Full Lesson Plan - School of Arts & Sciences

Assessments:
The students will then begin to fill the water bath with crushed ice. They will
record the temperature, observe the balloon and add more ice. All will be done
over equal time intervals (30 seconds for 5 minutes).
As they did in part a, they will record all information in their lab journals. They
also will draw a picture of what they think the gas inside the balloon looks like
after the five minutes of cooling. They will compare this to the drawing they
made of the gas before they added the ice and to their pre-class drawing of a
cooled balloon.
After the lab (that day if time permits or the following class), we will have
a discussion about what the students observed and what they think may have
caused their results. They will also record their thoughts and experiences with this
lab in their lab journals. I will serve as a moderator/guide and not an answer
person. I want to see what their thoughts are and that they arrived at their
conclusions on their own.
1. The students will be given follow up questions dealing with their lab that
will be used as an assessment. The questions will be phrased in a way where
I will be able to see if they understand why the balloon increased in size in
the hot water and decreased in size for the cold. I want to make sure that
they realize that the volume of the gas inside the balloon is increasing and
decreasing.
For example:
• Were your predictions from the pre-class correct? Explain
• Based on your observations, what happens to a balloon
when heated and when cooled?
• What affect does the temperature have that causes the
balloon to act this way?
• Using this lab and what we learned about Boyle’s Law in
our previous unit as a basis, explain why the soda can got
crushed in our opening activity?(If Boyle’s Law is taught
after Charles Law you can just focus on their
explanations from the temperature and volume viewpoint
now, and readdress the pressure at a later point)
2. They will also be given a question on their unit test that takes Charles’ Law
and puts in a “real world” context.
For example:
• Why do the tires on your car appear to be deflated in the morning
after a cold night? How does this show Charles’ Law?
Or
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