Lesson Plan : Bubble Gum Physics
Teacher Name: | Christie Talbot |
Grade: | Grade 9-10 |
Subject: | Science |
Topic: | Freshmen Physical Science: California Science Content Standards 1.B. Students know how to solve a problem that involves constant speed and average speed. |
Content: | Key vocabulary: Speed, Time, average speed, constant rate of speed, accurate vs reliable results, MOst of the students have vocabulary building goals in their IEPs. |
Goals: | After this experience, the student should 1. be able to define speed (# of chomps/time) 2. be able to record data in a chart 3. be able to find the average speed from the number of chomps / time in the graph table 4. be able to find the estimate future speed of chomps given various times 5. be able to determine if constant rate was achieved 6. be able to summarize results in a paragraph 7. be able to determine if results are accurate and reliable |
Objectives: | The students will show the instructor that they have mastered the concept of speed being equivalent to how far something goes or how much of something occurs over a given time period. The students will enthusiastically follow the instructions to perform a variety of gum chewing tasks which will be recorded in a data log. |
Materials: | Student will need handout to fill in data, a timer, a calculator, bubble gum and a pen or pencil |
Introduction: | When the students come into class there will be bubble gum in a bowl on the front table and bubble gum words written on the board such as chew, chomp, Big Red, Wrigleys, Juicy Fruit etc.... I will begin by getting the students attention by reading a little bit about the history of bubble gum. Next I will give them a bubble gum trivia sheet and we will go over the correct answers together. |
Development: | After the intro I will ask the students if they remember what speed is? Then, how to figure out the speed of an item? I will be looking for speed is how fast an object is moving and to decipher the speed. Speed is distance/time. We will discuss some common examples. |
Practice: | Finally, I will explain that we are going to be looking at the speed of chewing bubble gum. I will tell the class I think that I am the fastest gum chewer in the class. Then I will give someone a timer and have them time myself as well as another student to a gum chewing contest. We will be timed for 30 seconds and we will count how fast we can chew. I will write the data on the board and as a class we will determine the 2 speeds of chewing to see who is the largest number of chomps in the given time period. |
Accommodations: | There are 2 students who need one on one assistance on every assignment. I try to work with one of the students and then I partner the other one up with a more advanced student. All students use calculators. I walk the room and give individual assistance to all students as it arises. |
Checking For Understanding: | There are 3 questions at the end of the worksheet that have the student use higher level thinking to determine accuracy and reliability and to summarize their data. The students will take 10 minutes to finish up these questions. |
Closure: | Part B The students will work in pairs with one student being the timer and the other one recording their number of chomps at 20 seconds, 40 seconds and 60 seconds during a one minute time period. After this each person must calculate their rate per second to see if they maintained a constant chewing rate. |
Evaluation: | Progress will be measured by the student performing the chewing and recording the data. The student must also be able to calculate speed and determine if their speed is constant in a the closing procedure. I will be grading the entire worksheet with the data table as well as the 3 questions at the end of the worksheet. |
Teacher Reflections: |
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