Changing Egg Density Lesson Plan

Name: Janine DiPronio and Mary Ellen Yaklic

Date: 3-17-16

Lesson Title: Changing Egg Density

Grade Level: Preschool

Developmental Domain: Language development

Standard(s)/Guideline(s):
1. Make inferences, generalizations, and explanations based on evidence (Cognition and General Knowledge: Science - Science and Inquiry Application Inquiry)
2. Use language to communicate in a variety of ways with others to share observations, ideas and experiences; problem-solve, reason, predict and seek new
information
(Language and Literacy - Listening and Speaking- Expressive Language)

Pre-assessment of current knowledge: Students predicted and tested the buoyancy of various objects in the previous lesson.

Instructional Objectives (1-2)

One/Two Assessed Instructional Objective(s):

The student will be able to give a verbal
explanation using evidence and their prior
knowledge why the egg sinks or floats.
One Assessed Developmental Skill:
The student will be able to use their fine motor
skills to fill and empty plastic eggs with clay.
Safety Considerations:
Need to be careful that water does not get on the
floor and children do not slip.

Assessment of Student Learning

Identify Evidence: (What will you collect or

record as data to demonstrate students have met
your objective(s) and skill?)
We will take a written down quote from each of
the students as they are explaining what 1.
is
happening with the egg and why. They will also
draw a picture of the egg sinking and floating in
their journal and their quote will be placed with
their picture or another quote with evidence.
2.
Program Monitoring: (How will you aggregate
or compile your evidence into a class or group
view?)
3.
We will have a list of students quotes to see
overall why they think this is happening.

Learning Experience

Academic Language:
Buoyancy, egg, sink, float, clay, density, air,
Procedural steps:
The teachers will call students over in small
groups of 2-3. We will review the chart of
predictions and what actually happened in our
previous experiment about sinking and floating
various objects.
Then we will look at the characteristics of objects
that sunk and those that floated. (hopefully
students will understand that the things that sank
were heavy and those that floated were lighter).
We will then use an empty plastic egg without the
holes covered. Students should see bubbles
coming out and the air escaping and water
coming in the egg and how it goes from floating to

sinking.
4. The teacher will ask students why they think that
happened. The other teacher will write down
student quotes about why they think it sunk or
floated.
5. The teacher will then move on asking students will
the egg with the holes covered with duct tape sink
or float.
6. The students will drop the egg in the water and
observe it floating.
7. The teacher will ask what do we need to do to this
egg to make it sink? The teacher will prompt the
students as needed to say something about
making it heavier.
8. The teacher will say we can add this clay into the
egg to make it heavier. We are taking out the air
and making the egg more dense.
9. Students will add clay in different amounts up until
the egg sinks. The teacher will talk about how the
eggs were more densely filled.
10. The teacher will again ask the students why the
egg sank rather than floated. The other teacher
will record student responses.
11. The students would then wash their hands after
finishing the experiments and go to the next area
to draw a picture in their journal of which egg sank
and which floated. The teacher will write their
quote in their journal.
Authentic Materials: (Describe authentic real life,
hands-on materials.)
Water, plastic eggs, clay
Adult Roles:
Janine and Mary Ellen will take turns asking
questions and facilitating the experiment and

recording the students quotations. The other

teachers in the room will continue to supervise
and work with kids in their free play.

Resources & References:

Reflection: (What have you learned about your students? How will this inform future instruction?)
When teaching this lesson, I learned that there are a few students in my classroom who are very advanced in their knowledge of sink and
float. When prompted and asked questions about why certain objects sank or floated they were able to say that the spoon sunk because it was
heavy or did not contain air.When questioned they could also tell me about the stick floating and how the stick floated because it has air in it. Also
when I asked if anyone remembered the fancy science word we used for float one student was able to come up with the word buoyant. We talked
about how when something is buoyant it has air in it and when something is dense it has a lot of stuff in it so it is heavy and there is no air. They
really enjoyed this lesson. They understood that they wanted larger pieces of clay added to their egg to make it heavy faster rather than small
pieces that made it take longer. They would then drop it into the water and get really excited when it finally sank. The students showed a lot of
gained knowledge from previous lessons. They were able to answer questions about where something is in the water when it sinks and where it is

when it floats. This informs our future instruction because instead of having some students talk about how the object floats due to it having air, we
can have them use buoyant instead.