Starting with Materials!

(Part 1)
Objectives & Learning
Outcomes

Students will:
Critically think about how materials can be utilized to
answer a question
Use backwards design to to develop a question and
hypothesis
Collaborate and communicate with team members
regarding their ideas for the experiment
Develop a procedure to test their question

Rationale

This lesson provides a platform for students to practice

creativity and critical thinking. Instead of being provided with
the lab experiment, they are creating their own based on just
materials provided.

4 Cs Addressed

Critical Thinking:
Students must use a backward design process of
thinking in order to think of a question that could be
asked with a given set of materials.
Collaboration:
Students collaborate with their partner to come up with
the steps of the scientific method.
Communication:
Students communicate with their partner when
generating ideas.
Students practice written communication by writing the
steps down in their notebook as well as typing them in a
Google document template.
Creativity:
Students are provided with the opportunity to be
completely creative in the way that they create a
procedure for their experiment. They have much
autonomy in deciding what they will test and how they
will do so with the given materials.

Digital Tools &

Applications

Chromebooks
Camera on chromebooks
Google docs

Preparation

Have materials ready for students:

o Tub
o Water (no limit)
o 1 ft x 1 ft piece of tinfoil
o I box paper clips
o 1 yard of tape
o 20 noodle sticks

Time of Lesson
Procedure

Prepare heterogenous partner groups

Students have science notebooks

1 hour and 30 min

Intro: Explain directions (10 min)
1. Tell students that they will be given the materials for the
experiment and they will have to come up with a science
lab write up based upon that
2. Explain that students do not have to use all of the
materials, but cannot use materials outside of the list
3. Demonstrate creating a lab write-up in google docs with
all eight elements of a scientific method
4. Inform students of their partner group
Students create an experiment and record in notebooks (40 min)
1. In partner groups, students work together to create an
experiment from the materials given
2. Students record the steps in their notebook

Teacher mini-lesson on how to take and save a picture from

chromebook (10 min)
1. Using the camera on the chromebooks, students take a
picture of their experiment for their Google slides
presentation in Lesson 6
2. Instruct them to save picture in Photobooth or as a JPEG
file
Students record steps on google doc template (20 min)
1. Students record the steps on google doc template and
share with teacher
2. Teacher will provide digital feedback so that students
may use the feedback in Lesson 6
Closing (5 min)
1. Students properly put away chromebooks
Culturally
Responsive/Inclusive
Strategies

Group students heterogeneously

Provide language support with word wall and terms on
the board

Differentiation

Students can make this experiment as simple or complex

as needed
Students can use some or all of the materials depending
on how complex they would like to make the experiment

Assessment

Informal assessment: Check Google Doc template and

write feedback on document so that students may use
the feedback for the activity in Lesson 6