LESSON PLAN: Grade 4 Science

Grade: 4 Lesson Title: Reinventing the Water Wheel

Lesson Duration: 6, 40 min. periods

Overview of lesson:

The students will work in groups to design, build and test a water wheel. This lesson will take place over several
days to ensure the students have ample time to plan and build. The testing will take place all on one day. The
students will experience designing, building and testing their water wheel creation cooperatively in groups.

Alberta Program of Study

GLO /GLE: 4-7: Students will construct a
mechanical device for a designated purpose,
using materials and design suggestions provided.
Critical Questions
Unit Inquiry Question: How can we use force and control to move a vehicle?
SLO/SLE: 1: Design and construct devices and vehicles that
move or have moving parts- linkages, wheels, and axles.
2. Use simple forces to power or propel a device: moving
water.
3. Compare two designs, identifying the relative strengths and
weaknesses of each.
4. Identify steps to be used in constructing a device or vehicle
and work cooperatively with other students to construct the
device or vehicle.

Lesson Guiding Questions:

 What are some purposes of a water wheel?
 What are some materials we could use to make the water wheel?
 What materials would not be the best to use to make a water wheel?
 Why does a water wheel spin?
 What could we use a water wheel for today?

Learning Objectives
Students will design, construct and test their own water wheel to explore moving vehicles and simple forces.
Resources List

Resource #1: Youtube videos for inspiration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ4heAKhfqE,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZZrDace_h0, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbLk-BIKitk,
Resource #2: Worksheets: https://www.forteachersforstudents.com.au/site/themed-curriculum/water-
power/lesson-ideas/

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Material and Equipment
Word Wheel worksheet
Water Wheel criteria worksheet
Vocabulary worksheet
Design worksheet
Various building materials including: popsicle sticks, cardboard, plastic, hot glue, straws, plastic spoons,
plasticine
A sink with running water

Lesson Procedures

Lesson 1 (40 min.):

Group discussion:
 Why is water important?
 Discuss the use of water wheels in the past and present: grind grain into flour, crush rocks, make paper.
 Talk about the parts of a water wheel and why they are important for its mechanics. Parts: wheel, paddles
or buckets, millrace, head race, axle.
 Millrace: current of water that turns the water wheel
 Head race: the stream leading to the water wheel.
 Two types of water wheels: undershot and overshot: undershot, pushes water under the wheel, overshot,
water is poured over the wheel. We are making overshot water wheels.
Individual work:
 Hand out of the vocabulary sheets and write the definitions of the following words on the board. The
students will write the words on their sheets and then put the sheet into their science binder. The words:
undershot, overshot, mill race, head race, turbine. Hydropower.
 Assessment: A Wheel of Words Worksheet

Lesson 2 (40 min.):

Introduction to Designing a Machine: Identify Teaching Strategies:
Intro and review (10 min.): Direct instruction
 Review some vocab from the previous lesson: mill race, Group discussion
head race, hydropower, over shot and undershot. Partner work
Experiential learning
 It is important to plan what you want your water wheel to
look like so that you can gather the correct materials to Assessments:
make it. Formal: The water wheel words worksheet
 Show the videos of the water wheels for inspiration: . will be handed in to see if they know the
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ4heAKhfqE, words and the meanings of the words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZZrDace_h0,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbLk-BIKitkThey can
not use the Chromebooks to look up a design. This
project should come from their own heads and
imagination.

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  Hand out criteria sheet and read it aloud together.
Begin planning and design (28 min.):
 Use the popsicle sticks to create partner groups. These
partners will be teams for making the water wheels. The
students can then sit with their partner.
 Hand out the design planning sheets to the partner groups.
 Sometimes designers start out with an idea and end up
creating something completely different in the end. It is
okay if their final product does not look like their design,
but use it as a guide.
 Have the partners look at and touch all the materials that
are available for them to use to build their water wheel.
 The students can use the rest of the period to brainstorm
with their partner about planning and designing their
water wheel.
 Start to clean up the materials 2 minutes before the bell.

Lesson 3 (40 min.):

Continue planning and designing the water wheels.

Introduction (5 min.):
 Remind the students where they ended off last class.
 Before the students go with their partners to design and plan, tell them that they should be pretty much
finished their design by the end of this period. If they are not done the design yet, they will have less time
to build their waterwheel next class.
Planning and design (33 min.):
 Students can have the rest of the period to work with their partner to create their design. Visit each group
often to make sure they are on task.
 If students are finished their plans, they can start gathering their materials to build.

 2 minutes before the bell, give a clean up warning. All materials that are not being used can be stored
underneath the microwave table.

Lesson 4 (40 min.):

Start building water wheels

Introduction (5 min.):
 The students will start to prepare their materials to build their water wheels. Some of the materials have
been brought to school by the students and they may want to use the ones they specifically brought, which
is okay, but they should know that the materials are to share.
 Give a few minutes to answer questions about the building.

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Building the water wheels (28 min.):
 Allow the pairs to gather their materials and start building.
 Give pairs about 5 minutes with the hot glue guns and then have them switch out so everyone can have a
chance each class.

 10 minutes before the bell, announce that it is time to start cleaning up. They can gather their items and
unused materials and put them under the microwave table.

Lesson 5 (40 min.):

Continue building the water wheels.
 Remind students that this is the last day they have to work on building their wheels. After the
reminder, students can get right to work on their water wheels.
 Give pairs about 5 minutes with the hot glue guns and then have them switch out so everyone can
have a chance each class.
 10 minutes before the bell, announce that it is time to start cleaning up. They can gather their items
and unused materials and put them under the microwave table. *They will clean up more efficiently if
you tell them there is a magic scrap material on the floor. They will all run to find it, but the magic
scrap will end up being the last piece that needs to be picked up, so they will have fun while still
cleaning.

Lesson 6 (40 min.):

Testing the water wheels.
 Give the students about 5 minutes to do some finishing touches on their waterwheel.
 Tell the students to get out their lapbooks and a pencil.
 Take the students to the kitchen and have them place bets on whose water wheel will perform the
best. The students will compare 2 of the 6 designs and write down their findings in the “comparing
designs” section of their lapbook.
 After each water wheel has been tested, the students will go back to the classroom and colour their
lapbook sections.

Consolidating and Closure (2 min.):

 Ask connecting questions
- Why did one wheel perform better than another?
- If you could do the experiment again, how would you change your design?
- What parts of the water wheel are important to include?

Reflective Notes: