Project-Based Workshop Series
Session I
I. Title: PBL DEMONSTRATION LESSON DESIGN: Water, Water Everywhere!
BIG IDEA:
The water we drink is clean and safe thanks to the environmental engineers who design and manage our water supply and water treatment systems. How can we become more mindful and grateful for our ease in receiving clean, healthy water and address the problem of our wasting this precious resource? (EiE)
Why is water so important to humans and to nature?
Where does it come from how does it travel to us? to plants? to treetops?
Let's investigate the properties of water as compared to other substances.
Let's be engineers who figure out ways to filter harmful materials from the water we drink and use, so that we can think like engineers that plan construct test and improve water through filtration.
We will compare water’s properties to two other substances: oil and alcohol.
(Basic information is given by instructor about group tasks and how to use the materials and record predictionsWe will each make predictions and also record their questions or wonderings about why the substances behave
the way they do). Each group will turn in the consensus the group has come to on the analysis page.Each group will create a poster that serves as a model of what they learned. They will identify a research topic
they would like to pursue.Finally, as a class we will identify a topic we would like to learn more about how water acts the way it does and why it is so important to us as we face the California Drought Conditions
This lesson combines several different disciplines: science, literacy/communication, engineering, and technology for utilizing Google sheets to record predictions and data (mathematics).
Recently, concern has grown over ensuring water justice, safety and quality for drinking as well as ensuring the quality of our natural environment. In this PBL K-5 unit, students explore how water quality is vital not only for humans but for the natural and agricultural world all around us.
As K-12 school teachers explore and discuss the connections between the scientific study of water and the water cycle, the human need for clean and safe drinking water, they learn about the important role of environmental engineers in providing and maintaining water quality. Throughout human history, engineers have been concerned with moving and distributing water for human consumption and agriculture. Before engaging in a study of Los Angeles water supply and filtration, this unit engages students in learning about the properties of H2O and why water is so important for our home on planet Earth (EiE).
II. Grade Level and Subject Area: Kindergarten to 5th Grade Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Mathematics and the Arts
III. Standards:
ELA/Literacy:
With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
Participate in shared research and writing projects (use engineering design process)
With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
Listening & Speaking:
Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care,
speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
Build on others' talk in conversations by responding to the comments of
others through multiple exchanges.
Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.3
Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather
additional information or clarify something that is not
understood.
CCSS
Mathematics:
Distinguish between defining attributes versus non-defining attributes (e.g., color, orientation, overall size);
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS):
K-5-ETS1-1.
Ask questions, make observations, and gather information
K-5-ETS1-2.
Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
K-5-ETS1-3.
Analyze data from tests of two or more objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.
Social Studies
K.1 Students understand that being a good
citizen involves acting in certain ways.
Follow rules, such as sharing and taking turns, and know the consequences of
breaking them.
1.2 Students describe the rights and individual responsibilities of
citizenship.
Understand the elements of fair play
and good
sportsmanship, respect for the rights and opinions of others, and respect
for rules by which we live,
including the
meaning of the "Golden Rule."
2.4 Students understand basic economic concepts and their individual roles
in the economy and demonstrate basic
economic reasoning skills.
2.4.3;Understand
how limits on resources affect production and consumption (what to produce
and what to consume).
IV.
Engaging Context: Where does water come from? Why do we need it? How
do rain drops form?
How does water travel up a tree from its roots to its tip-top?
·
USGS
Website on the
Water Cycle Poster pdf
poster
Variety of substances: water, oil, alcohol rubbing compound
· Use of Eye Droppers (kinders use their fine motor muscles)
· Pennies for each group
· Optional: Ipads or Netbooks with GoogleSheets for Predicting and Data record
· YouTube on the molecular process of water cohesion
· V. Measurable Objectives
A. Students will engage in a “lab;” then identify and learn the vocabulary associated with the scientific concept of water co hesion and adhesion; apply that knowledge to the water cycle as they explore the USGS Water Cycle Poster that helps them to understand how central water is to our health and well being--and that of Nature as well.
B. As student thinking drives the lesson, students pursue their own inquiry: How does water travel up the stalk of celery or a flower carnation? or a tree?
C.What have they learned about the reason why water domes on a penny and other substances do not.
D. Teachers recognize how this demo lesson begins the developmentally-appropriate process of understanding the molecular and chemical composition of matter.
E. Teachers learn the stages of PBL as an important way to assure that student thinking drives important integrated discipline learning.
1. Launch Project:
Entry Event &
Driving Question (DQ)2. Build Knowledge
Understanding &
Skill to answer DQ3 Present Products
that Answer DQ4. Develop and
Revise Products
and Answers to DQAt the end of the lesson it is expected that it will have inspired awe and wonder about the natural world as well as engage each participants in using scientific and engineering vocabulary; [Suggestion: Include a Science Journal for student entries throughout the PBL] acting like a laboratory scientist; conducting engineering-design processes; becoming aware of the need to be a globally-responsible citizen--all the while using the writing skills and art that express curiosity, imagination and creativity.
Teams will present their understanding to the class by creating a poster-display [ See Poster Rubric]illustrating their understanding or application of the principles of cohesion and adhesion in Nature.
.
VI.
Total Time: Launch
Event: One Class Periods of 50 minutes;
Building Knowledge: Two
Class Periods;
Present Product that Answers DQ: One Class Period; Develop and Revise
Products: Three Class periods
Water Adhesion Lab: 60 Minutes
VIII. Social Skills and or Habits of Mind to Engage/Assess
|
[ ] Persistence [ ] Decreasing impulsivity [ ] Empathic listening [ ] Flexibility in thinking [ ] Metacognitive awareness [ ] Checking for accuracy [ ] Questioning
|
[ ] Problem posing [ ] Drawing on past knowledge [ ] Application to new situations [ ] Precision of language and thought [ ] Using all the senses
[ ]
Ingenuity, originality, insightfulness [ ] Inquisitiveness, curiosity [ ] Enjoyment of problem solving
|
VIII. Level of Voice Appropriate for Activity:
X. BSCS 5-E Framework
Engage: Direct Instruction on how we are going to learn about properties of water purity by dropping it using an eye dropper onto a penny.
Materials Manager/ Spy Tasks: Make sure your team receives and uses the materials without spilling; If the team has a
question following Three Before ME go to another team to answer your question [or see what they have learned]
Checker's Tasks - Make sure the time limits are observed. Help others complete their tasks. Let instructor know when your team
has completed the labRecorder's Tasks: Carefully observes and counts the number of drops that a penny will hold so that each team member has access to the data. Carefully completes the Team analysis page to represent the results of the trials.
Encourager/Observer' s Task - Coach the team to persevere and stay together while sharing and turn-taking. Notice, identify and
record occurrence of team members' social skills and habits of mind
Performance Assessment - Self-Assessment; Peer Assessment [Rate Your Mates] Content Assessment (poster)
We will use our science inquiry skills of predicting (hypothesis testing) comparing and analyzing.
Explore: Students will complete the water on a penny lab sharing the role of eye dropper for each of the three substances. Students must stay in their roles but can help with other group members’ tasks. They will watch the cohesion video together and then explore ideas as to how the water formed a dome on the penny.
XI. Formation of Groups: Human Graph 4 groups of 3 students ) Can be modified for class composition.
Extend/Explain: As students complete the water on a penny lab they naturally share their prior knowledge, observations and questions about why the substances behave the way they do when dropped one-by-one from the eye dropper.
After
watching the animation of water cohesion they will have more questions that
they attempt to explain to one another.
Then the students work on creating a poster assisting them to teach what
they have learned and to become more familiar with the new vocabulary
terms that they experienced during the lab.
H2O Water Molecule
XI. Materials List
· Water Droppers
· Rate Your Mates (You may also create this as an online Evaluation (Google Docs)
· Easel Paper and Markers for Team Design
· IPads or Net books if possible
Evaluate: (Assess):
There are several formative and summative ways to assess learning in this engaged learning lesson. The first is in the individual lab write ups that show students’ original predictions and questions they had during the experiments. The students have also used mathematics to track their trials. (If Googlesheets has been used, students gain skill in seeing data plotted in bar graphs and pie-charts. Poster and visual presentations where students use Art to draw a visual that helps them to describe the results also serves as an assessment
· Content Summative Assessment:
LITERACY: Portmanteau-activity on Vocabulary Words and definitions (spelling accuracy as per grade level).· Poster plus Presentation as a Team. Individual information detailing student learning takeaways from the Launch activity
Criteria:
1. Does it include a driving question in any of the identified disciplines?
2. Does it include at least three new science vocabulary words?
3. Does it propose the development of a project--students/unit plan-teachers?
4. Does it show evidence that all team members were involved?
· Formative Assessment of Non-Cognitive Factors: Self Assessment Using the Habits of Mind Check Sheet and Write-up Form (Google Docs).
· Content Formative Assessment: Kahoot online quick quiz using iPads to test for scientific knowledge.
This PBL was adapted from the TEACH Engineering Website Lesson "How Many Drops?"
Water Water Everywhere --Part II
Children's Literature
What Makes It Rain?: The Story of a Raindrop