Lesson Plan: Grade Level: 2nd Subject: SCIENCE Prepared by: Mary Goodoien
Chattahoochee Technical College Department of Early Childhood Education
| Overview & Purpose | Education Standards Addressed(Georgia Performance Standards or Georgia Early Learning Standards) |
| Practicing Teacher Guide | ||
| Objectives(Specify skills/information that will be learned) | The students will form a hypothesis, carry out an experiment and explain their findings. Also, explain the experiment to the class. | Materials Needed -Three identical clear 8-oz. containers - Ruler -FRESH popping corn kernels - Oven -Hot air popper - Air-tight Jar -Oil - Water -Butter/salt if desired -Data Sheet (attached) |
| Anticipatory set(The Hook)How will you get students excited about learning? | ||
| Introduction/Guided Practice(Steps to check for student understanding) | First I will preheat the oven to 200 F. (if an oven is not available, the teacher may have to prepare #1 -2 before hand) Spread out ½ cup of popping corn in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake for two hours. Next, demonstrate by putting another ½ cup of popping corn in an airtight container with one tablespoon of water. Shake the jar so that the water coats the seeds. Let the jar stand overnight and shake the jar every few hours to redistribute the water, if possible. The following day...display the kernels and let the students observe. Explain that they will be asked how to form a hypothesis of what will happen to a) the “baked” kernels, the “water” kernels, and the “regular” kernels. Students should record their hypotheses on the attached data sheet. Use a hot-air popper to pop the ½ cup of dried corn (from the oven). Place the popped corn in a labeled 8-oz. cup. Pop the “water” kernels and place them in a separate labeled 8-oz. clear cup or container (identical to the other glass/container). Lastly, pop the kernels that were untreated (regular). Place those in an identical, labeled 8-oz. Cup or container. 5. There should now be three identical containers (clear) labeled “Baked”, “Water”, and “Regular.” Ask a volunteer to come up and measure (in centimeters) how much the container is filled. Record these answers on the blackboard as well as on the students’ data sheets. If all works well, the “water” kernels should have popped the best, the “baked” kernels the worst, and the “regular” kernels somewhere in between. Ask the students, “Can anyone explain why these three batches popped differently?” Accept answers and conduct appropriate discussions regarding those answers. Tell the students, “Each popcorn kernel contains a certain amount of moisture. The amount of moisture that is inside the kernel will decide how big the kernel will be when popped.” . Ask, which kernels that we used today had the most moisture in them?” Accept responses. Explain, “The kernels that we left in water overnight have the most moisture in them. Since they were sitting in water, they absorbed water, kind of like a sponge.” Ask, “Can anyone guess which kernels had the least amount of moisture?” Accept responses. Explain, “The kernels that were baked in the oven had the least amount of moisture. When we baked them, the moisture was released and the heat dried them out. The kernels that we took right from the jar had the average amount of moisture in them.” 10. Ask, “We understand now that there is moisture inside of the kernel. But...why does the kernel pop? Accept appropriate responses. Explain, “When the kernel is heated, the moisture inside becomes steam. Once this steam reaches a certain temperature (347 F) the seed coat, or skin, rips open and the inside of the kernel bubbles and becomes solid. Really, the kernel turns itself inside out, we could say.” 11. Tell the students to write, in their own words, a simple conclusion from this experiment using the information that they learned. 12. Read The Popcorn Book by Tomie Paola and let the students eat the popcorn as they listen to the story | Other Resources(e.g. Web, books, etc.) |