I am lucky enough to teach at the school my children go to. My eldest daughter was in my 8th grade science class last year, before she moved on to high school. My youngest daughter (8th grade) and my son (6th grade) still go to the middle school I work at. Last year, my youngest daughter came home with a project she made in social studies. It depicted a very colorful illustration of Sir Isaac Newton. It caught my attention because I happened to have done a lesson on Newton’s Laws of Motion earlier in the year. I remember thinking, “wouldn’t it have been great if science and social studies could have coordinated the timing of the lessons?”
On a 5 by 7 piece of paper was an illustration of Sir Isaac Newton. On the back was Newton’s biography (Mr. Misawa's 7th grade class, 2017).
I thought back to that project as inspiration for my first attempt at a “mash-up” of social studies and science curriculum.
Overview of Lesson:
Tasks:
Through three exploration activities, students will investigate the principles of Newton's First, Second and Third Laws of Motion. In the first task, students will play "Broomball" to learn the principles of Newton's First Law of Motion. In the second task, students will plan an investigation using spring scales and scale weights to discover principles of Newton's Second Law of Motion. In the third task, students will have "Balloon Races" to discover principles of Newton's Third Law of Motion.
Group Presentation:
Student groups will create a demonstration using given materials, to explain one of Newton's Laws of Motion to the class. Students must use the concepts that they have during the activities to defend why their demonstration exemplifies their chosen Law of Motion.
Individual Learning Project:
Student's will then extend their knowledge by researching Sir Isaac Newton and his works. They will create a "Baseball Card" featuring Isaac Newton. The card is to contain information about Newton's life, a description of his discoveries and an explanation of his influence on the Renaissance movement.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to describe the principles of Newton's Laws of Motion. They will also be able to detail Newton's contributions to the field of science, engineering and mathematics. Through these activities, students will gain a deeper understanding of Newton's Laws, as well as, a deeper appreciation of how Newton's discoveries influenced the Renaissance and modern society.
Content Standards:
Grade 7 History-Social Science
7.8 Students analyze the origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance. Students will detail advances made in literature, the arts, science, mathematics, cartography, engineering, and the understanding of human anatomy and astronomy.
Middle School Physical Science
MS-PS2-2 Students will plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.
Pre-Assessment/ Prior Knowledge:
Students will use a K-W-L chart to detail all they know about Sir Isaac Newton, and Newton’s Laws of Motion. Then they will discuss with their partner something they would like to learn in the upcoming lesson. The will save the L for after the lesson (Post Assessment).
Lesson Tasks/Activities:
Exploration of Newton's First Law: Broomball
Students will use a broom to push, first a bowling ball, then a water polo ball, through the classroom obstacle course. Students will describe the motion through the course and answer the following questions:
1.What three things are the most difficult when it comes to using the broom to handle the ball? 2. How can a player use the broom to overcome the difficulties mentioned in question 1? 3. What kind of motion does the ball have in the no-touch zone?
These questions are designed to help students develop a conceptual understanding of Newton's First Law. Students are asked to work in lab groups and use their information to describe the principles of motion they observed. Students will write the principles of motion along with a diagram on their team's white board. Students will then do a gallery walk. The teacher will pull student name cards and a few student observations and principles of motion will be shared with the class.
Students will then be given the definition of Newton's First Law and will answer the following to help them make connections to the First Law of Motion:
1. Now that you know the definition of Newton’s 1st Law of Motion. Restate it in your own words.
2. Explain how the Broomball activity demonstrates Newton’s 1st law of motion:
Exploration of Newton's Second Law: Spring Scale Pulls
Students will be working in lab groups to determine the answer to the following essential question: How will pulling objects with different masses across the table at constant speed effect the amount of force needed to do this?
Students will be given spring scales, wooden blocks, and scale weights of different masses.
They will record the amount of force (in Newtons) required to slide the various weights on a wooden block across their desk.
They must created there own data table to record both quantitative and qualitative data.
Next, they will use the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning format to come up with the principles of motion and to make connections to Newton's Second Law. They are not given the definition of Newton's Second Law until they get to "Reasoning":
Claim: If we add mass to the block
then it will require_____ force to accelerate
because ______________________.
Evidence: From your data chart (must have quantitative and qualitative data)
Reasoning: Now that you have been given the definition of Newton's Second Law, restate Newton's second law in your own words and explain how this activity was used to demonstrate the Law.
Exploration of Newton's Third Law: Balloon Races
Students enjoy this activity the most (although Broomball is a close second). Each team will blow up a balloon (without tying it) and tape a small piece of straw to the side of it. They will thread a string through the straw piece and when the string is pulled tight they will let go of the balloons and race. It helps if one end of the string is pre-taped to a wall. The other end is held by a student on a team. Students will do a few runs with various amounts of "air" to observe the properties of motion.
Next, students answer the following
1. Describe the motion you observed.
2. What happens when you put different amounts of air in the balloon?
3. As a team, come up with a principle of motion that explains your observation.
Again, these questions are designed to help students develop a conceptual understanding of Newton's Third Law. Students will work in lab groups to answer #3. Then, students write their principle of motion along with a diagram on their team's white board. Students then have a gallery walk. After the gallery walk, I will pull student name cards and a few student observations and principle of motion will be shared with the class. Students are then given the definition of Newton's Third Law of Motion and will answer the following:
1. Now that you know the definition of Newton’s 3rd law of motion. Restate it in your own words.
2. Explain how the Balloon race activity demonstrates Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion.
3. Diagram the action/reaction force in your notes
Connection to Best Practices:
The "Inquiry" involved in these three activities, increases student engagement and promotes critical thinking (Contant, Tweed, Bass, & Carin, 2018). For example, students are not just given a definition, they are asked to come up with the principles based on their learning experience. Also, "hands on" activities increase interest because they are fun, and they can be made into a competition (intrinsic motivation). For example, students compete for the fastest run times of Broomball and Balloon Races. With the spring scale activity, deciding how to run the lab and collect data promotes critical thinking and collaborative skills (Dean, Hubbell, Pitler, & Stone, 2012). Group work and gallery walks support special population students because it allows them to collaborate in a smaller "safer" setting and it allows them to be exposed to peer ideas. The use of analytic questioning throughout the activities will help students develop a DOK about a content area ( Dean et al., p. 55). For example, students predict a principle of motion before they are given the definition of a Law.
Assessments
Group Presentation: Demonstration of a Law of Motion
Student groups will be given various materials and asked to create a demonstration for one of Newton's Laws of Motion. Each student in the group must be able to answer questions from from the class and the teacher, and be able to defend how their demonstration connects to concepts learned in the activities. At least 2 of the following materials must be used in their presentation: plastic bat, wiffle ball, tennis ball, plastic toy cars, foam tubing, golf ball, ping pong ball, wooden blocks, syrofoam pieces, or pieces of cardboard.Students will earn extra points for creativity in their demonstrations.
Individual Learning Project: Baseball Card Biography
Students will create a biography of Isaac Newton in the form of a baseball card. I will show the students a real baseball card of my all-time favorite baseball player, Orel Hershiser, and talk about how a baseball card gives information about the player.
Besides the fact that I love the Dodgers, connecting with student interests increases engagement (Dean et al., 2012). Students also like learning a "secret" about a teacher (building classroom community).This is also great realia to increase comprehension for EL and students with special needs (p.68).
Next , I explain to the students that they need to create a 5" by 7" "baseball card" about Sir Isaac Newton. They will do research from reputable sites on the internet and must cite their sources. Each "baseball card" must include:
On the Front:
His name
Colored Illustration of Isaac Newton
On the Back:
Birth Date
Death Date
Birth Place
1 contribution of the field of science, mathematics, or engineering and
1 way his contributions influenced the Renaissance movement or society
Post Assessment and Reteach
Students will revisit their KWL Charts, fill in all they have learned in the L column, and turn it in for me to review. As an accommodation for EL students and students with special needs, I will provide paragraph frames in the L column to support writing. Students who have not expressed an appropriate amount of detail to demonstrate what they know, will first be asked to answer some questions verbally to help me ascertain learning. If I feel appropriate comprehension of concepts was expressed verbally, I will reiterate the assignment expectations and have them re-do the L column. If I feel they did not express appropriate comprehension of concepts, they will first watch the following brainpop videos:
Isaac Newton
https://www.brainpop.com/math/geometryandmeasurement/isaacnewton/
Newton's Laws of Motion https://www.brainpop.com/science/motionsforcesandtime/newtonslawsofmotion/
Next, they will take the review quiz. I will meet with them to discuss the concepts presented in the videos and discuss the results of their review quiz.
Rationale- Some students in special populations such as EL Learners or low-level learners, are supported by visual presentation of content such as a video. Brainpop videos are simple to follow and state content material clearly. These students would also benefit from one-on-one time with me to review concepts.
Teaching Reflection:
I really haven't been able to get the idea of a "historical figure and science" connection out of my head since I saw my daughter's assignment. This MAT 671 assignment gave me an opportunity to bring that lesson to fruition. I wasn't sure if I could get someone else to be just as excited as I was about this idea (because, I know it is not a perfect lesson). I really wanted to write about this assignment because I was passionate about it and I could present it to my social studies colleagues at work as a potential collaboration project throughout the year. The idea is that we could create a few biographies (baseball trading cards) throughout the year featuring various historical figures from the field of science (i.e. Aristotle, Galileo, Da Vinci ). I know a good partner needs to be willing to compromise. I didn't want to compromise my vision, so I decided to work alone.
References
Contant, T., Tweed, A., Bass, C., and Carin, A. (2018). Teaching science through inquiry-based instruction. 13th Edition Kindle for Mac
Dean, C., Hubbell, R., Pitler, H., and Stone, B. (2012). Classroom instruction that works: research-based strategies for increasing student acheivement. 2nd Edition Kindle for Mac
Misawa, J. (2017). Individual Learning Project: Baseball Card Biography. 7th Grade Social Studies, Cucamonga Middle School