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Grade 5. During the module's 15 lessons, students learn how to identify materials based on their properties. This module includes a teacher guide, 10 student activity guides, 16 Smithsonian Science Stories student readers, and enough materials for 32 students to use 1 time.

Grade 5. Module Highlights: During the module's 15 lessons, students learn how to identify materials based on their properties. This module includes a teacher guide, 10 student activity guides, 16 Smithsonian Science Stories student readers, and enough materials for 32 students to use 1 time.

Alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards*
Performance Expectations

• 5-PS1-1: Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.
• 5-PS1-2: Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.
• 5-PS1-3: Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.
• 5-PS1-4: Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.
• 3-5-ETS1-1: Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints.

Disciplinary Core Ideas
PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter

• Matter of any type can be subdivided into particles that are too small to see, but even then the matter still exists and can be detected by other means. A model showing that gases are made from matter particles that are too small to see and are moving freely around in space can explain many observations, including the inflation and shape of a balloon and the effects of air on larger particles or objects.
• The amount (weight) of matter is conserved when it changes form, even in transitions in which it seems to vanish.
• Measurements of a variety of properties can be used to identify materials.

• When two or more different substances are mixed, a new substance with different properties may be formed.
• No matter what reaction or change in properties occurs, the total weight of the substances does not change.

• Possible solutions to a problem are limited by available materials and resources (constraints). The success of a designed solution is determined by considering the desired features of a solution (criteria). Different proposals for solutions can be compared on the basis of how well each one meets the specified criteria for success or how well each takes the constraints into account.

• Research on a problem should be carried out before beginning to design a solution. Testing a solution involves investigating how well it performs under a range of likely conditions.
• At whatever stage, communicating with peers about proposed solutions is an important part of the design process, and shared ideas can lead to improved designs.

Focal Science and Engineering Practices

• Planning and carrying out investigations
• Analyzing and interpreting data

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

• Patterns

Phenomena and Problems Storyline
Lesson Summaries
Lesson 1: Kitchen Crises
Students are introduced to each of the six solids they will need to help Chef Ana identify sugar, salt, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and alum. They observe the six unlabeled solids and brainstorm initial ideas. Students share prior knowledge about these solids and suggestions for how the solids might be identified without tasting them. Students begin defining the problem by coming up with a list of criteria and constraints.
Lesson 2: Using Our Senses
Students use their senses to examine the six solids and record observations in a table to reveal patterns about their properties. Students use the observations they recorded to begin to create a dichotomous flow chart as a tool for Chef Ana to use to identify her unknown ingredients.
Lesson 3: Mixing with Water
Students carry out an investigation using a fair test to compare how the six solids mix with the same volume of water. They record data in a table to reveal a pattern of sugar and salt dissolving completely, alum partially dissolving, cornstarch and baking soda not dissolving, and baking powder bubbling. Students collaborate with their peers to add their new findings to their flow chart.
Lesson 4: Mixing with Vinegar
Students design and carry out an investigation using a fair test to compare how the solids mix with the same volume of vinegar. They record data in a table to reveal a pattern of baking soda (and baking powder if they decide to include it) bubbling and other solids not bubbling. Students collaborate with their peers to add their findings to their flow chart.
Lesson 5: Heating Solids
Students carry out an investigation using a fair test to compare how the solids respond to heat. They observe that heat causes sugar to turn brown and melt, whereas salt remains white and solid. Students collaborate with their peers to add to their flow chart and finalize the class list of criteria and constraints.
Lesson 6: Testing Our Solutions
Students test another group's flow chart to determine how effective it is in identifying the solids. Students are given six samples of the unidentified solids (labeled A–F) to test using the other group's flow chart. Each group plans and carries out investigations to identify the solids based on their properties. Students will use their senses, mix the solids with water, mix the solids with vinegar, and heat the solids to identify them before recording their results.
Lesson 7: Evaluating Our Results
Students present their findings, making claims about the identity of each solid and supporting it with evidence from their investigation. They evaluate the flow chart they tested based on the criteria and constraints.
Lesson 8: Sugar Water
Students offer initial ideas about what happens to the sugar in the water and draw initial models. They set up an investigation leaving a sugar and water solution out in a weighing dish to let the water evaporate and see if the sugar is still there. They carry out an investigation to measure the weight of sugar and water in grams before and after mixing. They graph their data and conclude that the weight of sugar and water is the same before and after mixing.
Lesson 9: What We Can't See
Students observe white crystals in the weighing dish that has been left out. They use a digital model (simulation) as an example of how they might model particles. They draw new models and use them to explain that when sugar is added to water, particles of sugar remain that are too small to be seen. When the mixture of sugar and water is left out, water particles go into the air and the sugar is left behind.
Lesson 10: Figuring Out the Bubbles
Students mix baking soda and vinegar again, make observations, and share initial ideas about what is causing the bubbles. Students share ideas about whether the bubbles are caused by a gas and if the gas is matter. They do an investigation to determine if the gas takes up space by seeing if mixing baking soda and vinegar fills a balloon. Students conclude that the gas that is released takes up space.
Lesson 11: A Weighty Matter
Students continue to figure out if the gas released when baking soda and vinegar are mixed is matter by seeking to determine if it weighs something. Students plan and carry out an investigation to determine the weight of the substances before and after mixing them. They observe that when baking soda and vinegar are mixed, the weight after mixing is less because the gas has escaped. Students conclude that the gas has weight, and they use models to construct an updated explanation for what is happening when the substances are mixed.
Lesson 12: Something New
Students gather information from a reading about chemical reactions and use it to figure out if the bubbling when baking soda and vinegar are mixed is caused by a chemical reaction. Students use pH indicator strips to test the acidity of baking soda and vinegar separately, and after mixing. Students use evidence from their investigation to support a claim that the baking soda and vinegar undergo a chemical reaction in which new substances are produced with different properties.
Lesson 13: A Fizzy Phenomenon Part 1
Students watch a video about a bath bomb being dropped into water. They share initial explanations for what causes the bath bomb to fizz and bubble. They predict it is caused by a chemical reaction and they suggest possible ingredients.
Science Challenge
Lesson 14: A Fizzy Phenomenon Part 2
Students make a plan and perform fair tests on new solids and combinations of solids mixed with water to determine which could cause the reaction in a bath bomb. They organize their data in a table and identify patterns to help them determine which solids they will use to create their bath bombs.
Lesson 15: A Fizzy Phenomenon Part 3
Students create and test their own bath bombs using the solids they came up with in Lesson 14. They record their observations and decide if their bath bombs were successful based on their evidence. They create a particle model to show the different materials before, during, and after the reaction with water.

*Next Generation Science Standards® is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.