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| Prior to this lesson, students have brainstormed and listed the characteristics of solids and liquids in a
Venn diagram (See Graphic Organizers).
Each team has frozen an equal amount of water. They have discussed that they must lower the temperature in order for water to become a solid. They have recorded observations that the ice takes up more volume than the water did. Teacher: I brought your cups of ice back for another investigation. Please get out your science logs because we will be recording more information today. | Science Standards:
A. Content B. Inquiry The teacher is identifying and activating prior knowledge. Reviewing previously constructed knowledge is important in order to build additional knowledge.
Young students can and should be collecting, recording , and analyzing data for simple investigations. | |
| Teacher: (Holding up one of their containers with ice) We talked yesterday about what happened to the water when we lowered the temperature. I want water back. What do I need to do?
Students: Warm it up. Leave it out in the room! Teacher: Will anyplace in the room work? Students: Maybe by the window it won't because it's cold over there. Yes it will because it is still warmer than the freezer. Teacher: Let's try different places. Choose a spot where you think your cup of ice will turn to water fastest. When do you want to check to see if your prediction is accurate? Students: In a little while. Ten minutes! Lunch time. | Science Standards:
B. Inquiry Math Standards: A. Content Guided inquiry is important to move students in the direction you'd like without giving them information. Giving opportunities for students to make and test predictions is important. Having students work in cooperative groups allows them to take on different roles, and understand the importance of teamwork and relying on one another. Allowing students to control variables (in this case, location) in group investigation or experiment helps develop the idea of variables. | |
| Teacher: If we are going to compare our observations, then we want to make our observations at the same time, so let's decide and choose a team member to be the time watcher. How many times should we check our ice?
Students: Four times. Two times. Yeah, four times. Teacher: Okay, if we make four checks, at what times will we check? It is finally established that students will check their prediction (that their spot will melt ice fastest) at four different times during the morning. Allow students to put their cups where they choose to check their predictions. | ||
| Regroup with students at the end of the day (session) to compare their observations and confirm or disconfirm their predictions.
Teacher: Let's write the rule about what we found out. Create a discovered principles chart on melting. | Science Standards:
B. Inquiry C. Communication The teacher created a Discovered Principles Chart to document the content learning of the students. Children need to practice developing and testing simple scientific rules. Here the teacher created the opportunity to share results | |
| The next morning hold up a cube of butter.
Teacher: Is this butter a solid or a liquid? Students: It's a solid because it just sits there and doesn't have anything around it holding it together. But it's kind of soft. Yeah, but it still is square by itself. | Science Standards:
D. Application The students are applying their knowledge about ice melting a new context with butter. | |
| Teacher: What did we find out yesterday about changing a solid to a liquid? Let's check our rule that we wrote yesterday.
Students: We melted it. We warmed it up. The ice turned back into water. | ||
| Student: My ice melted faster than Joey's.
Teacher: Well, how would you change this solid butter to a liquid? | ||
| Student: Warm it up.
Student: Put it by the heater! Student: Put it in the sunshine. Student: Put it under my coat! Teacher: What do you think will happen if you put the butter in the same place as you put your ice cube yesterday? | ||
| Teacher: I'm going to give you a piece of this butter. I'd like you to put it in the same place that you put your ice cube yesterday. In order to control our experiment, I want us to do the same thing we did yesterday and make observations at the same times.
Have students set up the butter investigation in the same way they did the ice cube melt. At close of the session, gather and compare observations. Students: Our butter didn't change any. Our butter melted a little. Our butter is harder now that it was this morning. Our butter melted except for a tiny little bit. Teacher: Why do you think Jane's group's butter didn't change? | Science Standards:
A. Content B. Inquiry The students are discovering the concept that substances change from solids to liquids at different temperature. Making inferences is an important scientific process. Practice in drawing conclusions from data gathered is important Revising the rules to reflect our changing understanding is important. | |
| Students: It wasn't warm enough.
It is cold by the window. Teacher: Jane, did your ice melt when you put it by the window yesterday? Why do you think Bob's group's butter melt? Does our rule from yesterday about changing a solid to a liquid work for butter? Do we need to rewrite the rule? How? Why not? In the next session students will design their own investigation to test the new rule based on the two previous experiences. | ||
Sample Assessment
KWL Chart: For more information see Graphic
Organizers.
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| |
|---|---|---|
| Ice melts
(The teacher adds the students contributions during the discussions) | Does butter melt like ice does?
etc. | Ice melts on the counter; butter doesn't
Some things melt at cooler temperatures than others do. etc. |
Student Performance Task:
Select another solid or liquid. Name of matter:________________________
List its properties:
Predict the conditions under which it will change state from a
solid to a liquid:
Test your predictions. Write down your procedure, the data you
collect, and a reflection that compares your predictions to the
results.
Science Level 2: Spruce Bark Beetle
Students had previously:
| ||
| I'll meet you outside in two minutes. Don't forget your plot sampling data sheets, your compass, your tool for measuring the diameter of trees on your plots, or your coats.
Students, acting as foresters, are off to the local woods to collect data on forest composition and health. | Science Standards:
B. Inquiry C. Nature of Science Learning takes place outside the classroom given flexible scheduling. Role performances mimic real life/careers | |
| One team member identifies a tree for data collection; another measures tree diameter and height; a third records data; and the fourth team member observes and makes a determination of the tree's health
Student: Mr. Holt, (a State Forester), why would this tree be dead while the one next to it still looks healthy? Teacher: If you'll look here, you'll see boring dust. This is the place where a spruce bark beetle entered the tree. Student: You mean something that made that tiny hole killed this huge tree? | Science Standards:
A. Content B. Inquiry C. Nature of Science D. Application The students use the processes of science, with appropriate instruments, to design and carry out investigations.
Working in cooperative teams fosters positive interdependence. | |
| The next day in class, students wanted to know more about the spruce bark beetle.
Teacher: Has anyone seen a spruce bark beetle? What do they look like? Student: I've seen one - they are about 2 cm long and they bite! | Science Standards:
A. Content C. Nature of Science D. Application | |
| Student: Aren't they the one that stink when you step on them?
Teacher: You'll find specimens of adult, larval, and pupal forms of the spruce bark beetle under the microscopes. Your task is to prepare an Informational Document which details the problem of spruce bark beetles in our community. We will analyze our data to quantify the problem. Identify your audience and prepare a document appropriate for this group. Here is the rubric that will be used to assess your document. | Constructivism involves finding out what the students already know, exposing their preconceptions, and building on their prior experiences
Assigning tasks, like preparation of an Informational Document, along with providing resources, like specimens and agency documents, provides context for students to explore the topic. | |
| Student: Look what I found in my backyard!
A student takes pieces of bark from a bag and shows her classmates where the beetles have underscored the bark. To complete this unit of study, students will participate in a simulation as landowners on the Kenai Peninsula. As landowners, they will devise a management plan to best deal with the spruce bark beetle infestation, given various perspectives and degrees of bark beetle infestation. | Science Standards:
D. Applications | |
Sample Assessment
Checklist: See Assessment for detailed
information on creating checklists.
| Student's Name: | Amy | Shelly | Jonathan | Ed |
| Participated in accurate data collection. | ||||
| Indicated knowledge of bark beetle life cycle. | ||||
| Identified personal point of view. | ||||
| Identified and discussed all sides of the issue. |
Science - Middle School Level: Water Quality
| Student groups have collected and mapped data which includes dissolved oxygen, nitrates, invertebrate diversity, phosphates, turbidity, coliform bacteria, and pH at six sites along a local stream in their community. | Science Standards:
C. Inquiry Field Trips require flexible scheduling and transportation. Probeware facilitates collecting data like this in the field. | |
| Back in the Classroom:
Students pool data into a database program looking for differences in data. Students recognize a difference in coliform levels in one stream.
Student A: The coliform bacteria levels along our stream, Stream B, at sites 5 and 6 show really high values compared to all the others. Student B: Are you sure you ran that test correctly? Student A: Well, I think so. But sites 5 and 6 are high whereas sites 1-4 were all the same. And site 6 is further downstream. Well, maybe something really is different between sites 4 & 5. | Science Standards:
A. Content B. Inquiry C. Nature of Science D. Application Students worked collaboratively. Technology was used effectively. S/T/S approach is motivating to students because the outcomes affect society. | |
| Student C: Look at the map! The river really gets wider there and slows down.
Teacher: Students, do you recall the sources of coliform bacteria? How could this stuff get to sites 5 & 6? Student G: Oh yeah, its from fecal matter. You know, I think we should go back to the site. Maybe look at it a little closer and test the sites again to see if the results come out the same. Teacher: Okay. Who is willing to go back out again to do this testing? Will a group of students be able to schedule a time to meet? | ||
| (Testing was completed for Monday's class.)
Back in the classroom: Student S: You guys missed a really great time! The dogs wouldn't stopped barking and the Dog Man really wanted us to move along. That's the fastest set of data we ever collected. Jennifer went sliding down the bank in the mud...and the results came out a lot like they were before. Teacher: Now that we know that the coliform count is pretty reliable, we need to focus on the source of the coliform. | Science Standards:
A. Content D. Application Role performances mimic real life careers. and nurture the relationship between the community and the communities' resources (agencies, professionals, etc.). The students learned to identify roles and responsibilities of people holding jobs in the fields of science and technology. | |
| Student J: I think it is the dog yard.
Student E: Yeah, but the dogs aren't in the water. Student B: Maybe it's the melting snow and rain that taking the dog stuff into the water. Let's call the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and see if that is a possibility in the way this works. Later, student reports back to class.
Student F: Not only could the dog yard cause this problem through runoff, but it's possible to stop the runoff by just planting some grass or building a fence temporarily so that the vegetation will grow back naturally. So, not only do we know the problem, but we have a solution, thanks to the guy at DEC. Student C: Well, I know that dog owner and I go by there after school. I'll stop by and talk with him and see if we can plant some grass by the river bank. | ||
| Extensions:
Conduct long-term monitoring and data collection individually or with an agency resulting in a presentation of the results (science fair/symposium). Go back and gather data one year later after grass has had a chance to revegetate bank. Evaluate the effectiveness of the action. Participate in reasoned discourse about differences between sites 4 & 5. Determine the amount of grass seed or fence material that would need to be purchased for the dog lot. | Science Standards:
D. Applications Math Standards: E. Connections | |
Sample Assessment
Observation Checklist
For more information see Self
and Peer Evaluations.
Student __________________
| Finished on time | |||
| Work was organized | |||
| Checks work | |||
| Seeks help when needed | |||
| Works independently | |||
| Works well with others | |||
| Stays on task | |||
| Completed action project |
Comments:
Jim did a good job on his report because . . .
I suggest that he continue to work on . . .
Last modified on: Tue, Jun 11, 1996.