Lesson: Frankenworm lab

4/25/16

Date:

Time: 50 min

S4.A.2.1.2 Design and describe an investigation (a fair test) to test one variable.
3.4.4.C2: Describe the engineering design process: Define a problem. Generate
ideas. Select a solution and test it. Make the item. Evaluate the item. Communicate
the solution with others. Present the results
Objectives/Essential Questions (including assessment prompts can be helpful)
Given a lab sheet students will be able to make a hypothesis and record their
findings from the lab
Materials Needed:
Gummy worms (sour and regular), baking soda, vinegar (white), water, clear cups,
lab sheets, pencils
Motivational Device/Bell Ringer (5 minutes):
To start the lesson I will ask the students, have any of you ever seen a gummy
worm come to life? Well today we will conduct a science lab where you and a
partner will try to make your gummy worms come to life. I will then give the
students directions to make a baking soda water mixture to place their worms in.
Along with me reading the directions and passing them out to each student, I will
display the steps of the lab on the Smartboard. One partner will need to cut the
worms into tiny slivers and the other will need to get the baking soda mixture ready.
Lesson Outline: (35-40)

Once the one partner has completed the mixture and the other cuts
the worms, they will need to drop them into the baking soda mixture

I will then have the students wait silently until every group has
completed this step

Once every group is done I will tell the students that they will need to
have their worms soaking in the mixture for 20 minutes and that I will
set a timer

While they wait the students will need to fill in their hypothesis on
their lab sheet

They will also need to answer the first question which is what
happened to your gummy worms when you placed them into the
vinegar?

Once the twenty minutes is up the students will need to take their
worms out of the mixture and drop them into the vinegar. I will make
sure to tell the students to observe what happens when they drop
them in, because they will need to record their observations on their
lab sheets

Formative assessment: During the activity I will be walking around and asking the
students questions to check for their understanding. I will also be able to see the
students understanding of the activity when they perform the experiment by
collecting their lab sheets and observing how they are doing on the experiment
Challenging Questions for Higher Ordered Thinking (plan these and where
you may want to insert them into your lesson.)
What happened to your gummy worms when you placed them in the baking soda
mixture?
What happened once the worms were placed in the vinegar?
Why do you think this happened to the worms?
Closure (5-8 min):
To close the lesson I will start by placing the lab questions on the board. We will go
over them as a class, and I will write the students responses on the Smartboard. I
will then ask, If an absent student came up to you tomorrow and asked you about
what we did in the experiment, what would you tell them?
Additional Notes if any:

Reflection after lesson is taught (use prompts provided by university

supervisor).