This unit is created for 4th grade studnets. The lesson will span 5 days and be delivered fully online. Three of the days will be held synchronously via Zoom. This will allow for the teacher and studnets to collaborate and communicate directly. These days will contain live lessons where studnets will be expected to actively participate. The teacher will be able to take anecdotal notes and track the students progress in meeting the objectives in the live lessons. The other 2 days will be asynchronous and self paced. Students will have the flexibility to complete the work for these days independently. Studnets can choose when they want to work on the course content for the day accounting for flexibility in an online course. The teacher will hold afternoon Zoom sessions on these 2 days that will act as open office hours. Studnets or parents who might need assistance, or have questions will be able to log on and interact in live time with the studnets. The Zoom office hours will be recored and posted for those who may not have been able to attend. In this unit studnets will have the opportunity to explore the Next Generation Science Standards for 4th grade focused on energy types and energy transfer. Studnets will use MyMCPS classroom, our district LMS powered by Canvas to complete the lessons and daily activities.
Montgomery County uses the Next Generation Science Standards. This unit will align with the following standards:
"4-PS3-2. Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents" (NGSS Lead States, 2013).
"4-PS3-4. Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another" (NGSS Lead States, 2013).
Students will be able to define energy
Students will be able to define and describe light, sound, thermal, electric, potential and kinetic energy
Students will be able to observe different forms of energy in order to understand how energy can transfer or move from place to place using sound, light, heat, and electric currents (Montgomery County Public Schools, 2020)
Students will be able to observe sound and light energy and they it moves through different substances (Montgomery County Public Schools, 2020).
Students will be able to sketch a Rube Goldberg machine that provides evidence of how energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
Students will be able to demonstrate their understating of energy and energy transfer by writing a paragraph that describes the machine they created and how the 4 types of energy were transferred.
Formative Assessments- Daily exit tickets for the students to show mastery of the daily concept
Summative Unit Assessment- Written paragraph describing a Rube Goldberg. This paragraph will require the students to show their understanding of how 4 types of energy (Electrical, Thermal, Light and Sound) is transformed or moves from place to place with in the machine. They will also need to mention potential and kinetic energy and where it can be seen in the Rube Goldberg. This assessment is a cumulation of the topics learned throughout the unit.