We spotlight Anusheh Warda, CRS Science Super Star honoree, who teaches at Chabot Elementary in Oakland. Anusheh prepared a unit that would engage all of her students through a multistage lesson on salt saturation.
April 23, 2020
We spotlight Anusheh Warda, 5th Grade Teacher at Chabot Elementary in Oakland, as a 2020 Science Super Star!
Anusheh prepared a unit that would engage all of her students through a multistage lesson on salt saturation.
She elicited prior knowledge before beginning the actual investigation through a wide variety of methods, such as class conversations, group discussions, and educational videos.
She then presented her focus question to the class: What is the solubility level of different salts?
To help her students utilize all of their senses, she asked that they start off the lesson by touching the different salts. They discussed the textures and their predictions with their science partners. Since the salts had different weights, which the students noticed when feeling the salt particles, they would check on each other to make sure they were measuring correctly.
Anusheh incorporated math into the lesson by having them compute their data, while weighing and comparing the masses of the salt. They had to compare rations (for example: 100 mL of water with 15 g of salt, to 200 mL of water with 20 g of salt) to figure out concentration levels.
She expected diagrams of the cups, that would be labeled with the solubility and unseen solutes in the solutions. Anusheh also encouraged multiple forms of graphs, so her students also created Venn-diagrams to compare and contrast the characteristics they were finding in their salts.
To build their confidence in ability to present ideas, she had them make posters of the before and after of their experiment. They supported their claims using the data they collected.
Her students were able to relate the experiment to the real world as they thought of other solvents and solutes in their lives. They asked, How is there so much sugar in sodas? One student set out to find out, and was amazed as she evaporated the water and analyzed the crystals.