Brief: In this activity, students practice writing step-wise instructions for constructing a small object (legos, K’nex, household materials…it doesn’t matter). Then, students switch with one another, and try to construct the intended object using their classmates’ instructions. Finally, they self-assess their success. It is a fun and creative way to teach following directions, descriptive writing, and procedure writing for science experiments.

A. NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS HEREIN

DCI’s: ETS2: Links among Engineering, Technology, Science, and Society

Cross Cutting Concepts: Cause and Effect, Patterns, Systems and System Models

Scientific and Engineering Practices:

Asking Questions and Defining Problems, Analyzing and Data, Engaging in Argument from Evidence, Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

B. SUGGESTED USES

This product is part of a Unit Bundle: Scientific Skills and Scientific Thinking Bundle

Assessing a Lab Report: Compare Two Versions of the Same Lab Report

Graphing Inquiry Activity: Practice with graphing and data analysis

Prior Knowledge: No specific prior knowledge is required for this activity. It can serve as a good introductory activity to the process of science and procedure writing, a creative way for students to explore descriptive writing, and practice with following instructions.

Implementing the Lesson:

Materials and Setup: The setup is simple. Students need a small amount of materials, and almost any materials can work. I’ve used legos, K’nex, atomic modeling kits, or even just a few random household materials, like a toilet paper roll, a pipette, a paper cup, a plastic spoon, some paper clips, a rubber band, some string, and some tape. It doesn’t matter much. The one benefit of using something like Legos or K’nex is that it may better lend itself to a discussion of the need for shared vocabulary; if one group call this type of K’Nex piece a connector, another calls it a snowflake piece, and another calls it a gear, then it is harder to communicate efficiently than if we all decide to name the pieces the same thing.

You can differentiate by:

Increasing or decreasing the number of pieces that must be included

Having students work in pairs, or individually

Changing the materials used to create something

This activity can be used in a number of ways, with a variety of different grade levels.

CLOSURE: As a group discuss the success and failings that groups had, and try to identify why they were or were not successful. Discuss the importance of having a common or shared set of definitions in life; it’s a short hand way of communicating. For example, saying “fork” is easier than saying elongated metal handle with tiny spears attached to the top”. Finally, incorporate the role of high quality images/diagrams/videos in procedures.

My students have a lot of fun with this activity. If yours liked it, there are more like this at my TpT store:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Next-Gen-Sci-Guy

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