Sample Lesson Plan using a Scientific Inquiry Approach

Introduction
The following document presents a lesson plan of the topic of acids and bases taught using a
scientific inquiry approach. The lesson takes place over a single class period (40 minutes).
The purpose of this lesson plan is the show how an inquiry oriented lesson can be conducted
within the constraints of the Irish Junior Certificate Syllabus.













Date: 30/01/2014
Topic: Acids and Bases
Previous knowledge/experience: In the previous lesson students would have been given an
introduction to acids and bases with students learning a number of examples of acids and
bases and being informed of the fact that some acids and bases are harmful and some are not.
Even though they do know of specific examples of acids and bases, they do not know how
they would test whether an unknown substance is an acid or a base. They would also not
know how to test whether an acid or a base is harmful or not.

Impact of previous lesson: students had significant prior knowledge of acids in terms of
examples of acids. They did however require a lot of probing to come up with examples of
bases. Some students struggled with the idea that some acids/bases could be harmful and
questioned how someone would know if an acid or a base was harmful. Therefore todays
lesson nicely leads on to this as the students will begin learning about the pH scale. This will
be finished in the next lesson with a discussion on the pH of water and neutralisation.

Aim(s) of lesson:
1. To develop students awareness of how one can test whether a substance is an acid or a
base
2. To expand on the topic of acids and bases by delving deeper into the levels of acidity
and basicity using the pH scale.
Objectives and Assessment
Aim Objectives: Students will Assessment
1 Design and conduct an investigation to test whether
substances are acids or bases
Whole group discussion and
teacher observation
List examples of acids and bases Lab copies and questioning
Define the purpose of an indicator Lab Copies and questioning
2 Develop an investigation to test out the
acidity/basicity of varying substances
Whole group discussion and
feedback from teacher
Use a pH scale to determine whether a substance is a
strong/weak acid or base
Lab copies and questioning
Work in groups to carry out the investigation Observation by teacher



Subject matter:
The lesson will focus on defining what an indicator is used for together with using litmus
paper to identify whether a variety of substances are acids or bases. The next part of the
lesson will look at the strength of acidity/basicity of substances. Whilst investigations will be
carried out concurrently, the remaining part of the lesson will focus on a discussion on
indicators and the pH scale separately.
Resources:
Examples of acids (vinegar, lemon juice, dilute HCL) and bases (Soap, Soda Water, dilute
sodium hydroxide), beakers, droppers, litmus paper, universal indicator paper, acetate, OHP,
whiteboard

Organisation of lesson
Time Teacher activity Student activity
2 mins






















Asks students a number of questions
to recap on the material covered in
the previous lesson.
Possible questions:
What is an acid?
What is a base?
Name one interesting thing we said
about an acid?
What are examples of acids?
What are examples of bases?
The teacher now informs students that
in todays lesson they will be asked to
design investigations around the
testing of whether substances are
acids/bases and how acidic or basic
they are.






Students answer questions individually
when prompted to by the teacher







Students take out their lab copies and note
what the lesson will focus on today





Recap of the Previous Lesson


5
minutes












8
minutes
















Teacher begins a group discussion
and scaffolds students to consider
what research question will drive the
investigations. The teacher puts the
possible questions on the board and
refines the questions with the help of
the students. The research questions
should resemble the following:
1. How can we test a substance
to see if it is an acid or a base?
2. How do we know if some
substances are stronger acids
or bases?




The teacher shows the students a
number of pieces of apparatus and
substances (these include equipment
that can be used in the investigations
and some Red Herrings)

The teacher circulates as the students
are designing their investigation

The teacher then using the students
suggestions writes the investigations
on an acetate shown using an
overhead projector.
The teacher confirms the procedure
that will be used.



Students put up their hands and when
instructed to by the teacher, give their
views on what research questions will
revolve around this investigation. The
students use their prior learning from the
previous lesson to help them establish a
research question.





Students take note of the accepted research
questions in their lab copies.



Students look at the apparatus available for
the investigation and in pairs work on
procedure to test out the research question.
They put this sample procedure in their lab
copies.

Students discuss with the teacher why they
have decided to do the investigation in the
way they did.

Students contribute to the design of the
procedure as the teacher puts it on the
overhead projector.


Formulation of the research
question



Designing Investigation






13
minutes













12
minutes
The teacher asks students to put on
their lab goggles, coats and gloves
and advises students to be careful as
some of the substances can be
dangerous.



The teacher circulates as the students
carry out the investigation and probes
their thinking as they are doing this



As the students collect the data the
teacher discusses the data with
students





The teacher revisits the research
questions and asks students to use
their data in groups to answer these
questions.
The teacher leads a discussion on the
conclusions. The teacher informs the
students that the paper used to test for
an acid or base is litmus paper and is
an example of an indicator. The
teacher asks the students to define
what an indicator is based on what
they have observed
The students put on the required safety
gear and listen to the teachers safety
instructions.





Students carry out the procedure in their
pairs. Students first test a number of
substances with red paper and then a
number of substances with blue paper.
Students then test the same substances
with the white paper


Students make observations and chose
their own way of representing the data (i.e
on a table or pictorially). The main
observations students should not is that red
paper stays red in acid and turns blue in a
base and vice versa with blue paper (blue
paper turns red in acid and stays blue in a
base). They should also note that the white
paper turns a variety of colours depending
on what substance it is put into.




Students draw conclusions which should
reflect the following:

Red or blue paper can be used to
test whether a substance is an acid
or a base and it is an example of an
indicator

Conducting Investigations
Collecting Data
Drawing Conclusions


Issues for Reflection


The teacher now leads a discussion on
what the students observed when they
used the other paper. The teacher asks
students why they think the paper
changes different colours in different
substances.
The teacher now puts up a powerpoint
slide of a pH scale and asks students
to now draw conclusions using this
scale.


The teacher asks random students to
say one new thing they had learned
today
The teacher then collects the students
work and will offer them feedback in
the next lesson
The teacher ends the lesson by asking
students whether they think water is
an acid or a base, the teacher advises
that this will be covered in the next
lesson.
The white paper turns different
colours when dropped in different
substances.


The students look at the scale and should
come to the conclusion that a strong acid is
a different colour to a weak acid and a
strong base is a different colour to a weak
base.
The students take note of these
conclusions

Students answer questions when asked by
the teacher