clark university master of arts in teaching programgas station – bubbles, water boiler, balloon....

Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Learning Activity Plan

State of Matter: LAP 3 Casey Rothenberg

I. Content: Describe what it is you will teach. What is the content? In this lesson students had extended opportunities to interact with a variety of states of matter. The class made observations based on the real life examples of gases, liquids and solids. Beyond general observations, students were focused on whether the state of matter: holds its own shape, flows, and/or takes the shape of its container. Through whole class discussion, students reflected on their observations and created a collaborative class set of rules for the three states of matter. Students worked towards creating their own definitions for the states of matter, specifically what is always true or never true about a gas, liquid or solid. II. Learning Goal(s): Describe what specifically students will know and be able to do

after the experience of this class. SWBAT:

• Transition through four centers acting appropriately and handling the materials appropriately.

• Create a list of observations and words used to describe a liquid, solid and gas. • Collaborate on their list of observations to determine what is always true and can

be turned into a rule, or if it is only true sometimes. • Read a passage on the three states of matter and answer the corresponding

questions. III. Rationale: Explain how the content and learning goal(s) relate to your Curriculum

Unit Plan learning goals. Throughout the unit students have been developing their abilities to identify and define the three states of matter. This lesson will allow students to create personalized definitions through their own observations and descriptions. The lesson directly addresses the unit core standard, which requires students to compare and contrast the three states of matter based on their basic properties. This lesson introduces students to the term properties, and then allows students to create their own list of properties for each state of matter. After the stations, there will be time for students to suggest different rules for each state of matter. During this process I am encouraging students to agree or disagree with their peers and provide sound reasoning. In order for it to be a rule, the statement has to always be true. I will be pushing students to try and think of something that breaks the rule, and if they cannot, then it should be added to the list. IV. Assessment: Describe how you and your students will know they have reached

your learning goals. Students will primarily assessed on their ability to complete the observation worksheet while traveling to the four stations. At three of the stations students will only need to


draw one of the examples and come up with as many words to describe what they see at the station. The fourth station requires students to read a passage on the three states of matter and then answer follow up questions. I know students will have read and comprehended the passage if their answers are correct or at least make sense. Students will be informally assessed on their abilities to participate their observations at the end of the lesson. As a class, we will unpack our observations and create a class set of rules for each state of matter. Students will offer ideas and the class will debate if their idea is always true, sometimes true or never true. If their idea is always true or never true then it can be made into a rule. What students participate will inform me if they were making appropriate observations and processing peers contributions. V. Personalization and equity: Describe how you will provide for individual student

strengths and needs. How will you and your lesson consider the needs of each student and scaffold learning? How specifically will ELL students and students with learning disabilities gain access and be supported?

The entire lesson will be conducted through groups. In the opening and closing parts of the lesson the class will progress through whole-group discussions. During stations, students will work in groups of 5-6 to make observations, read a passage, and answer follow up questions. Working in groups will allow every student to participate, especially in smaller groups where there is less stress of being correct. Working in groups will also create shared knowledge, which is beneficial for every learner. Students who struggle coming up with independent observations will benefit from working with peers and listening to their ideas and descriptions. Allowing students to draw what they see at each station provides them with an alternative means of representing their understanding and what they see at each station. Also, pushing them to create an image with as much detail as possible, might guide students to new ways of describing what thy see. I briefly modified the observation worksheet for my ELL students, IEP students, and students who generally struggle with writing. Their worksheet incorporates a word bank allowing students to circle vocabulary used to describe what they see at each station. Below the word bank they are given the opportunity to add their own descriptions if they think of any words not provided within the word bank. The rest of the class will be required to come up with their descriptions independently. VI. Activity description and agenda

a. Describe the activities that will help your students understand the content of your class lesson by creating an agenda with time frames for your class. Be prepared to explain why you think each activity will help students on the path toward understanding.

Time Activities / Instructions Materials


10 min Introduce the lesson; acknowledge that students will be using their five senses to come up with rules about each state of matter. First job is to transition through centers making observations. -Go over definition of properties: describe how matter looks, feels, smells, and tastes. -split class into four groups.

40 min

Stations: Gas station – bubbles, water boiler, balloon. Liquids station – soap, water, milk, honey. Solids station – textbook, water bottle, rock, towel Reading station – students will read about the states of matter and complete questions.

-All materials listed under each station -24 observation worksheets

10 min -At tables briefly discuss what everyone found. -Unpacking observations and creating a class list of rules for: gases, liquids, and solids. Rule has to always be true. -Give students opportunities to disagree with a rule and provide evidence.

-post paper

b. What particular challenges, in terms of student learning or implementing planned activity, do you anticipate and how will you address them?

I anticipate students will struggle finding different words to describe the various items they’re observing. I will open the lesson by explaining how scientists use their sense to find properties (in this circumstance: what they see, feel and smell). For certain students I will provide a word bank to catalyze their descriptions and vocabulary usage. Working in groups will also allow students to build off each others observations and knowledge. VII. List the Massachusetts Learning Standards this lesson addresses. Physical Science 2. Compare and contrast solids, liquids, and gases based on the basic properties of each of these states of matter.


VIII. Reflection

a. In light of all areas of planning, but especially in terms of your stated purpose and learning goals, in what ways was the activity(ies) successful? How do you know? In what ways was it not successful? How might the activity be planned differently another time?

b. What did you learn from the experience of this lesson that will inform your next LAP?

This lesson, which was also my round, had a central theme of exploration,

experimentation and developing observations. Overall, I thought it played a crucial role

in giving students copious experiences working with and testing different real examples

of gases, liquids, and solids. Looking at observation worksheets, the majority of students

did well in answering the key questions for each station, which were: if it holds its own

shape, if it flows, and if it takes the shape of its container.

Students did a good job answering the key features and successfully communicated this

information while creating our class rules, which is evident on our chart. The class

recognized that: solids cannot be poured and maintain their own shape, liquids can be

poured and take the shape of their container, and that gas cannot be poured and can

expand. Students missed the important fact that gases will take the shape of a closed

container, and most of the times, fill the entire space available. For future references, I

should’ve directed student’s attention to this detail at the gas station, particularly when

looking at the balloon and bubbles. Analyzing if the balloon and bubbles are filled

completely or only partially, would’ve helped students construct the understanding that

gases take the shape of a closed container, but when the container is not closed some gas

particles will escape.


During our post-lab discussion on the rug, students were able to transfer most of the

important information observed and discovered through the centers. I had encouraged

students to be very critical during this process, and pushed them to carefully analyze what

their peer’s contribution. In a couple of instances, students achieved these goals and by;

challenging a students suggestion for a rule, asking if it is always true or always not true,

and then presenting a counter example explaining why it can’t be a rule but can be added

to the “sometime true” section. For example, one student suggested that liquids always

smell because the examples at the liquid station definitely had an odor. However, after

asking the class if this is always true or only sometime true, one student explained that

water normally doesn’t have a smell and it shouldn’t be added to the rules but the

“sometimes true” section.

Despite the success in meeting the lessons overarching goals, there were multiple

opportunities for improvement, in terms of implementation, support, and students

engagement. Despite student’s ability to answer the key questions at each station, I was

disappointed in student’s abilities to generate observations. Looking at their observation

worksheets, a lot of students only offered a couple of comments on the matters

appearance, texture, or odor.

A couple of simple modifications could’ve increased student’s effort and output, which

would be beneficial for future references. I think that giving students 10 minutes at each

station was a little excessive, and gave them opportunities to fool around with the


materials. More explicit instructions would’ve also been helpful, because I don’t think

students knew they needed to generate observations on every object/substance at the

station. Having students summarize and reiterate the instructions, and what they needed

to do at each station would’ve solidified the goals and confirmed they were ready to get

started. It can be difficult finding the necessary vocabulary to describe observations,

especially when it comes to gases, so it would’ve been advantageous for students to

generate some sensory words ahead of exploring the different centers.

clark university master of arts in teaching programgas station – bubbles, water boiler, balloon....

Documents