Bridge12

1.2.1 "Observe and compare properties of sand, clay, silt and organic matter. Look for evidence of sand, clay, silt and organic matter as components of soil samples." This activity can be modified for gifted students by having them record their predictions about which particles will sink and which particles will float, rather than solely making the observations. This activity can also be modified for older grades by having them do the same thing. The older students can also be told to gather material that is sand, silt, and clay, and try to keep these in separate jars. 

Sticky Note: This would be a great addition to a math lesson as well if the students were required to create, maintain, and balance a budget for creating this machine.

Sticky Note: This would be easy to manipulate for younger students by changing it from a cantilever structure to creating the highest structure with a certain number of materials. It could also be manipulated for older students by changing the materials to less obvious choices.

Sticky Note: This could be used for graphing if students had to test their structures multiple times, create a graph and find the average. Then could create a class graph of each group's averages. Could also be manipulated for younger students by changing the amount of materials.

Sticky Note: This activity could be differentiated so that each group was working with a different planet in the solar system so that when the exhibits were displayed the class would see the whole solar system.

Sticky Note: This could also be added to a science lesson where students have been creating vehicles and also have a class vehicle and class ramp that students could test. That way they could compare their own vehicles with the class vehicle and same with the class ramp (kind of like a control subjects). It could also be added to math lessons because of the measuring involved in each part of the activity.

Extensions: This activity connects science with music (sound waves). Adaptations: Gifted students can adjust the musical notes that are created by adding more or less water to each glass or create a musical tune.  Have ESL and Special Ed students give a thumbs up or down if sound is higher or lower in pitch and show why.  Do this activity in small groups to help with learning. 

Sticky Note: This would be a great end of unit project as an assessment to see whether students have understood different parts of pollution. Could be useful to make groups inclusive including ELL) and give job titles to ensure that all students would learn and feel comfortable in their groups.

Sticky Note: This would be great to use with younger kids by making the distance shorter that the balloon had to travel and making the material list shorter. It would be a great way of graphing as well: graph the length of of each trial for each team.

The Design Process: Identify a need or problem to be solved; brainstorm potential solutions; document the design throughout the entire design process; select the most appropriate materials to develop a solution that will meet the need; create the solution through a prototype; test and evaluate how well the solution meets the goal; communicate how to improve the solution. This activity can be modified for gifted students by having them record their predictions, as well as measure how much weight each bridge held. The activity can be adjusted for younger grades by having them design only one bridge, rather than several. It can also be adjusted by providing specific materials for the younger students, rather than giving them a wide variety of choices for materials.

After the primary lesson students can extrapolate to real life devices and how they store energy to perform work.

This activity is perfect for cross-curricular work with ELA.  Learning to write effective is invaluable in many fields, not just science.

2.2.1 "Observe, describe and measure ways in which the properties of a sample of water (including volume) change or stay the same as the water is heated and cooled and then transformed into different states." This activity can be modified for ELL students by having them record drawings during each observation, rather than writing the words for their observations. This would be a great activity for drawing, because each state looks so much different than the others (solid, liquid, and gas). This activity can be adjusted for older grades by having the students do the same activity with predictions at the beginning of the experiment about what they believe will happen. These students could also make other predictions about other types of matter that would react in the same way the juice ice did. For further exploration, these students could then test their hypothesis regarding other objects and their state of matter.

3.1.2 "Investigate how the loudness and pitch of sound changes when the rate of vibrations changes." This activity can be used with ELL students by having them do the activity while saying a variety of words that they need to practice learning. These words could be said in Spanish and English, both. This is a great way to use this activity in a way that is meaningful for those students. This activity can also be used with older ages by having the students record their predictions about what will happen if they use a louder voice, or a deeper pitch with the sound. The students could then compare their results with other students in the class.