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Guest Speaker Rationale

In grade 5, the science standards include the following:


Matter
5.4 The student will investigate and understand that matter is anything that has mass and
takes up space; and occurs as a solid, liquid, or gas. Key concepts include
a) distinguishing properties of each phase of matter;
b) the effect of temperature on the phases of matter;
c) atoms and elements;
d) molecules and compounds; and
e) mixtures including solutions. (VDOE, 2017).

Since one of the standards in fifth grade is to understand that matter occurs in different
states (solid, liquid, and gas), and they should be able to distinguish between properties of each
phase of matter, we will have a guest speaker who is an expert in this area come in to discuss the
concepts and lead a demonstration with the class (VDOE, 2017). Since we teach two sections of
science, our speaker has agreed to come twice, so that all our students are allowed the benefit of
this wonderful experience.
He is an engineer civilian at Dahlgren Naval Surface Warfare Center. This center is less
than an hour from our school, and is a government office, which many of our students parents
work in. The purpose of having a speaker from a local office is to, develop innovations in
teaching that draw upon the local householdsand other community resources, (Moll, Amanti,
Neff, & Gonzalez, 2001). To make this speaker even more relatable to this concept is the fact
that he is a parent of one of our students. This detail also lends itself to our understanding of the
importance of creating positive relationships with the parents of our students. According to
Whitaker, encouraging parent involvement is essential to the success of the child and the support
of the school in helping the child learn and grow (Whitaker & Fiore, 2016). He will be sharing
his knowledge of the states of matter and how temperature affects these states by conducting the
demonstrations. He will be using liquid nitrogen to freeze flowers and discuss the difference
between a reversible process and an irreversible process. He will also demonstrate the ideal gas
law using balloons and a dewar. This will lead into a conversation about glass states versus solid
states, and the effects of extreme cold on solids. His real world application of these key science
concepts contributes to Molls goal of, organiz[ing] classroom instruction that far exceeds in
quality the rote-like instruction these children commonly encounter in schools, (Moll et al.,
2001).
In order to prepare for this guest speaker, we will discuss what a scientist does, as well as
what an engineer does. We will review our safety rules when conducting scientific experiments
in the classroom, as well as introduce necessary safety equipment. After our speaker shares, we
will review what he taught the class, with emphasis on the states of matter we saw, how they
changed, and why they reacted in that way to the cold temperatures. We will end with a
discussion about what an engineer does and expand on our concept of an engineer to spark
interest in this field with our students.
References

Moll, L.C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (2001). Funds of knowledge for teaching:

Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory Into Practice,

XXXI, 132-141.

Virginia Department of Education. (2017). Grade five science. Standards of Learning (SOL) &

Testing. Retrieved from

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/science/2010/k-

6/stds_science5.pdf

Whitaker, W., & Fiore, D.J. (2016). Dealing with difficult parents: Second edition. New York:

Routledge

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