Inquiry Lesson Plan Template (with Four Ways of Thinking connection)

Teacher:Emily Cole

Content & Title:

Solar Energy

Grade Level: 4

Standards:
Next Generations Science Standard: 4-PS3-2.Make observations to provide
evidence thatenergy can be transferredfrom place to place by sound, light,
heat, and electric currents.[Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not
include quantitative measurements of energy.]
Objectives (Explicit & Measurable):
Students will use materials available to make a solar powered oven to
make a marshmallow melt.
Evidence of Mastery (Measurable Assessment: formative and summative):
(formative) The students will be answering questions along the way
throughout the lesson. Students will also have the opportunity to respond to
the book The Kids' Solar Energy Book by Tilly Spetgang. There will be a
portion of the lesson where the students will draw what they think their oven
should look like in their science notebooks.
(summative) The students will have make a presentation with their partner
explaining how they tried to make a solar oven and the design process that
they went through. Students will also record their experiment and design
process in their science notebooks.
Sub-objectives, SWBAT (steps that lead to completion of objective; sequence from simple to
more complex):

SWBAT identify what Solar energy is.

SWBAT use their knowledge about solar energy to make a Solar powered oven.

Lesson Summary and Justification: (summary gives detailed information about what
students are doing. Justification why is this lesson being taught)

Students are creating a solar powered oven because each of the students live in Arizona,
which is one of the sunniest places on earth.During the day, 85 percent of the time the sun
is shining in Arizona.Which is a total of over 3800 hours a year.Phoenix is the largest major
city in the United States, who has the most collective sunny days. Because we enjoy all of
the excessive sun, it only makes sense that we used it's energy to our advantage.
As the world continues to run out of fossil fuels and damage to the environment increases,
future generations are going to become dependent on renewable energy. It is important for
students to know how renewable sources of energy work and how these sources could be
improved in the future.

Background Knowledge: (What do students need to know prior to completing this lesson)

Students will have learned about different forms of renewable energy. They will have also
already learned about the typical sources of energy that people use.

Misconception: (what possible misleading thoughts might students have?)

Students could be confused about real solar panels that people usually use compared to the
simplified solar ovens that we are going to making.

Process Skills: (what skills are you introducing or reinforcing)

Hypothesizing what will work to create an oven that will melt a marshmallow.
Using observation for experiment to gather qualitative data.
Using measurement to gather quantitative data.

Four Ways of Thinking connection: (Provide a complete explanation of how your lesson

plan connects to futures, system, strategic, or values thinking. Define the way of thinking you
selected and used in this lesson plan. Remember, this should be included meaningfully in the
lesson plan.)
Students will write about Futures Thinking and how the world might be different if everyone used
Solar panels or other forms of renewable energy.
Safety: (what safety rules and items need to be addressed?)

Be responsible with your materials.

Work respectfully with your partner.
Be careful not to burn yourself or others with your oven.

Inquiry Questions: (testable in the here and now.)

1. (to explore) What is Solar Energy?
2. (to elaborate) How does Solar Energy work?

Key vocabulary: (list and define)

1. Solar energy-radiant energy emitted
by the sun.
2. Insulation-material used to insulate
something, especially a building.
3. Renewable energy-energy from a
source that is not depleted when used,
such as wind or solar power.

Materials: (list item and possible quantity)

1.The book: Kids Solar Energy Book
2.Various cardboard pieces and
shapes to construct the basic
structure of the oven
3. Foil for the students to use for
reflection of the sun.
4.Glue
5.tape
6.Scissors
7. Newspaper for insulation
8. Black construction paper
9. Chopsticks
10. Yarn
11. paperclips
12. straws
13. Plastic wrap
14. Ruler
15. Science notebooks

Engage - In this section you should activate prior knowledge, hook student
attention, pose a question (IQ#1) based on your lesson objective that students
will seek to answer in Explore.
Teacher Will: (hook) Read the The Kids'
Solar Energy Book by Tilly Spetgang

(depending on the maturity of the students

teacher will skip some of the pages in the book
with irrelevant information.)

Teacher will ask questions such as:

How energy is transferred?
What is the difference between an active
and passive solar system?
What are Solar cells?
What is a Solar collector?
Why do we need other forms of renewable
energy?
What is insulation?

Students Will: take turns raising their

hands to answer questions asked by the
teacher.

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes

Students who need differentiation will receive the questions ahead of time so
that they can listen carefully for parts that are going to be discussed.
Explore - In this section students should take the lead and actively use materials
to discover information that will help them answer the question posed in
Engage. Teachers may choose to give steps to follow, especially for younger
students, but the goal is for students to discover some or all of the sub-objectives
of the lesson.
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #1)
Before doing the activity, the teacher
would have a discussion about the concept
of a solar oven.
In this activity students will make solar
ovens. Teacher will have built the students
background knowledge on the subject. We
would have discussions about, what
different ways they can see energy
transferred in their own lives and what
clean energy is. teacher would also show
several examples of solar energy used in
the real world.
Then teacher would have the students
work in pairs to engineer their Solar ovens.
On a sunny day we would go outside and
each student would place a marshmallow
inside their oven" to test their design.

Students Will: (list all steps)

Students will participate in a discussion
about the concept of a solar oven.
Students will draw design ideas of what
they think their solar oven could look
like.
Students will work in pairs to create
their solar ovens only using the
materials available to them. Students
will hypothesize what might happen to
make their ovens work based on the
knowledge they have gathered. After
their experiment with the
marshmallows, and seeing the results
of their experiment, teacher will have
students explain their result and how
energy was transferred.

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes

Students who require extra assistance Will be partnered with someone who is
willing to help them. If necessary, ELL students can receive pictures of what
they're trying to accomplish.
Explain In this section students share what they discovered, teacher connects
student discoveries to correct content terms/explanations, students articulate/
demonstrate a clear and correct understanding of the lesson sub-objectives by
answering the question from Engage before moving on.
Teacher Will: Ask students to write down
how their experiment went. Teacher will
ask the students share out loud how they
think the experiment is going.

Students Will: write down if they were

able to get there solar ovens to work.
They will write how they got their solar
ovens to work and how they would
change their design if they were to do
it again? Students will share out loud
how their experiments are going so far.

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes

Students who need extra assistance will receive a paper with the questions listed
that will be and a fill in the blank format.

Elaborate In this section students take the basic learning gained from Explore and
clarified in Explain and apply it to a new circumstance or explore a particular
aspect of this learning at a deeper level. Students should be using higher order
thinking in this stage. A common practice in this section is to ask a What If?
question. IQ #2
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #2) How does Solar
Energy work?

Teacher will ask the students to make

adjustments to their ovens. Then instruct
the students to go back outside test out
their solar ovens again after making
adjustments.
Teacher will ask the students to present
their design to the class, explaining what
went well and what could've gone better.

Students Will: Students will then make

adjustments their ovens and test the
solar ovens again.
Students will present their design to
the class and explain what went well
and what could've gone better.

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes

Students who struggle speaking in public Will be given the opportunity to
practice before hand what they want to say.
Evaluate In this section every student demonstrates mastery of the lesson
objective (though perhaps not mastery of the elaborate content). Because this also
serves as a closing, students should also have a chance to summarize the big
concepts they learned outside of the assessment.
Teacher Will: ask students to use futures
thinking to write about how using objects
like the ones they created can help save
energy?
Teacher will also ask the students to
write down what made their solar ovens
work?

Students Will: use futures thinking to

write about how using objects like the
ones they created can help save energy.
Students will also write down what made
their Solar ovens work.

Closure: (revisit objective, IQs and make real world connections)

How could we use experiments such as these Solar Ovens to save energy?
**Best Practices List the Best Teaching Practices you will use to enhance the
learning outcomes. In each section where prompted, list the best practice, how
the practices will be used and the purpose.
Students will raise their hands when they want to speak or if they have a
question.
Teacher will be using questions to engage and help students two come To
conclusions themselves.
Teacher will have students work in cooperative Learning groups as they
complete the lesson.
During the experiment students will be learning through hands on experience.
Teacher will use wait time when asking questions to allow students to process
information.