Fatmata was introducing the topic of volcanoes to her class. She planned the topic, which would last about four teaching sessions over the week, in the following way.
The main idea she identified was that the Earth’s surface has been caused by “cooling” but that weak spots still exist, which cause volcanoes.
Next, she decided on some key ideas or concepts to include in her lessons, which included “crust,” “magma,” “pressure” and “plugs.” She made cards with one of these words on each and put them around the classroom.
Fatmata then planned an opening explanation. She decided to bring in a pan of milk that she had heated just before the lesson. She would put the pan on her desk and get the students to describe what happens when milk cools. This would be a question/answer brainstorming session and she would put key words about cooling on the board; she would make sure that “crust” or “skin” was one of them.
She decided not to do further explanation at this point, but to arouse the students’ interest more by telling them the story of Krakatoa. She had a map of the world to show where Krakatoa had been. She also had a book with “eyewitness accounts” of what had happened at the time.
Fatmata’s lesson went well. The students were all involved in the milk brainstorm and the story of Krakatoa really caught their imaginations.