Lesson Plan 3 Wednesday, April 2

nd

Objective: To perform a real life experiment to demonstrate that mechanical energy can be converted into heat
energy.
Equipment and Preparation: Set up each table with all the supplies and a worksheet on each
table. Essentially the supplies are a cut off open plastic pop bottles with wholes already them,
exposy gel, sytrofoam sheets, saran wrap, scissors, tape, a red plastic piece of plastic to be
used as a paddle, yellow rope, a cup of oil, towels, a digital thermometer, 4 soup cans, and a
hollow lightweight rod
Youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HsRcQTi-JE that shoud be dow!oaded i! adva!ce. "t is a visua
demo!st#atio! o$ the same ab they a#e doi!%.
&e#missio! must be %#a!ted i! adva!ce $#om the schoo admi!st#atio! si!ce we wi be th#owi!% heavy soup ca!s w#apped i!
towes o$$ o$ the 2
!d
$oo# baco!y' (i !eed some e)t#a suppo#t sta$$ a!d vou!tee# teache#s dow! beow i! the $i#st $oo#
ca$ete#ia be!eath the baco!y.
What the teacher does What the students are doing and
thinking (told from their perspective)
Purpose, expectations, assessment,
reminders
Start off the class by saying Who
thinks it is fair that you can't throw
soup cans over the 2
nd
floor railing
down to the first floor below? Well
today I got special permission to do
just that!
Some are thinking Oh great I get to
have fun!
I want the students who like moving
around and are kinesthetic learners
that science can come to life and it is
not just something stale and boring
that we do in the classroom.
Point out the most important thing
that the students for safety purposes
must get the oral consent of the
instructor before they throw their soup
cans over the railing. This is for safety
purposes and it must be adhered to.
Some students will be thinking Why
so uptight?
Others will be thinking I am glad I got
permission
I think the students will mostly behave
but since there are legal implications
if things go wrong and under
Canadian law I am regarded as a
prudent parent I need to be as
careful as possible.
Show them the youtube video of the
experiment that they are going to
perform.
Students will pay careful attention
since it is a quick way for them to get
snapshot of what is expected of
them.
The purpose of this video is to give
students a very quick orientation to
the lab. It is good for those who are
not good at reading directions or just
dislike reading.
Instruct everyone to divide up into
groups of three and go over to a
table where all the equipment and a
worksheet is waiting for them.
Tell them they can start working and
to follow the directions on the
worksheet.
Students are thinking:
Cool I love labs..I want to
throw things as soon as
possible
I hope my partner does all the
work for me...I always get
nervous during labs
This is neat that we can
imitate what we saw on
youtube.
I hope there aren't too many
complicated calculations on
the worksheet
Remind each group to write their
names on the worksheets.
From this point I will just monitor that
the students are not drifting mentally
and staying on task. The most
important thing is to monitor for
safety.
I should have a fellow teacher
helping me and I will instruct them at
some point they should go the
bottom of the Leo Hayes on the 1
st

floor cafeteria and I will stay on top
and monitor the top balcony area.
If students finish early and have
finished the questions on their
worksheet I will ask them to compare
the difference in temperature values.
Will go around asking some of the
students the questions on the
worksheet to see how they answered.
At the very end I will remind them to
fill out their exit sheets. (They can use
the scissors to cut out three exit sheets
on the final page of the worksheet)
At this point students should be filling
out their forms.
Some may be wondering how they
can calculate the exact energy the
liquid oil solution recieved.
I expect that this lab will run smoothly
as it is not that complicated.
I hope students get a more firm grip
of the material and that they can
relate what they are doing in this lab
to what they learned in class.