The structured lesson taught as a part of Week 5 and 6 assignments were a learning experience for my students and for me. My lesson involved students measuring the temperature of melting ice to discover that the temperature remains constant during the melting process. Many have the misconception that the temperature goes up as the ice melts. Once we had established that the temperature remains constant, we added salt to the ice to discover what happens to the temperature. Again, this dispelled a misconception that the temperature will rise, because salt melts the ice. Instead, it lowers the freezing point of water and the temperature actually goes down. We got to about -24 degrees Celsius.
I liked the step-by-step process. It kept the students more engaged. There were no earlier finishers, or students goofing off and letting others do the work. It allowed me to wonder and monitor behavior, answers, learning, and be more available to answer questions.
I am including three samples of student work (hopefully, I figure out how to do that. If I don't tonight, I will add the links as I figure out how). One comment about the measurements. We used brand new, fresh-out-of-the-box thermometers, and discovered that they are not very accurate. We had temperatures anywhere from 0 degrees to -5 degrees. That led to a discussion about accuracy and precision. Two of my samples are among the better ones. I did this lesson with my remedial science class--a class of 19 struggling readers and learners, including 7 with IEPs. I say that, but this class often does just as well on tests and assignments as my other classes. One shows that this student has some gaps in his knowledge and needs more support and guidance. But, he had one of the better answers for the last question, so I included his as well.