Science Lesson (Using 3E Model)

Here is my personal reflections on when this lesson was taught. It is simply an add on to the 3E lesson in the Science tab.

ENGAGE

For this lesson, a video of a time lapse of leaves changing colours and falling over the autumn season was shown. If time and resources allows it, a walk around the autumn trees could be added for the students to engage with this phenomenon. We had a class discussion on a few questions to help develop their hypothesis. These included; Are the colours already inside the leaf or do they just appear? What differences are there between the green leaves and coloured leaves? What signals the trees to change?

Their answers were recorded on the whiteboard in class.

To help transition to our experiment, the driving question was asked:

Why do leaves change colours and fall?

EXPLORE

The activity that was enacted is called Chlorophyll Painting and it helped students see the difference in chlorophyll in a green leaf and a coloured leaf. Using minimal material, students followed the steps to see if their hyposthesis were right:

Fold a white paper in half and insert a green leaf inside.
Use a rolling pin to press out the colour of the leaf onto the paper.
Repeat with a new paper and a coloured leaf.

Compare both papers.

EXPLAIN

After the Chlorophyll Painting activity, we held a class discussion to 'make sense' of the phenomenon. The phenomenon was then explained using a diagram and the students were asked to revisit their hypothesis. This section helped the students find the answer to the guiding question of: Why do leaves change colours and fall?

Here is the diagram that was used during the lesson to explain the phenomenon. We revisited the students' ideas again on the whiteboard like presented in the engage section above.

Analysis
of 3E Lesson

This lesson helps us recognize seasonal cycles, which are essential for monitoring climate change and sustaining ecosystems.

I ground my teaching in the idea that meaningful science learning emerges from hands-on exploration and from connecting classroom experiences to the real world.

I think this helps students understand why science matters (by showing how concepts apply to their daily lives)

Students are naturally curious learners and I believe their role is to investigate, question, and make sense of different phenomena.

I view my role as the teacher is to facilitate that process by providing tools, guiding questions, and supportive structures that help students build their own understanding.

Analysis of 3E

Science Lesson (Using 5E Model)

Here is my personal reflections on when this lesson was taught. It is simply an add on to the 5E lesson in the Science tab.

5E Lesson

ENGAGE

In the engage phase the students were introduced to the scientific phenomenon of how objects float or sink. To ensure the students were engaged and interested in the driving question, we gave them a real life problem: Imagine a pirate ship with 1000 pirates can sit effortlessly on the water, whereas a light and tiny pebble will drop to the bottom of the ocean. Why can water carry the giant pirate ship and not the pebble?

We then created a Wonder Wall that allows them to explore their initial ideas, hypothesis, information, and responses. The Wonder Wall allowed them to brainstorm a variety of ideas to create their hypothesis and get a clear understanding of the driving question.

To help transition to our experiment, the driving question was asked:

Why do some objects float and others sink?

This is an example of a wonder wall. Each student gets a sticky note and puts it on the board with a prediction.

After reading the post-it notes, the class comes up with a hypothesis. Here was ours!

EXPLORE

Students actively participated in a hands-on investigation activity where they tested their hypotheses about whether different solid objects float or sink in water. Through the hands-on exploratory activity “Float or sink”, students collected observational evidence that either challenged or supported their initial ideas. This experience encouraged students to test their thinking based on evidence, preparing them to construct explanations independently.

Paperclip sunk in water.

Wax stick sunk in water.

Toothpick floating in water.

Rock sunk in water.

Photos of different objects observed.

Worksheet that was available to the students to help them.

PDF available in "science" tab

EXPLAIN

The results that students obtained during the explore phase are shared with the rest of the class to generate a consensus explanation (claims with evidence and reasoning) that accounts for the phenomenon. This phase revisits the public record of student thinking to add new evidence and refine initial models. New vocabulary is also introduced in order to help the students describe and make-sense of this new knowledge.

This is the diagram that was used during the lesson to explain the phenomenon.

EXTEND

This phase was not carried out in the enactment but in this phase, students apply their understanding of density and particle spacing to new contexts. They are given real-world examples and design challenges to explore how the shape, structure, and material of an object affects floating and sinking. Students will prove their understanding by using scientific language to predict outcomes and justify their reasoning. This is done to reinforce the knowledge that floating and sinking depend on density relative to water and not weight alone.

EVALUATE

Throughout the lesson, the teacher can keep track of students' understanding of density with:

Formative assessments
- Worksheet
- Design plan of their floating objects
- Floating object
Summative assessments
- Exit ticket
- Creative model to be completed after the lesson and activities

Analysis
of 5E Lesson

This lesson helps students understand why objects float or sink by introducing the concept of density.
- It was explained after the students observed and reasoned with the phenomenon.
- I thought it was a good way to introduce new vocabulary.
My pedagogical choices focused on:
- Promoting scientific reasoning
- Helping students articulate claims
- And justify them using patterns they noticed
I saw my role as guiding students’ thinking and not just delivering information.
- I believe I did this well by asking the students questions to deepen their understanding, giving them language to describe their finding more scientifically (scientific vocabulary: density) and clarify explanations using simple models.
I made these choices because I believe that the best was for students to learn is by discovering things independently (hands-on learning).

Analysis of 5E

Plant Transformations

I wanted to add a lesson that I really liked and took a lot away from. This lesson was on a story called 3 sisters and implemented Indigenous science in the classroom.

Jung Choi, S. (2025, October). Week 7. Science Inquiry [Transformation of Living Things: Plants 1 Seed]. EDEE 270 Elementary School Science 1 McGill University.

ENGAGE

For the engage section of this lesson, we had a class discussion considering the question: What foods do you see growing around Montreal?

We then classified fruits and vegetables in different categories to engage us with the material.

To introduce us to the legend of the 3 sisters, we watched a video by a Mohawk Elder.

3 sisters video

To end the engage section, we discussed the following questions:

What are some things we do with seeds?
Where have you seen seeds before?
What do you notice about these seeds?
What happens to seeds when they are planted?

EXPLORE

There were two parts to this section.

Part 1

We had to predict and explore inside a bean seed. Before dissecting we had a sheet where we needed to draw or write our prediction.
We then dissected the seed carefully and observe the parts and compared what we saw to our prediction.

Part 2

1. Students got to choose a seed (one from the Three Sisters): corn, beans, or squash.
2. Students prepared their growing medium: Potting soil, Coco coir brick, Hydrogel / water-storing crystals
3. Students got to plant their own seed and care for their plant:

a) Planting their seeds about 1 cm deep in the cup.
b) Keep the soil moist (not too wet!) and place it near a light source.
c) Students got to take it home and continue to water it regularly.

4. Finally, we had to observe and document our plant transformation which I will display below.

EXPLAIN

For the explain part, we were shown and explained the following diagrams.

3 Sisters - Growing Beans

For this lesson, I had chosen to grow bean seeds. Only 2 of the 3 grew but the transformation was especially cool to see since I had just learned the process. I think this would be a great activity to promote engagement and relatibility in the classroom.