LESSON PLAN-Penny Experiment

JMU Elementary Education Program

Emma Wesley
Victoria Sutton
September 25th 2020 at 10:30
September 21st 2020
Teacher reviewed on 9/22/20

A. Science

B. Conducting and Experiment

Prior to teaching this lesson, we had started a Nearpod about the scientific method. In the Nearpod we
had talked about and reviewed the six steps used to conduct a successful scientific experiment. The
Nearpod reviewed important aspects of conducting an experiment such as how to record and display
data. The vocabulary and steps that were learned about in the Nearpod will help students with this
penny and vinegar experiment and the paper airplane experiment that they do at home. This is an
appropriate activity as it allows for the students to apply the knowledge, they learned in the Nearpod to
a physical science experiment. This lesson falls apart of Unit 6 Science SOL 4.1. Also, to help
students prepare for this lesson, we did a matching of definitions for the steps of the scientific method
for students to complete prior to preforming this experiment.
Children enjoy whole brain in this lesson, I used motions to help students remember the six steps of
the scientific method. Both experiments are very active and involve participation from the students.
Students will be able to answer questioning by watching the whole group experiment and they will be
able to physically create through doing their experiment at home.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand – what are the broad Know – what are the facts, rules, Do – what are the specific thinking
generalizations the students should specific data the students will gain behaviors students will be able to do
begin to develop? (These are through this lesson? (These “knows” through this lesson? (These will also
typically difficult to assess in one must be assessed in your lesson.) be assessed in your lesson.)
lesson.)
Students will begin to understand Students will know how to apply Students will be able to perform
that each step of the scientific the scientific method accurately different scientific method steps:
method can help ensure for a They will ask to understand a
successful investigation Students will know about each question, research, prediction,
step in the scientific method experiment data analysis using a
Students will begin to understand chart, and make a conclusion.
why the scientific method is
important

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
What will your students do and say, specifically, that indicate every student has achieved your
objectives? Remember – every objective must be assessed for every student!

Informal: I will ask students to give me a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” after I ask students if they
know what each scientific method step is about.

Formal: Students will be applying what they know about the scientific method to an at home paper
airplane experiment. Students will be thinking about the question: Which airplane design went the
furthest? They will be researching different methods by looking at a website providing them different
designs and then explaining some of the information that they learned. Students will make a
hypothesis by describing an if/then statement about the design of their airplane. Students will collect
 data about the distance of airplane and other observations using a table. Lastly, students will make a
conclusion about which paper plane design worked the best.

Things to look for in their writing

Prediction: If/Then or “I Predict Statement”, an educated guess about how they will make their
airplane to fly the furthest. Examples: If I create a paper airplane that has a pointed front part, it will
fly further then my paper plane without the pointed edge.

Research: Students will write about what they learned by exploring the website.

Experiment: Students will build and test two paper airplanes that they make by using various materials
that they have in their home.

Data Collection: Students will record a number for the length or distance the airplane traveled.
Students will make observations for how the plane moved and record that information in the
observation part of the table

Conclusion: Students will make a final statement about how their plane flew and which design worked
better after they are finished collecting data.

E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if required)

4.1 The student will demonstrate an understanding of scientific reasoning, logic, and the
nature of science by planning and conducting investigations
F. MATERIALS NEEDED
Students:
Pencil
Paper
Chrome Book
Access to the various worksheets
Teacher
Penny
Vinegar
Cup
Water
Computer
Paper Towel
Plate
Pencil
Paper

G. PROCEDURE

The Penny Experiment-Class Experiment

DO
Preparation: the teacher will have vinegar, pennies and a paper towel, set up to where the
students can view what is occurring over zoom.

Introduction:
The teacher will remind the students how last science class, we went over the scientific
method steps in the Nearpod. The teacher will tell students that everyone should be watching
their zoom as we are going to be conducting a super fun class experiment. The teacher will
remind the students to keep eyes on the screen and stay muted unless called on to speak.

Teacher will say “I am going to need some people to remind me of what the six steps of the
scientific method are about”. As the teacher goes through the six steps she will hold up a
picture that represents each step and motion.

The teacher will say “The first step is questioning, thumbs up if you remember what this step
is about, thumbs down if you do not remember what this step is about”
The teacher will call on a student with a thumb up to share what they know about questioning.
The teacher will then ask for all the students to preform the motion that goes along with
questioning and students will preform the “thought bubble” motion that goes along with this
step.

The teacher will then say “The second step is researching, thumbs up if you remember what
this step is about, thumbs down if you do not remember what this step is about”
The teacher will call on a student that has their thumb up and ask for them to tell us about
researching. The teacher will then ask for all of the student to share the motions that they
know that goes along with researching which is the “typing” motion.

The teacher will say “The next step is predicting, thumbs up if you remember what is means
to make a prediction or hypothesis. The teacher will call on a student that has their thumb up
and ask for them to tell us about predictions. The teacher will then ask for the students to
preform the “hypothesis face” which is the motion used for making a hypothesis.

The teacher will explain that the next step is experimenting and ask for students to show if
they remember what this step is about by giving either a thumbs up or a thumbs down. The
teacher will call on a student that has their thumb up and ask for them to tell us about
experiment. The teacher will then ask the students to perform the “Pouring motion” which is
the motion used to show experiments

The teacher will say “The fifth step is analysis, thumbs up you remember what analysis means
and thumbs down if you do not remember what analysis is” The teacher will call on a student
that has their thumb up and ask for them to tell us about what analysis is about. The teacher
will then ask the students to show the analysis motion which is the “line graph” motion where
students show the line graph with their hands.

The teacher will say the fifth step is concluding, thumbs up if you remember what concluding
means and thumbs down if you do not remember what concluding is about” The teacher will
call on a student that has their thumb up and ask for them to tell us about concluding. The
teacher will then ask for the students to show that they know for concluding which is the
“closed C movement”.

Engage:

The teacher will say “Today, we are going to become real-life scientist today!”, and have
students stand up and stretch in the air and put on their lab coats.
Teacher will tell the class “Today, we are going to be conducting an experiment as a class
with pennies and vinegar and then at home, you all are going be conducting an experiment
with a paper airplane all by yourselves”

The teacher will share her screen which contains the Penny and Vinegar Worksheet” So that
students can view it the question. The teacher will tell the students, for this experiment, we
will be looking at the question: “What will happen if I place a penny on a paper towel with
vinegar?”

Teacher will tell students: Now, that we have our question, our next step is that we are going
to need to research” The teacher will share the brain pop video which shows information
about what acids and bases. The teacher will call on a few students to share what they learned
about acids and bases from the video. The teacher will repeat what was said in the video about
how acids erode metals while bases do not. The teacher will explain that vinegar is highly
acidic. The teacher will ask the students: “What do we think pennies are made up of” The
teacher will call on a few students to answer. The teacher will explain that pennies are made
of a metal called copper. The teacher will explain that this is an important thing for students to
know so that we can make a hypothesis.

The teacher will ask for the students to make a hypothesis based on our question: They will
complete an “If, then” statement about what will happen when a penny is put in vinegar. The
teacher will call on few students to share their hypothesis. The teacher will then make an
overarching hypothesis based on class consensuses.

The teacher will now explain that “Now that we have done our research and come up with a
hypothesis, we can now experiment and test to see what happens when we put the pennies in
vinegar.

The teacher will ask the student to first describe how the pennies look before they are put into
vinegar. The teacher will call on a student to describe how the pennies look. The teacher will
then begin the experiment by placing the penny onto a paper towel with vinegar. The teacher
will say “for the next few hours, and the next few days we are going to be making
observations and collecting data on what our pennies look like when they are soaked in
vinegar”. The teacher will explain that sometimes in science experiments take a long time and
that we will be returning to collect our data after the pennies have had a chance to react with
the vinegar.

Conclusion: Have students go over the motions of the six scientific steps again.

The Paper Airplane Experiment-Take Home

After the teacher explains how the penny experiment will sit for a while and that we will
record our data later. The teacher will now introduce the Paper airplane experiment where
children will be able to apply and conduct an experiment using the six scientific method steps
on their own.

The teacher will share her screen and have students look at zoom.

The teacher will tell students: “Now that we have been able to practice the six steps of the
scientific methods, and conducted an experiment as a class, you all are expert scientist!”
 The teacher will share her screen going through the google slides that the students will be
answering for the airplane experiment

The teacher will tell students that they will be answering the question: What will make my
paper airplane fly the farthest?

The teacher will then tell them they will be researching different airplane design methods by
clicking on the website link on the google slide

The teacher will then explain that they will be making an If/ then statement about what will
happen based on how they design their experiment

The teacher will explain how they will be making two paper airplanes at their home and will
measure the distance each paper airplane reached after three trials each and they will be
recording observations that they notice while the plane is in flying in their chart on the google
slides.

The teacher will tell them to record their findings by using the table chart on the google slide.
The teacher will explain that this is the data collection part of the experiment

The teacher will then tell students they must answer the conclusion questions after they are
done experimenting

The teacher will tell students to complete this google slide this afternoon for homework. The
teacher will tell students to turn in the google slide on google classroom. After, the teacher is
done going through each direction as I am sharing my screen. The teacher will have some
students repeat back these directions for completing the homework to the class.

The teacher will explain to students that it is now time for a break and that they should get up
and move around. The teacher will play the 10-minute timer.

H. DIFFERENTIATION
I will ensure that students who have trouble with knowing the six scientific method steps will be able
to access the Nearpod if they are having trouble following our class experiment.

I. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
The students could be confused as to why we are putting our pennies in vinegar. I will be sure to have
a clear explanation as to why we are putting our pennies in the vinegar.
Technology could not work . The main thing that would need to work for this lesson is zoom, as I am
doing the experiment over zoom and the students will watching. If for some reason zoom does not
work, I can send them a video of me completing the experiment on seesaw.
The students could be distracted and not pay attention I will remind students that they should be
watching the zoom experiment and have listening ears as I am preforming the experiment.
Lesson Implementation Reflection
As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to
guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.

I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why
you made them.

The actual teaching was different from my plans as I had planned to do an informal assessment of the students putting
their thumb up and thumb down if they knew each step of the scientific method. I had students raise their hand and tell
me if they knew each step and then I called on a few to share what they knew instead of doing the thumb up and down.
I made this chance because I was focused on hearing from students and wanted to make sure I could show them the
penny experiment. If I could reteach the lesson I would be sure to include the thumbs up or down informal assessment.

II. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student learning? Did
they learn? Who learned? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are
valid?

Based on the formal assessment of looking at some of the work that they had turned in for the paper airplane lesson
and the informal assessment of students answering questions about what they knew about the informal assessment, I
determined that most of them learned about the steps. The students that were on the live zoom showed they were able
to learn by participating and answering questions about the six steps such as “what does question mean” and “Can
someone give me an example of a hypothesis”. Students that missed the live zoom and watched the recording might
have missed some of the hands-on learning like the motions and the opportunity to share what they knew to the class .
After looking at the take home experiment and I determine that sixteen out of our twenty sends were able to know and
understand the six steps of the scientific method.

III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more
thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.

If I were to teach this lesson again, I would have given student more of an opportunity to share what they knew. For
example, as I was going through the experiment, I would have asked them more questions about what each step entails.
I would have also given them more of a step by step slide to follow along with as I was showing them the directions.

IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom
teacher?

Based on the assessment data, I would have students design their own experiment as a new lesson. The students have
seen lots of examples of the teacher going through an experiment where they come up with a question and then the
students do the next five steps. The students, however, could come up with their own testable question and build a
science experiment about it. Through the use of informal assessments such as asking students questions and by looking
at their paper airplane projects I noticed that most of the students ( 16/20) were able to show the motions and
identifying what each step of the scientific method was.

V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young
children as learners?

Children need repetition, I learned the importance of this as I was teaching. Children need movement and whole brain
activity to stay engaged. I hope to plan lessons in the future that incorporate a lot of repetition and body movement as I
found this to be very helpful in this lesson.

VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about teaching?
I was reinforced with the idea that a teacher needs to speak clearly when teaching. A teacher needs to give step by step
directions that help their students. A teacher also needs to give the students an opportunity to share their thoughts and
ideas. I felt that it was very helpful to have the student’s experiment.

VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about yourself?
I have learned that I can keep children engaged by being vocal and expressive. I hope to continue to be prepared and
enthusiastic through my teaching. I learned that it is important that a teacher has their resources made well before they
teach the lesson.