Summary
Students explore the science involved in the making of items used in colonial life: bread, butter, soap, candles, wool, etc.
Materials
Additional Resources
Books
Colonial Living, by Edwin Tunis; ISBN 9780801862274 (Paperback)
If You Lived in Colonial Times, by Ann McGovern; ISBN 059045160X (Paperback)
If You Lived In Williamsburg in Colonial Days, by Barbara Brenner; 0590929224 (Paperback)
Background for Teachers
When settlements were first established in the colonial period and
eventually during the western expansion, they all began by growing
their own food and making the things they used everyday. Children
grew up helping grow the food and making the necessary items for
survival and passed these skills onto their own children.
Many of the things that these early settlers made were science
related. One could say that they were scientists in their own rights.
All of the items they needed were made from matter. Some items went
through a physical change and some went through a chemical change.
Things such as candles, bricks, soap, butter, bread and woolen items
that they made daily, weekly, or monthly fall into the categories of
physical or chemical changes.
Intended Learning Outcomes
4. Communicate effectively using science language and reasoning.
Instructional Procedures
Invitation to Learn
Show the students a bar of soap, candle, loaf of bread (uncut if
possible) bar of butter, brick, and something made of wool. (You
could use pictures, too, if the items are not available.)
- Ask the students, "If you wanted any of these items, where
would they get them?" (From a store.)
- Ask them, "What if there were no stores around, what would
you do then?" (They would have to make them themselves.)
- Ask, "Where would you get the materials to make them?"
(Some may know the answers that candles come from tallow or
wax, bread comes from wheat, butter comes from cream, bricks
are made of clay, wool comes from the hair of sheep, and soap
is made from lard and lye.)
- Ask, "How would you know how to make them and where to
get the materials? (Their parents told them. These learned
the survival skills they needed and passed them down from
generation to generation.)
- Ask, "How is making these things part of science?" (They
needed to figure out how to make these items by experimenting
with them. They put ingredients together to make a new
substance. They made these items look different from their
beginning sources.)
Tell them that for the next couple of days they are going to read
about each item to know the history of each and how they were
made. They will find out where the materials were found and the
process used to make them. They will record some findings in their
journals and other findings on graphic organizers. When they are done
reading and writing about the items, have the students write how the
making of these items relates to science and the changing of matter to a
different form by way of physical change and chemical change.
Instructional Procedures
- Divide the students into six groups.
- Put each of the listed items at a different station with the
product and/or picture with the related reading.
- Appoint each group to a station. Have the students read about
the item and discuss the item.
- Have the students use a graphic organizer to write down their
findings of the history of the item and how it was made. Have
them note at the bottom of each sheet how making it relates
to changing matter. They can also write things that were
interesting to them in their journals.
- Have them rotate to the next station and do the same thing until
they are done with all six stations. (This activity may take two
or three days to study each product and write about it.)
- When the rotations are done, have the students share what they
learned.
- Ask them to also share how each of these items not only has to
do with social studies but how science is involved in making
each of these items.
- Have them write in their journals whether each product is made
by a physical change or chemical change.
Extensions
Curriculum Extensions/Adaptations/
Integration
- All learners can do more research on the daily living in colonial
days and what the colonists did each day for survival. They can
present what they have learned with displays and reports.
- Advanced learners can learn about inventions from various
times in history to make the work easier.
- Learners with special needs can work with others when
researching the daily life of the colonists.
- Learners with special needs can look and touch the products in
the centers to understand their uses in the home.
- Have the students read the book If You Lived in Colonial Times
by Ann McGovern. Have them list the things that the colonists
made. Have them speculate whether the final product was a
physical or chemical change.
Family Connections
- Send pictures and the graphic organizers home of the items
that were in the centers and have the students explain to their
families what each of them is and how they were made by the
colonists.
- Have the students talk to their families about how science is
very important in our world and that just about everything
that we make or purchase has to do with a scientific process of
discovery. Have them come back with a list of items found in
their homes that we use each day that are a product of science.
Assessment Plan
- Review the graphic organizers to make sure students have
written down the important topics and explanations while at
each center.
- When the students are done with the centers, have a discussion
looking for proper answers and minimizing misconceptions.
- Show the pictures of the items and have the students write the
process that is used to make each item (informal assessment).
- Have a discussion about how making these items has to do with
changing matter in the form of a physical or chemical change.
- Have the students complete the Physical Change or Chemical
Change worksheet.
Bibliography
Research Basis
Black, R. (2005). Why demonstrate matter? Science and Children, Vol. 44 (Number 1), page
56.
It is still a good practice to have teacher-centered demonstrations
in the classroom. Children get excited when they see unfamiliar
objects in front of them that they know are going to part of a science
experiment. Careful planning and questions techniques give the
teacher more control for the students to understand the results.
Enfield, M. (2007). Discussion maps make sense. Science and Children, Vol. 44, No. 5, pp.
46-49.
Discussion can be useful for teachers in evaluating students' ideas.
Discussion offers windows for teachers to help understand student
thinking. Through discussions, students can express their ideas. Some students feel more comfortable during a discussion than during any
other school task. The "discussion map" lets a teacher gain insight
into the students' level of participation and helps the teacher get an
idea if the student understands the concept taught.