LBS 405

5E Lesson Plan with Arts Integration

NAME: Jennifer Chavez

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GRADE LEVEL (S): 4th grade

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STANDARDS:
Next Generation Science Standards

Mobility and Stability: Forces and Interaction

3-PS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced
forces of the motion on an object.

Engineering Design
3-5-ETS 1-2: Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely
to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

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LEARNING OUTCOME/ OBJECTIVES:
Student learn about civil engineering and the testing of building structures.
Students learn about critical load.
Students learn about engineering problem solving.

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RESOURCES/MATERIALS:
Student Resource Sheets
Students Worksheets
One set of materials for each student team:
Twelve unused playing cards
One roll of scotch tape
4 coins
Testing Materials:
Base of empty square based two-quart cardboard juice/milk container
Objects to build weight from 4-10 pounds (notebooks, workbooks)

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CURRICULUM CONNECTION (Identify how this lesson fits in the larger unit of instruction):
Students are exploring the concepts of structural engineering and challenges they face when designing
structures that support their own weight and the loads they carry, and that resist wind, temperature,
earthquake, and many other forces. Students are also learning about critical load and efficiency ratings.
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ENGAGEMENT
 Describe how the teacher will capture students’ interest.
Start with telling students a story. The other day I was talking to one of my friends who is a civil engineer. Ask
students, “Does anyone know what a civil engineer does?” Listen for answers and show visuals of the role of
civil engineers.
Explain to students that civil engineers face the challenge of designing structures that support their own
weight and the loads they carry, and that resist wind, temperature, earthquakes, and many other forces.

Continue the story: My friend is starting a new project for a building that will be built in a large city and it will
be as tall as a skyscraper. Ask the students “Does anyone know what a skyscraper is?” Listen for answers and
show the students a picture of a skyscraper.

Continue story: He is a little frustrated because he absolutely has to make sure that his building has a very
strong foundation. Explain to students that the foundation of building is to hold up and hold together the
structure above it. In order to hold the weight of a skyscraper, the building has to be strong on the bottom so
that it does not collapse.
**Show students visuals of structural foundations and famous structures The Eiffel Tower and the Tokyo
Tower).

Tell the students, “Knowing this information, what do you think the civil engineer should do? Listen for
answers.
Use the students’ answers to help them reach the conclusion that the civil engineer should start with a
plan/prototype so that he can test out to see what works.

 What kind of questions should the students ask themselves after the engagement?
What makes a strong foundation?
What materials make a strong foundation?
How tall is the building going to be?
What’s the purpose of the skyscraper?
Why is it important to have a strong foundation?

Grouping: During the engagement portion, students will engage in think-pair- share. Students will turn to
their elbow partners and share their thoughts.

Accommodations/Modifications for EL Student-Expanding Proficiency:

Think pair share is a language strategy to encourage emerging bilingual students to practice using language
through speaking and listening in an academic setting. Visuals like a picture of a civil engineer, their duties,
and a skyscraper will also be shown. Students may also partner with a student who speaks the same
language.

Accommodations/Modifications for Student with Auditory Processing Disorder:

The students will be seated in close proximity to the teacher. Also, teacher will speak slowly, clearly, and
give student enough thinking time in regard to the questions asked.

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EXPLORATION
 Describe what hands-on/minds-on activities students will be doing.
Provide each student team with materials
Tell students that today they will be civil engineers. Their duty is to devise a foundation that will hold the most
weight. They are to plan out their structure and build a prototype for testing.
Students will be given time for planning and execution.
Teacher then places weights on each team’s prototype increasing the weight until the structure fails.
Students will chart in their engineering journals the maximum load each prototype successfully held (the
amount just prior to failure).
After each group has designed and tested their prototype, bring the entire class together to have a discussion.
During this discussion, start off by asking the students “How did you come up with your designs?” Then ask
students “What made you think that it was a good idea?” The question that follows is “Why or why didn’t your
prototype work?”
Teacher will listen to their thoughts and explanation.
After, teacher will ask how they would adjust their prototypes and wh. Students will then be given time to
redesign and test their prototypes while noting the data.
Students will then compare their data to reflect on their adjustments.

 List “big idea” conceptual questions the teacher will use to encourage and/or focus students’
exploration
What is your team’s strategy or plan for construction?
What made you think that it was a good idea?
Predict the “critical load” of your structure as you have designed it.
What was your structure’s “critical load”?
How close were you to your prediction?

Grouping: Students will put into small collaborative groups of about 3-4 students to maximize their
learning.
Struggling student – at level student
At level student- higher achieving student

Accommodations/Modifications for EL Student-Expanding Proficiency: Provide sentence starter for the

student as well as visuals.
“I predict my foundation will work because_____________”
“My foundation was successful because_______________”
“My foundation was not successful because______________”
Students may also choose to draw pictures.

Accommodations/Modifications for Student with Auditory Processing Disorder: Write the directions on
the board, use large texts, use visuals, lots of repetition and modeling

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EXPLANATION

Student explanations should precede introduction of terms or explanations by the teacher. What questions or
techniques will the teacher use to help students connect their exploration to the concept under examination?
 Students will be brought together and share their data as well as explain how they came up with their
design. Students will also share why their designs were successful or need adjustments. Encourage
students to use the appropriate vocabulary words (weight, design, prototype, critical load).

List higher order thinking questions, which teachers will use to solicit student explanations and help them to
justify their explanations.
 Why/ Why didn’t your prototype work?
 How many times did you test your prototype?
 Were there any factors that influenced your results?
 Before/after comparison?
 What aspects of your designed do you think helps its ability to hold more weight?
 What aspects of your design do you think hindered its ability to hold more weight?
 If you could redesign your design allow over what would you change or keep? Why?

Grouping: Whole class discussion and students are encouraged to debrief with their groups to discuss
their observations.

Accommodations/Modifications for EL Student-Expanding Proficiency: Provide students with sentence

starters, show visuals, speak clearly and slowly. Allow for thinking and writing time and encourage
speaking with group members so the student can be practice using academic language by writing,
listening, and speaking.
“Before any changes my critical load was______”
After making changes, my critical load was______”
“I think changing __________ allowed it to hold more weight because______”

Accommodations/Modifications for Student with Auditory Processing Disorder: Speak slowly and clearly.
Write the questions using large texts and saying them out loud. Speak in close proximity to the student and
use visuals.
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ELABORATION
 Describe how students will develop a more sophisticated understanding of the concept.

Through the analyzing of their data, students will note that the CRITICAL LOAD of their structure was the
maximum weight it was able to hold before collapsing. Students will also calculate their structure’s efficiency
rating. This measures the weight that will cause a structure to fail divided by the weight of the structure itself.
 What vocabulary will be introduced and how will it connect to students’ observations?
Students will be encouraged to use vocabulary words like “weight, design, prototype, critical load, and
efficiency” when recording their observations.
 How is this knowledge applied in our daily lives?
Ask students “What is the purpose of using a prototype?”
*Listen for responses.

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After listening to answers, explain to the students that creating different prototypes and testing them out is
important because it allows you to see what will work and what won’t work before you put a lot of time and
resources into a project that may not succeed.
Also, show students a few pictures of prototypes for buildings, cars, etc. so that they can see what a prototype
in real life looks like.

Grouping: Whole class discussion as well as debriefing with their group members.

Accommodations/Modifications for EL Student-Expanding Proficiency: Provide students with sentence

starters, show visuals, speak clearly and slowly. Allow for thinking and writing time and encourage
speaking with group members so the student can be practice using academic language by writing,
listening, and speaking. Write the vocabulary words with visuals next to the definition.

Accommodations/Modifications for Student with Auditory Processing Disorder: Speak slowly and clearly.
Write the questions using large texts and saying them out loud. Speak in close proximity to the student and
use visuals. Write the vocabulary words with visuals next to the definition. Give the student plenty of time
to process information.

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EVALUATION
 How will students demonstrate that they have achieved the lesson objective?
 This should be embedded throughout the lesson as well as at the end of the lesson
Students will write a letter to the teacher’s civil engineer friend explaining the importance of building a model
before he/she starts building the skyscraper. Students responses should include the inquire engineering
process of:
 Defining a problem
 Planning
 Creating
 improving
Then, students will need to use the information they gathered from their tests and experiments to provide
suggestions for a sturdy foundation in order to have a great CRITICAL LOAD. Students will be encouraged to use
real construction materials that may be used such as wood, bricks, sand, cement, etc.

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VAPA INTEGRATION & COMMENTARY (5 points)

The VAPA instruction should be integrated into one of the instructional stages above in the lesson plan but will
be assessed separately on the rubric. In addition, please provide a short commentary at the end of your lesson
plan (explained below)

Explain how the arts instruction in this lesson accomplishes one or more of the following goals:
 Supports learning of other academic subjects,
 Fosters engagement in school and motivation to learn,

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  Builds students' skills in collaboration and communication and in navigating and understanding the
diversity of the world needed for success in college and career.
Students will sketch their designs, use measurements, write sentences describing their results….