MST 3rd grade Inquiry Unit Solids, Liquids and Gases

By Valbona Hasandjekaj, Marta Kheyfets and Carol Bowen

CBSE 7204 – Spring 2014

MST- NYC INQUIRY UNIT OVERVIEW

Lesson 1 The

Mystery Box

Lesson 2 Measuring Solids

Lesson 3 Observing

a Solid Melt

Lesson 4 Researching Solids

Lesson 5Sharing

What We’ve

Learned

Table of Contents

Lesson 1: The Mystery Box – The Difference Between Solids,

Liquids and Gasses

Bloom’s Taxonomy: Comprehension, Analysis

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences: Visual, Linguistic and Tactile

Materials/ Additives:BooksPencilsBlock of woodSmall bottle of water Bar of soap Piece of metal Container of liquid soapSmall chocolate barBoxVenn diagram handout Smart board

Behavioral Objectives

1. Students will be able to classify and identify the three main states of matter. 2. Students will be able to compare and contrast liquids and solids using a Venn Diagram.3. Students will be able to give examples of each state of matter.

Students will be given a mystery box.They will be asked to group their items into two separate piles in two separate ways. Then, they have to explain in writing why they did so. Afterwards, the class will gather for a whole

group discussion. The children will be asked what kinds of criteria they used to group the items.

Teacher will explain some of the differences between a solid and liquid using the items in the mystery box as examples.

Students will fill out Venn-Diagrams detailing the difference between solids and liquids.

Assessment

Lesson 2: Measuring the Weight of Solids/Making Bar Graphs

Bloom’s Taxonomy: Knowledge, Evaluation

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences: Visual, Tactile, Mathematical and Interpersonal

Materials/ Additives:Spring ScaleBooksPencilsBlock of woodBar of soap Piece of metal Small chocolate barBoxSmart board Bar graphs

• Students will be able to accurately measure the weight of various solid objects using a spring scale

• Students will be able to create clear, detailed bar graphs to demonstrate their results

• Students will be able to work in pairs successfully

Behavioral Objectives

Procedures: Students will be given the same mystery box from

Lesson#1 and asked to only take out the solids for this lesson (block of wood, bar of soap, piece of metal, piece of chocolate). Students will be exposed to a demonstration of how to use a spring scale to measure a solid (by placing them into a small bag that can be fitted on the hook). Students will be asked to work in small groups (2-3 people) to measure the weight of the four items in front of them. They will answer the close-ended and open-ended questions.

 

Questions What is the weight of the bag? (Provided by the teacher on the

board) What is the weight of the block of wood (minus the bag)? What is the weight of the bar of soap (minus the bag)? What is the weight of the piece of metal (minus the bag)? What is the weight of the piece of chocolate (minus the bag)? Did you meet any challenges while measuring? Explain. 

Procedures: Teacher will proceed to gather the students

to review the measurements with them and make sure they measured correctly. Then, they will have a review lesson of how to make bar graphs. She will remind them of the importance of labeling every column and writing the numbers clearly on the x-axis. They must attach the information they collected to the bar graph.

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Weight of Different Solids

Weight

Assessment

Lesson 3: Observing a Solid Melt/Making

a Line Graph

Bloom’s Taxonomy: - Knowledge - Comprehension - and EvaluationGardner’s Multiple Intelligences: - Visual - Auditory- Tactile- Mathematical

Materials/Additives: - Thermometer - Line graph- Spread sheet- Smart Board- Web 2.0. video and pictures

Behavioral Objectives

Students will be able to accurately measure the temperature of the water using a thermometer

Students will be able to create clear, detailed line graphs to demonstrate their results

This lesson is student – centered because students will be working in groups of four to understand, calculate data and create their own line graph.

The teacher will circulate around the classroom to answer any questions.

Selecting students to work in groups of four will bring out their hidden talents, creativity and

confidence.Assigning key roles like timekeeper, and recorder

will help students manage their time on this project.

Students will be sitting in their designated groups of three before the lesson begins.

The lesson will begin with a video that shows the stages of solids, liquid, and gas. Students will observe the behaviors

of particles, and how they differ in three phases. Students will be informed that they will be learning how a solid melts, how to use a thermometer and how to create a

line graph.

Part I.

Groups will be shown the classroom-size teaching thermometer, and the teacher will

demonstrate how to read it at room temperature.

Groups will be asked to put the ice cubes in the cups and place them in the direct sunlight

coming through the window of the classroom.Students will measure the temperature of the water

when it melts.

Each member will be assigned to a specific role in their groups. One student will record, one student will organize information and one student will keep track

of time.

Students will work in groups to measure the temperature of the water at 4 other intervals throughout the day using thermometers. Part II (This will be done the next day)  Students will be given draft paper and pencils. Students will have a review lesson on how to make line graphs.Students will create line graphs to represent the data that they have collected about the temperature of the water throughout the day.

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Temperature Graph For The Day

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Assessment

Bloom’s Taxonomy: Knowledge, Comprehension, Analysis

Multiple Intelligences: Linguistic, visual, interpersonal

Materials/Additives ComputersKWL chartscavenger hunt handoutsFilamentality webpageSmartboard

Lesson 4: Doing More Research

Behavioral Objectives

Students will be able to interact with the websites provided and use them to answer the questions on the scavenger hunt

Students will be able to articulate new information about solids, liquids and gases

Teacher will explain to the students that there is a link on their computer desktops that they can click in order to open up the scavenger hunt in a word document

They will also receive paper copies of the scavenger hunt. This is so that they can click on the links without typing them. However, their answers must be handwritten on their paper copy.

Scavenger Hunt – Student CopyRead the text on this website: http://www.nyu.edu/pages/mathmol/textbook/statesofmatter.html(1)What is a solid?

What is a liquid? What is a gas? Play the interactive game on:http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/solid_liquids_fs.shtml(2) What eventually happens when solids are heated? (3) What eventually happens when liquids are cooled? (4) Fill out this chart using the same game: Degree at which it melts Degree at which it hardensSubstance#1:

Substance#2:

Substance#3:

(5) Write down two things that you learned about how substances melt and solidify.

(6) Observe the animation on: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/states_of_matter/What is a molecule? How are the molecules of solids, liquids and gasses all different? (7) Watch the video on http://www.neok12.com/video/States-of-Matter/zX076b50705357407b52580a.htmWhat happens to the molecules as a substance is heated? What happens to the molecules as the substance gets cooler? Watch the first 9 minutes of the video on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxwj24mREyA (stop after the Johnny Atom song)(8) How did the kids demonstrate the three phases of matter using ice? (9) What is the relationship of energy and how quickly molecules move? (10) Draw water in two different phases. Show the molecules in each phase.

When students are finished with their scavenger hunt, they will go onto the Filamentality website and browse the other links so that they can explore the subject of matter some more.

This is the Filamentality webpage: http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listmatterma.html

Lesson 5: Sharing What We’ve Learned

Bloom’s Taxonomy: Application and Synthesis

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences: Linguistic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal

Materials/Additives:What is the World Made of? All about Solids, Liquids, and Gases by Kathleen Weider ZoehfeldKidblog.comComputers

Behavioral Objectives

1. Students will be able to share what they have learned about matter on kidblog.com

2. Students will be able to summarize, define, and give example and properties of matter, solid, liquid and gas.

3. Students will be able to explain and list the processes and tools of measuring weight using a spring scale and temperature using a thermometer.

Motivational Activity

Teacher will do a read aloud on the book What is the World Made of? All about Solids, Liquids, and Gases by Kathleen Weider Zoehfeld. The teacher will ask questions such as “What can we do with a liquid that we can’t with a solid?” This book will sum up why we are learning about Matter, why we can drink solids or why we can’t walk through a solid.

The teacher will explain to the students that it is the end of the unit on matter. “Today we are going to sum up what we have learned throughout the past few days. We are going to be posting what we learned about matter on kidblog.com.”

The teacher will show the students how to use the web kidblog.com on the smart board. She will explain to them how to log in and post what they have learned.

 

Assessment