EDTE 427: Curriculum and Instruction: Science

Larissa Howlett, Jami Kilty, Mary Lee, and Alannah Leiyenaar

Professor Brian Heese
Monday, November 1, 2015
Science Lesson: Questions/Reflection Follow-Up
For our Science lesson, we focused on the topic of matter. We
constructed our lesson around the 3 states of matter, the difference
between the 3 states, and the movement of particles within each state.
Our pod group planned stations based on each of the states; Jami
focused on solids, Mary focused on gases, and Larissa focused on
liquids. Alannah lead the class by introducing the topic, showing and
discussing a video relating to the topic, and monitoring the students
movements between stations. In each station, the students
participated in various activities related to a specific state of matter;
for example, in each station the students got to practice moving like
particles inside a hula hoop and visualizing how particles move
differently between a solid, liquid, and gas. In each station, we had the
students record and complete a worksheet showing a visual of the
particles in each and a definition of each state relating to the particles
movement. As our culminating tasks, we watched a video representing
water changing states from a solid to a liquid. Following the video,
each student teacher took a group of 4-6 students and analyzed liquid
changing to a solid by making ice cream. Our overall goal for the

lesson was for students to understand the 3 states of matter, the

differences between each, and how particles move differently within
each state.
Before we began the lesson, we considered the management
issues of having students move between stations, as we anticipated it
would create some confusion and possible chaos. The stations were in
various parts of the school, which we knew would not work if we
allowed to students to move between each on their own. In order to
avoid complication, Alannah moved and guided groups from station-tostation and supervised each, which allowed to activities to flow
smoothly. We also anticipated students fighting over the ice cream
activity and shaking the Ziploc bag when making the ice cream, which
was avoided by allowing each student to shake the bag for at least 2
minutes and equally taking part in the activity. Each student also got
an equal amount of ice cream. In the future, we may adjust the lesson
by providing each student with his or her own bag of ice cream so each
student got to participate in each step in the ice-cream-making. We
also found it necessary to have extra supplies if we were to do the
lesson again in a different scenario, as some of the Ziploc bags ripped,
but our sponsor teacher had extra supplies in the classroom luckily.
Overall, we felt that we were successful in our behavior/classroom
management strategies.

There were a few unexpected issues that arose during the

lesson. For example, Larissa and Jamis plastic cups had holes in them,
which was not noticed at the time and as they both tried to pour their
liquids into them, they leaked all over the station. Larissas made the
most mess; however, the sponsor teacher was there to quickly grab
paper towel and she continued with the lesson. The students got a bit
distracted and excited as the cups leaked; however, both Jami and
Larissa refocused them quickly and redirected them to the tasks at
hand in each station. In Marys station, a student did not know how to
blow-up a balloon, which was an activity in her station. The student
proceeded to have a meltdown and did not want to participate;
however, Mary refocused her by teaching her how to blow-up a
balloon, which regained the students confidence. We also did not
expect that we would need more time in each station, as we planned
to only spend 5 minutes in each station, but ended up using 10-15
minutes.
Our lesson did not have many safety issues, aside from students
possibly ingesting ingredients that they shouldnt; however, none of
the ingredients were dangerous to ingest. After we mixed the ice and
salt together for the ice cream, some students wanted to eat the salty
ice, which required us to remind them not to eat anything in a science
lesson unless instructed by the teacher(s). As each station was in a
particular area of the school (science room, outside, and in the

classroom), each student teacher had to outline the expectations for

each room. Specifically Mary and Larissa had the most challenging
setting, as they were new and exciting areas for the students. The
settings did not prove to be an issue, as students were given
expectations at the beginning of the station and reminders throughout
if necessary.
For assessment, we used multiple strategies. We had check-ins
and discussions in each station regarding the stations prior and current
station and how they relate, as well as discussions following the videos
shown. The students were required to complete and hand-in a
worksheet displaying the particles in each state, as well as a definition
for each. The worksheet was used as a ticket-out-the-door. We also left
our sponsor teacher with a follow-up quiz for her to provide the
students with later on this week.
Based on our current and prior practicums classroom needs, the
science supplies that we feel would be useful and necessary for our
current science program would include a class set of working/goodquality microscopes, as the microscopes that we have access to do not
work well and were not easily used by students. If we were given more
money, we would prefer to get a class-set of iPads, as they have great
potential for many different engaging and interesting lessons in
science; however, we would require more money unfortunately.