Name: Indica Feole Class: ELED 3221-003 Date: March 21, 2014

Does It Hold Water? _____________________________________________________________________________ Central Focus/Big Idea: Types of soil and how they retain water. This standard could be used to build on the lifecycle of plants or the energy cycle and how the soil is involved. Subject of this lesson: Types of soil Grade Level: 3rd NC Essential Standard(s): 3.L.2.4 Explain how the basic properties (texture and capacity to hold water) and components (sand, clay, and humus) of soil determine the ability of soil to support the growth and survival of many plants. Next Generation Science Standard(s): LS3.B: Variation of Traits: Different organisms vary in how they look and function because they have different inherited information. (3-LS3-1) 21st Century Skills: Critical thinking and problem solving: students will conduct an experiment and explain their observations. Communication: students will explain the results of investigations. Academic Language Demand Analyze: the students will need to analyze the properties of the different types of soil Compare/contrast: the students will need to compare the properties of the different soils and their abilities to hold water Explain: the students will need to explain why they think one soil would be better able to support the growth of plants than other

Scientific Vocabulary: properties, particles, retain, drainage, balance

Instructional Objective: We will observe and record how different types of soil hold water. The students will be expected to learn that soils hold water differently depending on their structure. They will be placed in groups of 3 with 3 different types of soil, each will receive the same amount of water and they will record how much water leaks through to the bottom of the bottle for each sample. They will keep a field log and then have to answer the question (using evidence), Which soil, out of these three, would you use in your garden and why? Prior Knowledge (student): Students will have already explored the three samples. The day before they explored the three samples with four of their five senses: sight, hearing, feeling, and

smell. This way they will know which soil is which and the properties of each. They have also researched soil and its different properties extensively through the week. Content Knowledge (teacher): the teacher needs to know that soil requires both water and oxygen to support plant growth. As water fills the spaces between soil particles, it drives out air, which can cause roots to rot. A good soil must be able to retain some water but allow for adequate drainage. An ideal garden soil is a balance of sand and clay. Accommodations for special needs (individual and/or small group): they will be grouped with other students who will be able to help them if needed. Materials and Technology requirements: 21 plastic bottles cut in half and inverted with paper towels rubber banded on the mouth (to act as a filter), 3 different types of soil: Clay, Sand, Potting Soil, measuring cups, rulers, field log, and pencils. Total Estimated Time: About an hour Source of lesson: Cooperating teacher Safety considerations: I will make sure they know not to eat the soil, not to get it in their eyes, to be careful with the water bottles because they have a ragged edge, and I will only provide a small amount of water so they cant drown. There will be no scissors, fire, or sharp objects involved. Content and Strategies (Procedure) Engage: Class discussion about yesterdays exploration of the three sample soils. We will discuss what we learned about the soils and what we think that means. The teacher will ask things like, which type do you think will hold water better and why?, which soil do you think would allow for more water? Which one do you think would allow for more oxygen? Why? the teacher will let the students know about the experiment and split them up into 7 groups of 3 (if all students are present). Explore: Pass out the field logs and have the students predict which soil will drain the fastest and which the slowest. We will share our predictions and the reasoning behind it using evidence from the previous days exploration of the soil samples. At least three people will share, one who believes potting soil will drain the fastest, one who thinks sand will drain the fastest, and one who thinks the clay will drain the fastest. This way everyone will hear reasoning and be able to consider it when they are completing their experiment. Explanation: We, as a class will discuss our previous days findings about the properties of the soil samples that we discovered using our senses. We will try to connect our predictions to these details: the texture, the smell, etc. to try to understand why one soil might hold water better than another. Questions to ask: what were some of the main differences in the properties of the soil samples? Which soil do you think will hold the most water and why? What are the properties of the soil samples that will make them hold water? Based on your exploration of

the samples which one do you think would be the best to plant seeds in? Why do you think one type of soil would be better than other? Which properties would make it better or worse? Elaborate: Each student will have his own bottle, but they will each be assigned a different soil (within their group). One soil type at a time the students will pour their premeasured amount of soil into the top of their bottle and then add the premeasured amount of water. They will have a 3oz cup of soil and add a 3oz cup of water to it. They will wait 3 min and then measure, in inches, how much water has leaked through to the bottom. They will repeat this for each soil sample. Everyone in the group will be responsible for the data of each of the three samples but only one student will be responsible for each soil sample. This means, that one student at a time will be in charge of pouring the ingredients into the bottle and the other two will be observing, but all will be recording. After everyone has completed the experiment we will go over our findings. Evaluate: The students field logs will be collected and along with their data they will need to answer questions about the soil on a Wrap Up sheet. This will be a summative assessment. See attached Field Log/Wrap Up sheet. They will be assessed on their ability to record consistent data and to answer the questions using evidence from their exploration with the soil samples and their experiment with the water. Assessment Results of all objectives/skills: All of the students (20 students) were able to accurately fill out their field logs. About half (8 of the students) were able to answer their wrap up sheet questions using evidence from the experiment and evidence from their exploration of the soil samples. About another half (7 of the students) were able to answer their wrap up sheet questions but with little or no use of evidence. The last of the class (5 of the students) either used one word answers or did not answer the questions at all. Reflection on lesson: I think that the lesson went really well. The students were super excited to be doing an experiment and at points had to be calmed down but over all they were well behaved and followed directions. There are a few changes I would make if I were to do this experiment in the future, though. For one, I would perform the experiment on my own before teaching the lesson in order to know what to expect, in this case I had not tried it before and I measured out too much soil, the bottles were almost overflowing and there was barely any room for the water. Also, I would allot more time and make sure everyone was completely done with one step before moving on to the next. I had fun with this lesson, it was a good learning experience, and I would like to do it again.

Name:_________________________________________

Field Log
Fill out this log during the experiment! Soil Sample #1 Type of Soil Soil Sample #2 Soil Sample #3

Amount of Soil

Amount of Water

Inches of water that dripped into the bottom after 3 minutes.

Name:_________________________________________________

Wrap Up Which of the soils would you plant a seed in? Why?

Which Sample would you not plant a seed in? Why?

Could one of the soils drown your plant? Why or why not?

Which soil would be bad during a drought?

How are soils different in their abilities to hold water?