Unit plan not a lesson plan

Overview

Subject:

Science

Topic:

Introduction to Matter

Unit overview:

This unit is designed to introduce students of grade 5 to the matters, the students will be able to know that the world is made up of matters and they will also learn more about matters and their properties.

Grade:

5

Unit duration:

3-4 weeks

Stage 1 – Desired Results

Big Ideas

Atoms are the building blocks of everything, or matter is formed from atoms.

Universe is made up of matters.

Core Competency

Questioning and Investigating

Communication

Thinking

Personal Social

· Connect and share with others.

· Explain and reflect on experiences

Critical thinking:

· Questions and investigate

· Analyze and critique

Creative Thinking:

· Generating ideas

· Developing ideas

Personal Awareness and responsibility:

· Self determination

· Self-regulation

Social responsibility:

· Contributing to community and caring for the environment

· Building relationships

· Solving problems in peaceful ways

· Valuing diversity

Concepts

Unit Understanding

Transfer Goal

Essential Question

Matter

States of matter

Properties of matter

Uses of matter

Students will understand that…

· Matter has properties

· Matter is made up of atoms and particles.

· Matter has 3 phases

1. Solid

2. Liquid

3. Gas

Students will be able to independently use their learning to…

· Use understanding of properties to address real-life properties

Students will keep considering…

· How are properties used to solve problems?

· What are matters?

· Different phases of matters.

· How matters are used in daily life?

· What are different states of matter?

First Peoples Principles

Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational.

Curricular Competencies

Content

Students will be skilled at…

· Questioning and predicting – make predictions about findings.

· Use reasoning and logic to explore, analyze and apply science of matters.

· Connect concepts of matters to each other and other areas of personal interest.

· Explain and justify the science of matter and decisions.

· Communicate the critical thinking used in science in many ways.

Students will know that…

· reviewing matter and what it is

· states of matter

· Basic concept of matter

Stage 2 – Evidence: Assessing for Understanding

Assess: Understanding

Summative:

Culminating Performance Task(s) at the end of the unit to show understanding

Formative:

Checkpoints for understanding during the unit

· A subjective test should be taken to analyze student’s understanding of concepts

· GRASPS- A skill testing question

Goal: To show your understanding of matters

Role: You are a scientist. You are given a mystery substance by your senior who has mixed up all the labels.

Audience: Your senior scientist (teacher).

Situation: Solve the mystery by performing an experiment to classify the mystery substance as solid, liquid or gas. Focus on identifying properties of matter using senses.

Product: You will submit your lab report to your senior. It will include the procedure you used to classify the state of your mysterious substance. Please include the hypothesis and an observation table to show how you performed your experiment. Finally, make a conclusion to classify the state of mysterious substance.

· Teacher observations

· Quizzes

· The air catcher activity

· Tray activity

· Balloon and the bag activity

Assess: Know & Do

Stage 3 – Executing the Learning Plan

Week 1-

Introduction To matters.

Matter is defined as that has volume and occupies space. In 1st week of this unit I will give a basic introduction of matter to my students.

I believe that kids learn more by performing activities rather than just reading the text in front of them. So, I performed a tray activity in front of them to give the basic introduction of matters.

Tray activity

The activity was with a simple tray with three sections. I labeled the first section as “Solid” and put a stone inside. I labeled the second section as “Liquid” and put a container of water inside. I labelled the third section as “Gas” and put an empty container inside.

In the beginning I introduced matters to my kids, I pulled out this tray. I first defined matters that occupies space and has volume. I then, explained that matter exists in three states: Solids, Liquids and Gases. I then showed them the three labelled things in the tray and asked them to identify the different states of matter.

· During my next class I presented the Solids Tray. This tray includes several solid objects. In sharing this tray with my kids, I also explained them that solids have

· Definite shape.

· Definite volume

· Definite mass.

To demonstrate the properties of solids I allowed the students to hold the various solid objects. The students holed them and learned that they have a definite shape, volume and mass. I also told them solids can change shape by applying some external pressure on them. For example, I showed them a pipe cleaner which can be bent and could change its shape.

In another class, I also gave example of clay and dough, that could change their shape when some external force is applied on them.

· During the next class, I presented the Liquids Tray. This tray includes several containers filled with water. In sharing this tray with my kids, I explained them that liquids:

· Do not have a definite shape, but take the shape of the container they are placed in.

· Have a definite volume.

· Have a definite mass.

We talked about that how liquids change their shape when they are shifted from one container to another. I allowed the students to do it by their selves. So, they pour the water from one container to another. We also poured some water on the table and on the floor. I did this because I wanted to teach my students if we do so then we need some towel to wipe up the water, otherwise it would spread to vast region.

· During the next class, I presented the Gases Tray. This tray includes a straw, bubbles and balloon. In sharing this tray with my students, I demonstrated them that gases:

· Do not have definite shape

· Do not have definite volume

· Have definite mass

Of all the types of matter, gases are the most difficult to teach about because it is the most abstract. For the most part, we cannot see the gas. We rarely feel the gas. So, the purpose of this tray was to give a concrete idea about the gas to the students.

We used the straw to blow into. We can feel the air coming from the other side of the straw. We blew the balloon and see how the balloon gets bigger it was because of the air inside. Lastly, we blew the bubbles and see how the bubbles were formed by blowing air/gas.

By doing this tray activity in the 1st week of this unit I successfully demonstrated the matters and its states to my students.

Week 2-

I demonstrated different states of matters to my students. But what I feel they were not fully satisfied with the gaseous state. So in this week I performed some activities to clear their doubts.

Activity1- The Air Catcher

Question: What and where is air?

Materials Needed:

1. A medium plastic bag.

2. One plastic sandwich bag per student

Procedure:

1. Take the medium size garbage bag, open its mouth and ask students: “What’s in the bag?” (Anticipated answer: ‘nothing’).

2. Move the bag now with two hands back and forth (like wanting to catch a bug in a bag), then quickly close the mouth of the bag with a twisting motion.

3. Ask the students: “What do I have in the bag now?”

4. Distribute sandwich bags to the students and let them try to catch air in their own seats, without blowing into the bag.

Anticipated Results: The students will collect air that is odorless and colorless. After they have collected their air, they will twist the bag to trap it. They can then feel the firmness of the bag, demonstrating that the bag is not empty.

Thought Questions for Class Discussion:

1. What was filling the bags?

2. Can we catch air under the bench or behind the door?

3. Is the air the same everywhere?

4. How else can we fill the bag?

5. Would the material in the bag be the same if we blew in it?

6. How can we keep the bag inflated?

7. What would happen if we hit the inflated small plastic bag with the palm of the other hand?

Explanation: Air is found everywhere. The plastic bags may be filled with air above the table, under the table, behind the door or anywhere else. The bags can also be inflated by blowing in them, but then the bags would contain exhaled air. This air is different because it has a higher percentage of carbon dioxide (CO2) and more water vapor.

Activity 2- The Bottle and the Bag

Question:

What is air pressure?

Materials Needed:

1. One or two plastic sandwich bags.

2. One or two large wide-mouthed glass jars (for example, pickle jars).

3. Masking or transparent adhesive tape.

Procedure:

1. Place the materials on a table in front of the students. Ask the class: “What’s inside the jar?

2. Invert a sandwich bag over the mouth of a jar and blow a little air into the bag so that it stays inflated over the jar.

3. Tape the bag air-tight against the jar.

4. Now ask one of the students to push the bag into the jar (without tearing it). It won’t work!

5. Place another plastic bag inside another wide mouthed jar (if necessary you can reuse the previous bag and jar). Let the edge of the bag hang over the jar rim.

6. Tape it air-tight against the jar and let a student try and take the bag out of the jar (without tearing it). It won’t work!

Anticipated Results:

With each part of the experiment, you and your students will see that it is not possible to either push down on the plastic bag or remove it from the jar.

Thought Questions for Class Discussion:

1. What is holding the bag out of the jar (when trying to push it in)?

2. What is holding the bag inside the jar (when trying to take it out)?

3. How could we get the bag inside the jar without making a hole in it?

Explanation: It is the air occupying the space in the jar which kept the bag from going inside after it had been taped air-tight against the jar. In trying to push the bag in, the pressure increased (became the volume decreased) and this held the bag out. When trying to take the bag out of the jar, the air pressure inside the jar decreased. This occurred because the volume increased, and this is what kept the bag inside of the jar. We encounter the first situation when we try to fold up a plastic air mattress or an inflatable plastic toy (ex. beach ball).

Activity 3- States of matter Poster

I begin by passing out a half sheet of paper to each student so that students can create their own States of Matter Poster while I create a class poster on the front board. I find that students learn more when posters are constructed in front of them instead of explaining a poster that was created by the teacher before the lesson.  

I begin by showing students a cup of ice and drawing a cube of ice at the bottom of the poster (solid water). I then emptied the cup of ice into a can on a burner. As the ice melted into liquid water, I explained: When ice changes into liquid water, we call this process melting. Does the temperature of the water get colder or hotter during this process? (hotter) 

When the liquid water changes into water vapor, the water becomes an invisible gas. This is called evaporating. Does the temperature of the water get colder or hotter during this process? (hotter) I then drew a large red arrow pointing upward and labeled it "Getting hotter." 

We then discussed the process of condensing and water vapor can change into water droplets on the outside of a glass, window, or on blades of grass in the morning. Does the temperature of the water get colder or hotter during this process? (colder) 

Finally, I drew an arrow from the liquid water back to the solid ice and explained: When liquid water changes into a solid (or ice), this process is called freezing. Does the temperature of the water get colder or hotter during this process? (colder) I then drew a blue red arrow pointing downward and labeled it "Getting colder." 

To connect this demonstration with today's lesson, I explain: Yesterday you began measuring and observing physical properties of matter. You learned how the properties of matter help us distinguish one substance from another. Today, we are going to take this one step further by further exploring the properties of different states of matter. 

In this week we performed so many activities.

Week 3-

In 3rd week of my unit I will give this worksheet to my students to fill to see their understanding of the concept.

Worksheet2

Teacher: Unit Reflection

What aspects of the unit went well?

What did students struggle with?

What did you struggle with?

What would you add/revise the next time you taught this unit?

Were there any unintended outcomes?

Were students engaged?