Chemical Sciences

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Paddock to Plate: Get your hands on my food.

Subject: Design and Technologies

Year Level:3-4

Strand:Design and Technologies – Knowledge and understanding

Sub strand:Food and fibre production

Yesr 3 – Types of food and fibre produced in different environments, cultures or time periods, including the equipment used to produce or prepare them

Year 4 – Types of technologies used in food and fibre production or processing, including how they are used to help meet consumer needs

Link to the resource

http://www.primezone.edu.au/item_details.php?item_id=413&item_type=resource&content_list_id=2

Cross curriculum priorities and general capabilities

Critical and creative thinking (CCT),Personal and social capability (PSC),Information and Communication Technology (ICT),Literacy (LIT), Sustainability

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • Critical and creative thinking
  • Personal and social capability
  • Ethical understanding
  • Intercultural understanding.

Links to other learning areas

English,

Science – Science understandings – Chemical Science – A change of state between solid and liquid can be caused by adding or removing heat (ACSSU046)

Science – Science as a Human Endeavour – Nature and development of science – Science involves making predictions and describing patterns and relationships (ACSHE050)

A classroom activity using this resource

This is a well structured resource that allows the teacher to teach a lesson exploring the process of food from the paddock to the plate. It involved the students working through learning stations where they explore the ways in which food changes from the raw state to make it suitable for consumption. The stations offer different processes such as chemical changes in food or the processing of a food item. The stations are inquiry based and hands on allowing for addressing student misconceptions and creating thought and discussion to promote ideas.

How to use this resource

This useful learning resource includes the lesson plan, power-point and all the printable classroom support resources to match. It is very easy to follow and provides opportunities for extension activities and further research. It is clearly laid out with suggested assessment and student reflection sheets for reporting the groups findings back to the class. This lesson links well with the Science curriculum when investigating states of matter and the changes that occur.

 

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Lesson 2: Exploring Materials – Mind Map

Package Creator – Lesson 2: Exploring Materials

For my 5-lesson sequence, I chose to integrate The Australian Technologies Curriculum and Australian Science Curriculum, as there are significant similarities. Parts of my lessons have been based around lessons in the Primary Connections “Package it Better” Australian Curriculum aligned book for Year 4 Chemical Sciences, as seen below.

Primary Connections Cover

5-Lesson Sequence Blurb:

In this 5-Lesson Sequence, students have been focussing on packaging and in particular how to package a fragile item to ensure that it would remain safe and unbroken when being transported in the post.

Part of the lessons include exploring the properties of a range of materials, exploring shapes and their uses within real life contexts. The students will use the knowledge built during these lessons to plan, produce and evaluate a package of their own creation.

Lesson 2 Background Information:

In the lesson prior to the one detailed in the Mind Map below, the students were introduced to the topic/theme for the next 5 weeks, where a sample package was deconstructed to hook them in and give them an example of what they will be creating. A class discussion was held, that allowed students to relate this task to real life and how posting fragile items is a part of life and we need to be able to do so to ensure safe arrival.

From this, as a class a “Design Brief” for the packages the students would be creating was formed, which included the following:

  • The package will be of a suitable size to hold the item
  • Be able to protect the gift from breaking.
  • Low cost
  • Environmentally friendly
  • Aesthetically pleasing (Look good)
  • Waterproof

As a class we then came up with a list of materials that we could possibly make the packages out of, that could be then narrowed down to match the design brief leaving the following:

  • Paper
  • Cardboard
  • Paper Straws
  • Plastic Straws
  • Fabric
  • Plastic
  • Polystyrene
  • Pop Sticks
  • Masking Tape

To conclude the lesson, students were given time to have a think about possible ideas they had for their packages, before sharing this with a partner. We then had a whole class discussion to allow students to share their ideas with the class and give students who were not sure about possible ideas some ideas to spark their creativity.

Please have a look at the Mind Map in the link below to see the following for this lesson:

  • Links to the Australian Curriculum
  • Prior knowledge of students
  • Learning that will occur during this lessonTask 3 Image
  • Further learning that will occur
  • Preparation and resources required for this lesson
  • The Learning Activities of the lesson (lesson structure)
  • Focus questions for this lesson
  • Assessment in this lesson
  • Possible diversity requirements

Click Here to See Lesson 2: Exploring Materials Mind Map

Proven to Work!

Having used this 5-Lesson Sequence with a group of Year 4’s during my ATP, it is proven to engage all students and produce some fantastic results within the Australian Technologies and Science Curriculums.

Please find some pictures of the final experiment of the student’s packages being dropped from a height of 2 metres below.

 

 

Technology 1

Technology 3

Technology 2