Hands on Learning at its finest! I was amazed with the results and feedback I got from my students this week. I decided to step into student inquiry in a Science lesson. One of the big ideas for Grade 6 Science is "Everyday materials are often mixtures." Students are expected to know heterogeneous mixtures and separating mixtures.
Below I will share with you the lessons that made students excited about Science and ENGAGED!....
Heterogenous Mixtures
Day 1 "My unit hook": I wanted to hook students into this unit by putting a mystery cup out on everyones desk. The question I put on the board was "What am I?" "Something has been stolen and a white powder has been found at the crime scene. What is the powder? Who is the theif? This lesson was getting students to investigate with no real limits on how they chose to do this. Some students were able to guess others were not. I had corn starch in the cups.
You could for the first day do a "guided inquiry" to determine the properties of the following cups filled with 1/4 salt, corn starch, sugar, flour and chalk) prior to placing a mysterious cup on their desk.
Day 2 "Sorting" Depending on the level of your classroom you may skip day 2 and move to day 3. We practiced simple sorting. I drew a box on the board in it I had a ball, juice a sandwich, shells, water, book, a crab and rocks. I asked students to sort by themselves, sort with a partner and sort with a group of 4.
Students were able to sort based on color, solid vs liquid, colour, alphabetical order, size, edible vs non-edible etc. We did a few together then I let them make up "Whats in your box?" They had a partner sort their box.
Day 3 "Sorting using Visual Cues with Heterogenous Mixtures"
Prep for Teacher:
You will need: clear plastic cups, spoons, peppercorn, sugar, salt, cornstarch, baking soda, oil, vinegar and flour.
Label each cup and pour about 1/4 of each item into its own cup. See picture below.
To do have each item for a group of students. I did group of 5-6.
Ask the groups "How could we sort" Have them record on a chart paper.
Students might come up with the following: solid vs liquid, colour, alphabetical order, cleaning agents, size, state, smell, taste, how they react or amount.
Day 4 "Guided inquiry"- You may do this in day 3 it all depends on how much time you have an again the level of your students.
Have the above materials (picture below) in the cups for each group again.
Ask students "What does working in a group look or sound like" Allow students to record this down in their groups. Then have a larger group discussion on working within a group making sure they know that everyones voices need to be heard etc. Remember this sounds like a step you may want to skip over but its worth going over to prevent problems from occurring in the lesson.
Next, Students will get to mix 2 items from the following labelled mixtures peppercorn, cornstarch, sugar, salt, baking soda, oil, vinegar and flour.
Prior to picking they will make a "Prediction"---What do you think will happen when you add item 1 and 2?
"Observation" ----What did you observe once you added item 1 and 2?
"Prediction"----What do you think will happen when you mix item 1 and 2?
"Observation" ----What did you observe once you mixed item 1 and 2?
"Compare"----Predict, observe and compare to another substance you will be adding and mixing.
Ticket out the door: (As teachers be creative with thinking of a question you want to ask your students after this lesson)
Separating Mixtures
Day 5-7(or longer) "Inquiry Question"-- "How can we separate the mixtures we mixed?"
You might have students say "How do we do that?"
You might ask "How would a scientist handle this situation?" ----Extension: You could bring in an SFU scientist.
You could have the mixtures sit for a few days while students investigate---Remember students are driving this inquiry.
(Some of the mixtures might form crystals, evaporate etc) You could have them record the changes that are happening.
This is allowing them to touch on the core competencies of communicating, thinking, analyzing and predicting.
Extensions----Write a journal, graph changes or create a video (Be Creative!)
Day 8-15(or longer) "Aboriginal Inquiry"---Tap into the history on the extraction of Eulachon(Yoo-la-kon) oil, extraction of medicines and pigments from plants (Art based learning) Be creative!
Seek outside support, online sources or meet an Elder.
I would like to thank Craig Sutton for hosting the amazing Grade 6 new Curriculum workshop where I learned about ideas for this amazing unit.