Teachers:

Marissa Aguilar

Inquiry Lesson Plan Template

Title & Topic:
The Scientific
Method

Grade Level:
4th Grade

Standard:
Strand 1- Inquiry Process
Concept 1- Observations, Questions, Hypothesis: PO 2. Formulate a relevant question through
observations that can be tested by an investigation.
Concept 2- Scientific Testing/ Modeling: PO 5. Record data in an organized and appropriate
format (e.g., t-chart, table, list, written log).
Concept 3- Analysis/Conclusions: PO 1. Analyze data obtained in a scientific investigation to
identify trends.
Science and Engineering Practices:

Ask questions that can be investigated and predict reasonable outcomes based on patterns
such as cause and effect relationships. (4-PS3-3)
Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
Planning and carrying out investigations to answer questions or test solutions to problems in 35
builds on K2 experiences and progresses to include investigations that control variables and
provide evidence to support explanations or design solutions.

Make observations to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence for an explanation of
a phenomenon or test a design solution. (4-PS3-2)
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Constructing explanations and designing solutions in 35 builds on K2 experiences and
progresses to the use of evidence in constructing explanations that specify variables that describe
and predict phenomena and in designing multiple solutions to design problems.

Use evidence (e.g., measurements, observations, patterns) to construct an explanation. (4PS3-1)

Apply scientific ideas to solve design problems. (4-PS3-4)

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information in 35 builds on K2 experiences and
progresses to evaluate the merit and accuracy of ideas and methods.
Obtain and combine information from books and other reliable media to explain phenomena. (4ESS3-1)
Objective (Explicit & Measurable):
Light travels in a straight line until reflected, absorbed, or passed through
objects in its path. We can see an object when light waves that are emitted
or reflected by the object enter the eye.
Students will be able to discover what happens when pencils are poked into a Ziploc bag full
of water by using the Scientific Method.
Evidence of Mastery (Measurable Assessment: formative and summative):
(formative) The teacher will be asking the students throughout the experiment for their
feedback and understanding during each step for the Scientific Method. All of the method
will be worked out between the teacher and the students before the experiment is started.
(summative) The teacher will be checking the students science notebooks to make sure
that they were filled out correctly, along with making sure the hypothesis and conclusion
were written in the correct format and that the student reflected and made conections on
whether or not their hypothesis was correct or incorrect.
Sub-objectives, SWBAT (steps that lead to completion of objective; sequence from
simple to more complex):

Students will be able to follow verbal directions during the experiement.

 Students will be able to need to be familiar with the matierals given to them.
Students will need to know how to make predicitions.
Lesson Summary and Justification: (summary gives detailed information about what
students are doing. Justification why is this lesson being taught)

Students will use the scientific method to perform an experiment. The students will learn the
process of the scientific method and then apply each step while they are performing their
experiement, then they will reflect and write their conclusion on whether or not their hypothesis was
correct or not.
Background Knowledge: (What do students need to know to complete this lesson)
-Students will need to know the steps of the Scientific Method and the process to complete the
experiment.
-Students will need to know what Ziploc bags are.
-Students will need to know how to make a prediction.
-Students will need to know how to write a conclusion.
Misconception: (what possible misleading thoughts might students have?)
-Students might think that because you are poking a hole into the Ziploc bag that the water is going
to come out and spill.
-Students might think that the Scientific Method is not important when doing an experiment.
Process Skills: (what skills are you introducing or reinforcing: ex: observation
reinforcing; prediction - introducing.)

I will be focusing on the students learning the terms of the scientific method, as well as being able
to understand what each term is asking the students to do. I will be introducing the term hypothesis
and helping the students to make predicitons on what they think will happen during the experiment.
I will be reinforcing the word conclusion, and asking the students to properly write a conclusion of
whether or not their hypothesis was correct and why.
Safety: (what safety rules and items need to be addressed?)
Students will need to handle the pencils appropriately, no poking students, or running with the
sharpened pencils. Students will use the water outside so that if it spills iit will dry up and not be in
the classroom where students can slip.
Inquiry Questions: (testable in the here and now.)
1. (to explore) What do you think will happen if you poke a pencil into a Ziploc bag filled with
water?
2. (to elaborate) What if we used different materials, do you think it would have changed the
outcome?
Key vocabulary: (list and define)
Materials: (list item and possible
quantity)
1. Purpose- state the problem
1. Ziploc Bags
2. Research- find out about the topic
2. Water
3. Hypothesis- predicit what will happen
3. Pencils
during the experiement
4. Whiteboard
4. Analysis- record your results and look at
5. Science Notebooks
your data
6. The Scientfic Method printout for science
5. Conclusion- decide if your hypothesis is
notebook
correct
6. Scientific Method- a method of procedure
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)
Students Will:
- Teacher will stand at the front of the
- Students will get quiet when they see
classroom with her hand up to get the
the teacher at the front of the
students attention. The teacher will stand
classroom.

their until students are quiet.

- Teacher will introduce the objective. Today
we are going to learn about the Scientific
Method and then apply the steps we learn
to an experiment.
- Teacher will activate students prior
knowledge by asking the students, Does
anyone know what the Scientific Method
is?
- Teacher will write the I Can statement on
the board. I can use the Scientific Method
to conduct an experiment.
- Teacher will explain the Scientific Method
- The Scientific Method is a method of
procedure, Once we learn each of the
steps we are going to apply them to our
experiment.
- We are going to use the following
materials for our expierment: water, a
Ziploc bag, and pencils.
- Teacher will pass out the Scientific Method
handouts and ask the students to cut and
paste them into their notebooks.
- Teacher will write the Scientific Method on
the whiteboard.
- 1. Purpose
- 2.Research
- 3. Hypothesis
- 4. Experiment
- 5. Analysis
- 6. Conclusion
- Teacher will go over each individual vocab
word separately.
- Teacher will ask students Does anyone
know what the word purpose means in the
Scientific Method?
- The purpose of statement in the Scientific
Method is the problem of the experiment.
- Our problem today is What do you think
will happen if we poke pencils into a Ziploc
bag filled with water? Go ahead and write
the problem under purpose in your science
notebook.
- Next, is the research stage. What do we
think research means?
This is where we find out about the
topic. Research does not have to be just in
book or on the internet. Research can come
from a classmate or a peer as well.
So, what do we know about our
materials?, The Ziploc bag and pencils?
- Go ahead and write the problem under
purpose in your science notebook.
- The next step is Hypothesis. Does anyone

Students will answer teacher with their

background knowledge on the
Scientific Method.

Students will get out their science

notebooks to write down the Scientific
Method and follow each step with the
teacher.
Students will cut and paste the
Scientific Method worksheet into their
science notebooks.

Students will provide their definition of

purpose.

Students will write the problem down

under purpose in their science
notebooks.

Students will provide their definition of

research.

Students will give information on what

they know about the materials that will
be used during the experiment.
Students will write down under the
research tab in their science
notebooks.

have a definition or an idea of what this

term means in the Scientific Method?
Hypothesis is where you make a
prediction about what you think is going to
happen during the experiment. Hypothesis
statements are written as if/then
statements.
EX- If________then ____________
Lets all write down what we think will
happen during the experiment in our
notebooks. Remember to use an if/then
statement.

Before we move on does anyone want to

share their hypothesis?

Analysis is next in the Scientific Method,

who thinks they know what analysis
means?
Analysis is when you will record your
data and what you witnessed during the
experiment. So, when you see what
happens when you poke the bag with the
pencils you will write it down in your
notebook.

Students will provide the definition of

hypothesis.

Students will write down in their

notebooks what their hypothesis
statement.

Students will share their hypthesis.

Students will answer the teacher with

what they think analysis means.

Students will give a definition to

conclusion.

The final step to the Scientific Method is

conclusion. Who can give us a
definition of conclusion?
During the conclusion section we
are going to write about whether our
conclusion was correct/incorrect and why.

Estimated time needed/used: 12 minutes

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation and Teacher Notes

- The best teaching practice to be used here is to keep the students engaged in the lesson
and to have them activiely participating.
- It also would be a good teacher practice to periodically check for understanding by asking
questions before moving on.
- The teacher will communicate her expectations for the experiment and praise/provide
feedback to those doing what is expected of them.
- Differentiation: this is an ALP class, the lesson is very fast paced.
- If there is a student below normal levels, they can receive the worksheet for their notebook
with the definitions already printed on the handout.
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 yo unger students,
but the goal is for students to discover some or all of the sub-objectives of the lesson.
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #1)
Students Will: (list all steps)
- Teacher and students will go outside to
- Students will bring their science
perform the experiment.
notebooks and pencils to record their
- Teacher will break the students into groups.
data.

Teacher will supply them with a Ziploc bag,

water and 3-5 sharpened pencils.
In the students groups each child will have
a job, one student holding the Ziploc bag
filled with water, one student will be poking
the pencils into the Ziploc bag and one
student will be observing and watching
what happens when the pencil is poked into
the bag.
Teacher will explain that the student with
the job to observe and pay attention to
what is happening will also be the groupers
recorder.
Teacher will tell students Pay close
attention when you start the experiment,
watch what happens when you poke the
pencil into the bag. Then record your data
in your science notebook under the
analysis portion.
Teacher will give the students one hint- and
that is to poke the pencil slowly into the
Ziploc bag.
Teacher will be monitoring student progress
and providing feedback and/or guiding the
students in the right direction.

Students will break into their groups.

Students will listen to teachers

instructions.

Students will be following their jobs and

collecting data for their science
notebooks.

Students will ask questions to the

teacher as needed.

Estimated time needed/used: 8min

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation and Teacher Notes

- The best teaching practice to use here would be to observe the students as they are
exploring and working in their groups.
- Teacher will ask prompting questions to the students to make sure they are following the
Scientific Method steps and properly writing down the inforamtion in their notebooks.
- Teacher will encourage discussion among student/group members.
- The Teacher will make sure that the students are on task and redirect them if they are not.
- The teacher will emphasize the time on task.
- Differentiation: If there are students below normal levels, teacher will help their group by
assisting them with the experiment and helping to explain each step of the Scientific Method
as she goes along.
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:
Students Will:
- After the experiement the teacher will ask
- Students will raise their hands to show
the students by a show of hands how
the teacher if they were correct in their
many students hypothesis were correct?
hypothesis.
- Teacher will then askt a few students what
their hypothesis was.
- Students will share their hypothesis.
-

The teacher will then ask the students

what happened when the students poked
the pencil into the Ziploc bag?, what
happened to the water?

Students will answer the teachers

questions and explain what happened
when the poked the pencil into the
Ziploc bag and what happened with the
water.

Estimated time needed/used: 5min

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation and Teacher Notes

-Teacher will do a check for understanding after the experiment is over.
-Teacher will have a classroom discussion so the students can explain what happened during their
experiement.
-Differentiation:
-If the students are having trouble explaining the experiement and the steps of the Scientific
Method, the teacher will walk them through each step and ask them what they did.
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)
Students Will:
- Teacher will ask the students what if we
- Students will answer teacher with
used different matierals?, do you think it
thought on whether or not they think
would affect the outcome at all?
the outcome would have been different
with different materials.
- Teacher will give students additional
information that explains the reasoning why
the water did not come out of the bag.
-

When you poke the pencil into the bag

there are molecules that all hug together to
make what is called a polymer. That is like
a seal around the pencil that prevents the
water from coming out of the bag.

Estimated time needed/used: 6min

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation and Teacher Notes

-Teacher will have the students reflect on their experiement and record their thoughts in their
science notebooks.
- Teacher will prompt the students with additional questions to try and get the students to use
higher level/ critical thinking skills.
-Teacher will have a class discussion with the students about the prompted questions.
- Teacher will ask the students to use/apply what was learned in the lesson to answer the
questions.
Differentiation:
-If there are students below level the teacher will ask the students to elaborate on the Scientific
Method instead of doing the What If questions.
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:
Students Will:
- Ask the students to fill out the conclusion
portion in their science notebooks.
- Students will independently write in their
- By yourself, write down in your science
science notebooks with whether or not
notebook and reflect on whether or not
their hypothesis was correct or incorrect.
your hypothesis was correct/incorrect
and why.
- Your conclusion should start like this.

My hypothesis was correct/incorrect

because..

Estimated time needed/used: 7min

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

-The teacher will ask the students to share one thing they learned in todays lesson.
-The teacher will ask what happened when we poked a Ziploc bag filled with water with a pencil.
-The teacher will ask why is the Scientfiic Method useful and helpful to know.
Concept Map Make sure you include a copy of your updated Concept Map.
Map has clearly defined lesson flow that addresses desired learning
outcomes.
Evidence that feedback was used to edit and improve the lesson.
SOA Make suggested edits to build a better lesson.
Evidence that feedback was used to edit and improve the lesson.
Best Practices List the Best Teaching Practices you will use. List the
section, how the practices will be used and the purpose.
Best Practices Listed along with section (engage, explore etc.)
How the practice will be used and the purpose of.

Rubric for Experiment:

3
On Task

Student was on task while

doing the experiment and
following all instructions
that were provided.

Working w/
Group Members

Student was actively

working with group
members and correctly
completing their job
during the experiment.

Safety

The student was not doing

anything to put the other
members of the group in
danger.

Rubric for Science Journal

3
Completion of
Worksheet for
experiement

Quality of Work

Student answered all

required components of
the worksheet provided to
fill out before, during, and
after the experiement.
Student filled out the
worksheet provided by
using complete detailed
sentences that related to
the experiment with little
to no grammatical errors.

2
Student was on task
for a portion of the
experiment but needed
to be redirected by the
teacher.
Student was not
getting along or
actively working with
their group members.
Teacher had to redirect
the student.
The student may have
particpated
inappropriately with
the materials that
could have been
unsafe to other group
members.

Student was not

working actively in
the group and did not
do their assigned job
during the
experiment.
The student was
removed from the
group from working
inappropritately with
the materials that
jeopordized other
students safety.

Student filled out at

least four out of the
seven sections on the
worksheet.

Student filled out

three or less of the
seven sections on the
worksheet.

Student provided
details sentences from
the experiement but
had three or more
grammatical errors.

Students sentences
were not detailed and
had more than three
grammatical errors.

Student needed
constant redirection
from the teacher to
get back on task.