Communicating matters
View Sequence overviewStudents will:
- investigate to identify and name the properties that help us describe a solid.
- apply these properties to determine if something is a solid or not.
Students will represent their understanding as they:
- record observations about the behaviour of solids in a data table.
- make and discuss claims about the properties of solids.
In this lesson, assessment is formative.
Feedback might focus on:
- the properties that students associate with solids. Are they describing the properties accurately? Do they use the properties to correctly identify solids?
Feedback will also be provided during the class discussion determining the properties of solids in reference to the properties of liquids. Gauge each group/students’ ideas about the properties in comparison to other groups.
Whole class
Class science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Demonstration copy of the Solid science Resource sheet
Each group
Samples for investigation including:
- pourable solids such as rice, flour, laundry powder, sand
- other solids such as soap, chalk, playdough, sponges, stones, wood, elastic bands, containers etc.
- at least one liquid such as water
Each student
Individual science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Solid science Resource sheet
Lesson
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkRe-orient
Revisit the samples examined, and the ideas students had about solids, recorded on the Y-chart or table created in the Launch phase. Focus on the samples that students thought might be classified as solids. Review the vocabulary they used to describe solids and how they decided what made something a solid.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkIdentifying and constructing questions is the creative driver of the inquiry process. It allows students to explore what they know and how they know it. During the Inquire phase of the LIA Framework, the Question routine allows for past activities to be reviewed and to set the scene for the investigation that students will undertake. The use of effective questioning techniques can influence students’ view and interpretation of upcoming content, open them to exploration and link to their current interests and science capital.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to spend some time considering the mindset of students at the start of each Inquire phase. What do you want students to be thinking about, what do they already know and what is the best way for them to approach the task? What might tap into their curiosity?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkWhat makes something a solid?
Revise the scientific definitions of:
- materials: a substance with particular qualities or that is used for a specific purpose.
- properties: attributes of an object or material often used to into a common group.
Make explicit that materials are made of 'substances'.
Note: Students are likely to have used these terms in a scientific sense in previous chemical sciences topics.
Display a selection of samples, including a liquid, pourable solids, and other solids.
Through discussion:
- determine which sample is a liquid, referring back to the criteria from the previous lesson.
- examine each subsequent sample.
- identify the substance that makes up the sample and describe its properties.
- Depending on students’ prior learning, they might use more scientifically specific terms such as brittleness, malleability, flexibility, or elasticity. However, this is not required. It is acceptable for students to describe the material/substance using everyday terms such as strong, hard, able to be bent, folded, squashed, torn, shaped, stretched etc., or any combination of scientific and everyday language.
Pose the questions: What makes a substance a solid? How is a solid different to a liquid?
Students will compare each sample to the identified liquid in order to answer these questions.
Objects and materials
Scientists classify substances as solids or liquids, not objects.
Scientists classify ‘substances’ as solids or liquids, not objects.
When asked to identify solids, students might name objects such as tables and chairs, rather than the substances from which they are made—wood, metal or plastic. They may require prompting and discussion to focus on the substance the object is made of. Revising what students have learned previously about materials, and linking the term 'materials' to the use of the term 'substance' in this sequence can support you with this.
Focusing on substances, rather than objects, separates the use of the word solid in a scientific sense from the everyday sense. Students might use the term in various ways, for example as the opposite of hollow or as a synonym for strong, hard or immovable.
Using the word ‘substances’ will provide opportunities for students to consider materials or substances that are hollow, such as tennis balls or containers, or that aren’t ‘strong, hard, or immovable’, such as paper, sponges and fabrics, as solids.
Scientists classify ‘substances’ as solids or liquids, not objects.
When asked to identify solids, students might name objects such as tables and chairs, rather than the substances from which they are made—wood, metal or plastic. They may require prompting and discussion to focus on the substance the object is made of. Revising what students have learned previously about materials, and linking the term 'materials' to the use of the term 'substance' in this sequence can support you with this.
Focusing on substances, rather than objects, separates the use of the word solid in a scientific sense from the everyday sense. Students might use the term in various ways, for example as the opposite of hollow or as a synonym for strong, hard or immovable.
Using the word ‘substances’ will provide opportunities for students to consider materials or substances that are hollow, such as tennis balls or containers, or that aren’t ‘strong, hard, or immovable’, such as paper, sponges and fabrics, as solids.
Properties of a solid
What are the properties of a solid?
Solids usually meet the following criteria:
- Solids have a constant volume, and are often referred to as incompressible. They can be compressed slightly, but this requires a great deal of pressure and is usually not possible in day-to-day situations.
- Solids hold their shape. They do not change their shape without being physically or chemically changed.
Solids usually meet the following criteria:
- Solids have a constant volume, and are often referred to as incompressible. They can be compressed slightly, but this requires a great deal of pressure and is usually not possible in day-to-day situations.
- Solids hold their shape. They do not change their shape without being physically or chemically changed.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkThe Investigate routine provides students with an opportunity to explore the key ideas of science, to plan and conduct an investigation, and to gather and record data. The investigations are designed to systematically develop content knowledge and skills through increasingly complex processes of structured inquiry, guided inquiry and open inquiry approaches. Students are encouraged to process data to identify trends and patterns and link them to the real-world context of the teaching sequence.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment (Launch phase) that identified the alternative conceptions that students held. Are there activities that challenge these ideas and provide openings for discussion? What content knowledge and skills do students need to be able to complete the final (Act phase) task? How could you systematically build these through the investigation routines? Are there opportunities to build students’ understanding and skills in the science inquiry processes through the successive investigations?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkTesting samples
Referring to the demonstration copy of the Solid science Resource sheet, discuss each test listed, and how students will undertake that test. For example:
- to test if something is hard/can be scratched, students might attempt to scratch it with a sharp implement (taking note of safety considerations) or scratch it against a hard surface like concrete.
- to test if something is runny students might shake it or see if it pours.
Add any other testing ideas students have, and also discuss how these tests need to be undertaken.
Allow students time to carry out the investigation and record results in collaborative teams.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkFollowing an investigation, the Integrate routine provides time and space for data to be evaluated and insights to be synthesized. It reveals new insights, consolidates and refines representations, generalises context and broadens students’ perspectives. It allows student thinking to become visible and opens formative feedback opportunities. It may also lead to further questions being asked, allowing the Inquire phase to start again.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment that was undertaken during the Launch phase. Consider if alternative conceptions could be used as a jumping off point to discussions. How could students represent their learning in a way that would support formative feedback opportunities? Could small summative assessment occur at different stages in the teaching sequence?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkDiscussing claims
Share and discuss findings as a class.
Encourage students to seek further information and clarification from other teams using the science question starters.
- Did your tests on the liquid support what we found out about the properties of liquids in the previous lesson?
- Which of the tests do you think were ‘for the solids’ and which ones were ‘for the liquids’? Why do you think that?
- Some of the tests identified can only be carried out on one state of matter. For example liquid might be classified as ‘runny’ but solids cannot be, and solids can be stretched, but liquids cannot be.
- Did all the solids have the same properties? Could they all be scratched, stretched, stirred, poured etc.?
- Which samples would you confidently identify as solids? Why?
- Which samples did you have difficulty determining what they are?
- Why did you have trouble with these samples? Would you add them to the not sure list created in the Launch phase?
Referring to the properties of liquids identified in the previous lesson as a reference, challenge students in collaborative teams to write a list of claims, or ‘rules’ (i.e. the properties) for solids. Revise the term volume if required.
Share teams’ list of claims with the class. Discuss each claim made with the objective to reaching consensus and create a list naming the properties of a solid.
- Share one claim you have made about solids.
- Has anyone else made the same or a similar claim?
- What evidence supports or does not support this claim?
- Do we agree that this claim can officially be listed as a property of a solid?
If teams are not able to identify all the properties of a solid (constant volume, typically incompressible, and hold their shape—see the Properties of a solid professional learning embedded in the Question step of this lesson), present the missing properties as claims. Ask students if they agree or disagree with these claims and what supporting evidence from the investigation justifies their thinking.
Record the final list of properties of a solid in the class science journal.
Reflect on the lesson
You might:
- add to the class word wall of vocabulary related to solids and their properties.
- refer back to the list created in the Launch phase, or substances students confidently categorised as solid, and substances they weren’t sure about. Would they reclassify any based on what they have learned?
- add to the class TWLH, completing the H and L sections with what they have learned about solids.
- ask students for further questions about solids to add to the class science journal or TWLH chart. Discuss how you might investigate to find the answers to these questions. Provide students with opportunities to undertake such investigation.
- revisit the drawings and words students used in the Launch phase to describe solids, and make any additions using a different coloured pen/pencil.
- discuss how students might use science communication techniques to help others understand what they have learned. Add it to the list created in Launch phase.
- consider what questions a 'non-expert' might ask them about solids.
- discuss how students were thinking and working like scientists during the lesson. Focus on how they were building new knowledge based on past discoveries, in this case, comparing what they had learned about liquids to help them identify the properties of solids.