Wilmington University
Pathwise Lesson Plan Format
Teacher/Student
Teacher
Grade:
Subject:
Date:
Website:
Kimberly Kim
K-2
Science
February 22, 2009
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?BenchmarkID=4&Do
cID=161
1. Briefly describe the students in this class.
Grade: K-2
Age Range: 5-7
Number of Students: 22
Caucasian: 6
African American: 8
Asian/Pacific Islander: 2
Mexican American: 2
Native American: 1
Other Hispanic: 1
Mixed Race: 2
2. What are your goals for the lesson? What do you want the students to learn?
Ask students the following questions:
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Has anyone ever eaten ice cream on a hot summer day? What happens to it if it is not eaten?
Have you ever left a glass of ice water out on the table? What happened to the ice?
Have you ever noticed what happens to frozen objects as they heat up?
What happens to the amount of a substance if it is changed from a solid to a liquid?
Next, show students a baggie filled with ice. Ask students to predict what will happen to the
substance (including the amount of it) over time. This should be done in an open, large group format,
and you should record a list of the students' predictions.
I want students to explore what happens to the amount of different substances as they change from a
solid to a liquid or a liquid to solid.
3. Why are these goals suitable for this group of students?
This lesson is the third in a three-part series that addresses a concept that is central to the
understanding of the water cycle—that water is able to take many forms but is still water. This series
of lessons is designed to prepare students to understand that most substances may exist as solids,
liquids, or gases depending on the temperature, pressure, and nature of that substance. This
knowledge is critical to understanding that water in our world is constantly cycling as a solid, liquid,
or gas.
In these lessons, students will observe, measure, and describe water as it changes state. It is
important to note that students at this level "...should become familiar with the freezing of water and
melting of ice (with no change in weight), the disappearance of wetness into the air, and the
appearance of water on cold surfaces. Evaporation and condensation will mean nothing different
from disappearance and appearance, perhaps for several years, until students begin to understand that
the evaporated water is still present in the form of invisibly small molecules." (Benchmarks for
Science Literacy, pp. 66-67.)
Please bear in mind that while water is a single substance, margarine and chocolate are not.
Therefore, it is important that discussion be focused on the amount of the substances, not on their
characteristics. For example, water has a specific freezing and melting point, whereas margarine and
chocolate do not. And while you can melt and freeze water indefinitely without any noticeable
changes, the same is not true of margarine and chocolate.
4. How do these goals support the district’s curriculum, state frameworks, and/or content
standards?
Science Standard 2: Materials and Their Properties (K-3)
1. Materials can be described and classified according to the following physical properties: size,
shape, mass, texture, color, and material composition. Students can observe materials’ physical
properties by using tools that include rulers, balances, thermometers and hand lenses.
2. Materials exist in one of three states – solid, liquid, or gas. Solids and liquids have easily
observable properties and may change from one form to the other.
3. Physical properties of materials can be changed by exposure to water, heat, light, or by cutting,
mixing, and grinding.
5. How do these goals relate to broader curriculum goals in the discipline as a whole or in other
disciplines?
In Water 1: Water and Ice, students explored how water can change from solid to liquid and back
again.
In Water 2: Disappearing Water, students focused on the concept that water can go back and forth
from one form to another and the amount of water will remain the same.
In this lesson, students will investigate how melting and freezing impact three everyday items: water,
chocolate, and margarine. They will be introduced to the concept of conservation of matter. They
will experience that when a substance changes from a solid to a liquid, the amount (weight) does not
change.
6. How do you plan to engage students in the content? What will you do? What will the
students do? (include time estimates).
Break students into small groups and give them a Ziploc baggie, ice, paper towels, and a scale or
balance. (1 min)
Have students put the ice into the baggie and seal it. Have them record their observations of the ice at
this time, and then record the weight of the bag of ice. Have students take turns holding the bag in
their hands, wiping the outside of the bag as necessary to get rid of any moisture. (5 min)
Ask students: (5min)
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What do you see?
What is happening to the ice?
Why is this happening to the ice?
What do you think is happening to the amount of ice?
Have students weigh the bags of ice again. (5 min)
Ask students: (5 min)
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What happened to the amount?
Does the ice look the same as it did in the beginning? How is it different?
Allow the solid to completely change to a liquid, and have students wipe the bag and weigh it again.
If time allows (and there is a freezer available), put the baggies into the freezer to solidify the liquid.
Then wipe the bags and weigh them a final time. (10 min)
Ask students: (10 min)
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Does the amount of water change when it changes from a solid (ice) to a liquid?
Does the amount of water change when it changes from a liquid to a solid?
Imagine that a younger friend has just told you that the amount of ice is gone because she
saw it melt. How would you explain her mistake to her?
How would you explain what you observed to someone who did not perform this
experiment?
In the end, in an effort to incorporate technology, I will play a video for students called, Professor
Water and the Amazing Water Cycle. It’s a humorous and quirky analysis of our water cycle
where the students can join the mad Professor and a cohort of kids in fun learning! This will be
beneficial because for one, their attention spans are only so long and taking them from hands on to a
visual activity will be helpful in breaking up the monotony. Also, watching other students and a
“mad” professor will most likely be entertaining for them, so, if certain concepts weren’t picked up
from real life experiences in the classroom, perhaps they will pick it up from the video. It is also a
great way to review all 3 sections of water conservation. In the video, they will apply what we
learned in different ways so that the children will learn how the lesson applies to real life. (28 min)
7. What difficulties do students typically experience in this area, and how do you
plan to anticipate these difficulties?
 I anticipate some of the students to have difficulty reading the scale if it’s not digital. For
instance, if the pin stops between 2 numbers. I will address this concern by reviewing how to
round up or down in order to keep the numbers whole and easy to work with.
 I also anticipate students to have difficulty understanding fully the properties of matter and
why the water’s weight remains the same. I will address this concern by explaining the idea
of reversal. By proving that the weight is the same solid, turned into a liquid, and back to a
solid. Hopefully with proof, the student can grasp the concept of reversibility.
8. What instructional materials or other resources, if any, will you use?
Materials:
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Ziploc baggies
water/ice
chocolate chips
margarine
paper towels
scale/balance
You could search the following sites for useful background information as you prepare to do this
lesson:
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Chem4Kids
The Exploratorium
Nye Labs
9. How did you plan to assess student achievement of the goals? What procedures
will you use? (Attached any tests or performance tasks, with accompanying scoring
guides or rubrics.)
Revisit the predictions that students made in the Motivation of this lesson. Discuss how their
predictions related to actual experiences with the substances.
Next, have each of the students respond to the following prompt:
You leave a bowl outside overnight. It snows and fills the bowl. You notice the bowl in the morning
and leave it. The snow melts as the temperature increases. Diagram what happens to the snow as it
melts. Be prepared to explain if you were to put the bowl on a scale what would happen to the
amount of water.
10. How do you plan to use the results of the assessment?
The assessment will be used as an evaluation of student comprehension before moving on to a more
complex concept. Grading will be determined by this project’s conception along with the
incorporation of other approaches to materials and their properties.