LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

A. TITLE/TYPE OF LESSON: Force, Motion, and Energy Review

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON AND UNWRAPPING OF THE STANDARD I talked to my cooperating teacher about where the children were with their S.O.L.s. When I told her I was going to be doing my lesson during immersion week, she told me that was a sol review week. She thought it would be a good idea for me to do a lesson that reviewed some of the fourth grade objectives. She told me that the children could use extra practice with force, motion, and energy. Even though this lesson has a fourth grade objective, it will incorporate deeper thinking skills so the children will gain a deeper knowledge on the topic. This lesson is also appropriate to serve as a refresher before they are bombarded with standardized testing. Since immersion week is during their review week, it will fit in perfectly with the curriculum sequence. How does this lesson fit with what you know about child development? As a future educator, I know the importance of bringing previously learned concepts back up in future classes. Children learn by building knowledge on concepts previously learned. It is important to make sure that the children have the proper foundations before they take the next steps. C. UNWRAPPING THE VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING and the NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS (NATIONAL STANDARDS) (see attached) D. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Understand what are the broad Know what are the facts, rules, Do what are the specific thinking generalizations the students should specific data the students will gain behaviors students will be able to do begin to develop? (These are through this lesson? (These knows through this lesson? (These will also typically difficult to assess in one must be assessed in your lesson.) be assessed in your lesson.) lesson.)

The student will be able to collect and display tables and graphs of interpreted position data. The student will be able to design an investigation to determine the effect of friction on moving objects.

The student will be able to identify The student will be able to write a that speed is a measure of motion. testable hypothesis. The student will be able to identify the forces that cause motion.

The student will be able to report data collected. The student will be able to describe how friction affects an objects motion.
E. ASSESSING LEARNING What will your students do and say, specifically, that indicate every student has achieved your objectives? Remember every objective must be assessed for every student!

Objective The student will collect and display tables and graphs of interpreted position data. The student will design an investigation to determine the effect of friction on moving

Assessment Data table

Data Collected Data Table

Look and see: I will go around and Running Record on clipboard ask the students why they are choosing the materials in a certain

objects. order and what they are noticing. The student will be able to identify Look and see: I will ask the the forces that cause motion. groups how they got the car to start moving (pushin)/ what would have happened if they did not push the car (stay at rest) The student will be able to report Look and see: I will ask the data collected. groups what times they recorded for the different runs. The student will be able to Summative: Letter to NASCAR describe how friction affects an officials expressing what race objects motion. tracks should be made out of to allow cars to go as fast as they can. Why might some materials slow cars down? (friction) The student will be able to write a Written hypothesis on activity testable hypothesis. sheet.

Running Record on clipboard

Data Table

Letters

Activity Sheet

A. MATERIALS NEEDED 2 matchbox cars per group (total=12 cars)-BB Yardstick Stopwatch (6) Bubble Wrap-BB Cabinet Liner- BB Wax Paper- BB Fabric- BB B. MISCONCEPTIONS or ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS Children generally have misconceptions with independent and dependent variables. A lot of children think it is okay to have more than two variables in an experiment. Especially on graphs, students are unaware of which axis to put which variable. Students sometimes do not realize that energy is all around us. They do not consider all the forces acting on objects. They mainly just think about the things we can actually do, such as pushing or pulling something. Personally, I think the students will have the most difficulty understanding independent, controlled, and dependent variables. To help students understand the actual conceptions, I could ask questions such as, Why do we first time the car with just the cardboard? This will lead to a discussion focusing on controlled variables. C. PROCEDURE Engage: As small groups (6 groups of 4), students will list at least 10 items that have movement or motion. Groups will choose one item from the list to use as the topic for the following questions: How does this item move? How can we slow down the movement? How can we speed up the movement? Groups will share their findings and I will write the answers on the board in two unlabelled columns Explore: The students will get into their groups and form a hypothesis about what they think will happen when the track is made out of the different materials. The students will then test both of their cars on the plain cardboard track as their control. They will time the car from the top of the track until it gets to the end of the track. They will then record the times and repeat this process for the different materials for each car Explain: We will get back together as a class and talk about what the students found out. Talk about the two factors that cause friction (surface texture and amount of force). The students will then have to write a letter to NASCAR officials stating what materials they think tracks should be made of to allow cars to go fast as possible. D. DIFFERENTIATION

For the children who finish early, I will have them get together and perform a mini activity (pushing textbooks with their pinkies and time themselves as they add more textbooks on). For the children who are struggling with the objectives, I will bring in other real world examples of how surface texture and force effect friction. I will ask them questions that encourage the children to think without getting to their frustration level.

Content

Process I will ask the students questions about racecars and what surfaces make them go faster to stimulate interest

Interest

I will explain how friction is used in the real world.

Product Having the students write a letter to NASCAR will allow students to feel important. ELL- Have students write to a car company that they are familiar with ELL- have options and a word bank as to what materials should be used in their letter

Readiness

ELL- I will review what a force is and make sure students will be able to grasp an understanding of friction

ELL- include pictures with the instructions

E. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT? There are quite a few things that could go wrong with this lesson. When we have the initial group discussion, some of the students could get off topic or not be very responsive. I will walk around when they are discussing in their small groups and if they are off topic, I will ask them questions to get them back on topic. I will also ask questions to get children thinking critically if they are not very responsive. During the activity, the students may argue over who is performing what task. If arguing takes place, I will explain there are four different materials so everybody can have a chance at all of the different tasks (timer, car pusher, recorder, etc). When groups are discussing their own results, I will get the class to do three claps and a woosh so everybody will pay attention.

Lesson Implementation Reflection

As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights. I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why you made them. In my original plan, I was going to go over the directions on a doc cam then hand out the activity worksheet. I found that handing out the activity worksheet first made the lesson flow a lot more smoothly. The timing of the activity varied as well. Some groups stuck right with the directions and were done rather quickly. I directed them over to the extra activity where they moved one-five books with their pinky and discussed what they noticed. II. Student Work Sample Analysis Gets it Student A a. Understands Factors that contribute to friction Student B The relationship that surface and tire tread Has some good ideas, but Student C What surfaces create more friction Student D What surfaces create more friction Does not get it Student E Some surfaces that create less friction Student F Accurate experiment conclusions

have of friction b. Confused about n/a A little unrealistic situation for a new track Real life applications/ using the term friction Real life applications/ friction in everyday vocabulary/ applying other forces effects What will happen when speed increases as a car turns? Real life applications/ not reality to make a track out of actual wax paper Real life applications/ track out of wax paper?/ does not relate friction to experiment How would a real car perform on wax paper?

c. Questions to ask to clarify what I know

Why do you think polished wood would still create enough friction for the cars to turn? Introducing more forces and how multiples forces work on an object

Why would you have to change the tire tread when you change the surface of the track? Introducing more forces and how multiples forces work on an object

Why does the car slow down on bumpy surfaces?

Would a car be to heavy to drive on wax paper?

d. Ideas to work on next

Types of materials that create more or less friction

Materials that create more or less friction/ weight contribution to friction

Recalling what tracks are usually made out of/ Real life equivalents of smaller materials used

Recalling what tracks are usually made out of/ Real life equivalents of smaller materials used

III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again. I would have a day to review and demonstrate different real world applications showing friction. Possibly even going to the computer lab and having simulations set up where students could increase/decrease the weight of objects and alter the surface on which they are traveling and observe the results. IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom teacher? I would reiterate real life examples and I would also discuss and show how more than one force acts on an object. I would bring up some examples of these forces. V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young children as learners? It is very, very, very important to press and release. This lesson would not have gone as smoothly if children were not given change within the lesson. I also learned that children are as eager to learn as the teacher is eager to teach. VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about teaching? I have learned the importance of overplanning/incorporating extra activities for early finishers. I have also learned how important it is to think on your feet. If something isnt working, find a way to make it work. There will be bad lessons. Learn from it and change it so students can gain the best experience from all of my lessons. VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about yourself? I have learned that I am a patient person. I have also learned that I do not feel good about myself until I am sure all of my children gain more understanding than they had prior to coming in my classroom

Name:

You and your group members are trying to see what types of materials may slow down or speed up race cars. You will time your race car from start to finish and record your data. What type of materials do you think will slow down your racecar?

Friction Race

What type of materials do you think will help your racecar go faster? Materials 1 stopwatch 1 race track 2 racecars 1 piece of each material (wax paper, fabric, bubble wrap, cabinet liner) 4 textbooks Procedure 1. Collect all of your materials. 2. Choose someone to be the timer for the first trial. 3. Communicating with your timer, place the car on the track and time it until it reaches the end of the track. 4. Record your time, then repeat the process with the other car. 5. Repeat this process with the different materials. Data Car 1 Car 2

Track only

Cabinet Liner

Bubble Wrap

Fabric

Wax Paper

On a separate piece of paper, write a letter to a NASCAR official. In the letter, discuss what materials official NASCAR tracks should be made out of so cars can reach their maximum speed.