What’s the MATTER?:
A Curriculum Plan and Teaching Guide
Introduction
The purpose of this webquest is for students to be able to name the states of matter, explain how matter changes states and be able to analyze the differences between a physical change and a chemical change.
Curriculum Standard(s)
The following standards are covered in this webquest:
S5P2a Physical Changes: Investigate physical changes by separating mixtures and manipulating (cutting, tearing, folding) paper to demonstrate examples of physical change.
S5P2b States of Matter (Water): Recognize that the changes in state of water (water vapor/steam, liquid, ice) are due to temperature differences and are examples of physical change
S5P2c Chemical Changes: Investigate the properties of a substance before, during, and after a chemical reaction to find evidence of change.
Aim/Purpose Statement
This webquest will provide an introduction into matter and extend the students’ learning by having them use higher order thinking skills to explain a process, analyze the difference between physical and chemical changes and finally applying what they have learned to give examples of these things from their daily lives.
Rationale
It would be fairly simple to have students define the vocabulary from the matter unit. They could then do a simple fill in the blank or matching quiz and you could call the unit complete. However, if we want the students to be able to use their higher order thinking skills we have to allow them to construct their own knowledge. This webquest allows them the freedom to look up the definitions to the new vocabulary, explain the differences in the concepts and then apply that to finding examples of the different concepts they will be learning about. They will begin with lower order thinking skills and gradually increase the level.
General Educational Goals
Subject Matter Description
Learner Description
The students completing this webquest are 5th grade boys and girls. They are of varying ability groups and come from all different backgrounds.
Prerequisites
Learning Objectives
Materials
Instructional Plan
1. Students will need to choose a partner and decide who is responsible for the different research topics.
2. Once they have decided who is researching the different topics, they must decide which two projects they will complete. They will need to think about how much time each project will take. They won't want to choose two projects that will take a long time to complete. They must create two projects. One will be explaining the states of matter and the other will be explaining the difference between a physical and chemical change. They must complete one project by hand and one with the computer programs available.
3. After they have made those decisions, they must decide who is the director for each project. That person will decide who is responsible for which portions of the project.
4. They will then begin researching your topics, making sure to take notes and save links to the websites that they might need to complete your projects.
They will need to use the following links to help you with your research...
States of Matter
Physical and Chemical Changes
All research must be complete before you can begin on your project.
Assessment Plan
Evaluation Plan
Contact Information
Megan Huss. Fifth grade teacher at Cheatham Hill Elementary School.
Wequest…
http://stu.westga.edu/~mhuss1/mhuss1/matter/webquest.html
Bibliography