based Lesson Plan: GPS Extension · Name _____ Divergent Thinking Divergent Thinking Station – Teacher Example Follow the directions below to complete the divergent