Inquiry Lesson Plan Template (with Four Ways of Thinking

connection)
Teacher: Karlee Noe
Content & Title:
Grade Level: 5th
Introduction to
Water Pollution
Standards:
Concept 2: Scientific Testing (Investigating and Modeling) Design and conduct controlled
investigations.
PO 1. Demonstrate safe behavior and appropriate procedures in all science inquiry.
PO 2. Plan a simple investigation that identifies the variables to be controlled.
PO 3. Conduct simple investigations based on student developed questions in life,
physical, and Earth and space sciences.
PO 4. Measure using appropriate tools and units of measure.
PO 5. Record data in an organized and appropriate format.

5.NBT.B.7. Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths, using concrete models
or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the
relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and
explain the reasoning used.
5.MP.2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
5.MP.3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
5.MP.4. Model with mathematics.
5.MP.5. Use appropriate tools strategically.

Objectives (Explicit & Measurable):

Student will be able to formulate a strategic plan to clean a bucket of water by trying
to use the least amount of money possible and conduct a safe and simple
investigation, while recording data in their notebooks.
Students will be able to successfully add and subtract decimals while planning their
investigation by figuring out the cost of the materials needed to clean a bucket of
water.
Students will be able to distinguish non point sources from point sources and causes
of water pollution by creating a t-chart and writing about it in their exit ticket.

Evidence of Mastery (Measurable Assessment: formative and summative):

(formative) Inside-Outside Circle. This strategy splits the class into two groups and
one group is the inside circle and the other group is the outside circle and students
pair up facing each other. The teacher will then ask a question like, What are some
causes of water pollution? and give the student on the outside a minute to talk and
then the student on the inside a minute to talk. The teacher will walk around listening
to responses.

(summative) Exit Ticket. The students will complete an exit ticket worth 5 points in
their classwork section and will complete a 3-2-1: Students write down on a note card
3 things they learned from todays lesson, 2 questions they have about the topic and
1 thing want the teacher to know from todays lesson.

Sub-objectives, SWBAT (steps that lead to completion of objective; sequence from

simple to more complex):

Students will be able to work in groups to create a proposal

Students will be able to use tools to clean water bucket
Students will be able to gather price of materials

Students will be able to know the definition of non point sources

Students will be able to know the definition of point sources

Lesson Summary and Justification: (summary gives detailed information about what
students are doing. Justification why is this lesson being taught)

During this lesson, students will explore how difficult it is to clean water that has been dirty
and how to do it in a cost effective matter. Students will be given the job of cleaning a tub of
water that is dirtied with soil, food scraps, paper scraps, coffee grounds etc. and have to
construct of plan to try to clean the water to the best of their ability. The teacher will have
products for sale and students must decide what cleaning products they want to use and try
to figure out the most cost effective proposal. After students have used their products to try to
clean their water to the best of their ability, the teacher will compare the water samples and
the cost of each group and see whose process was most effective. Students will then return to
classroom and learn about some of the major causes of water pollution and then do the insideoutside activity and complete an exit ticket. This lesson is being taught because it provides a
great visual representation to students at how truly difficult it is to clean up water and acts as
a great transition to the causes of this water pollution and the ideas that it is important to
prevent water pollution because once it has occurred it is difficult and a lengthy process to
clean up.

Background Knowledge: (What do students need to know prior to completing this

lesson)

Students should know how to add and subtract decimals

Students should know how to practice safe science procedures (goggles, no ingesting
materials, etc.)
Since this is the introduction lesson for this unit, less background knowledge is needed
because this lesson is an exploration.

Misconception: (what possible misleading thoughts might students have?)

Water is easy to clean up with the right tools

If the water is clear, its clean
Water pollution only comes from big factories and companies
We are protected from water pollution

Process Skills: (what skills are you introducing or reinforcing)

Students will be observing and participating in trying to clean out the water of trash and
debris
Students will be communicating their plan of action by creating a proposal of what tools
they want to use
Students will be experimenting and asking appropriate questions

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.)

Futures Thinking will be implemented into this lesson plan. Futures thinking means looking at
how the past and present affect the future and what that future could look like. It also looks at
how possible solutions now could be potential hazards in the future. During this lesson, futures
thinking will be highlighted because it is so important to see that what we do today and have
done in the past in regards to what we put down our drains and into our water systems, could
drastically affect the future people, plants, and animals of Earth. My hope is that future
thinking could be touched on and looked at briefly over each day in this unit because it is so
prevalent to water pollution. If people do not become more aware of water pollution and more
conscious of what they put into their water ways, then plants could continue to die, animals,
especially marine, could continue to ingest plastic and other trash in the ocean and be
severely affected by it, and humans could drink unsafe water that could seriously affect their
health. By teaching students about the causes and effects of water pollution, we can hopefully
be a catalyst for change and help each student and their families become more sustainable
and reduce the human footprint slowly but surely.
Safety: (what safety rules and items need to be addressed?)

Students should not ingest any substances or objects from the bucket
If available, students could wear goggles or gloves

Students must only use the tools provided to clean objects from the bucket and nothing
else

Inquiry Questions: (testable in the here and now.)

1. (to explore) How clean can you get a bucket of water filled with dirt and debris with
household tools?

2. (to elaborate) What are some of the causes of water pollution demonstrated in the
bucket activity?
vocabulary: (list and define)

Key
1. Water pollution--contamination
of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans,
aquifers and groundwater). This occurs
when pollutants, like trash and debris and
chemicals, are directly or indirectly
discharged into water bodies without
adequate treatment to remove harmful
compounds
2. Non point source: comes from many
different sources and is usually created
through run off
3. Point source: any single identifiable
source of pollution from which pollutants
are discharged, such as a pipe, ditch, ship
or factory smokestack

Materials: (list item and possible

quantity)
1. 5-6 big plastic tubs
2. water to fill buckets
3. coffee grounds, soil, clean trash,
paper scraps, food scraps, olive oil, enough
to fill the tubs to make dirty
4. 5-6 Tongs
5. 5-6 Strainers
6. 5-6 coffee filters
7. 5-6 sponges
8. plastic cups and forks
9. trash bags

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:

How many of you have seen canals,

lakes, and rivers around where you live?
Raise your hand
How many of you would drink directly
out of those canals, lakes, and rivers?
Raise your hand
Why wouldnt you drink out of it?
Teacher should wait for a few students to
raise their hands and then call on them to
respond
Most of you mentioned that the water is
not very clean as there could be dirt or
trash in it. Today we will explore what
causes this water pollution and answer
the question how clean can you get a
bucket of water filled with dirt and debris
with household tools?
Lets get started and kick off our water
pollution unit!

Raise hands to answer questions

Listen to teacher
Participate when necessary

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes

Make sure to call on many students and to speak clearly
Could give students 30 seconds to discuss questions with a buddy so
ELLs could ask questions or get the question clarified before answering
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)
Teacher will hand out sheet of paper
Bring their whiteboards, pencil,
for groups to show their work and
and paper outside
proposal
Students will brainstorm in groups
Teacher should also tell students to
the best way to clean their water
bring their small white boards to write
and what materials they want to
on
use
Teacher will lead students outside to a
Students will add/subtract/multiply
field where buckets of dirty water are
the prices of the materials and
set up
come up with a final cost
Teacher will have a supply center set
Students will then bring proposal
up where the supplies like filters,
to teacher to get approved and
tongs, cups, sponges etc. are set up
receive materials
all labeled with a certain price (for
Students will then have 10
example $200, $150.95, $425.99)
minutes to work together to clean
Teacher will number students off in
out their water to the best of their
line and split the students into groups
abilities
of 4-5
Students will bring sample of their
Teacher will then pose the questions,
water to teacher
How clean can you get a bucket of
Students will listen and participate
water filled with dirt and debris with
in teachers questioning
household tools?
Each group will get 5 minutes to
come up with a proposal and figure
out the supplies they want to use to
try to get the cleanest water they can.
Each group must figure out the cost of
their proposal and show me their
addition/subtraction/multiplication
work.
Once I have approved your proposal,
your group will receive the materials
and can start to attempt to clean the
bucket of water. After everyone has
had enough time to clean out their bin
(about 10 minutes) we will compare
samples of each groups water and see
whose water is cleanest and whose is
the cheapest.
I will be walking around to make sure
everyone is on task and acting
appropriately.
Make sure any trash or debris you
take out of your bucket go directly in
a trash bag so we can dispose of it
properly
After 10 minutes provide each group
with a plastic cup and have them
bring their water samples to the front

Discuss with the class what cup looks

clearest and cleanest and have that
group briefly explain what they used
Then figure out which group had the
cheapest budget and look at their
waterthis could possibly lead to a
quick comment on how it is hard to
get water really clean and keep costs
down
Once finished, clean up the materials
as best you can and then head back
to classroom for the duration of the
lesson
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
Teacher may need to check in with ELLs or students who may be confused on
the lesson and make sure the completely understand the task
Teacher may need to partner an ELL or student who may be lower or unfocused
with a high student
Teacher may slightly switch groups around if they think groups will not work well
together
If student has severe physical disability teacher should find a way that they can
participate in cleaning the bin
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:
Would any one like to share some
Students will raise hands and
observations they noticed during our
answer questions
experiment?
Students will participate in class
Students responses could vary from
discussion
how it was hard to clean, never got
Students should write down
entirely clean, took a long time, wish
definitions in their science
they had different materials etc.
notebooks
Teacher should try to ask many
students and hear their different
observations
What kind of materials worked best
to clean up the water?
Was it possible to get all the dirt and
debris out?
It is not very easy to clean up dirty
water is it?
Obviously, I created the dirty water
you all tried to clean up, but as you
said in the beginning, dirty water like
this is all around us in canals, lakes,
rivers, sewers etc.
Does anyone know what a phrase
may be that defines this dirty water?
Thats right. Water pollution! Water
pollution is the contamination

of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers,

oceans, aquifers and groundwater).
This occurs when pollutants, like trash
and debris and chemicals, are directly
or indirectly discharged
into water bodies without adequate
treatment to remove harmful
compounds.
Make sure to write down the
definition in your notebook
Teacher should put definition on board
or doc cam
Lets look a little deeper into what
water pollution is and how it comes
about
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
Teacher should make sure definition is clear and large on the board
Teacher should make sure to repeat definition loud and clear
Elaborate In this section students take the basic learning gained from Explore and
clarified in Explain and apply it to a new circumstance or explore a particular aspect of
this learning at a deeper level. Students should be using higher order thinking in this
stage. A common practice in this section is to ask a What If? question. IQ #2
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #2)
Students Will:
What are some of the causes of
Answer questions
water pollution that were
Write in science notebook when
demonstrated in the bucket activity?
directed
The sources of water pollution are
Listen to information
broken down into two categories:
point and non point sources. Point
sources are direct sources, such as
factory and sewage sludge. Non point
sources are pollutant that indirectly
find their way to the ocean, usually by
rain or ground water.
Make sure you right down point and
non point sources in a t chart and put
examples under each
Developed countries have cut down
on their point sources over the years
as strict policy has been enforced. But
point source water pollution does still
exist, especially in still developing
countries who do not have the money
to completely treat waste and
eliminate waste. Some countries do
not treat all their sewage or factory
waste and it eventually makes its way
into rivers and eventually, oceans.
This pollution can be from factories or
other plants that put their waste
directly into lakes, rivers, etc.
Non point sources can come from

urban streets, suburbia, homes, and

agriculture. Agriculture is the leading
cause of water pollution because it
uses fertilizers, pesticides, salts and
waste that makes their way into water
from run-off and ground water.
Groundwater being affected can also
impact drinking water. Which is hard
to detect because the pollutants can
not always be seen which makes it
hard to clean.
Teacher can be writing notes in
example notebook on the doc cam for
students to follow and copy
Lets utilize our futures thinking
while looking at water pollution.
Remember, futures thinking looks at
how the past and present could
potentially affect the future.
What are some ways water pollution
could affect our future? We will be
touching on this more later in the unit
but throw out some ideas.
Great ideas class. If we continue to
pollute our waterways, humans,
plants, and animals can continue to
suffer. Companies in the past not
having restrictions on chemical
dumping, people currently still
littering, people putting medicine and
trash down the drain, etc.
In order to build a sustainable future
and help protect our animals and our
water sources, we need to start being
accountable for trash and pollutants.
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
Providing ELLs with pictures of the different point and non point
sources might help them gain a better understanding
Walking by the desks of students who may need more attention or help
to make sure they are on task and have all their questions answered
Evaluate In this section every student demonstrates mastery of the lesson
objective (though perhaps not mastery of the elaborate content). Because this also
serves as a closing, students should also have a chance to summarize the big
concepts they learned outside of the assessment.
Teacher Will:
Students Will:
Now this has been an introduction
Students will perform inside outside
for the rest of the week. We will be
circle
learning more about water pollution
Students will complete the exit
throughout the week and explore
ticket
the affects of it on the world around
us.
We will now quickly do Inside-

Outside Circle. I will split the class

into two groups and one group is
the inside circle and the other group
is the outside circle and students
pair up facing each other. You will
answer the question What are
some causes of water pollution? to
your partner and you each with
have 30 seconds to talk and then
rotate. I will be walking around to
make sure you are on task!
Make sure to listen so you know
some ideas to write on your exit
ticket
Before you walk out the door to
lunch, I will hand you a notecard
and you will write 3 concepts you
have learned today, 2 questions you
have, and 1 thing you want me to
know about the lesson. Make sure to
mention futures thinking and causes
of pollution in your card!
This will be taken for points in your
classwork so make sure you put
effort into it! Dont rush it.
Teacher should see the evidence of
meeting the
adding/subtracting/multiplying
decimals objective through
approving the proposals
Teacher should see evidence of
being able to formulate strategic
plan to clean water through
proposal and execution
Teacher should see understanding
of non point and point sources by
looking through the exit tickets and
observing the class discussion
Closure: (revisit objective, IQs and make real world connections)
Make sure at lunch to pick up your trash so it does not go into sewers and into
the water system!
We dont want to be a non-point source of water pollution!
Great job adding/subtracting/multiplying decimals today and performing our
science experiment safe and effectively. You all did a great job listening about
water pollution and finding out the causes. What is point source? (call on student
to answer) What is non point source? (call on student to answer)
Alright line up time to go!
**Best Practices List the Best Teaching Practices you will use to enhance
the learning outcomes. In each section where prompted, list the best
practice, how the practices will be used and the purpose.