Science Lesson

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Science Lesson Plan


Title: Changes in Matter
Grade Level; 4th

Objectives: The students will be able to define physical and chemical changes. (states of
matter)
The students will be able to create their own representation of the process by
creating sequence charts of the process.
The students will be able to identify the area where rainforests are present.

TEKS: 7 (B) conduct tests, compare data, and draw conclusions about physical properties of matter including states of matter, conduction, density, and buoyancy.

Materials: Chocolate bars, powdered drink mix, cacao beans (if possible), any visuals of chocolate factories. Suggestion: checking manufacturers like Hershey to get pictures of virtual tours.

Introduction: Discuss with the students the differences between physical and chemical changes. Ask students for any changes that they may know of that occur on a daily basis. Inform the students that they will be discussing the effects of these changes without using their books. (The students will love this part) Inform students that they will be investigating the process of making chocolate to look for different types of changes in state of matter.

Guided Practice: Start by telling students how chocolate begins as a bean. Students should be told that this bean is actually picked from the cacao tree in rainforests. Students should be asked to identify areas where rainforests still exist. (mainly south and central Americas.) Students can point to these regions on maps to locate them. Students can also be told that the bean is used in its’ entirety when it is ground into a pulp. Now, many chocolate factories sift out the remnants of the shells. When it is ground into a fine powder, the chocolate is mixed with sugar and cream. It is boiled and all of the oil is removed from the mixture. You may choose to talk about the fa...