Scientix Lesson plan

Title SAVE THE MOTHER EARTH

Author(s) FRAȚILĂ ALINA MIAHELA

Abstract
The project aims to bring to mind the problems facing nature, in order to find feasible solutions
for maintaining a clean environment, conducive to maintaining life. At the same time, we want to
make students aware and responsible for their role in this process.
Keywords
POLLUTION
EARTH
GLOBAL WARMING
CLIMATIC CHANGES
Licenses
 Attribution CC BY. This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon
your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is
the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination
and use of licensed materials.
Summary table
Subject
ENVIRONMENT, CHEMISTRY, HEALTHY LIFE, ENGLISH
LANGUAGE, SOCIAL SCIENCES.

Topic(s) within the CLIMAT CHANGES, GLOBAL WARMING

subject

Key real-life topic GLOSS MELTING, BASE, ACIDS, PH, LIQUID DENSITY

Age of students
8-10 YEARS
Preparation time 50 MIN

Teaching time 2 HOURS

The work presented in this document has received funding from the European Union’s H2020 research
and innovation programme – project Scientix 4 (Grant agreement N. 101000063), coordinated by
European Schoolnet (EUN). The content of the Learning Scenario is the sole responsibility of the authors
and it does not represent the opinion of the European Commission (EC) or EUN, and neither the EC or
EUN are responsible for any use that might be made of information contained.
 Online teaching https://climatekids.nasa.gov/climate-change-meaning/
material https://frugalfun4boys.com/ice-melting-science-experiment/
https://padlet.com/wall/w6g62q73wrvm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqHp03RRTDs
Offline teaching
material paper, pencils, video projector, laptop, red cabbage, glasses, stew,
baking soda, detergent, oil, food coloring, pipette, observation sheets

Integration into the curriculum

This scenario can be integrated in the curriculum of natural sciences, chemistry, mathematics,
civic education through:
- Maintaining a clean, non-polluting environment,
- Conduct experiments to teach students to find the density of liquids,
- Experiments on bases, acids, melting ice,
- Awareness of the role of every citizen for maintaining a healthy environment
Aim of the lesson
At the end of the lesson, students will know how to protect the environment, they will have
information about what climate change means and its effects on people and the planet.
Outcome of the lesson
Students will be able to:
● make a short movie about the results of global warming
● create an art gallery of waste materials they will collect in their school
● make a website of the project where they upload their experiments
● design an art work with the waste materials
● write a play depicting the mother earth and how it is affected by the climate change,
fossil fuels and human waste
● make presentations in English regarding deforestation, recycling and reusing natural
resources and solutions to these problems
Trends
Project-Based Learning: students get fact-based tasks, problems to solve and they work in
groups. This kind of learning usually transcends traditional subjects.

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STEM Learning: Increased focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics subjects in
the curriculum
Collaborative Learning: a strong focus on group work.
21st century skills.
● Transversal skills such as problem solving, creativity and making-decision
● sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, cultural awareness and expression, personal and
social responsibilities
● Subject-based competencies such as speaking and writing skills in a foreign language
Flexibility and compliance: Work effectively in complex and prioritized environments.
• Critical thinking: reason to understand.
• Social and intercultural skills: Work adequately and productively with others.
Activities
Before starting the project:
1. The evidence of pollution and the statistics will be shown to the students by means of
technology by teachers.
2. They will also be taken to places where environmental pollution has a tangible effect on
the environment and visit NGOs related to environment so as to get a background knowledge on
the issue of environmental pollution.
3. Students are expected to have meetings to brainstorm problems regarding the climate
change with the knowledge they will have gathered in this process and share the responsibilities
that are required to be taken.
Name of Procedure Time
activity
1. Students will collect all the waste materials in their school and design a 10 min
tool with the waste materials.
2. Students will write a play depicting the mother earth and how it is 30 min
affected by the climate change, fossil fuels and human waste
3. Experiment 1 Gloss melting 20 min
students will take a plastic cup, moisten it with water and put it in the
freezer to freeze well. They will also put a very small amount of blue
dye, so that the ice gets a bluish hue.
They will take a large plastic bottle and cut off the top. They will fill the
bottle with water.
They'll take the ice out of the glass. I will ask the children to make
assumptions about what is going to happen: will the ice sink or float?
I put the ice in the water bottle. I watch how it floats on the surface of the
water and how most of the ice stays under water.

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 I put the aiberg in a larger bowl of water or in a bathtub. Watch it float
and see how long it takes to melt completely.
Talk about how polar bears use icebergs to move from one place to
another and how global warming makes ice melt much faster.
Topics to be discussed during the activity:
What is an iceberg?
How is an iceberg formed?
Where do icebergs disappear?
Where is more ice, on the surface of the water or underwater?
4. Experiment 2 Liquid density 15 min
Students will pour liquid dishwashing detergent into the jar (up to a
height of about two centimeters). They will then carefully add about two
centimeters of water. If they want, they can color the water before putting
it in the jar. They will carefully pour oil over the water.
They will let the liquids separate.
They will mix lightly and watch what happens. Let the liquids calm
down and see if they separate again.
Try pouring water first, then oil and then detergent.
Fill a jar with water. Put a few drops of dye in the oil. With a pipette,
pour drops of colored oil into the water and watch what happens.
Topics to be discussed during the activity:
What do you think will happen if we pour water over the oil? But oil
over water?
What do you think happens if we mix water with oil?
5. Experiment 3 Base, acids, PH 15 min
Students will work with a finely chopped cabbage (as for salad) the
teacher puts the cabbage in a saucepan, pour boiling water over it so that
the water turns purple.
drain the liquid and use it to experiment. In a glass, the students will pour
water (about half). In another, pour water and add a teaspoon of baking
soda. In the third glass, add two tablespoons of vinegar. Pour a little
cabbage juice into each glass (with water, vinegar and baking soda) and
watch what happens!
You will see that plain water has turned purple, water with vinegar has
turned pink and water with baking soda has turned green!
Topics to be discussed during the activity:
Some substances and objects in nature are acidic, have a low pH (less
than 7). These are: vinegar, lemon juice, pickles, wine, tomatoes, apples.
Other substances are alkaline, ie they have a high pH (higher than 7):
baking soda, salt, sea water, bread, milk. Pure water is neutral, ie it has a
pH of 7.
Red cabbage contains a substance, called anthocyanin, which reacts in
contact with different depending on the pH of the substances it comes in
contact with. That is why the color of the water changes to pink, green or
purple.
6. students, based on the materials and experiments learned, make a digital 30 min

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 book, using the Stroy Jumper application.

Assessment
In this project, classroom-based formative assessment will be used as teachers will observe the
learning process and students will assess themselves and their peers in classroom discussions.
Teachers will be present in the students’ meetings for giving advices by asking ‘What about?
How would it be different if…? What if we knew…?’ type of questions, they will reinforce
students’ ideas and plans on what to do to solve the problem by giving positive feedback and
enabling each students to think in an alternative way. Students will review their peers by a peer-
assessment tool during the meetings and they will get their reviews to see their strengths and
weakness to be able to work on them in the next meetings. There will also be group assessment
tools and students are also expected to keep e-portfolios about their research, meetings and
visits to NGOs.

Student feedback
The students' feedback will be offered throughout the activity, through free conversations,
through the observation sheets of the experiments.
About Scientix
Scientix, the community for Science education in Europe, promotes and supports a Europe-wide
collaboration among STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) teachers,
education researchers, policymakers and other STEM education professionals. If you need more
information, check the Scientix portal, or contact either the Scientix National Contact Point or
Scientix Ambassadors in your country.

The main idea of the plan is well defined and topical. It refers to the responsible use of
electricity, to renewable energy.
The materials are well designed and true for the students who are part of the class
The lesson is interdisciplinary, it uses competencies from all disciplines
21st century skills are well defined in the lesson plan and students are invited to demonstrate
them.
Certainly, the activities are connected to today's world, especially in the context of the need to
find inexhaustible resources.
I appreciate that the students' feedback is given by their own opinion and there are no
right or wrong answers.

The lesson meets all the criteria for the Stem lesson. Congratulations to the proposer.