In spring 2020 when we as teachers all went online, we had to redesign the delivery of curriculum. I also became overly familiar with the terms synchronous and asynchronous.
My school put forward grade level schedules that included:
- 1 hour whole class synchronous session in the morning for math, language arts, and community building/morning meetings
- 1 hour office hours in the afternoon, intended for small group instruction where each student would be seen at least 1x a week in a small group
- 1 hour lunch/recess break
- 30 minute Specials (2 different sessions were offered to separate K-3 and 4-6)
- The above was offered 4 days a week while Friday was designated for staff planning, meetings, and only asynchronous work for students.
Science and Social Studies as synchronous lessons were not a priority (and rightfully so) however my teammate and I swapped students for these classes. Since we taught one another’s homerooms, we wanted to try to maintain relationships with those kids throughout the next several weeks. Once we got over the most trying period of starting online classes and stopping and restarting and troubleshooting…we came up with the following schedule which included science and social studies as part of our synchronous sessions.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Morning Synchronous Session 9:00-9:15 Morning Meeting9:15-9:40 Reading9:40-10:00 Math | Morning Synchronous Session 9:00-9:15 Morning Meeting9:15-9:40 Reading9:40-10:00 Math | Morning Synchronous Session 9:00-9:15 Morning Meeting9:15-9:40 Reading9:40-10:00 Math | Morning Synchronous Session 9:00-9:15 Morning Meeting9:15-9:40 Reading9:40-10:00 Math | 9:00-9:30 Staff Meeting9:30-10:30 Team Meeting |
| Asynchronous Work 10:00-12:00 | Asynchronous Work 10:00-12:00 | Asynchronous Work 10:00-12:00 | Asynchronous Work 10:00-12:00 | Asynchronous Work for Students Meetings and Planning Time for Teachers |
| 12:00-1:00 Lunch and Recess break | 12:00-1:00 Lunch and Recess break | 12:00-1:00 Lunch and Recess break | 12:00-1:00 Lunch and Recess break | |
| Afternoon Synchronous Session Math Small Groups A: 1:00-1:20 B: 1:20-1:40 C: 1:40-2:00 Intervention 1:00-1:30 with specialist | Afternoon Synchronous Session 1:00-1:30 Science 1:30-2:00 Social Studies | Afternoon Synchronous Session Reading Book Clubs 1:00-1:30 Intervention Groups 1:30-2:00 | Afternoon Synchronous Session 1:00-1:30 Science 1:30-2:00 Social Studies | |
| 2:00-2:30 Library | 2:00-2:30 Music | 2:00-2:30 PE | 2:00-2:30 Art | |
| 2:30-3:30 Asynchronous Work | 2:30-3:30 Asynchronous Work | 2:30-3:30 Asynchronous Work | 2:30-3:30 Asynchronous Work |
The unit of science that we were getting into was chemistry (with a focus on water), and I was so excited to do all of the labs! The water testing labs were new this year, so I was really excited about using them. It was a bummer to not be able to do those labs with kids, but they loved being able to do some with me and see me model those they could not do at home.
Below are the lessons I ended up modeling. Many I recorded and have now posted on youtube (links are given below if applicable). They are live recordings of lessons, so they’re not as succinct as they would be otherwise. They have been mildly edited for clarity (I cut out repeats of directions) and confidentiality (I removed any student faces).
The following are all experiments you could easily do at home with minimal, easy to access materials:
- Water as a Universal Solvent
- I show how salt and sugar dissolve in water, but oil does not. I also mix salt into oil to show how it does not dissolve. I discussed polar vs. nonpolar molecules.
- Chromatography
- I set up chromatography using water in the bottom of jars, strips of coffee filters, and colored pens.
- Oobleck
- Oobleck is made using cornstarch and water. It’s fun no matter how many times I make it!
- Water’s Surface Tension
- I showed the classic comparison of drops of water on a penny vs. drops of rubbing alcohol on a penny.
- I also showed how the surface tension of water holds baby powder and then you can break that surface tension with liquid soap.
- Ice in Rubbing Alcohol vs. Water
- This is meant to compare the densities of water vs. ice. Ice is less dense than water (floats) but more dense than rubbing alcohol (sinks).
- Cloud Doughs
- Conditioner and cornstarch makes a flexible dough that smells nice
- Flour and baby oil makes a sandcastle-like texture that smells nice
- I tried baby oil and corn starch which is not nice, but it was interesting
- Alka Seltzer “Lava Lamp”
- Take ½ cup of water, ½ cup of oil, some food coloring, and alka seltzer tablets to watch a fun, bubbly reaction. I compared using baby oil and vegetable oil (vegetable oil works better; I just had the baby oil from the cloud dough).
- Chemical Weathering (1 out of 2 parts recorded)
- I set up different materials in different empty jars: cardboard, aluminum foil, pennies, rocks, chalk, etc. then covered them with vinegar. I let them sit between classes (Tuesday to Thursday) then shared the findings. I don’t have a recording of the reveal apart from the chalk which immediately reacts. The pennies and rocks have a reaction.
These required the use of some materials from my Science Kits at school:
- pH Test comparisons
- I used pH tablets from the science kits we had at school to compare the pH of water, lime juice, ammonia, bleach (bad idea because it bleached out the pH tablet’s color…obviously), and vinegar. I wish I had done milk instead of bleach.
- Comparing Water Quality of Tap Water vs. Stream Water (only tap water was recorded not stream water comparison)
- I used different tablets for tests: iron, nitrates, chlorine, etc. I got the stream water from a nearby stream on a walk. Kids really were way more interested in this than you might have expected because they had to only watch, not do.
- Creating Electrical Circuits: Series vs. Parallel
- I set up different circuits using our wire, batteries and holders, lightbulbs and holders, at school. I did this in the classroom the day I was packing up my classroom.
Documents I used to support learning:
- Oobleck Directions and Qualitative Notes
- Directions and Predictions for Water Labs
- Observations and Conclusions for Water Labs (Taking Qualitative Notes)
I heard from many parents and kids how much they loved having Science through distance/online learning. I hope this gives you some ideas of what you could model at home or record and post for students asynchronously.
Charmed by Challenge 
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