Rationale
Delaware’s science curriculum is in a transition phase which allows me some freedom to create learning opportunities that align to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), even if they don’t align to the current grade level curriculum map. The aim of the three stranded approach of the NGSS is to more fully engage students in critically using science rather than memorizing facts. At the same time, science should be for all, including those that struggle with literacy. My job is to design experiences and share visual representations that will help students discover and understand key ideas relating to temperature and change of state in some cases with minimal reliance on text support.
This particular unit is designed to meet both the NGSS and a wide range of students’ abilities and backgrounds. Students will use science and engineering practices to answer a question of their own choosing while incorporating Common Core math and language standards. Although I will be implementing it in sixth grade, it could be used across the middle school grade bands.
The unit is divided into three parts. It will start with the phenomenon of popping corn. Students are provided with a variety of resources to build background knowledge. Then students will look at the thermodynamics of heat transfer as it relates to phase changes using water. Lastly, they will design, execute, and analyze their own experiments connected in some way to popcorn. Depending on readiness, students may do additional research on the structure of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids as it relates to both oils used in preparation and in flavoring.
As stated earlier, this unit serves as a bridge. In the Science Education for Public Understanding Program unit “Studying People Scientifically,” students learn about some aspects of investigation protocol such as the use of a control, multiple trials, sample size and data analysis. They learn about qualitative and quantitative data and how each type provides information. “Being Corny” increases the rigor by requiring the students to generate the questions, hypotheses, and procedures. The properties of water and its changes of state provide a link to the Earth History unit that follows. Whether as a source of weathering (frost wedging), erosion (glaciers, running water), or transpiration and evaporation, water’s changing states affect the Earth’s surface. Lastly, the concept of transformation of energy and energy and motion relate to the current Forces and Motion unit.
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