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Megan Duffy

3/5/2013

Science Exploration Experiment

Dr. Swaminathan

Duffy ECE 415 (Science Exploration Center)

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Eastern Connecticut State University Lesson Plan

Student Teacher: Megan Duffy Grade Level: Kindergarten

Date of Lesson: February 21, 2013

Institution: Gilead Hill Elementary School Length of Lesson: 15 minutes

Content Standards:

A INQ.1- Making observations and ask questions about objects, organisms and the environment.

A INQ.3 Make predictions based on observed patterns.

K.1 Objects have properties that can be observed and used to describe similarities and differences.

K.1.a. Some properties can be observed with the senses, and others can be discovered by using simple tools or test.

1. Ask questions about and comment on observations and experimentation.

P & S 2: Sustains attention to task/goal that child has set out to accomplish.

P & S 3: Participates in teacher-led group activities.

P & S 7: Interacts cooperatively with peers.

COG 1: Engages in scientific inquiry.

COG 5: Compares and orders objects and events.

COG 8: Uses complex sentences and vocabulary to describe ideas and experiences.

Prior Knowledge/ Connections:

Students have prior experience with: water, honey, food coloring, kayo oil, dish soap, rubbing alcohol, and vegetable oil. They also have been learning about weight in class, by using a scale. They have experience and knowledge of stacking and layering things such as blocks and Legos. They are familiar with various types of liquids by use of the senses. They are also familiar with mapping activities by listing thoughts, which they do in their lists books.


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Student Learning Objectives(s):

1. Students will compare their hypotheses with their observations.

2. Students will use comparisons from their observations about how the liquids layer with weight/density.

3. When asked about two different layers in a given, students will be able to answer which one is heavier.

4. Students will work together sharing materials and sharing ideas.

Vocabulary:

*Weight

*Density

* Liquid

*Layer

*Predicting

*Inquiry

Assessment:

Children will participate during this project, by making predictions about what will happen when the ingredients on the table are mixed. The predictions will be compared with the observations during the procedure.

1. Prior to the activity the teacher will display on the table the six ingredients for the experiment. For the assessment, the teacher will then ask the students, “What will happen if I mix these liquids?”

2. After the experiment, students will be asked to explain through their understanding what happened to the ingredients.

3. Lastly, the students will be assessed on their ability to apply their knowledge on, which ingredient is the heaviest and which is the lightest.

Materials/ Recourses:

*4 Jars


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*Large chart paper

*Markers

*Measuring cups

*Honey

*Kayo oil

*Dish soup

*Water

*Food coloring

*Rubbing alcohol

*Vegetable oil

*Food baster

Technological resources:

Not applicable

Learning Activities:

Instructional Strategies:

Students will share ideas about predictions of what will happen to the ingredients as they mix. Chart paper will be used for predictions. Each child will have a chance for prediction, and to pour one to two ingredients. The teacher will ask the children for predictions, before touching the solutions to strike interest and inspire them about the experiment. The teacher will model how to pour carefully into the jar, while scaffolding off to the students, to try pouring themselves. This will encourage students who may have trouble with participating to get involved and become engaged, which is an important part of the learning process.

Another instructional strategy in this lesson is that the students will be able to use their senses, except taste. Allowing them to explore and investigate before making predictions.

Grouping Strategies:

This lesson will be most appropriately done, in small groups. The class will be divided into three groups, divided by attention level.


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Initiation:

The initiation will start with the students being asked about liquids. Here some, of the vocabulary words will be introduced, vocab such as: liquid and prediction. Then each student will have a chance to use their senses, except taste, to examine the liquids on the table. They will then be asked to predict what will happen, when the liquids mix. Each prediction will be copied to chart paper.

Lesson Procedures:

1. Teacher will model by pouring ¼ cup of honey into the jar.

2. Then each student will follow by doing the same with one or two of the following.

In this order:

1. Kayo oil

2. Dish soup

3. Water

4. Vegetable oil

5. Rubbing alcohol

Closure:

After each liquid is completely poured observations will be made. Each observation made will be compared to the predictions. Then we will discuss why each liquid layered, and talk about objects that we have stacked, such as blocks. Then, they will be asked about how a scale works, so they can understand why the ingredients layered the way they did. This will allow the students to recognize that even liquids can be layered, and it’s because of each liquids density. Then I will be able to review how density is just the amount of stuff crammed into one space.

Intervention:

The students who need the option to use the food baster will have that intervention. This experiment will be held during play time, so this is where I will take a slightly larger group of students who have high attention and high listening skills first. The last group will be smaller and will be of students who have a more difficult time staying on task. Allowing the students


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with high listening skills to go first, will allow the other students to get time to play, which studies have shown to help attention skills for when they are set back into a lesson.

Enrichment:

The students who benefit from unique challenges will have the chance to talk about other liquids that may have higher or lower densities.

Reflection:

Strengths- Highly engaging activity, open ended questions, promotes cooperative learning, small groups, teacher modeling, allows for scaffolding.

Weaknesses: Density may be too hard for the students to connect with, and can be messy if not controlled correctly.


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Science Explorations Center-

Showing Weight/Density with Liquids

Teacher’s Name: Megan Duffy Student Name: _____________

CATEGORY 4 3 2 1Understanding of Weight/Density concept

Uses detailed description and vocabulary to describe observations to adults and peers.

Uses basic descriptions and vocabulary to describe observations to adults and peers.

Uses miner descriptions and no vocabulary to describe observations to adults and peers.

Unable to describe or use vocabulary in an effective way.

Cooperating with Peers

Participates in sharing ideas with the group about how the liquids organize in the cups and shares materials with no conflict.

Average participation in sharing ideas with the group about how the liquids organize in the cups and shares materials with some conflict.

Miner to no participation in sharing ideas with the group about how the liquids organize in the cups and shares material with some adult intervention.

Unable to participate in sharing ideas or materials.

Prediction Development

Independently developed a prediction of how the liquids will react, when poured together in the cup. Based on prior knowledge and prior experience with the liquids.

Independently developed a basic prediction of how the liquids will react, when poured together in the cup. Based on basic prior knowledge and basic prior experience with the liquids.

Independently developed a miner prediction of how the liquids will react, when poured together in the cup. Based on little prior knowledge and little prior experience with the liquids.

Needed adult assistance to develop a prediction.

Ability to Draw Conclusion

Uses observations, analysis schema and basic process skills to draw several reasonable conclusions.

Uses some observations, analysis schema and basic process skills to draw basic conclusions.

Uses little observations, analysis schema and few process skills to draw a couple conclusions.

Unable to use observation, analysis, schema, and basic process skills to draw any conclusions.

Ability to verbalize what happened to the liquids in the cup.

Child was able to effectively describe what happened to the liquids in the cup.

Child was able to describe a couple things that happened to the liquids in the cup.

Child was able to describe little about what happened to the liquids in the cup.

Child was unable to describe what happened to the liquids in the cup, until given much adult assistance.

Comments:


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Science content paper:

The content that this science exploration activity involved was weight and density in liquids. Since density is so closely related to weight, I chose to link the two together in my experiment. Weight is also currently part of the curriculum in my kindergarten classroom, so my students had prior knowledge on the topic already. They had prior knowledge of using a scale to weigh different items in the pet center, and they also had prior knowledge on liquids. Most students have played with blocks by layering them, or Legos, but many have not layered liquids before. For my exploration experiment, I decided to expand their knowledge base in this area, by putting together a layering liquids experiment. Before I was able to demonstrate and teach my knowledge on weight and density to the students though, I had to research about both density and weight first. Of the information I obtained, I was able to collect the following information.

While researching density, I was able to learn that, density is a physical property of matter, and each element and compound has a unique density associated with it. “Density is defined in a qualitative manner, as the measure of the relative "heaviness" of objects with a constant volume.” An important fact to know about both weight and density of a liquid is, the heavier the weight of a liquid, the higher the density, and the lighter the weight of a liquid, the lower the density. Just like in the assignment where the honey sank to the bottom and the rubbing alcohol floated on the top of all the other liquids in the jar.

Another way to look at it is, an object's density is determined by comparing its mass to its volume. Liquids aside, if you compare a rock and a cork that are the same size, which is heavier? The correct answer is the rock, because it has more mass. The rock is denser than the cork, due to the fact that it has more mass in its volume. So basically, density is a way to measure how tightly packed an object is. The denser the object, the less empty space there is in that object.

The experiment I chose to do with the students in my kindergarten class, involves a variety of liquids that demonstrate a variety of different physical properties due to their different densities. The densest liquids will sink to the bottom, such as the honey, kayo oil, and dish soup. The least dense liquid will float on the top, such as the, water, Vegetable oil and rubbing alcohol.

One way to measure the density of an object is on a balance. A balance will allow you to measure how many grams it is, then you take that number and divide it by the amount of space the object takes up, its volume. It doesn’t matter where you are with the item; its density stays the same. Another example to understand density is if you think about ice. Ice floats in water because ice is less dense than water. When you freeze water it makes ice, the water expands and takes up more space. A piece of ice has more volume than the same amount of water. Since ice has more volume but has the same amount of stuff in it, it is less dense than water because it floats in water. This example shows how density is not the same as weight, but the two do relate.


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In order to separate the two, I also researched information about weight. I already knew that, weight is a force caused by gravity and the larger the mass of an object, the heavier the weight of the object. This is due to the gravitational force between the object and the earth. In the English language, weight is measured in pounds (lb). What I learned is that weight is the force produced by gravitational acceleration on approximately 0.454 kg of mass at the Earth's surface. Unlike density, weight does change if moved to a different place. Weight has meaning only when an object having a specific mass is placed in an acceleration field. On Earth, a kilogram mass weighs about 2.2 pounds, for example. But on Mars, the same kilogram mass would weigh only about 0.8 pounds, and on Jupiter it would weigh roughly 5.5 pounds. This is important to know to help understand the difference between density and weight.

I am also putting emphasis on weight because we did not just talk about density in the experiment; weight was a huge part of it as well. Weight was examined when the students compared the different liquids in their jars. Some were heavier and some were lighter. Heavier and lighter are two words the students are focusing on in their curriculum. This has been used in the classroom where student’s weigh shapes on the scale in the pet center and mark what shapes are heavier and lighter. The students were also being assessed on their ability to notice whether the honey was lighter or heavier than the water, etc.

After thorough research on both, I now clearly see the difference between density and weight. I feel that the exploration I chose is very appropriate for showing density to my students. They were able to see the consistency of the liquids and how thick and heavy some were compared to how thin and light the others were. It would have been harder to observe something that was solid, because it cannot be as easily explored with their senses. Overall, the students were able to grasp the concept of density by watching with their own eyes, the liquids move into order in their cup. By using food coloring for the clear liquids, it helped to really make the lines between the layers pop, allowing them to see the differences in density between all the liquids.


http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition/kilogram

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Glossary:

Density- The degree to which something is filled, crowded, or occupied, a measure of the compactness of a substance, expressed as its mass per unit volume.

Inquiry- A seeking or request for truth, information, or knowledge.

Layer- One or more of several materials placed on top of each other.

Liquid- Composed of molecules that move freely among themselves but do not tend to separate like those of gases; neither gaseous nor solid.

Predicting- Making reasonable guesses or estimations based on observations and prior knowledge.

Weight- Is a measure of the heaviness of an object.

Observing- Using the senses to gather information about objects or events.

Comparing- Looking at similarities and differences in real objects. In the primary grades, students begin to compare and contrast ideas, concept and objects.

Classifying- Grouping and sorting according to properties: such as size, shape, color, use, and so on.

Measuring- Quantitative disruptions made by an observer either directly through observation or indirectly with a unit of measure.


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Relevant Children’s books:

1.) Title: Me and the Measure of Things

Author: Sweeney, Joan

Publisher: Random House Children’s Books

Publish Date: Sep 2002

ISBN: 9780440417569

2.)Title: Density

Author: Kay Manolis

Publisher: Scholastic Library Publishing

ISBN: 9780531284513

3.) Title: What is Density?

Author: Joanne Barkan

Publisher: Scholastic Library Publishing

ISBN: 9780516246604


http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/kay-manolis

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Works Cited

Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2013.

"Elmhurst College: Demonstrations." Elmhurst College: Demonstrations. N.p., n.d. Web. 02

Mar. 2013. <http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/demos/index.html>.

"Liquid Density Experiments." : Density Column and More. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2013. <http://www.hometrainingtools.com/liquid-density-project/a/1305/>.

"Weight or Mass?" Weight or Mass? N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2013. <http://www.mathsisfun.com/measure/weight-mass.html>.

"Weight (w)." Weight. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2013.

"What Is Density, Information on Density." What Is Density, Information on Density. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. <http://www.arcticworld.net/density.htm>.

"What Is Weight?" What Is Weight? N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2013. <http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/weight1.html>.


http://www.easybib.com/export/html



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(Photos of the student’s faces were not given permission for.)

Children’s actions and reactions:

Overall, this activity was very engaging for the students. The students were very excited to get their hands on the materials to see what we were doing. The liquids we had for this exploration were: honey, kayo oil, dish soup, water, vegetable oil, and rubbing alcohol. When I asked the students to predict what was going to happen if we put all the liquids in a jar together, I was met with a variety of insightful predictions. There were predictions such as, “It will smoke”, “It is going to be colorful”, “Black steam”, “ It is going to pop”, “It is going to explode”, “It will turn into Jello”, “ It is going to volcano or turn into a rocket ship”, “bubble”, etc. Students had complete focus and attention on the activity and every student was excited to pour into the cup one or two of the liquids. The students also showed great cooperation skills by sharing materials and taking turns with each other. The students were very surprised to see that the liquids layered inside of the jar. In all of the groups that did the experiment none predicted that the liquids would layer on top of one another. I was concerned after the students saw that the liquids just layering on top of each other, that they would not be as excited and engaged. I thought they would verbalize that they wanted it to bubble, smoke, or explode instead, but this was not the case. In fact, when we were done I had multiple students asking if they could take their groups jar home. Since this would not be fair to the other students we decided that it would be ok instead to display all the jars in the room next to the window. This way all of the students could enjoy the colorful jars we created. One way to incorporate this activity with the student’s families is if the students had an assignment to create their own density jars with other types of liquids found in the house hold. Examples that they could use at home, that are used everyday could be: Chocolate syrup, and milk, oil and vinegar, maple syrup, shampoo, etc.

Teacher Scaffolding: The first step to scaffolding I shared with the students was when I gave an example of what was going to happen when we mixed the liquids together. I also verbalized how their prediction can be anything, that there are no incorrect answers. I modeled how to carefully pour one of the liquids into the measuring cup, and then into the jar. I encouraged each student to do the same on their own, unless they asked for help or needed assistance. Modeling every step for the students before letting them try themselves is important because students excel when teachers clearly model and clearly define the expectations of the activity to be performed. I also presented a question in the beginning that would motivate or enlist the child’s interest related to the task. One of the questions, for example that I used was, “What will happen to these liquids once we put them all in a jar?” I tried to implement the activity by simplifying the task to make it more manageable and achievable for each child in the classroom. Density can be very hard to understand, so as a teacher I brain stormed on what they have prior knowledge on, which is layering things such as: blocks, Legos, Jenga pieces, books, and parts of a sandwich.


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The new knowledge was learning that you can also layer liquids. All of which these materials have their own weight and density. I also tried my best to provide clear directions to help the children focus on achieving maximum understanding about the activity. I place a lot of importance on scaffolding in teaching, because it reduces frustration for students. As a student, I notice that if I am not given clear expectations and directions I can get frustrated and unsure of myself, affecting my ability to do some assignments. This is why I do my best to prevent any confusion for my students.

Assessment: Children were assessed by their way of participating. The first assessment was based on their ability to make predictions. Predictions about what will happen when the ingredients on the table are poured into a jar together. Then the predictions were compared with the observations during the procedure. After that the student’s observations were assessed. These observations were based off the student’s ability to explain what happened to the ingredients. Lastly, the students were assessed on their ability to answer which ingredient were the heaviest and which were the lightest. Assessments were based on their understanding of weight and density, ability to work cooperatively with peers, prediction development, ability to draw a conclusion, and lastly their ability to verbalize what happened to the liquids in the jar.

Each group’s predictions charted.

Analysis and interpretations: In the readings of Chaille & Britain it was said that there are four criterions to focus on to maximize the student’s ability to watch the effects of his or her actions on an object. The first criteria would be that the student should be able to produce the movement by his or her own actions. In the six layer liquid experiment, the students were each given the chance to poor one or two of the liquids themselves to see what was going to happen. It doesn’t matter how you poor the liquid in or who pores it, the reaction will be the same therefore the connection is as direct as possible. In the second criteria for higher promotion of physical knowledge, is that the student should be able to vary their actions. The variety that I allowed the students to have experience with is the types of liquids we used. By varying the types of liquids we used: honey, kayo oil, dish soup, water, vegetable oil, and rubbing alcohol, it allowed for promotion of higher physical knowledge. Having this type of variety benefited the experiment, by allowing the student to reproduce different outcomes. Then the next criteria, was to have the


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reaction of the object be observable. By adding food coloring to the clear liquids it made the reaction much more observable, where having them stay clear they may have had a harder time seeing the different densities. The students were able to see each layer form, after they poured, and each layer they created met with the same amount of enjoyment and engagement. Observations that were being taken from the students were, “It smells so good!”, “They are sitting on top of each other”, “It looks like a rainbow” and “Why are they not mixing”. Some of these questions led to other questions about weight and density. Then the last criteria which makes for maximized effectiveness is the reactions of the object must be immediate. It was observable right away for the students to see that the liquids separated and layered on top of each other, just like how oil and vinegar separate fast in a jar.

Examples of final products

In the Fraser- Abder readings, it says similar things to make sure your activity is effective. I made sure that this lesson involved the following that Fraser believes science is built on: observations, measurements, classification, hypotheses, predictions, and, finally, experimentation to verify discoveries. Having all of the following reassured me that the students were going to have the best chance for engagement in this lesson. Fraser also writes about how teachers should provide the materials and not answer every question, so that students can discover for themselves. I made sure to follow this in my lesson. Another important note that I learned from Fraser is that science activities should invite students to ask more questions, this is what I saw in the density experiment. Students were asking why the liquids were layering, why the liquids looked like a rainbow, why some were on the bottom or top, etc. These questions were all evidence that they wanted to learn more about the experiment and that it is what a scientist does, they ask questions.

Materials used for experiment


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Instructional Implications: The environment/ place the lesson was given was in the middle of the room at a table, so it was visible for the other students to see the final product before it was their turn to go. For future reference, I would make sure to do the lesson in an area where students outside of the group, not doing it cannot see what is happening. This would allow for valid predictions, although none of the students observing outside predicted they would layer, some would say it would turn into a rainbow. Which could be a valid prediction or them already knowing what it was going to look like, it is hard to know for sure. Another addition I would make to the next instruction of this lesson would be, to make observations in a couple of days, to see what changed in the jars. I noticed days later, that the colors darkened and some of the layers disappeared. It would be interesting to see what observations the students come up with, on how the colors and such have changed.

What the jars looked like after the weekend. One child sharing his groups jar.

Adaptations:

Student Name Evidence that the student needs differentiated instruction.

How will you differentiate instruction in this lesson to support student learning?

Student A Low muscular ability Will use food baster to dispense liquid into jar.

Student B Low attention span easily distracted.

Place student close to teacher. Have student in last group so that the student can play before having to sit and attend the lesson.


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Science Explorations Center- Showing Weight/Density with Liquids

Teacher’s Name: Megan Duffy Student Name: ______A_____




Uses miner descriptions and no vocabulary to describe observations to adults and peers.*



Participates in sharing ideas with the group about how the liquids organize in the cups and shares materials with no conflict.*





Independently developed a prediction of how the liquids will react, when poured together in the cup. Based on prior knowledge and prior experience with the liquids.*





Uses observations, analysis schema and basic process skills to draw several reasonable conclusions.

Uses some observations, analysis schema and basic process skills to draw basic conclusions.*





Child was able to describe a couple things that happened to the liquids in the cup.*



Comments:


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Teacher’s Name: Megan Duffy Student Name: ______B_____



Uses basic descriptions and vocabulary to describe observations to adults and peers.*














Uses observations, analysis schema and basic process skills to draw several reasonable conclusions. *









Comments:


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Teacher’s Name: Megan Duffy Student Name: ______C_____


Uses detailed description and vocabulary to describe observations to adults and peers.*















Uses observations, analysis schema and basic process skills to draw several reasonable conclusions. *









Comments:


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