Instructional
Design
Project
Properties of Water
1st Grade Science Subunit
Miranda Moor
EDTL 7100
Statement of Purpose
In a time when reading and math instruction is held high above other subjects in the
learning hierarchy for young elementary students, classrooms often have minimal amounts of
time allocated to scientific learning experiences. Students in early elementary are often taught
science concepts within other subject areas, such as through integrated reading stories. However,
learning science through reading should not be the primary source of science-based instruction.
As explained by the National Science Teachers Association (2002), “The importance of early
experiences in science is evident for students to develop problem-solving skills that empower
them to participate in an increasingly scientific and technological world” (NSTA Position
Statement: Elementary School Science). The key here is scientific experiences. Even for young
students, learning scientific concepts should be through experimentation, observation, and data
collection.
This instructional design targets the problem by providing an inquiry-based learning
environment for young students. This instructional design concentrates on the properties of
water. As first grade students work through the lessons, they will be experimenting, drawing
conclusions, solving problems, and sharing their ideas. As described by Chiarelott (2006), the
inquiry model was developed with the idea that “students needed to experience the process of
inquiry and discovery as scientists did” (p. 118). Chiarelott (2006) explains that the purpose of
this model is to “present students with a puzzling event, problem, or experimental demonstration
for which there is no obvious, immediate answer, solution, or explanation” (p. 118). With this
model, students construct knowledge as they test and adjust their own ideas. This model
involves active, hands-on scientific experiences in which the students hold a significant amount
of control and responsibility.
Another aspect of this instructional design is that it is set up using the 5-E Learning Cycle
Model lesson plan format. This format was designed by The Biological Sciences Curriculum
Study and has been highly successful with science and math courses “due to its strong linkage to
constructivist theories of teaching and learning” (Chiarelott, p. 90). Chiarelott (2006) explains
that this format is “highly adaptable to contextual teaching strategies” (p. 90). This format
compliments inquiry-based learning and provides students with contextualized experiences with
science. Each lesson includes five components: engagement, exploration, explanation,
extension, and evaluation. Student involvement in this format is key, and they will again
participate in scientific learning by doing.
As described previously, young students are not given appropriate time or experiences to
learn science concepts, especially not within the context of real world experiences. By
establishing an instructional design that incorporates an inquiry-based learning environment and
the 5-E Learning Cycle Model lesson format, teachers and students will be involved with many
of the strategies of contextualized teaching and learning described by Chiarelott (2006),
including “problem-solving, self-directed learning, learning from peers, learning in real
situations, and authentic assessment” (p. 5). Without contextualized learning experiences, like
those presented in this instructional design, students will not be prepared to use scientific
procedures, knowledge, or questioning in the real world or later in their academic careers.
References:
Chiarelott, L. (2006). Curriculum in Context. Belmont: Thomson-Wadsworth.
NSTA Board of Directors (2002). NSTA Position Statement: Elementary School Science.
National Science Teachers Association. Retrieved May 14, 2012 from the World Wide
Web: http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/elementary.aspx
Unit Learner Outcomes
First Grade Ohio Academic Science Standards Addressed:
 1.S.PS.1: Properties of objects and materials can change.
 1.S.ESS.2: The physical properties of water change.
Lesson #1:
 The students will explain why water is a liquid. (Comprehension)
 The students will list the properties exhibited by liquids. (Knowledge)
 The students will collect data in a table referring to objects sinking or floating.
(Knowledge)
Lesson #2:
 The students will compare and contrast water as a liquid and as a solid. (Analysis)
 The students will list the properties exhibited by solids. (Knowledge)
Lesson #3:
 The students will describe what happens to water during evaporation.
(Comprehension)
 The students will diagram the water cycle, including the states of water during
various stages. (Application)
Lesson #4:
 The students will describe the properties of Oobleck, a substance that displays
properties of both solids and liquids. (Comprehension)
 The students will collect evidence of both the liquid and solid properties of
Oobleck. (Application)
Name: ____________________________________________
Water Sub-Unit Pre-Assessment
Draw pictures or write to answer the following questions.
Where have you seen water?
What do you use water for?
What is special about water?
Lesson #1: Water as a Liquid
Science Standards:
 The physical properties of water
change. (1.S.ESS.2)
Objectives:
 The students will explain why water is
a liquid.
 The students will list the properties
exhibited by liquids.
 The students will collect data in a table
referring to objects sinking or floating.
Time: 2 days; 45 minute sessions
Materials:
 Large clear tubs of water
 Water pitchers
 Metal ship
 Wooden ship
 Plastic links
 Letter magnets
 Clay tiles
 Crayons
 Pencils
 Glass marbles
 Coins
 Craft sticks
 SMART Board
Engage: How I will engage the students using
connections to their prior knowledge?
Explore: What students will do to explore the
concepts and begin to develop vocabulary at
the same time.
Concepts/Skills:
 Liquids
 Water
 Sinking and Floating
 Data Collection and Charting
Day 1: Using a water pitcher, start pouring
water into a large clear tub of water. Ask
students what substance they are working with
today (water). The class discusses water:
Where do the students see water? What do
they use water for? What type of substance is
water: solid, liquid, or gas? Why? The teacher
will then show the students a metal ship and a
wooden ship. The students will take a poll of
which ship would they choose to ride on in the
water. The teacher will then demonstrate both
situations by putting each boat in the water.
The teacher will present the students with the
question: How do you know if an object will
sink or float? [10 minutes]
Day 1: Groups of students will conduct a sink
or float experiment using the Sink or Float
Exploration Chart. Students will be given the
following objects: coin, clay tile, magnet, craft
stick, pencil, crayon, plastic link, and marble.
Students will first hypothesize whether an
object will sink or float. Then they will test
their hypothesis. [20 minutes]
Explain: What I will do to allow students an
opportunity to construct their own explanation
of the concepts.
Extend: Opportunities I will give students to
elaborate or extend their understanding of the
concepts.
Evaluate: How I and/or the student will
evaluate his/her learning.
Teacher Notes:
Day 1: The class will go over the findings
from the sink or float experiment. The class
will discuss any discrepancies in findings and
retest if necessary. The class will group the
objects into sink or float categories and discuss
why they believe these objects performed the
way that they did. Discuss: Did any object
surprise you? Why? What is the same about
the objects that float? The objects that sink?
[15 minutes]
Day 2: After reviewing the previous day’s
learning, students work with a partner to first
list two things that they believe will sink and
two that will float. Then, together partners will
list three reasons that water is a liquid,
answering the question, What makes water a
liquid? Use the Sink or Float Review sheet.
[20 minutes]
Day 2: The class will test any of the group’s
hypotheses from the review sheet that are
possible to check in the classroom. The
teacher will then show the clip entitled
“Liquids” from A First Look: Solids, Liquids,
and Gases as the students complete or change
their ideas about liquids on the review sheet.
The class will chart the three properties of
water from the clip, including: takes the shape
of what it is in, pours, and cannot be counted.
[15 minutes]
Day 2: Students will fill out the Water Lesson
1 Exit Slip deciding if given objects are liquid
or not. Then the students will list the three
properties of liquids. [10 minutes]
Name: ________________________________________________
Sink or Float Exploration
Object
1. coin
2. magnet
3. tile
4. craft stick
5. pencil
6. crayon
7. link
8. marble
Will it sink or float?
Did it sink or float?
Name: ________________________________________________
Sink or Float Review
With a partner, complete the following tasks.
1. List 2 objects that you believe would float in water.
_______________________
_______________________
Explain why one of these objects will float:
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
2. List 2 objects that you believe would sink in water.
_______________________
_______________________
Explain why one of these objects will sink:
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
Discuss why water is a liquid. Draw pictures or use words to describe
three ideas about liquids.
Name: ________________________________________________
Water Lesson 1 Exit Slip
Write liquid or not for each picture.
a wave
balloons
salt
______________
______________
______________
syrup
punch
sticks
______________
______________
______________
List 3 properties of liquids. What makes a liquid a liquid?
1. ___________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________
Lesson #2: Water as a Solid
Science Standards:
 The physical properties of water
change. (1.S.ESS.2)
Objectives:
 The students will compare and contrast
water as a liquid and as a solid.
 The students will list the properties
exhibited by solids.
Time: 1 day; 45 minutes
Materials:
 Ice cubes
 Water pitcher
 Large clear tub
 Cups of water
 Venn Diagram Chart
 Paper
 Pencils
 SMART Board
Engage: How I will engage the students using
connections to their prior knowledge?
Explore: What students will do to explore the
concepts and begin to develop vocabulary at
the same time.
Explain: What I will do to allow students an
opportunity to construct their own explanation
of the concepts.
Extend: Opportunities I will give students to
elaborate or extend their understanding of the
concepts.
Concepts/Skills:
 Solids
 Water
 Making Observations
Day 1: The teacher will pour ice cubes from a
water pitcher into the large clear tub. The
teacher will ask the following questions: Is
this water? Why is it acting different than in
the previous lesson? What is different about
this substance than the water in the first
lesson? [5 minutes]
Day 1: Students will work in groups to
investigate ice cubes and water. Each group
will receive a cup of water and a tub of ice
cubes. Students will list the similarities and
differences between the two substances.
Students will document their findings on the
Water-Ice Investigation sheet. [10 minutes]
Day 1: The class will work together to
complete a Venn Diagram about liquid water
and solid ice using their exploration findings.
The class will then discuss how these findings
relate to all liquids and solids. [10 minutes]
Day 1: The teacher will then show the clip
entitled “Solids” from A First Look: Solids,
Liquids, and Gases. Students will take notes
on what makes a solid different from a liquid.
The class will chart the three properties of
water from the clip, including: have their own
shape, can be weighted, and can be counted.
[10 minutes].
Evaluate: How I and/or the student will
evaluate his/her learning.
Teacher Notes:
Day 1: The students will complete the Water
Lesson 2 Exit Slip by deciding which objects
are solid and which are not as well as by listing
three describing properties of solids. [10
minutes]
Name: ________________________________________________
Water-Ice Investigation
Draw pictures or use words to explain the similarities and differences
between ice and water.
Water and Ice are the
same because…
Water and Ice are
different because…
Name: ________________________________________________
Water Lesson 2 Exit Slip
Write solid or not for each picture.
rain
rocks
marbles
______________
______________
______________
eraser
oil
seeds
______________
______________
______________
List 3 properties of solids. What makes a solid a solid?
1. ___________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________
Lesson #3: Evaporation
Science Standards:
 The physical properties of water
change. (1.S.ESS.2)
Objectives:
 The students will describe what happens to
water during evaporation.
 The students will diagram the water cycle,
including the states of water during various
stages.
Time: 2 days; 45 minute sessions
Materials:
 SMART Board
 Pencils
 Clear plastic cups
 Water
 Black permanent markers
 Rulers
 Paper towels
 Scissors
 Clothespins
 Clothesline
 Chart paper
 Microwave
 Microwave-safe cups
 Plastic wrap
 Poster paper
Engage: How I will engage the students
using connections to their prior
knowledge?
Explore: What students will do to
explore the concepts and begin to develop
vocabulary at the same time.
Concepts/Skills:
 Evaporation
 Water as a Liquid
 Water Cycle
 Weather
Day 1: The students will be presented with the time
elapsed puddle video entitled “Timelapse of Water
Evaporating from a Surface”
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuF0Xg4MlJI).
The teacher will then ask: What happened to the
water? Where did it go? Students will write their
predictions on the Prediction & Result Paper. [10
minutes]
Day 1: The class will begin two experiments to
explore the concepts of evaporation. First, students
will observe how water evaporates in sunlight. For
this experiment, each group of students fill a clear
cup with water, 3 inches from the bottom of the
cup. The water level is marked and then put in a
sunny window. Students document their
predictions on the Prediction & Results paper. The
cups will be checked the following lesson. In the
second activity, the students will cut out small t-
shirt shapes from pieces of paper towel. The
students will then wet the t-shirts with water and
hang them on a clothesline. [25 minutes]
Explain: What I will do to allow students
an opportunity to construct their own
explanation of the concepts.
Extend: Opportunities I will give
students to elaborate or extend their
understanding of the concepts.
Evaluate: How I and/or the student will
evaluate his/her learning.
Day 2: Students get with their group members and
observe the two experiments started in the previous
lessons. Students mark the new water level in the
clear cup and measure how high it is. The students
document their findings on the Prediction & Results
sheet. Then the students find their t-shirts and
document their findings about the changes that have
occurred. These observations will also be
documented on the Prediction & Results sheet. [15
minutes]
Day 1: Students will get with partners that they
have not worked with on the day’s lessons.
Students will discuss the predictions that they made
throughout the lesson. Then the class will get
together and discuss what the students are thinking
about the experiments so far. [10 minutes]
Day 2: Each group of students will present their
results from the two experiments. All water levels
will be documented on a class bar graph in order to
show similarities and differences in group findings.
The class will discuss their hypotheses about where
water goes when it seems to disappear. [5 minutes]
Day 2: To extend student understanding, the
teacher will present the students with a final
evaporation experiment. The teacher will
microwave two cups of water covered with plastic
wrap for 3 minutes. The students will observe what
happens when the plastic wrap is removed from one
cup (steam will rise into the air). The students will
also observe the water droplets that will still be
trapped in the second cup. The class will discuss
how this relates to what happens in real life
(formation of clouds). The class will then watch the
clips entitled “Evaporation”, “Condensation”, and
“Precipitation” in the video The Water Cycle. [15]
Day 2: Students will create a poster to demonstrate
what happens to water during the water cycle,
showing that water evaporates, becomes clouds, and
then becomes rain. [10 minutes]
Teacher Notes:
 The term evaporation is not part of the first
grade science content vocabulary. It may be
introduced and discussed but should not be
assessed.
 The water cups in the first evaporation
experiment could be observed daily until the
water is completely gone.
Name: ________________________________________________
Predictions & Results
Use the spaces below to make predictions about this lesson’s
experiments and then to show what really happened.
Predictions
Puddle Video:
Water Cup in Window:
Paper Towel T-Shirt:
Results
Lesson #4: Oobleck Investigation
Science Standards:
 Properties of objects and materials can
change. (1.S.PS.1)
Objectives:
 The students will observe the properties
of Oobleck, a substance that displays
properties of both solids and liquids.
 The students will collect evidence of
both the liquid and solid properties of
Oobleck.
Time: 45 minutes
Materials:
 Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr.
Seuss
 Large mixing bowls
 Oobleck: 1 part water, 2 parts
cornstarch, food coloring
 Coins
 Glass gems
 Toothpicks
 String
Engage: How I will engage the students using
connections to their prior knowledge?
Explore: What students will do to explore the
concepts and begin to develop vocabulary at
the same time.
Concepts/Skills:
 Liquids
 Solids
 Collecting Data
Day 1: The teacher will introduce the lesson
by explaining that there is a mysterious
substance out in the world that he/she just
cannot figure out. The students are now
familiar with solids, liquids, and gases, but this
substance is a mystery. Will the students help
to figure out what kind of substance it is? To
introduce this weird substance, Oobleck, the
teacher will read Dr. Seuss’s Bartholomew and
the Oobleck. [10 minutes]
Day 1: The teacher will then prepare some
Oobleck as the students watch. The teacher
will mix one cup of water into two cups of
cornstarch. Then a few drops of food coloring
will be mixed in. The teacher will show the
students how the Oobleck can act like a liquid
as he/she slowly dips a hand in it, but then it
acts as a solid when it is poked quickly.
Groups will then mix and explore their own
batch of Oobleck. This will be a purely
exploratory stage in which the students observe
the characteristics of the substance. [10
minutes]
Explain: What I will do to allow students an
opportunity to construct their own explanation
of the concepts.
Extend: Opportunities I will give students to
elaborate or extend their understanding of the
concepts.
Evaluate: How I and/or the student will
evaluate his/her learning.
Teacher Notes:
Day 1: Groups will then do a sink/float
experiment with the Oobleck by observing
which of the following objects sink and which
ones float in the substance: coin, toothpick,
gem, and string. Students will document their
findings on the Oobleck Investigation sheet.
The class will go over each group’s results and
retest if there are discrepancies. [15 minutes]
Day 1: Students will learn more about nonNewtonian substances in the video clip entitled
“Cornstarch and Speakers” from the video
Headrush: Shrimps on Treadmills. The class
will then discuss how this clip relates their
findings from the class experiments. [5
minutes]
Day 1: Based on the exploration and sink/float
experiment, the students will draw or write
about how Oobleck acts as a liquid and as a
solid on the Oobleck Investigation sheet. [5
minutes]
Name: ____________________________________
Oobleck Investigation
Did the item sink or float? Put an X in the correct place on the chart.
Item
Sink
Float
1. coin
2. toothpick
3. gem
4. string
How does Oobleck act like a:
Solid
Liquid
Name: _______________________________________
Water Sub-Unit Post-Assessment
1.
Solid
Liquid
Solid
Liquid
Solid
Liquid
Solid
Liquid
Juice
2.
Pencil
3.
Pond Water
4.
Shoe
5. What kind of matter is an ice cube?
Solid
Liquid
Gas
6. Can a solid turn into a liquid?
Yes
No
7. Can a liquid turn into a solid?
Yes
No
8. What kind of matter is Oobleck?
Solid
Liquid
Gas
9. Where does the water in puddles go when the sun “dries”
it?
______________________________________________
10. Write one property of a solid.
______________________________________________
11. Write one property of a liquid.
References
100% Educational Videos (Producer). (2003). The Water Cycle. [Full
Video]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Beyond Entertainment (Producer). (2010). Cornstarch and Speakers. [Video
Segment]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Cochran (Producer). (2001). A First Look: Solids, Liquids, and Gases. [Full
Video]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Esebi95. (2011). Timelapse of Water Evaporating From a Surface. [Full Video].
Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuF0Xg4MlJI
Seuss, Dr. (1949). Bartholomew and the Oobleck. New York: Random House.