Marielle Slagel11/7/12Enrichment 2 Lesson 4

Subject: Science Topic: Light: How does light TravelGrade: 3rd Grade (after school program at Central Elementary)Time: 1 hour

Description and Context: Holly Whiteman and I worked with three students from Central Elementary School. Two of them were our regular students and one was a new student that had just arrived that day. This is the fourth lesson in a series of lessons about light.

IN Academic (k-12) Standards:

SCI.3.1.5 2010

Observe and describe how light is absorbed, changes its direction, is reflected back and passes through objects. Observe and describe that a shadow results when light cannot pass through an object.

W 2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

a. Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.

b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details. c. Use linking words and phrases (e.g., also, another, and, more, but) to

connect ideas within categories of information. d. Provide a concluding statement or section.

Student Characteristics and anticipated challenges: Students may need assistance in predicting what materials light will or will

not reflect through Students will need a reminder to listen as the teacher talks Students will need to apply their understanding of opaque and transparent

light

Objectives:

Language Objectives: Students will be able to write in their lab books their hypothesis for what

materials the light will travel through. They will write their observations in two sentences at the end of the experiment.

Learning Objectives: Students will be able to describe transparent, translucent, and opaque light

in context. Students will be able to form a prediction and write their observations from a

science experiment.

Key Vocabulary: Light Opaque light Transparent light Translucent light Hypothesis Observations Prediction Energy

Materials: Magic Penny

o Pennyo Styrofoam or paper bowlo Cup for pouring water

Pencil in a Glasso Clear plastic cupo Watero Pencil

Student Lab book sheet

Description:Students have learned that light travels in a straight line from its source until

it strikes a surface. When light strikes a surface that it passes through into another material it bends or refracts. For this lesson, we will look at how light bends in different materials such as water. It bends because it travels at different speeds through materials with different densities. Light travels more slowly through water than it does the air around us, therefore it refracts.

When a pencil is placed in water, it looks as though the pencil is bending at the surface of the water. The light hitting the pencil part sticking out of the glass goes to the eye in a different angle than the light from the part of the pencil that is under the water. The reason is because the light refracts as it leaves the water and enters the air.

Introduction:1. Use the K-W-L chart to refer back to what we talked about and review2. Ice Breaker

Activity:1. Have a plastic cup, pencil, penny, Styrofoam cup, and a cup for pouring water.2. Tape a penny to the bottom of an empty bowl and have students stand where

they cannot see the penny but are still close3. Add water to the bowl4. The penny will then appear in full view5. Next, have two cups – one with water and one without6. Show how when you insert a pencil into the cup without water it looks

straight, but when you put it in the cup with water the pencil looks bent7. Have students insert the pencil into the cup and observe what happens8. Have students record their observations on their science data sheets9. Make a learning web about light and the different ideas they have learned

about light branching off10. Have student write a paragraph describing the web11. Refer back to the K-W-L chart created on the first day12. Move post-its from the want to learn column to the learn column and write

down what they have learned about light from the lessons

Conclusions:1. Discuss what happened during the two experiments.2. Ask:

o What are the two materials we used in this investigation?o What do you think caused the pencil to look bent?o What did you notice happened when you added water to the cup with

the penny?o Why do you think you could suddenly see the penny?

Adaptations:Holly and I differentiated our lessons based on our students learning

interests. We kept diverse learners in mind while we were planning. Visual learners enjoyed the penny science experiment where they only watched what was happening, while our kinesthetic learners enjoyed the more hands-on pencil experiment. The students were able to either write down what they learned and observed on their science data sheets or draw a picture of their observations instead. We gave special jobs to the students to keep them active in the lesson. We also gave certain students extra time to complete the K-W-L chart that needed it.

Reflection:Holly and I began this lesson by doing an icebreaker after receiving a new

student on our last day at Central. Cecelia seemed a little shy, so we wanted to get her warmed up to both us and the other two students, Atzel and Kevin. For the icebreaker, we had each student act out a personality trait about them and the other students would guess what it was, kind of like charades. Kevin acted like he was playing a videogame, Atzel showed how much he liked dogs, and Cecelia was a

ballerina. Although Cecelia did not want to act at first, we told her she could choose someone who would act it out for her, which she loved. The icebreaker ended up working out very well.

From there, we moved into the lesson. We began the lesson by doing a science experiment called the “Magic Penny Experiment.” The point of the experiment is to show how light reflects off of water. When the penny was in the bowl without water and the children stepped back, they could not see the penny. When water was added, however, the penny became visible again even though the students had not moved. They loved watching this experiment and asked to do it multiple times. Each time we did it, we changed a variable in the experiment such as the amount of water we put in, placement of the penny, etc., to see if it would still work.

After this experiment, we did another one where you place a pencil in a cup a cup with water and another pencil in a cup without. The pencil looks normal in the cup without water, but it looks bent in the cup without. The students were impressed to see the difference and Atzel even exclaimed, “Wow, the way the light reflects off the water makes it look like the pencil is broken!” The students wrote down their observations in both words and pictures on the observations sheet in their lab book following the experiment, and as they wrote, we had a conversation about opaque, translucent, and transparent light.

Immediately after the students finished their lab reports, Holly and I brought out the K-W-L chart that we had created using post-it notes on the first day. We explained that we were going to use blue post-it notes to write what we learned about light over the last four sessions. Kevin, Atzel, and Cecelia wrote down some terminology and big ideas they had learned. They struggled at coming up with ideas, so I modeled what they should be doing by writing down something that I had learned during this process for them to see. In the end, we came up with a lengthy list of ideas they had discovered about light. While the students may not have fully grasped the concept of light, it was clear that we had put some new ideas in their mind and had them thinking about light in a new way.

Community:

Our lesson was designed for an after school enrichment program at Central Elementary School. Central is a part of Pike Township and is located in Indianapolis, Indiana on Zionsville Road. According to enrollment statistics of 2010-2011, found on the DOE website, approximately 686 students attend Central. The population of Central is quite diverse, according to the same statistics 64% of students who are classified as black, 19% of students are Hispanic, 7% of students who are classified as white, and well as 7% multiracial, and 2% are Asian. Approximately 75% of the student population qualifies for free and reduced lunch. 17% require special education services and are 25% are English learners.

Students:

At Central Elementary School, my partner, Holly Whiteman, and I were paired with five third grade students. The children’s names were Sydney, Tyra, Kevin, Tony, and Atzel. We had high expectations for the progress the five students we worked over the course of our two sets of four enrichment sessions.

Sydney was one of the students in the group. Sydney has an all-consuming enthusiasm for learning. She could not wait to get started with the lessons and was a stickler for the rules. She always had something to say that was relevant to the lesson and had a clear understanding for directions and the learning that was taking place. Sydney also had a tenancy to be bossy and take over for the teachers when another student was misbehaving. At times, Miss Whiteman and I would have to ask her to let us handle a situation and enforce the rules. While subtle reminders to her peers is not always a bad thing, sometimes it became too much. Overall though, Sydney was the energy of the group.

Tyra was an extremely cooperative member of the group. Overall, she was a quieter member of the group, but she participated fully when she was expected to. Since many of the other students in the group had extremely outgoing personalities, she was overshadowed at times. However, Tyra was always extremely excited about the lessons, especially on the first day when she was able to work with a microscope. She brought a calming element to a group with a lot of personality.

Kevin was a student who was a little challenging to figure out at first. The first day we worked with Kevin he was very quiet and well behaved, however when his friend Tony joined us, we began having behavior problems. Those problems were typically solved when the two boys were separated. Kevin had a strong interest for learning about science and nature related issues, specifically concerning weather. He also had a tenancy to get down on himself when it came to writing and art projects, claiming that he was not capable of doing it as well as the other students. During the second enrichment session, Kevin often came in with distain for whatever we were about to do. With a little extra praise, however, Kevin was able to perform equally as well as his peers.

Tony was the most challenging student behaviorally. He tended to do the opposite of what was asked of him or only go half way. For example, if was asked him to sit on the floor, he would squat between the chair and the floor without actually sitting down. From the beginning, we used different behavioral techniques on Tony to try and get him to cooperate. We asked him to make up his own rules for the group along with the other student, and each week we would discuss the rules they made to see if we wanted to make any corrections. I also made a point to have a couple private conversations with Tony about how his days were and if there was anything we could do to make this process easier for him. After doing this, Tony’s behavior changed and we had very few issues with him. Tony also had an extremely high interest for learning about Emerald Ash Borers. He came up with extremely

deep and thoughtful questions about the bug that my partner and I had not considered.

Atzel was the hardest student in the group to get to know. He spoke very rarely during our time with him. Atzel came out of his shell the most at the end of the sessions when we performed the play. He was extremely excited to receive one of the main speaking roles and he got very into it, even using expression is his voice. It was remarkable to see how much his personality came through the script of a play. Atzel spoke Spanish, so having the text written out for him already probably made him more comfortable showing his personality.

Cecilia was a student that we only had for one day at the very end of our enrichment sessions. Although we did not get to know her as well, she was also an English language learner and was friends with Atzel. She was shy at first, but after we played an icebreaker, she really warmed up to the group. Although she had not learned about light previously, she kept up with the other students really well and we filled her in on everything she needed to know in order to understand what was happening.

Learning Theories:My partner and I specifically planned our lessons to incorporate all of the

levels of Reggie Routman’s Optimal Learning Model. The lesson was created to introduce new ideas about light. We began our lesson by doing an experiment about light for our students. This falls under the demonstration level of Routman’s Optimal Learning Model. We followed this by asking what they had remembered about light from post sessions. When we began the on the first week, the students knew very little about light besides a basic understanding that light bulbs produce light in a dark space so people can see. From this, I knew that we needed to start our lessons at the beginning and start from the most basic understanding of light as our foundation to build on. We used the shared demonstration level of the Learning Model when we performed the pencil experiment with the student’s help. We worked as a group and Holly and I gave the students prompts to write in the data book, which is the guided practice portion.

After some guidance from Ms. Bujarsky and myself, we had Rodney take over responsibility and lead our game; this fits in with the independent practice of the Optimal Learning Model. The following activities, creating a map and the scavenger hunt, also follow the guided practice and independent practice levels of the Optimal Learning Model. As I said before, Ms. Bujarsky and myself were extremely intentional in our planning so that Rodney would be set up for success and capable of reaching his full potential. Gradual release of responsibility was also important to our planning and teaching as the goal of the lesson was for Rodney to be able to identify and use the cardinal directions found on a compass.

Documentation:

Me prompting the students as they fill out their data sheet using both pictures and words.

Passing the pennies out to Kevin, Cecelia, and Atzel.

Kevin holding up the penny experiment that he gets to take home.

Making observations about the pencil experiment.

The finished product of the KWL chart the students made.

3.4 Active Engagement in Learning

Strategies and Methodologies Explained:I passionately believe that a hands on and active learning experience is vital

in order for children to be able to learn. Every lesson that I plan, I try to incorporate as much active learning and student engagement as possible. In order for students to actually remember what they are learning, they have to have some sort of involvement in their learning. This, to me, is one of the most important aspects of education.

Holly and I used the 5 E Model as well when planning our lesson. We began the lesson by engaging the students using a science experiment and made sure that the students were able to completely explore all of the materials involved in order to figure out what was happening in the experiment. We also made sure that they were each able to perform the experiment at least one time on their own. Following the experiments we elaborated on translucent, transparent, and opaque light and explained in greater detail what each one was. We also completely explained what happened in the experiment. Finally, we evaluated what the students had learned using both the KWL chart and the lab report data chart.

3.1 Integrating and Applying Knowledge for Instruction

Connections Among Instructional Methods and Materials:The materials my co-teacher and I used to build our lesson were carefully

selected. We looked through multiple experiments on light before zoning in on the two we used. We agreed that it was perfect because these two experiments were a little more complex than the ones we had done the previous week, and they naturally tied in the concepts we were teaching about light. Both experiments focused on reflected light as well as transparent, translucent, and opaque light. The materials we used allowed our students to be actively engaged in their own learning.

3.5 Communication to Foster Collaboration

Strategies and Methodologies Explained:Effective communication is vital in everything that we do as humans.

Without communication one cannot learn. One thing that was important to my co-teacher and I was to make sure that we had a strong sense of community within our group where our students felt free to communicate openly with us as well as each other. We tried to incorporate as many conversations as possible about light and real life experiences with light. While the students were reporting on their data sheets as well as when they were making the KWL charts, we were having conversations about light and the ways that the students were thinking about light differently. I also engaged in active communication by prompting my students on ideas pertaining to the lesson. Through my experiences with communication, and my minor in communications, I strongly believe that the social aspect of learning is essential. Students cannot learn by themselves. This is the reason why open communication and collaboration is present in this lesson.

Magic Penny

Pencil in a Glass

Draw a diagram of the pencil in the empty cup. Describe what you see.

Draw a diagram of the pencil in the cup of water. Describe what you see.