Penny Boats 35 minutes

Science Discovery Lesson

READINESS
I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s) Students will use problem solving skills to create boats that do not sink in the
water.
B. Objective(s) After building a boat, with provided supplies, students will transport a
pile of pennies across the water.

C. Standard(s): K-2.E.1 Pose questions, make observations, and obtain

information about a situation people want to change. Use this data to
define a simple problem that can be solved through the construction of a
new or improved object or tool.

II. Materials:
-pennies -sponges
-popsicle sticks -rubber-bands
-construction paper -tubs for water
-straws - water
-tape -scissors
-glue -aluminum foil
-boat pictures (ant. Set)

Management:
-Responsive call: I say Class Class and they respond Yes Yes
-5 Block system: I give them the sign language for the letters of BLURT and they will
put a block in their desk for not following directions or off task behavior (loss of all
blocks results in no free time at the end of the day)

III. Anticipatory Set: (Students sitting at seats5 minutes)

Hold up Several different pictures of boats. Raise your hand if you can tell me what
these are pictures of! How many of you have ever been on a boat? Boats come in
many shapes and sizes and can be used for several purposes. Who can give me an
example of something they have seen a boat used for? Boats can also be used to
transport items from one location to another. As you can see up here, I have a pile of
pennies that I need to get to the other side of this tub. I need your help to build a boat
that can get this pennies across without sinking! Raise your hand if you want to help
me on this very important mission!?

IV. Purpose: Today we are going to be building boats so that we can transport my
pennies across the water without sinking. Building these boats will teach us problem
solving skills which we used to solve our treasure map during my math lesson!

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

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V. Adaptation to Diverse Students
*Students will be split up into groups based on balanced abilities
*Students who struggle with communication skills will be given a prompt for getting
their boats started
*Left-handed scissors available
VI. Lesson Presentation (Input/Output) (start at desk for instructions-5 minutes; stations
for boats around the room at their designated tables- 15 minutes; testing and
discussing the boats- 10 minutes)
Mini Lesson: Before I let you begin building your boats, I want to review a
vocabulary word with you. Transport. (write on the whiteboard) Transport means to
move an object or object(s) from one place to another. Today you have to create a boat
that will be able to transport my pile of pennies across the water without sinking.
(Write the word sink and float on the board) If an object sinks, then it goes beneath the
water. We want to make our boats float, stay above the water. I am going to show you
an example of what this looks like with my sponge and eraser. What do you think will
float and what do you think will sink? (test objects)

Explaining Supplies: The class will be split into five different groups when we start
creating our boats. At your assigned table, you will find various supplies that you can
use to build your boat. (walk over to a station and hold up each supply as I name it)
You have popsicle sticks, straws, sponges, construction paper, rubber-bands, tape and
glue. You do not have to use all the material at your station. Feel free to combine or
put together different items to create your boat. As you are building your boat, you can
test it on the water at your station to make sure it floats. As you test your boat, you can
make changes to it, to guarantee that it will hold my pennies without sinking.

Group Instructions: On the board I will set a visual timer for fifteen minutes. During
this time you are to stay at your station and work with your group to build your boat.
You are not allowed to go to the other groups or leave your station. If you have a
question, raise your hand and I will come to your station. Secondly, we need to keep
our voices down. If you are talking too loudly or misusing the supplies at your table,
then you will not get to help build your groups boat. Please give me thumbs up if you
understand these instructions. Thank-you. After the timer goes off, we will gather
around my table and see which groups boats carry my pennies all the way across the
water. Is there any questions before I split you into your groups? (Split students into
assigned groups--- 4 groups with 4 students each and 2 groups with 5 students eachI
am working with supervising teacher to create these groups based on abilities and
cooperation skills)

*Set timer for fifteen minutes on the board; monitor the groups
*After the time is uphave students circle up around my tub of water
*I will have each group take a turn at trying to get my pennies across the water
*If their boat sinks before getting across the tub, I will ask them some questions in
regards to what changes they think they could make to it (Time permitting, I will
allow groups to make changes and return to test their boats again)

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 VII. Check for Understanding (As the students are working on their boats, I will be
walking to each station and answering questions as well as asking them some of the
following questions)
- Why did you choose to use that material on the bottom?
- Do you think your boat is strong enough to hold all my pennies? Why?
- What material can we add to the bottom of the boat to keep it from sinking?
- Whyareyounotusingthosesupplies?
- Howdidyoudecidewhattobuildyourboatoutof?
- Afteryoutestedyourboatonthewater,whatchangesdidyoumake?
- Whydidyoumakethosechangestoyourboat?
- Whydoyouthinkthisboatfloated?Sunk?

VIII. Reviewlearningoutcomes/Closure
Whocanraisetheirhandandtellmeonepieceofmaterialtheyusedthatmadea
boatgetwetquicklyorsink?Whocantellmeonepieceofmaterialthatkepttheboat
floating?Youwereallabletoworkwithyourgroupandcomeupwithasolutionto
mypennyproblem.Thankyouforallyourhelptoday!

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

Formative: Walking around and talking with each of the groups as they build their boats; asking
the questions that are listed in the Check for Understanding section.

Summative: Testing the students boats on my tub of water. Looking to see if they can recognize
what materials were successful and what materials made the boat and pennies sink or get wet.

REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS

1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
My objective included two parts: that students would be able to create a boat that
floated and transport a pile of pennies across the water. Although most groups did not
build boats that had sides to hold the pennies on, they did an excellent job at using their
materials to create boats that floated.
2. What were my strengths and weaknesses?
I believe my weaknesses in this lesson were not using a visual timer when they
were creating a boat and not having them record anything on paper. My strengths were
creating a lesson that got the whole class excited, engaged and led to self-discovery.
3. How should I alter this lesson?
If I were to teach this lesson again, I would add something more concrete that I
can look back on and make sure my students were learning. This may include a chart
comparing boats or a check-list for them to mark off as they tested materials and
created their boats.
4. How would I pace it differently?
I would try and leave more room at the end for students to make changes to their
boats and retest them.
5. Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?

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 Yes, students were evenly split into groups and actively working with one another
to build a boat. If they were not participating, it was due to lack of group cooperation
and they just needed a little redirection.
6. What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels?
a. Blooms Taxonomy: Students were applying concepts they new to create a boat.
They had to evaluate and test materials, which led to them remembering and
understanding why some things float and other sink.
b. Gardners Multiple Intelligences: My lesson revolved around kin-anesthetic,
visual-spatial, and interpersonal skills. The students were moving around,
creating a boat from scratch and having to work in a group.
7. Were the students grouped appropriately?
Yes, the students were grouped with mixed abilities which allowed for good boat
creations. Cooperating with their group members was a challenge occasionally, but they
mostly just needed redirection or guidance and would work things out. This lesson
involved a lot of teamwork skills.
8. Were the supplies provided efficient enough for this project?

Yes. The students could experiment and test out the different supplies. They got
very creative and could build some very unique boats.

9. Did the students stay engaged in the lesson?

Yes. They were hooked from the beginning and I had a hard time getting them to
stop building their boats. They caught onto the vocabulary words and loved testing one
another's boats.
10. Did discovery occur during their boat building?
Definitely. The conversations students were having amazed me! They were so
intrigued by this experiment and were quickly catching on to what materials were good
and bad for their boat. After we tested the boats, they were even making comments on
what they would change and why they would do that.

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(ANTICIPATORY SET PICTURESpictures will be enlarged for actual teaching of lesson)