Ms. Emily Wilson/kindergarten STEM/5.19.

16
50 minutes

I. Topic: Students will examine objects that sink and float and engineer a boat that floats.
II. Objectives:
A. Given a mini-lesson in density, TSWBAT make a plan for how they can combine
buoyant and non-buoyant objects to make the non-buoyant object float.
B. Given materials and teacher guidance, TSWBAT to design, engineer, evaluate
and modify to make a boat that is buoyant.
III. Standards:
A. National Science Education Standards: Objects have many observable properties,
including size, weight, shape, color, temperature, and the ability to react with
other substances. Those properties can be measured using tools, such as rulers,
balances, and thermometers.
B. NSES: Identify a simple problem. In problem identification, children should
develop the ability to explain a problem in their own words and identify a specific
task and solution related to the problem.
C. NSES: Propose a solution. Students should make proposals to build something or
get something to work better;they should be able to describe and communicate
their ideas. Students should recognize that designing a solution might have
constraints, such as cost, materials,time, space, or safety.
D. NSES: Implementing proposed solutions. Children should develop abilities to
work individually and collaboratively and to use suitable tools, techniques, and
quantitative measurements when appropriate. Students should demonstrate the
ability to balance simple constraints in problem solving.
E. NSES: Evaluate a product or design. Students should evaluate their own results or
solutions to problems, as well as those of other children, by considering how well
a product or design met the challenge to solve a problem. When possible, students
should use measurements and include constraints and other criteria in their
evaluations. They should modify designs based on the results of evaluations.
F. NSES: Communicate a problem, design, and solution. Student abilities should
include oral, written, and pictorial communication of the design process and
product. The communication might be show and tell, group discussions, short
written reports, or pictures, depending on the student's' abilities and the design
project.
G. CCSS.ELA.CCR.L.6 Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and
domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and
listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in
gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important
to comprehension or expression.
IV. Vocabulary:
A. Buoyant: can float
V. Teaching Procedure (50 minutes):
A. Anticipatory Set (5 minutes)
1. Show students an orange. Ask students if they think that the orange will
float or sink. Show students that the orange is buoyant by placing the
orange in the container. Write the word buoyant on the whiteboard.
Explain that buoyant means that the object is able to float. Have students
brainstorm some ideas of buoyant items. Ask students if they think the
orange will still be buoyant if I peel the orange. Peel the orange in large
pieces. Show students that the orange sinks without the peel. Explain to
students that the orange peel has lots of little pockets of air that help the
orange float just like a life jacket.
B. Development (5 minutes)
1. Have students brainstorm some ideas on how we could make the orange
float again. Guide students toward the idea that they can tape the peel back
onto the orange. Tape the peel back onto the orange and show that they
were able to take something that was not buoyant and make it buoyant
again.
2. Explain that taking something that is not buoyant and making it buoyant is
something that scientists have to do. Tell students that this is how
houseboats are able to float because the house would sink if it were on its
own in the water, but because it has a buoyant foam that pushes up while
the weight of the boat pushes down. Have students think about other times
when objects that are not buoyant are made to be buoyant (rafts, rocks,
airplanes).
C. Guided Practice (10 minutes)
1. Explain to students that we have a problem. They each have a boat to be
able to explore the ocean in; however, their boat is not buoyant. They need
to think about how they can make their boat be buoyant. Have students
brainstorm what they could do to make their boat be buoyant.
2. Show students the boat that they need to make to be buoyant. Explain to
students that the sail must be pointing up. Show students that the boat is
not buoyant by placing it in container of water. Show students the options
they have to use to make their boat be buoyant (spoons, popsicle sticks,
straws, styrofoam, bottle caps).
3. Handout worksheet for students to draw a picture of how they will design
their boat. Show students that they will draw a picture in the top box and
then write what they need in the bottom box.
D. Independent Practice (20 minutes)
 1. Explain to students that once they have a plan for how they will make their
boat buoyant, they should come get the materials that they need for their
boat and bring them back to their desk. Explain to students that they will
get one long piece of tape and they will need to rip this tape to stick the
buoyant items to the non-buoyant boat. If students need help they should
raise their hand and one of the adults will come help them. They can have
up to two long pieces of tape (length of desk). Explain to students that
they only have 12 minutes to make their boat. Set a timer on the computer
so that they can see how much time is left.
2. Once the timer has gone off, explain to students that they need to put the
finishing touches on their boat. Instruct students to silently pick up their
boats and line up. Walk students outside to the tub of water. Have students
gather around so that they can observe the different boats. Have students
place their boat gently in the tub of water. Once all students have tested
their boats, bring them back into the classroom.
E. Guided Practice (5 minutes)
1. Have a class discussion about whether or not their boat floated using the
sentence starters of My boat was buoyant because and My boat was
not buoyant because Guide student discussions toward trends that
caused the boat to float or not float.
F. Closure (5 minutes)
1. Remind students of the orange at the beginning of the lesson. Remind that
at first we did not get it to float, but we instead had to brainstorm different
ideas about how we could get it to float and eventually we got our orange
to float. Remind students that even though they may not have gotten their
boat to float on the first time, they can still get it to float.
2. Explain that students should get their worksheet back and turn it over to
the back page. Explain that this is where students will write what they will
do to change their boat. If their boat was buoyant they should draw or
write a way to make it better (make it hold weight, make it float flat on the
water, make it float higher above the surface of the water). If their boat
was not buoyant they should draw or write a way to make it buoyant
(change materials, add materials, etc).
3. Explain to students that they should silently go put their boats in their
backpack and their worksheet in their folder. Explain to students that they
can continue working on their boats at home and show their parents about
what they have learned.
VI. Materials
A. Worksheet (last two pages of the lesson plan)
B. Whiteboard
 C. Markers
D. Water pitcher
E. Water
F. Orange
G. Orange peeler
H. Can lids
I. Straws
J. Plastic spoons
K. Masking tape
L. Styrofoam (cut up pool noodle)
M. Popsicle sticks
N. Bottle lids
O. Elastic bands
P. Pipe cleaners
Q. Yarn
R. Pencils
S. Under the bed box
VII. Adaptations
A. John (autism)- Allow John to work with Ms. Allinson and help him as necessary
B. Emma (developmental delays)- Make sure to give Emma lots of help from the
teachers
C. Brittany (poor time management/limited vision)- Make sure that Brittany can
clearly see the timer so that she can manage time well
D. Luke and George (ELLs/TCKs)- Make sure to define all terms and clarify all
instructions
E. Silas and Pat (ADHD)- Make sure that Silas and Pat have enough movement and
given roles that can make sure they move around
F. Personality- Make sure to clarify the talking level to keep it at a controllable level
and give students lots of opportunities to move around
G. Extra time- Allow students to actually modify their boats for the second time so
that they can try them again at home
H. Not enough time- Have students test their boats in the classroom so that transition
to and from the under the bed box with water are minimized.
VIII. Evaluation
A. Formative- asking students about their designs, questioning throughout lessons
B. Summative- worksheet
IX. Reflection
A. Write an assessment of the students performance and mastery in terms of each
stated objective.
1. (National Science Education Standards: Objects have many observable
properties, including size, weight, shape, color, temperature, and the
ability to react with other substances. Those properties can be measured
using tools, such as rulers, balances, and thermometers.) The students
were able to note that the orange was heavy, but the fact that it was heavy
did not mean that it could not float. They also were able to apply this
knowledge to the different materials, because some students noted that all
the popsicle sticks were heavy all together, but they still made their boat
float.
2. (NSES: Identify a simple problem. In problem identification, children
should develop the ability to explain a problem in their own words and
identify a specific task and solution related to the problem.) The students
were able to identify the problem of the orange not floating, and also that
their boat base did not float.
3. (NSES: Propose a solution. Students should make proposals to build
something or get something to work better;they should be able to describe
and communicate their ideas. Students should recognize that designing a
solution might have constraints, such as cost, materials,time, space, or
safety.) The students were able to come up with a solution for the orange
that did not float. They also worked within the constraints that I put on
them with materials (only one pool noodle piece). They all did a great job
drawing a picture of what their boat would look like and writing the
materials that they needed.
4. (NSES: Implementing proposed solutions. Children should develop
abilities to work individually and collaboratively and to use suitable tools,
techniques, and quantitative measurements when appropriate. Students
should demonstrate the ability to balance simple constraints in problem
solving.) They did a great job making their boats float. I would say that
about 75% of the boats floated, which was amazing!
5. (NSES: Evaluate a product or design. Students should evaluate their own
results or solutions to problems, as well as those of other children, by
considering how well a product or design met the challenge to solve a
problem. When possible, students should use measurements and include
constraints and other criteria in their evaluations. They should modify
designs based on the results of evaluations.) After each testing of a boat, I
asked students why they thought that it worked or did not work. While
there were some misconceptions (idea that it floated because of a piece of
yarn that was balanced on top) many of the ideas were excellent
evaluations of their boats.
 6. (NSES: Communicate a problem, design, and solution. Student abilities
should include oral, written, and pictorial communication of the design
process and product. The communication might be show and tell, group
discussions, short written reports, or pictures, depending on the student's'
abilities and the design project.) After we tested our boats, we talked about
the steps that we went through, and about half of the students raised their
hand to tell me the steps that they went through.
7. (CCSS.ELA.CCR.L.6 Acquire and use accurately a range of general
academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading,
writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level;
demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when
encountering an unknown term important to comprehension or
expression.) The students did a great job of remembering the vocabulary at
the end of the lesson and using the vocabulary. Many of the students were
excited when they found out that My boat is buoyant! which pleased me
that they used vocabulary and that they had engineered a floating boat.
B. Write a self-evaluation including explanation for the success or lack of it. Discuss
what changes might have produced better results and could be used in subsequent
lessons? One thing that was hard was having the student go through multiple steps
of STEM from designing, to building, to testing all in one day. If I had my own
classroom, then we would be able to do a mini-unit on density and this project,
and then end the mini-unit with this lesson where they built and designed their
boats. Also, I would had more time available if I were planning this for my own
classroom so that we could go through the process of revising their boats if they
did not sink.Overall, it felt kind of chaotic with all the movement throughout the
classroom for materials and teacher help, but it went pretty well. Also there was a
visitor that day, so that was an added challenge because he wasnt used to the
classroom dynamics. The kids really loved the experience and I heard from some
of their parents that they did go home and make it better and decorate it more
(STEAM), which made me really happy to hear. The students kept telling me
about their boats and how they changed them in the next few days I was in the
classroom. Next time I would also not include yarn or pipe cleaners, because this
just got wet and made a mess. I would have also loved to have a literature
connection and maybe talk a little bit about idioms because I definitely wanted to
say that floats my boat a lot, but I do not think they would have really
understood that, especially when that is abstract and my boat is concrete and in
front of them.
C. Explain what specific changes were implemented from professor and teacher
suggestions and the results. (If changes were not made, explain your rationale.)
Mrs. Brown did not request to see my lesson plan in advance, so no changes were
 recommended. She really like the lesson plan and the STEM idea as the school is
pushing for more STEM. Mrs. Brown also enjoyed being able to build a boat with
Mrs. Sears and the students enjoyed seeing the teachers boat sink. Also, Mrs.
Allinson (student with autisms aide) really liked the walk outside to get a bit of a
brain break.

My idea:
What I need:

How I could make it better: