Teaching Essay Example on Sinking and Floating

Instructional objectives

After the lesson, the learners should be able to separate provided materials between floaters and sinkers; and fill the worksheet on the buoyancy of equipped items to attain a maximum mastery of sinkable and floatable objects.

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Standards and indicators

Science indicators

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Disciplinary - Practical: Sink and Float

Definition of critical concepts that involve sinking and floating; and making clear differentiation of the elements of each category. The act of sinking entails objects getting submerged in liquids whereas, floating is the act of objects failing to immerse in liquids but sits on the surface. Discussion on the elements of floating and sinking with the learners at their level before making the practical experiment of the class.

New York State: Science learning standards

Key idea 11:

Structure and Properties of matter

Classification of different properties of matter helps learners to understand the structural and material substances makes different items to sink or float when placed in a liquid (UNESCO, 2012). These interactions enhance that identification of floaters and sinkers do not necessarily need one to experiment practically. For adequate representation of different categories of object matter properties, the teacher needs to have demonstrative mastery of the lesson to ensure that learners get a maximum understanding of the subject.

Indicators: The lesson objectives will show when learners can differentiate subject matter which classifies into sinkers and floaters effectively. The effectiveness of the lesson should not just capitalize on possible identification and sort out of sinkers and floaters; the learners should by the end of the learning process make an efficient determination of the properties of matter that makes objects submerge or float when placed on liquids. Learners of a higher level of learning should understand the difference in density between objects and water as the properties behind sinking and float.

Instructional resources

Practical elements of the pedagogical process requiring learners to use hands on experience, the teacher or educator should provide instructional materials usable for practical experiments to increase the mastery of the teaching and learning process. Materials adoptable in classroom environment require being child-friendly. For the learning objective to be a successful use of appropriate instructional resources will give the learners a practical experiment to show the difference in sinkers and floaters, the materials will include;

Elements necessary for practical demonstration of sinking and floating

A plastic container with a tabular volume to hold water

Water

A variety of sinkers and floaters objects of different sizes. They may include but not limited to coins, pieces of wood, feathers, pieces of paper, gravels, metal plates of rings, pieces of plastic materials, blocks among others

Notebook, marker pens, label stickers, and pens

Sink and float checklist sheet

Buoyancy worksheet

Motivation

Provocative evaluation of the learners on the likelihood of objects sinking or floating

Practical placing objects on the water to determine whether they are floaters or sinkers

Question-answer sessions

Development procedures

The learners will perform a functional evaluation to assess floaters and sinkers in paired groups where they will be expected to categorize provided learning resources into the two categories - either sinkers or floaters. During the learning process using demonstrative practical exercise learners will place different objects on the water trough one at a time ensuring that they do not splash them into the water. The learners should make observations on the behavior of the objects placed on the water to make self-evaluation on the category each provided item belong. Once the learners are sure whether an object can submerge or not when put on water the object is placed on a marked side to have sinkers on the one hand and floaters on the other.

The teacher will go round from one group to the next evaluating the accuracy of the classification of the provided objects. The teacher should engage with learners to assess whether their grouping of items placed in both groups makes a correct rating. The teacher's interaction with a smaller number of the learners in the class ensures that he/she identifies the learner's ability and understanding of the taught concept (Collay, 2011). Whenever individual learners make the demonstrative determination of different objects during the learning process, the process creates holistic mastery of the concepts of sinking and floating for all learners. Children increase their acquisition ability when their teacher and peers repeatedly demonstrate taught concepts. He/she should ensure that learners differentiate the concepts of sinking and floating used to place objects of similar characteristics in the same category.

Instructional strategies

Demonstration - the use of clarification, explanations, a collection of evidence to show the reasoning behind categorization of different objects to have either float or sink properties. The classroom and instructional facilities should cater for the demonstrative space and equipment to make demonstrations and allow learners to collect evidence about learning concepts.

Indicators: The learning process will ensure that the teacher demonstrates to the learners the concepts of sinking and floating as well as learners will demonstrate their mastery of the lesson by doing as instructed. The pedagogical understanding of the level of learners to ensure that instructional process integrates effective methodologies fit for the particular level of learners (Voss, Kunter, & Baumert, 2011). Teachers using demonstrative instructional strategies require introducing the concept orally on the onset of the lessons while evaluating the level of learners' pre-lesson knowledge of the learning concept. After familiarizing the learners with the class theme, the teacher needs to distribute learning materials to all learners and demonstration should happen in unison.

Differentiation of instructions

After the learners have demonstrated their mastery of the learning objective, they will make probability determination of whether specific objects classify as sinkers or floaters. The teacher will maximize learners understanding of the concept by using simplified teaching styles to ensure that all learners understand the principle elements of the lesson.

Assessment

The learners will be given a list of objects to determine the conductive properties of the matter. Here the teacher will evaluate the level of subject mastery to ensure that learners score maximum understanding of the taught concept of sinkers and floaters.

Independent practice

After studying about sink and float, learners will give a takeaway assignment to identify different objects and classify them into either sinkers or floaters. The teachers will collect the completed tasks to provide feedback on the accuracy of the practical application of the lesson.

Follow-up and Intervention

The teacher and the learners will conduct a re-cap practical lesson to widen the alley of objects evaluated on the properties introducing the concept of volume and structure - size. The increased pedagogical process will help the learners expand their knowledge of the idea of sink and float, and the lesson's objective achieved.

References

Collay, M. (2011). Everyday teacher leadership: Taking action where you are. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

UNESCO (2012). Primary school curricula on reading and mathematics in developing countries. Montreal: UNESCO, Institute for Statistics.

Voss, T., Kunter, M., & Baumert, J. (2011). Assessing teacher candidates' general pedagogical/ psychological knowledge: Test construction and validation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(4), 952-969.