Dawn Gruber

2A. Scaffolding Lesson Plan

LESSON AS OBSERVED IN CLASS
Sharon Regensburger
January 25, 2013
Science Lesson Plan
Objective: Students will conduct an investigation of 4 rocks to determine which
rocks contain the mineral calcite.
Procedure:
1. Introduce the 4 rocks: basalt, limestone, marble and sandstone.
2. Discuss student sheet on page 10 of notebook and discuss what a geologist
would do give four new rocks to study.
3. Distribute earth material and allow the children about 10 minutes to
complete their observations.
4. Share their observations and discuss difference between a rock and a
mineral. **Remind them they are observing ROCKS not minerals.
5. Introduce calcite and tell them it is one of the most common minerals on the
Earths surface. It is used in items such as jewelry, books, carpet, and
toothpaste. Tell them that we are going to find out if calcite is an ingredient
(mineral) in any of these 4 rocks.
6. Discuss calcites unique property. Tell them: Calcite has a property that no
other mineral has. It reacts with cold acid. A field geologist often carries a
small bottle of hydrochloric acid to test rocks for calcite. Because hydrochloric
acid is dangerous, we will test rocks for calcite with a less concentrated acid:
vinegar.
7. Observe calcite and vinegar.
8. Put calcite sample in a vial. Add 25 ml of vinegar and observe what happens.
9. Discuss calcites special property that it fizzes quite actively when placed in
the acid.
Ask: From the observations made earlier, which of the rocks do you think
might have calcite as an ingredient? No way of knowing just by observing.
What could we do to find out for sure if there is calcite in any of these rocks?
Do the vinegar test and watch for bubbles.
10.Hand out the vials and show the children how to place them in the corner
sockets of the tray.

11.Put one rock in each vial. Make sure the children place the label with the
appropriate rock and vial. Pour the vinegar-about 25ml of vinegar- in each
vial. (Adults will do this for each tray)
Allow the children to observe and note their findings in their notebook (page
11) and put a check next to the rocks they think contain calcite.
12.Discuss the findings and see if everyone agrees that limestone contains
calcite and that basalt does not. Raise the debate whether the right kind of
bubbles were observed for sandstone and marble. Suggest to them that they
might need another test in order to be sure. We will let the vials sit overnight
and check them for more clues on Monday.
Closure: Today we learned that a geologist will use acid to test for the
presence of calcite in rocks.

REVISED LESSON USING THE SCAFFOLDING FORMAT

Science Lesson Plan- Calcite Quest: Vinegar Test
Objective: Students will conduct an investigation of 4 rocks to determine which
rocks contain the mineral Calcite.
Materials/Hand-Outs: Tray with Vials, 4 rocks: basalt, limestone, marble and
sandstone, A Calcite sample, Vinegar and a Copy of the Science Notebook (page 10
& 11) pulled up on the overhead projection.
Procedure:
1. Activate the students prior knowledge. Get students thinking about a
Geologist and try to get them to remember what they do and what do they
look for when studying rocks unfamiliar to them. Ask students, What does a
Geologist do? Prompt and cue students with questions like, What are some
things a Geologist is interested in? (Look for the answers of Rocks, Minerals,
Crystals and Land Formations), What do they look for when studying
rocks?(Look for the answer of Properties), What are Properties? Ask them
to refer back to the lesson from the day before when they discussed
Geologists and what they look for in rocks (looking for the answers: size,
diameter, hardness, circumference, shape, mass/weight, shape, texture,
color, depth and ingredients (minerals)).
2. Teacher Modeling: Introduce the 4 rocks that will be used in the investigation
today and explain to them that today they will play the role of a Geologist
and investigate whether or not the rocks contain the mineral Calcite. First,
what I want to do first is look at the rock Basalt. As I am looking at it, I see
that it is light tan in color, it feels rough on the edges. With Page 10 of the
Science Notebook pulled up on the board from the overhead projector, I will
write the properties that I observed in the box marked Basalt.
3. Teacher and Class do it together: Can anyone else tell me a property that
they are observing while looking at Basalt? I will write down any other
properties the students mention. Next, lets look at Limestone. What
properties can we observe just by looking at the rock? (I will be looking for
the some of the properties that we talked about at the beginning of the
lesson.) I will fill in the boxes on the board for the students to copy into their
notebook. Repeating with the remaining rocks.
4. Tell the class that today will be testing the rocks for a specific property. That
specific property is the mineral Calcite. Remind the students that all rocks
contain minerals and we are testing to see if the 4 rocks today have Calcite
as a property. Discuss with the class that a Geologist will normally use
hydrochloric acid to test for Calcite, but because hydrochloric acid extremely
dangerous, we will be using vinegar to test the rocks for Calcite.

5. Each student has a vial that one of the adults in the classroom will go around
and fill with the vinegar. Explain to the students, Once your vial is filled with
vinegar, take the sample of Calcite and put in into the vial I will demonstrate
this with my vial that I will be holding. After you place your calcite sample
into the vial, observe what happens. I will show them my vial and the
observation that the special property that Calcite has is that it Fizzes when
placed in acid.
6. Individual: The student will perform the experiment with their own vial and
Calcite sample and observe the fizzing.
7. Small Groups work together: The students will be broken down into 8 groups.
(There are only 8 trays with the 4 rock samples/vials). The trays are each
labeled with the rock names next to the rock. Instruct the groups to put the
rock into the vial that is closest to the rock and keep the label with
corresponding rock. (Adults will be going around filling the vials with vinegar.)
8. Allow the groups to observe and note their findings (Remind them they are
looking for whether or not that particular rock fizzes and at what rate is the
fizzing occur) in their notebook and to put a check next to the rock(s) they
think might contain Calcite.
9. Closure: Discuss the findings and write in answers to students observations
on the projected notebook page on the board. Ask the question on who
agrees that limestone contains Calcite based on the observations made.
What about Basalt? Ask what observations were made with Marble and
Sandstone. Raise the question, Was there any difference in the rate of the
fizzing bubbles for each rock? Suggest to the students since the
observations are inconclusive whether or not each rock definitely contains
Calcite or not that they may need to perform other tests in order to be sure.
Instruct the students that we will let the vials site overnight and check them
for more clues if any tomorrow.
Teacher reflection:
Was the lesson successful?
Was there enough class time to complete the entire experiment?
Did I explain the process of this observation in the simplest terms so that every
understood?
What would I do differently next time?