This unit’s essential question is “What is energy and how does it’s transfer impact our natural world?”
During the first lesson in the unit students will discover what energy is in it’s most basic and uncategorized sense. Following this lesson students will discover properties of light, heat, electricity, and sound to move on to deeper investigation. The deeper investigation of this unit will require students to investigate through different mediums, including the scientific method, how energy transfer of light, heat, electricity, and sound impact the way which objects and matter in our world reacts in specific situations.
How does this unit enable students to experience the power of their minds and their capacities as learners and doers (powerful learning)?
The structure of this unit is that for the majority of the lessons are two days, the first day focuses on the strengthening their ability to complete research. Researching a specific topic is a skill which my students are still relatively new to. Each time a student gives an answer this unit I will be requiring them defend their answer. Usually when we are working on science there tends to be a correct and an incorrect answer. Energy transfer is a special type of unit because energy transfers in so many ways that as long as the student can use evidence to defend their thinking, most often this will be able to be considered correct. This need for rationale empowers the students and learners and shows how powerful their mind is because I am valuing their thought process and application of knowledge rather than rote memorization.
The students will also be taking part in experiments. This will be a huge way to empower my students as doers. In the past students have participated in teacher led experiments. During this unit, students will be taking the lead of their experiments. I will only be answering questions students have no way of knowing the answer to or intervening when the children could harm themselves or others. This will require students to work through their problems and in the end become true doers.
How does this 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?
During this unit students will be scientists every step of the way. The students will conduct research as individuals, pairs, in groups through multiple different research strategies and using different mediums. Students will conduct a variety of science experiments, I believe that it is important that the students are leading the experiments because this requires them to grow in their independence and allows them to grapple with the questions they are forming and coming across more naturally.
Prior to touching the materials and then throughout the experiment student will be completing their lab reports.This will allow the students to become familiar with creating a lab report as science students and scientists do. This will be a modified lab report, however it will still be asking the students similar questions as would be asked in a full scale lab report. Each member in the group will be completing their own lab report, however they will be discussing each question as a group. Therefore this will help them grow as individuals, group members, writers, speakers, and thinkers.
Following the students’ completion of their experiments, the students will come to the rug to share what their experiment was, what results they found and why they believe these results occurred. We call this gathering and sharing of outcomes a “science conference”. Before starting the first science conference I will explain to the students what science conferences are and how they are utilized in the adult science community. During this time students will be sharing/defending hypothesis using scientific language. This is another way is which I am allowing and encouraging the students that they are true scientists. In addition to this the students are learning become academic speakers and researchers.
How does this unit incorporate literacy development, including capabilities of proficient readers, writers, and speakers?
Throughout this unit students will become not only stronger readers, but they will also strengthen their ability to read science focused materials. The students will be asked to read specific sections out of a textbook, be introduced to a multitude of new vocabulary words, and be asked to follow step by step experiment instructions.
This unit will not have any lengthy writing assignments, however throughout this unit students will become stronger writers by practicing the skill of note taking. Each lesson (except the review and test taking lesson) will require the students to either be introduced to new vocabulary and concepts or will require them to make observations or rationalize what they are seeing in an experiment and then write it down. This is a special type of writing which so far this year the students have had minimal interaction with. The students will be given explicit modeling and instruction on how to complete this type of writing. Over time they will become more proficient at this type of skill.
The students will grow as speakers in two ways, as communicators and presenters. Each time that the students provide an answer they will be asked to expand on that answer and tell me what makes them come to that conclusion. The students will grow as presenters through “science conferences” mean that at the end of each experiment day the students will gather around the rug to share out what their experiment was and what they discovered.
How does this unit develop trust in the classroom as a learning community?
For over half of the days in this unit students will be working in lab groups. They will be depending on one another to complete their lab reports. I anticipate their being bumps in the road with certain personalities on each day depending on external circumstances ( what their mood is depending on them as people and how their day has gone). Each day I will need to pre teach what is expected of them as group members. After observing the group work in the first few lessons I will determine whether or not I need to be more rigid about assigning the students roles or if they are doing a good job working together. Again I anticipate the role assignments being necessary for some groups, but not all.
As for class discussion, The students will be given a relatively base knowledge/introduction and then the students will be asked to give specific examples from their life. This will encourage trust in our community because it will allow for the students to share personal information and make personal connections to one another. In addition to this, the fact that there are multiple examples allows for more entry points for students. With energy flow it is tricky to classify certain examples as a specific type of energy flow, therefore this allows me to open more space for explanation of their thinking which then allows for less focus on right or wrong and more space to take risks which would then build trust.