- Students will be able to define and demonstrate what a vibration is
- Students will know that sound is matter vibrating back and forth
- Students will know that sound travels better through a solid than the air
- Students will know that hummingbirds can produce sound by vibrating their wings
How does this unit develop key concepts and content understanding?
- Students will use new materials and act as scientists throughout the unit, moving about the room, working in pairs or small groups, and through whole group discussions.
- Students will also be thinking about a hummingbird throughout the unit, and answering the question “How does a hummingbird make sound?” by using their knowledge from these experiments.
- Students will participate in hands-on learning. Every experiment will allow students to think about a guiding question and then discover the answer through experimentation and, in the end, share it with the class. These activities should foster an authentic kind of learning which will create a much deeper understanding.
How does my unit enable students to experience the power of their minds and their capacities as learners and doers (powerful learning)?
- Students will be collaborating, working with partners, writing and analyzing, discussing, and drawing.
- Students will have numerous opportunities to write, draw, and discuss their observations.
- Students will practice making observations, questions, and inferences based on their experiments.
- Students will explain the “why” in their thinking and discuss why and how they came to their conclusions.
How does my unit develop intellectual and academic habits of mind, work, and discourse, including habits of independent or collaborative thinking and doing typical of readers, writers, speakers, creators, researchers and thinkers in the discipline (ways of knowing)?
- Students will practice using the scientific method. Students will begin making observations and then forming conclusions. They will record predictions and reflect back on their thinking at the end of their experiences.
- Students will be inferring and analyzing, using higher order thinking skills to answer guiding questions.
- Students will use the information they learned during experiments to inform their opinions.
This unit will have students discuss and record their observations throughout our experiments.
- Students will constantly, through speaking and writing, be reflecting on what they are seeing and doing. I will also use this as an opportunity to check for understanding, and informally assess my students throughout the unit.
How does this unit incorporate literacy development, including capabilities of proficient readers, writers, and speakers?
- Students will discuss and record their observations throughout our experiments.
- Students will make predictions and conclusions based on experiments. These will be written and then discussed at the end of each lesson.
- Students will orally reflect on their findings and how the experiment went after every lesson.
How does this unit develop trust in the classroom as a learning community?
- Students will work as partners, in small groups, and whole group lessons. Students will practice working together sharing ideas and materials.
- Students will practice multi-step experiments which will require good listening and everyone following directions.
- Students will work together to build a new, shared understanding of vibrations through hands-on science experiments. This shared learning process will certainly become part of our shared knowledge and build a classroom community.