Nicole Anderson

Early Experiences in Math & Sciences

10/1/15
Julie Stoll
Math/Science Concept Exploration & Problem Solving Experience-Ramps
What is your science topic?:
My science topic is about physical sciences. My big idea with the class is to work with
ramps for three-five days to explore and to experiment with them. I wanted to work with ramps
because I noticed that they are an option for the children to use when children are arriving for the
school day. However, ramps have never been an option for the students for the rest of the day. I
wanted to re-introduce ramps to the classroom, see the reaction the children will have, to see if
they will gravitate toward it, what they will create with them, and so on.
Preschool Content Standards:
First day:
1. Strand: Science Inquiry and Application
Topic: Inquiry
- Explore objects, materials, and events in the environment.
2. Strand: Physical Science
Topic: Explorations of Energy
- With modeling and support, explore the position and motion of objects.
Second Day:
1. Strand: Measurement and Data
Topic: Describe and Compare Measureable Attributes
- Describe and compare objects using measureable attributes (e.g., length, size,
capacity, and weight).
2. Strand: Physical Science
Topic: Explorations of Energy
- With modeling and support, explore the position and motion of objects.
Third Day:
1. Strand: Cognitive Skills
Topic: Reasoning and Problem-Solving
- Solve problems by planning and carrying out a sequence of actions.
2. Strand: Physical Science
Topic: Explorations of Energy
- With modeling and support, explore the position and motion of objects.
Means to Collect Assessment Information:

Who is documenting-you or someone else?:

-

I will be taking pictures from my phone and then writing notes or quotes that the
students said into my journal.

Have you made them aware of your intent so that they can document effectively for you?
-

I told my mentor teacher about my three day lesson plan. She knows that I will be
working with ramps with the children sometime the week of October 5-9, 2015. I will
give my mentor teacher my lesson plan a few days prior to the lesson.

What materials did you provide the children during the open exploration time?:

A variety of ramps (4 ft, 3 ft, 2 ft, and 1 ft.)

Marbles (1st, 2nd, and 3rd day)
Bouncy balls (2nd day)
Cars (2nd day)

Set-Up:
First day: Explore
1. Setting up the provocation in the room while half of the children are eating snack.
2. Once set up and everyone is finished with snack, I will just let the children explore with
the materials. I will not call anyone to the carpet area where the ramps are.
3. I want to see if the children are curious to go over to the carpet, how the children react to
having these ramps, and how they will use them.
4. I will take pictures and document in my journal about what happened and how the
children are liking or disliking the provocation.
5. If needed for improvement, I will re-evaluate and see how the lesson can be improved for
day two.
Second day: Velocity
1. Setting up the provocation in the room while half of the children are sitting down and
having snack.
2. Once everyone is done, I will ask the group to raise their hands if they want to work with
the ramps.
3. For the ones that raise their hands, I will call on them to come to the carpet to work with
the ramps.
4. The children will then work with the ramps on velocity and what materials are faster or
slower than others.
5. I will document in my journal on notes that I see and hear, and take pictures of what they
were working on during this provocation.

6. If needed for improvement, I will re-evaluate and see how the lesson can be improved for
day three.
Third day: Rube Goldberg project/Track
1. I will build my Rube Goldberg project while half of the children are having snack time.
2. Once the children are done with snack, I will ask children if they would like to work with
ramps at the carpet.
3. For those that want to come, the children can join me on the carpet and watch my Rube
Goldberg project happen.
4. Once it is complete, I will tell the children that I want to see what they can build with the
ramps as a group. I want to see what happens once their tracks or Rube Goldberg projects
are completed.
5. As the children are working on this, I will take pictures of what the children are working
on, and document what they say.
6. If needed for improvement, I will write down and reflect on how the lesson could have
been improved for a later use.
How did you introduce the new materials and topic?:
I actually did not give my students any warning about the new materials. I just brought
them into the school on the first day and nobody asked about them. But when it came time to do
work choices, I started setting up my provocation. I was setting up in the carpet area in the room
while the children were sitting down having snack. As they were eating, I was setting up the
ramps in different places around the carpet. The children were interested in what I was doing and
they kept asking me questions as I was setting up. I didnt tell the children anything about the
ramps because I wanted them to discover for themselves what they could do with them. After the
children had snack, most of the children came over to play with the ramps. All of the children
really enjoyed it and used all of the materials as well. The second day was when I gave more
direction with the velocity lesson. The questions or comments I made were intentional to get the
children to think about what they were doing and why. By them figuring out the answers for
themselves made the learning experience more meaningful which made the lesson worthwhile.
How did the children use the materials to support your science/math goals?:
Day One:
The children used my lesson and moved the ramps around to different heights and
different angles around the carpet. This way the car, marble, or whiffle ball had more or less
speed going down the ramp.
Day Two:
The children were using all of the ramps to figure out which ramp was the fastest. Then
once they decided they tested that same ramp with the whiffle ball. Then they used the car down
the ramp and they discussed as a group which item was the fastest going down the ramp. After

they took a guess, we moved two more ramps to be at the exact same height and angle as the
fastest ramp and placed them next to each other. Then we took one marble, one car, and one
whiffle ball and let them go at the same time to see which item was the fastest.
Day Three:
With the tracks, the children were moving them at different angles to try to make the
marble move from one ramp to the next. By moving the ramps caused the children to think about
which angle to place the ramp at in order for the marble to move onto it.