Lesson Plan

Day: Wednesday
Year: 8

Date: 18-Feb-15 Time: 1205-1225

Learning Area: Science Topic: Chemistry Chemical

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Title of Lesson: The fireproof balloon
Curriculum content description: (from ACARA)
Science understanding: chemical sciences.
The properties of the different states of matter can be explained in terms of the
motion and arrangement of particles (ACSSU151)

Students prior knowledge and experience:

(Outline what the students already know about this topic)

Students have prior experience with basic understanding of the scientific

method and of safe laboratory work
Students have an understanding of matter consisting of particles, and that
particles soilds, liquids and gases behave differently under varying
conditions.

Learning purpose:

(May refer to the Elaborations of the curriculum content

description here)

To provide students with the knowledge that gases and liquids behave
differently when exposed to energy (heat)
To provide students with the understanding that water (a liquid) has a higher
specific heat capacity in comparison to air (a gas)

Learning objectives:

Evaluation:

On completion of this lesson,

students will be able to:

(Explain how you will know that lesson

objective have been achieved / monitor
student learning)

(What will students know and be able to do

at the completion of the lesson specific,
concise and attainable objectives)
Understand that liquids, in

particular water, can absorb a

large amount of energy (heat) in
comparison to gas.
Recognise that the high specific
heat capacity of water has
important consequences for many
ecological/environmental
processes.

(a) Did students differentiate

between the outcomes of a
balloon containing water being
heated vs. a balloon that
contained no water?
o Assessed by asking
students to make
predictions about whose
balloon (teacher with
water, or student no
water) will be most
resistant to the candle
flame. Predictions to be
checked against the
outcome of the short
experiment and why we
observed what we did.
(b) Could students apply the
concept of specific heat to other

phenomena?
o To be evaluated by targeted
questioning at the end of
the experiment e.g. have
you ever put something in
the microwave, touched the
container and it is boiling
hot, but the contents
remain cold? That is the
specific heat phenomena.

Preparation and Resources:

(Detail what resources will be used and what other preparation of the learning environment
will be required)
Collect a small number of tea light candles (ca. 2 or 3), which will be used to

heat the balloons. This will be a classroom demonstration in order to try and
manage the excitement of blowing up balloons and trying to burst them with
open flames.
Obtain a bag of multicoloured balloons.
Remind students involved in the demonstration that they need to wear safety
glasses
Quick check of fire extinguisher
Ensure no long hair/loose clothing around the open flame.

Catering for diversity

(detail any adjustments considerations for

educational/resource adjustments)

Timi
ng:

The class for this demonstration contains number (ca. 6) from the ILU
(independent learning unit). These students will be actively encouraged to
participate in the demonstration as a measure of inclusivity.

Learning Experiences:
1. Introduction:

(How will I engage the learners?)

1205 1210 (5 mins).

To initially engage the students, I will start the class by reintroducing myself and informing the students that today I
will be running a short micro-lesson in order to begin to
introduce the concepts of particles in matter and how these
behave differently for different states of matter.
Ask the students some simple questions about who has
blown up a balloon before, who has popped a balloon and if
anybody gets started by the sound of a balloon popping.
Blow up and pop a balloon (with an object such as a pencil
save the flame for later), and ask students why it made that
noise.
2. Sequence of learning experiences: (What will you do to help the
students achieve the learning objectives? What tasks and activities will
the students be involved in to help achieve the learning objectives?)

1210-1220 (10 mins).

Quietly light a tea light candle.
Question the students as to what they think will happen
when a balloon is held up over a flame.

Invite the students to come up in pairs (selected pairs) to

blow up a balloon and hold it over a tea light candle to see
what will happen (the balloon will explode).
Ask the students if a different balloon (colour, size etc.) will
make a difference. Get students to try a different balloon (it
will again pop).
Finally, take out my special balloon from below the desk
(filled with 25ml of water). Ask the students if they think this
will explode.
I will hold my balloon over the flame for ~ 30 seconds. The
balloon will not explode.
Ask the students why they think my balloon did not explode.

3. Lesson conclusion: (How will you summarise the learning and relate it
to the lesson objectives?)

1220 1225 (5 mins)

Explain to the students that the balloon did not explode
because it was filled will a small amount of water.
The small amount of water that is contained within the
balloon absorbs the heat energy from the candle, so the
balloon does not explode.
Ask students if they think my special balloon would
eventually explode.
Explain that the specific heat capacity (important term)
would eventually be exhausted, and so the balloon would
explode.

Lesson Evaluation:
(Reflect on the lesson. What worked? What did not work? What would you change? Why?)

What went well:

The students were quiet and attentive for the duration of the short
lesson/questioning. Offering rewards for attention and correct/interesting
answers to questions proved to focus the class, which I have observed to be
difficult to manage in the past.
The students engaged with the learning objectives. The work that they
included in their workbook at the completion of the short activity on what
they learnt revealed that they had engaged with the learning material.
Students from the independent learning unit (ILU) actively participated in the
conduct of the short activity and demonstrated their learning through the
completion of their workbooks.
What could be improved:

The large number of students in the class meant that not all students were
able to participate in the demonstration. However, it was preferable to do a
class demonstration over individual student groups, as I was not certain of
managing the behaviour of the entire class with candles, balloons and water.
I would change the manner in which I directed questions at students. By
offering rewards for good answers to questions, some students became
dominant in wanting to answer the questions. In future, I would look to
engage quieter students.
In order to better link the outcomes of the experiment to the learning
objectives, in further classroom experiments, I would list the student
predictions and learning objectives on the board so that these can be directly
revisited at the completion of the activity.