Lesson Plan Template ED 3501 (Version C)

Lesson
Title/Focus

Pillars

Date

Thursday, November 13

Subject/Gra
de Level

Grade 3 Science

Time
Duratio
n

2:15pm 45min

Unit

Topic C: Testing Materials and Design

Teacher

Miss Nadeau

OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES

General
Learning
Outcomes:
Specific
Learning
Outcomes:

38 Evaluate the suitability of different materials and designs for their use in a building task.
3-8.2 Compare and evaluate the strength and stability of different models or objects constructed.
3-8.4 Apply procedures to test the strength of construction materials, in particular, different stocks of papers,
plastics or wood.
3-8.5 Apply procedures to test different designs.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. Compare the properties of different types of pillars. (3-8.2)
2. Analyze the properties that make a fair test. (3-8.4, 3-8.5)
3. Analyze results to determine the strongest design. (3-8.4, 3-8.5)

ASSESSMENTS
Observations:

Key Questions:

Products/Performan
ces:

Answering questions and involved in discussion:

-What are pillars used for? (1)
-Why are they important? (1)
-Which is a better design? One or four pillars? (2, 3)
-Why did we find that? The weight is more evenly distributed. (2, 3)
What design model is the strongest? (1, 2, 3)
Why did we find those results? (1, 3)
What makes this a fair test? (2)
Worksheet (3)

LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED

Alberta Science POS
Edmonton Public

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

Weight set
Master #8 double sided. (x20)
Cardboard

Pillars (pre-made, and tested)

PROCEDURE
Prior to lesson

-Make and test pillars to see if it works

-Have model ready with weights
-Load notebook file
Introduction

Time

Consider:

-Attention Grabber
-Assessment of Prior
-Knowledge
-Expectations for
Learning and Behaviour
-Advance
Organizer/Agenda
-Transition to Body

Learning Activity
#1

Today we are talking about pillars. Does anyone know what a

pillar is?
Brief discussion:
-Pillars support weight of a structure like a roof or a bridge
deck.
Body
Look at some pillars on the board. (Notebook file) See that they
are for support.
-Show how they are used in conjunction with other strong
shapes we have looked at, such as arches and beams.

Adapted from a template created by Dr. K. Roscoe

2:15
5min

Time
2:20
10min

Lesson Plan Template ED 3501 (Version C)

Assessments/
Differentiation:

Learning Activity
#2

Make sure that everyone can see. Move to the board if needed.
So today we are testing pillars. We will use a demonstration
today. We are testing these two models to see which will
support more weight.
Question: Will one large pillar support more weight than four
small ones?
Hypothesis: What do you think will happen?
What makes this a fair test? How many things are we
changing? Only one.
How are we making this a fair test?
-Height of pillars
-type of paper
-book on top of the pillars
-amount of paper

2:30
15min

Assessments/
Differentiation

Learning Activity
#3

Move into a large group. Have student move chairs around the
front desk. Explain that we need to measure how much weight
we are adding to each of the models at a time. (go up by 10g?)
-Demo of experiment.
Go until one falls over.
-What are the results? What design model is the strongest?
-Why did we find those results?
-Why do you think it worked? The one with the small pillars has
more even weight distribution.
-What other shape did we find was strong because it evenly
distributed weight? (arch)

Consider:

-Assessment of
Learning:
-Feedback From
Students:
-Feedback To Students
-Transition To Next
Lesson

Sponge
Activity/Activities

Move back to desks, and write conclusion.

Closure
So, can someone tell be why it is important to know that more,
small pillars are better than one large one? Hands up.
We need to consider it in our building. Buildings are supposed
to be strong, so that they can be used by people, and are safe.
So that they dont fall down. Do you remember the pictures we
looked at? Did they use one pillar, or more than one? They are
stronger when working together, because they all help in
supporting the weight.

2:45
10min

Time

2:55
5min

If everyone is done, we can do the math game with the ball, if not, then look
at our structure books.

Reflections from the lesson

This lesson went over very well. The students were all engaged with the lesson. They were all getting
quite excited as we put more and more weight on the pillars. They were all able to identify which
pillar demonstration was the strongest, and understand what is needed for a fair test. The timing of
this lesson went well, and the images were very helpful for the students to follow along. It worked
much better as a demonstration that yesterdays lesson where each student had to do the
experiment on their own. There were some students who finished early, so I had them draw a picture
of a building incorporating different strong building shapes and designs, and then after that they
moved to reading the building books.
Adapted from a template created by Dr. K. Roscoe

Lesson Plan Template ED 3501 (Version C)

Adapted from a template created by Dr. K. Roscoe