The Consortium of Opportunities for Learners Second Year Mentor Project Department of Education Transition to Teaching Grant, 2004

Mentoring Concepts Since new teachers often leave their new profession by the second or third year, Texas school districts and state agencies are working together to retain teachers who begin their career in our schools. Mentoring has proven to be a way of not only assisting new teachers but rejuvenating current teachers.

COOL Plan We asked teachers and their mentors from the first year to collaborate during the second year by working on a project that would benefit students of both classrooms. Teachers and mentors selected their project, submitted the plan, and submitted the final project. Mentors are paid by the COOL Grant for their expertise and collaboration with teachers.

Brenda Santana and Vanessa Juarez Second Year Mentor Project Austin Independent School District, Barrington Elementary 3 rd grade Science Department of Education Transition to Teaching Grant, 2004

Plan This project will entail teaching Chapter 1 of the Scott Foresman 3rd grade textbook, “Matter and How It Changes.” Under this chapter three lessons will be taught, including Lesson 1: What are Objects Made of?, Lesson 2: What are Physical Changes, and Lesson 3: What are Chemical Changes? These lessons will provide the background necessary for the students to conduct an experiment on chemical changes.

Objectives To explore the properties of solids, liquids and gases. Science TEKS 3.7B Identify liquids, solids and gases, 3.7a Use tools to identify physical properties of matter, Identify physical properties of matter. Math TEKS 3.15d Use tools to solve problems. Language Arts TEKS 3.8d Sort/Classify words, 3.8b develop vocabulary through reading, 3.9e Draw visual images.

Materials 3 antacid tablets 3 plastic cups 450 mL of tap water at room temperature Stopwatch Safety goggles Measuring cup 1 Ziploc bag 1 metal spoon

Steps to be Taken Teach the lessons: Lesson 1: What Are Objects Made Of? Lesson 2: What are Physical Changes? Lesson 3: What are Chemical Changes? At the end of each lesson a formal assessment will be given (Lesson Assessment 1,2 and 3). Once these lessons have been mastered, a review will be conducted to solidify the understanding of matter and how it changes. To ensure the solidification of this concept, a final assessment for this chapter will be administered.

Final Step The final step will be to conduct a science experiment that will allow us to use our newfound knowledge and apply it to chemical changes. Students will learn specific science skills outlined in these lessons, including estimating and measuring, observing, collecting and interpreting data and making inferences. Students will be responsible for applying the scientific method, while creating the preliminary write-up for their science experiment.

Process: As a class we will develop and conduct a science experiment, called “How fast does it dissolve?”, while using the scientific method.

How fast does it dissolve? Introduction: We have been studying chemical changes. Matter that undergoes a chemical change is transformed into a different type of matter. It cannot be changed back into its original form. Our class decided to experiment with how fast/slow an antacid tablet dissolves in water. This is an example of a chemical change.

Question: Our class wondered if the form of an antacid tablet changed the time it took to dissolve in water.

Hypothesis We predicted that the form of the tablet would change the time it took to dissolve in water. Our hypothesis was that the whole tablet would dissolve in the least amount of time. The crushed tablet would take longer to dissolve. We also predicted that the time for the tablet cut in four pieces to disappear would fall in between the other two.

Experiment To test our hypothesis our class followed this procedure: First, we collected the materials necessary for the experiment. Next, we filled the plastic cups with 150 mL of water each. During our first test, we dropped the whole tablet into the first glass. We noted the time it took to dissolve and recorded it in our table. For the second test, we dropped the tablet cut into four pieces into the second glass. We noted the time it took to dissolve and recorded it in our table. Next, we dropped the crushed tablet into the third glass. We noted the time it took to dissolve and recorded it in our table. Finally, we transferred our data to our “Breakdown of Tablet” graph.

Results Our data shows that the whole and 4-piece tablets took much longer to dissolve than the crushed tablet. The crushed tablet took the least amount of time to disappear, only 27 seconds. When we compared the whole and 4-piece tablet, the second one took ten seconds longer to dissolve.

Conclusion The results show that the form of the antacid tablet does affect the amount of time it takes to dissolve in water. Our predictions in this part of the experiment were correct. The second prediction that our class made, that it would take the whole tablet the least amount of time, was incorrect. We learned from our experiment the smaller you breakdown a tablet, the faster it dissolves in water.

Assessment Informal assessment will be conducted through teacher observation, including the use of vocabulary, and application of science skills, estimating and measuring, student observations of experimentation, student collection and interpretation of data, and student’s inferences.

Teacher Reflection In many instances, I noticed the majority of the students applying vocabulary during class discussions. Application of science skills, such as estimating and measuring, student observations of experimentation, student collection and interpretation of data, and student’s inferences was evident with all but two students, during the actual experiment.