Lesson 1 - Monday, Sep 18
Focus Question: What happens when a bath bomb is added to water (and what causes it/that to happen)?
What We Did: All periods finished a series of drawings called the “States of Matter Drawings v1.0.” These drawings were made in students’ Science Notebooks and the notebooks were collected at the end of the lesson for evaluation. Students will receive a Proficiency scale rating of 4, 3, 2, 1 or 0 for each of their three drawings.
What We Figured Out: Because students were sharing their ideas about the STATES OF MATTER today, and not doing any investigations with bath bombs or searching for information in any textbooks, this wasn’t a day in which we aimed to figure things out.
How We Represented It: —
Homework: There is no science homework tonight.
Lesson 2 - Tuesday, Sep 19
Focus Question: What happens when a bath bomb is added to water (and what causes it/that to happen)?
What We Did: Students received their notebooks at the start of the lesson, which contained three grades for students’ three States of Matter drawings (solid, liquid, gas). Dr. M used this opportunity to explain 1) his 5-point grading scale for Effort-focused assignments, and 2) his 4-point grading scale for Content-focused assignments. He then showed students a ‘Helper’ reading he had put into the Google Science Classroom to use when thinking about improving their States of Matter drawing scores. Next, he asked students–working in teams of two–to use the Helper reading to complete a new handout titled, “Initial Model-based Explanation.” Students used the rest of the class period to not only work on the drawings required on the front of the handout, but also on the written explanation required on the back of the handout.
What We Figured Out: Although each team figured out different things about solids, liquids, and gases, the Helper reading seemed to help all students figure out how to improve their particle-focused drawings of solids, liquids, and gases.
How We Represented It: On the “Initial Model-based Explanation” handout, students drew tiny samples of the bath bomb, water, the gas in a bubble, and the liquid left over after a couple of minutes.
Homework: There is no science homework tonight.
Lesson 3 - Wednesday, Sep 20
Focus Question: What happens when a bath bomb is added to water (and what causes it/that to happen)?
What We Did: Students worked on their “Initial Model-based Explanation” handouts, in some cases asking for new copies on which to document their new ideas/findings. Students were allowed to supplement their ideas with searches of the Internet such as, “What is the gas produced when a bath bomb in put into water?” Students were also allowed to supplement their ideas with science textbooks kept in the classroom. Students had the entire lesson to work on what Dr. M is calling our “Initial Model.”
What We Figured Out: We figured out how to represent the states of matter–solid, liquid, and gas–in a more scientific way.
How We Represented It: We agreed to represent tiny particles (e.g., atoms) as circles. Our representations of the states of matter took the form of circles placed into different types of arrangements (e.g., random vs. highly organized) with different amounts of space left in between the circles.
Homework: Sometime prior to their next science lesson, Dr. M asked students to number the pages of their science notebook according to specific instructions.
Lesson 4 - Friday, Sep 22
Focus Question: What happens when a bath bomb is added to water (and what causes it/that to happen)?
What We Did: Students worked again on their “Initial Model-based Explanation” handouts for the entire class period.
What We Figured Out: Working mostly in the teams of two, many students figured out a number of different things about, for example, atoms, molecules, ions, reactions, chemical structures, and chemical formulae.
How We Represented It: C period students created their best shared representation to date: A mathematical-looking equation showing “hydrogen ions” (which came from combining citric acid and water) plus “bicarbonate ions” (which came from combining sodium bicarbonate and water) equaling “carbon dioxide gas” and “water.” D period students ended the lesson in very different places from one another. Thus, their representations are too various to summarize here. One thing becoming increasing clear, however, is that many D period student teams feel that the gas produced when a bath bomb is placed in water is “carbon dioxide.”
Homework: It is the TASIS MS Homework Policy that no science homework be due on Monday. That said, there is also no science homework due on Tuesday.
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