Inquiry Lesson Plan Template (with Four Ways of Thinking

connection)
Teacher:
Content & Title:
Grade Level:
Mrs. Stephanie Rudzki
Solar Energy
1st grade
Standards:
Science Concept 2 (PO 1.) - Identify various technologies (e.g.,
automobiles, radios, refrigerators) that people use.
Science Concept 4 (PO 1.) - Communicate the results of an
investigation using pictures, graphs, models, and/or words.
Objectives (Explicit & Measurable):
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to explain how solar
energy works by creating their own solar ovens to cook smores.
Evidence of Mastery:
Students will be given instructions on how to assemble their own solar
ovens. Parent volunteers will be available in the classroom throughout
the development of the solar ovens to provide added support and
guidance. Students will be assessed on the effort put forth to create a
working solar oven. Some may not work as well as other ovens, but
ultimately, the students effort and understanding of the learned
material are two areas that will be assessed at the end of this hands-on
lesson.
An example of a checklist I will use:
Name of Student

Solar oven was

assembled and
put out in direct
sunlight to cook
a smore

Student was able

to explain how
solar energy
works and
answer questions
about their solar
oven

Other comments

Sally
Jimmy
Tiffany
Carlos
Vladamir
Sub-objectives, SWBAT (steps that lead to completion of objective; sequence from
simple to more complex):

SWBAT explain what solar energy is

SWBAT follow written and verbal directions in order to assemble a solar
oven
Lesson Summary and Justification: (summary gives detailed information about what
students are doing. Justification why is this lesson being taught)
This lesson is to be taught on Day 4 of the 5-day unit of New Energy (Solar Energy). By Day
4, students have learned about what New Energy is and the different types of renewable
energy sources that are available. They have learned what the Sun is and the energy it can
provide is referred to as, Solar Energy. The students have also determined that certain
renewable energy sources work better in certain areas (Ex: solar works better in Phoenix
and wind energy works better in a city like Chicago). This days lesson focuses on the
creation of a solar oven that will be used to cook a smore for the students to enjoy later in
the afternoon.

Solar energy is becoming more and more popular in the Phoenix Metropolian area and it is
important for students to understand those panels are that they have been seeing pop up
on homes and buildings in their neighborhoods and schools. It is also crucial for students
(even at first grade) to understand the importance of using renewable energy sources (such
as solar) whenever possible because fossil fuels will not be around forever, and as the
population of the world increases, so is our energy consumption.
This lesson is an exciting, hands-on activity that brings learning to life for the students!
Background Knowledge: (What do students need to know prior to completing this
lesson)
Prior to completing this lesson, students will need to have a background knowledge of what
Solar Energy is and the basic responsibilities of the Sun. The students will need to know
that the Sun provides the Earth with heat and light and that without those two basic
elements, life as we know it would not exist.
Misconception: (what possible misleading thoughts might students have?)

If a spot is shady, there is no way it can be hot.

If the Sun can be seen, that means it is hot outside.

These are a couple of the possible misconceptions that may arise in this first grade lesson.
Process Skills: (what skills are you introducing or reinforcing)

Students will need to focus on their active listening skills. This is important for
completing the days activity since the solar ovens need to be assembled in a specific
way.
Students will also need to continue working on cooperation. This activity will be
completed in small groups so positive cooperation will be key in the days lesson.
Students need to maintain positive and open communication. Being a group activity,
all members of the group need to remember to communicate politely with one
another and with the parent volunteer that is assigned to the small group.
Four Ways of Thinking connection: (Provide a complete explanation of how your
lesson plan connects to futures, system, strategic, or values thinking. Define the way of
thinking you selected and used in this lesson plan. Remember, this should be included
meaningfully in the lesson plan.)
For this lesson, I will focus on FUTURES Thinking.
Futures Thinking is being able to look at decisions people in the past have made and see
how those decisions can and may affect the future.
Futures Thinking will be included in the explain portion of this lesson.
Key vocabulary: (list and define)
Materials: (list item and possible
quantity)
1. Sun: The star in which the Earth orbits
2. Heat: A form of energy that causes objects
1. pizza boxes (9)
to rise in temperature
2. Scotch tape
3. Energy: The ability to do work or complete a 3. scissors
task
4. black construction paper
5. clear plastic wrap
6. aluminum foil
7. science notebooks
8. pencils
9. wooden ruler (9)

Engage - In this section you should activate prior knowledge, hook student
attention, pose a question (IQ#1) based on your lesson objective that students
will seek to answer in Explore.
Teacher Will: (hook)
Students Will:
Have you ever seen food cooked outside? Do
you think that is even possible to do? What if

Actively listen as teacher engages

your parents got rid of their ovens in the

kitchen but you had to bring homecooked
chocolate chip cookies to school the next day?
What would you do? Today, you are going to
explore a way to cook food using a few simple
materials and the Sun! Please take out your
science notebooks and write a prediction
about how you think a piece of food could
possibly be cooked outside.

students with opening questions, and

respond thoughtfully as questions are
being presented

Students will write a prediction in their

science notebooks that explains how they
believe food can be cooked outside

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes

Teacher will utilize proper wait time in-between questions to give all
students an adequate amount of time to think of an answer or possibility to
the question(s).
Explore - In this section students should take the lead and actively use materials
to discover information that will help them answer the question posed in
Engage. Teachers may choose to give steps to follow, especially for younger students,
but the goal is for students to discover some or all of the sub-objectives of the lesson.
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #1)
Students Will: (list all steps)
We are going to have so much fun
today and we have some wonderful
parent volunteers in class to help us
with todays experiment.
Today, you will be working with your
table-buddies so there should be about
4 people to a group. Each group will
have an adult working with them to
help assemble something called a solar
oven. Do you remember hearing those
words earlier this week? There are
many different types of solar ovens
that we could make, but today we are
going to make one large enough to fit
smores for your entire group!
The materials that you will need will
be given to you by the adult who will
be working with your small group. You
will have a pizza box, tape, plastic
wrap, black construction paper,
aluminum foil, and a wooden ruler. The
materials are very limited. Does
anyone know what the word, limited
means?
So, we need to be very careful with
the supplies we are being given today
and we need to listen extremely
carefully to the instructions that will
be given by the adult in our group. Can
anyone repeat that very important
thing that I just said?

Students are actively listening to

the teacher speak.
Some type of acknowledgement will
be provided by the students as the
question is presented to them.

Students will raise hand to provide

a definition of what the word,
limited means.

Two students will volunteer to

repeat to the class that everyone
needs to be very careful with the
supplies/materials that will be
handed out to the groups.

Students continue to actively listen

to teacher instructions.

(I will have two different students

repeat to class that the materials need
to be handled with care.)
It will be very important to listen to
the adult in your group because he or
she will be giving you the instructions
to put together your very own solar
ovens. I will be walking around
observing today so all questions need
to be directed to your parent-buddy,
okay?

Students will put their notebooks

away and wait for further
instructions from the adult that will
be assigned to their group.

Please put your science notebooks

away in your desks and wait for your
parent-buddy to bring todays
materials to you.
At this time, the parent volunteers will
bring the activity materials to their
assigned groups. The adults received a
quick training session prior to the start
of school and have been given
background knowledge about the
current weeks unit and the days
hands-on activity. Printed instructions
have been passed out to the adults
Students will follow the directions
from:
that are being presented to them
http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/02/f20/
by the adult in their group. As
PizzaBoxSolarOven.pdf
directions are being given, the solar
ovens will be assembled.
All the instructions for the hands-on
activity are located on that handout.
First graders may need extra support
by their parent-buddy to help
assemble the oven.
Directions for creating the solar oven
as stated in the energy.gov handout:
1) Make sure the cardboard is folded
into its box shape and closed.
2) Place the piece of notebook paper in
the center of the lid of the box and
trace its outline on the lid. Put the
piece of paper aside.
3) Carefully cut the two long edges and
one of the short edges of the rectangle
that you just traced on the lid of the
box, forming a flap of cardboard.

4) Gently fold the flap back along the

uncut edge to form a crease.
5) Wrap the underside (inside) face of
this flap with aluminum foil. Tape it on
the other side so that the foil is held
firmly. Try to keep the tape from
showing on the foil side of the flap.
The foil will help to reflect the sunlight
into the box.
6) Open the box and place a piece of
black construction paper in so it fits
the bottom of the box. This will help to
absorb the sun's heat.
7) Close the box, roll up some
newspaper, and fit it around the inside
edges of the box. This is the insulation
that helps hold in the sun's heat. It
should be about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick.
Use tape to hold the newspaper in
place, but only tape it to the bottom of
the box, not the lid.
8) Cut two pieces of plastic wrap an
inch larger than the flap opening on
the box top. Open the box again and
tape one piece of plastic wrap to the
underside of the flap opening. After
taping one side, BE SURE TO PULL THE
PLASTIC WRAP TIGHT, and tape down
all four sides so the plastic is sealed
against the cardboard. Then close the
box and tape the other piece of plastic
wrap to the top of the flap opening.
Again, be sure the plastic wrap is tight
and tape down all four edges to form a
seal. This creates a layer of air as
insulation that helps keep the sun's
heat in the box.
15-20 minutes will be provided to the
groups to assemble their solar ovens.
Parent volunteers will be given
uncooked smores. These smores will
be placed in the solar ovens so they
may bake outside for an hour.
The time has come to test out our
creations! Lets slowly and carefully go

Groups will carefully bring their

solar ovens outside to a spot with
direct sunlight. Parent volunteers
will place the smores inside of
them.
Students will go inside of classroom
to prepare for lunchtime.

outside with our solar ovens so we may

place are uncooked smores inside of
them.
Lets go back inside and get ready for
lunch. Once we get back from recess,
we will check on our smores and
hopefully have a yummy dessert this
afternoon!
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
Small group collaboration is a great practice for ELL and lower-leveled
students.
Explain In this section students share what they discovered, teacher connects
student discoveries to correct content terms/explanations, students
articulate/demonstrate a clear and correct understanding of the lesson sub-objectives
by answering the question from Engage before moving on.
Teacher Will:
Students Will:
Once students come back from
lunch/recess, I will ask,
We are about to go outside to check
on our solar ovens and our smores.
What were some of your predictions
that you made this morning? What do
you think are some circumstances that
would affect your ovens and your
smores?
The class will go outside with their
groups. Parent volunteers have left by
this time.

Students will answer questions as

teacher presents them.

Students will follow teacher outside

to where the solar ovens are
located.
Students will observe their smores
in the solar ovens.

I want you to go to your groups oven.

Using only your sense of sight, what do
you observe in your solar oven?
Students will answer questions as
teacher presents them.
What did the Sun have to do with
todays activity? Think about the
pictures we looked at this week and
the videos we watched; how do your
ovens have anything to do with the
Students will actively listen to the
solar panels we learned about?
teachers explanation.
The aluminum foil and the black
construction paper worked together
like a solar panel would on a house or
a building. Together, they were able to
soak in the energy of the Sun and use
the solar power to bake our smores.
I want each person to take one

Students will eat their smores and

observe them.

smore. Stay outside to eat them since

they can get rather messy. Is your
chocolate soft/melty? Did your
marshmellow cook at all and get soft?

Students will draw/write in their

science notebooks reasons why
their smores cooked outside.
Students will also answer the other
questions that were prompted by
the teacher.

Once we go back to the classroom, I

want you to take your science
notebooks out again and draw a
picture of what your solar oven looked
like and write down the reasons why
your smores cooked while we were at
lunch. Think about everything we have
learned about solar energy this week.
Why is it important for us to use? If we
stopped using other forms of energy
and only used solar power, how would
that affect the future?
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes

Visuals (drawing) are great tools for ELLs because they bring content to life.
Closure: (revisit objective, IQs and make real world connections)
So, back to the question I had earlier: If your parents got rid of the oven in the kitchen,
could you still bake chocolate chip cookies for your class? What would you need to to make
sure those cookies baked and were safe to eat?
Our Sun is powerful, isnt it? It can provide us with so much energy and it doesnt charge us
to use its solar power! I am looking forward to tomorrows activity because you will get the
opportunity to promote solar energy in Phoenix!