How Things Work

Hook: Speak to the class, who have been immersed in the story, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and lessons on how generators turn mechanical energy into electricity, about what they already know (builds confidence and satisfaction from the start; they will know this information):

Tell me about the boy who harnessed he wind. What did he do? What problem did he solve? Where did he get the idea? What challenges did he have to overcome?

Allow select students to share the answers to these questions-this also serves as a brief review. 

Hold up a toy pinwheel and blow on it, making the pinwheel spin.

Say, "You say he got the idea from pictures in his library book." (Pause)

Blow on the pinwheel again. 

Say, "This looks like a windmill, right? Is this how he created electricity? If I made a larger one of these, would I be able to power the computers in this library? No? What's missing? What's the difference between this and the windmill that William made?"

Hope that at least one student will provide the answer about generators, and if not, gently prompt. 

"So….what did he need to know or figure out before he could make the idea in his mind, a windmill like the ones in his picture book, actually work to make electricity for his family and community?"

Direct Instruction & Guided Practice:

Reveal chart paper or whiteboard with this question on it:

What did he have to know or figure out in order to make his windmill generate electricity?

Provide think time. Then, collect answers and record them on the chart (paper or projected). 

Acceptable answers include and should be recorded:

• How windmills make electricity
• How energy is changed
• How generators work
• How gears work
• What a pulley does
• How to make the wind crank the generator

Where did he learn this? Where could he have learned it (imagine if he had the same resources we have): 

With partners, students will brainstorm a list onto a prepared handout. One student or both can record answers in any manner.

Have students share out, and add answers to the chart (projected or paper)

• Someone could teach him (school, teacher, friends, family, people on YouTube, people in your community)
• Textbooks
• Observation
• Taking things apart and putting them back together (students did this in the Science lesson)
• Books
• Internet
  • List particular websites or databases they mention or even keywords or phrases they say they can Google/search

Ask prompting, guiding questions to get them to provide as much of this (and more!) as possible. 

Say, "So…William used what he already understood (how his bicycle works, gears, pulleys, cranks, generators) to come up with a design for his idea, using the parts and things that he had. All that learning and observing really helps with the invention process! When his design didn't work, he kept learning knew things and asking the right questions so that he could have more ideas about how to improve on his design. 

Independent Practice:  Tell the students that we have a lot of problems like William had that still need to be solved with creative (or innovative, if they know the word) solutions or new inventions. Say, "I want you to be ready! I want you to know how things work as much as possible so that your brain is always making connections between all this knowledge and the problems that need to be solved. And when you have brilliant ideas, I want you to know how to get the information you need to help you design ideas that will work, and if your design doesn't work right away, I want you to be able to think of ways to modify what you have to try to make it work!"

Put students into teams of 4. They will discover some sources of information on how things work. They may choose to find books in our library, search the web using the keywords and phrases that we identified in direct instruction, explore our databases to find some that specifically explain how things work, or create a list of people in our school or community who can help us learn about how things work. (Let students choose which type of resource they'd like to find). 

Students will add specific resources to the original chart[1] For 10 minutes, students will search for 1-5 specific resources to add. Ultimately, this will go on the classroom wall, be published on the classroom webpage, or will be printed up as a booklet for each member of the class. The title of the document should be, "Sources of information on HOW STUFF WORKS" or something similar. 

Examples of specific sources that the students may contribute:

• People: The librarian, Mrs. Smith, Mr. Misner
• Observation: The Makerspace is a place to take machines apart and tinker, explore how electricity works, a place to design
• Books:
  • The Way Things Work by David McCauley
  • How Do Airplanes Fly? By Zack Williams
  • Encyclopedia of Science and Invention
• Databases:
  • KidsInfoBits (Technology, Science, Engineering, Machines! Tons of stuff!)
  • SNAP (educational video database)
• Internet: Instructables, DKfindout, PBS Learning Media

Modifications: Both lessons (ELA & Science) were designed using UDL principals, so we can assume that all students had access to the lessons building up to this one. For this lesson, students will have a partner during guided practice for multiple means of expression-they can draw, point, use a different communication system when sharing ideas. During independent practice there is also choice as to what type of search each child chooses; does he or she want to search for books and bring it to share? Do a web search? Ask a librarian for help? Assistive technology will be available, and handwritten notes of all of the work we did will be provided. Directions will be clarified and repeated as needed. Students who are highly proficient and motivated can choose to find more sources than those who can only find one source during the allotted time.

Closing/Sharing/Reflection: Students will share their contributions with their own teammates at the end of the session, either by the final product being a classroom poster, a compiled list that goes on the classroom webpage, or a booklet. The librarian, teachers, and students can decide what is best for your particular group. 

In addition, a worksheet will be completed individually for assessment purposes. This can be as a bellringer for the next day or can be at the end of this lesson, depending on time constraints (see attached).

[1] Options include the librarian posting the compiled list to a common folder for individual team modification, a cloud-based document that is editable by all members of the team simultaneously (beginning with a copy of the list on the chart for each team to modify), or each team member posting with post-it notes (the low tech option).