You're As Cold as Ice

Welcome back to my science blog! This week's "Changes" lesson focused on ice. At the end of last week's lesson, we had the students watch as we filled an ice cube tray with water. We told them we were going to go put the tray into the freezer and asked them to think about what they predicted would happen to that water by the time we came back one week later.

Our students are really sharp, so I was not surprised that when we started this week's lesson by asking what they thought happened to the water, they all knew that it would turn into ice.

Our instructors this week were observing us and providing feedback on the following criteria: Lesson introduction, materials management, and connection to frameworks.

Well, right off the bat, Megan and I got a little nervous. We had planned an introduction that summarized what we did last week and reminded the students about a few key concepts, skills, and new information they had learned, and just as we were about to begin, the classroom teacher started talking about exactly what we were going to talk about! It required us to think quickly on our feet and readjust what we were going to talk about. Megan picked up exactly where the classroom teacher left off, and we smoothly transitioned from introduction to safety reminders to rules and overview of the activity.

The lesson plan we had for this week asked the students to figure out ways to melt an ice cube as quickly as possible. We didn't want to give them too much information for fear of giving away the answer, which is that in order to melt the ice cube, we need to introduce heat. But we also wanted to make sure they understood WHAT they were doing and WHY melting was happening, so it was a fine line to walk. We decided that we would make sure they understood that the water from last week turned into ice in the freezer because we removed the heat. We hoped this was enough of a clue without providing the answer.

We continued with one of our methods of classroom management by assigning roles to each of the students. By assigning one "material gatherer" from each group, we control how many kids go to the material center, and it helps keep the activity and excitement levels manageable. We assign the other partner in the group to be the "recorder", and that student is responsible for writing down their observations and filling out the data sheet. We use different stickers to indicate each role, and the students really love it. A few of them saved their stickers from last week but were excited to see we brought new/different stickers this week.

Once the activity began, I was so impressed with the students' ability to not only work together really well, but to be very systematic in their approach to the problem. Although no one articulated directly to me that they needed to apply heat in order to melt the ice cubes, as I approached each group to ask what they were doing, I would ask them WHY it was working, and they all were able to tell me that it was because they were using heat. Some children sat on the ice cube, and they knew their body heat was what was causing the ice to melt. Other students rubbed the ice cube between their hands, and when I asked they why it was working, most said "because we're rubbing it". So I would ask them to put the ice down for a minute and rub their hands together really fast. I then asked them what was happening to their hands when they did that, and I could see the light bulbs going off in their minds as they realized their hands were getting warm, so that is why they were able to melt the ice cube. This also allowed me to introduce the concept of "friction", a term which many of them had not heard before.

We also had the chance to tie the lesson back to the frameworks and begin to introduce some process skills. Part of our feedback was that we weren't explicit enough in defining process skills and making it clear to the students that we were teaching them new skills (such as observation, prediction, and data collection) and that in future weeks, we should make this more clear and let the students know that we'll be watching for them to use their new science skills as they conduct their experiments.

Once again, this science lesson was a huge success. All of the students were successful in melting their ice cubes in a reasonable amount of time, and all of them understood that it was the introduction of heat to the ice cubes that caused them to melt. They were all very enthusiastic about the lesson and enjoyed being able to participate in their experiments, and they all gained a lot from the experience. I can't wait to return and work with the students on combining solids. I expect to once again, be pleasantly surprised at how smart and articulate the students are!