Lesson Plan — ILAW · Science 7
Term 1 · Week 4 · Domain: Science of Materials · CG Quarter 1, competency 5
⚠️ The field list is reported, not read. The four section names are consistent across sources; the sub-fields a given division expects may differ. See
source-catalogue.md§8.
This is the whole week. For Day 1 at teaching depth, see
lesson-plan.md.
| Learning Area | Science |
| Grade Level | Grade 7 |
| Term and Week | Term 1, Week 4 |
| CG source | Quarter 1, competency 5 (p. 46) |
| Sessions | 5 × 45 minutes |
| Medium of instruction | English |
| Resources | slides.html · game.html · worksheet.html · worksheet-remediation.html · wall-chart.html · offline-activities.md |
| Format | ILAW — DO No. 009, s. 2026 |
I — INTENTIONS
The competency for this week
CG Quarter 1, competency 5: explain the changes of state in terms of particle arrangement and energy changes: a. solid → liquid → vapor, and b. vapor → liquid → solid.
Why it sits in Week 4
Week 1 asks why scientists use models at all. Week 2 states the particle model. Week 3 draws the three states. Week 4 is where the model is finally used to explain something, which is the whole reason for the previous three weeks.
Weeks 5 to 7 depend on it. The investigation procedure in Week 5 is applied to a solubility question in Week 7, and solubility is a particle-level idea: a solute's particles separating and spreading among a solvent's. Quarter 3 competency 10 comes back seven months later and asks for convection and conduction in terms of the particle model — the same model, assumed to be intact.
It also sits here because Grade 6 finished with reversible and irreversible changes. A learner arrives able to say the material is still there; this week replaces that with the particles are still there, and nothing else about them changed either. The second statement is stronger and it is the one Key Stage 3 needs.
Success criteria for the week
By the end of the week, the learner:
- draws all three states with the particles the same size and only the spacing different
- describes each change of state as energy in or out, with spacing increasing or decreasing
- names at least one thing the particle model forbids
- answers nothing when asked what is between the particles, and can say why it cannot be air
These four are the tick boxes on observation-card.html.
II — LEARNING EXPERIENCES
| Day | Focus | What happens | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Draw first, learn second | Blank paper in minute one; three drawings before anything is taught. The class's own pages supply every misconception the lesson then takes apart. The three denials in the last ten minutes. | lesson-plan.md · slides 1–12 · worksheet.html |
| 2 | Be the particles | Groups of six in the corridor: solid, liquid, gas, and the four transitions between them. Nobody grows and nobody leaves — which is the point, and it is felt rather than told. | Activity 1 in offline-activities.md |
| 3 | The three denials | The whole session on what the model refuses. The air in the gaps regress is run out loud with learners standing inside learners. | Activity 2 · game.html Round 3 |
| 4 | Evidence from the room | Breath on a cold surface; a puddle drawn on the concrete outside and revisited; sweat. Three observations, one model, and the model has to account for all three. | Activity 3 · worksheet.html Section D |
| 5 | Consolidation and check | Redraw the three boxes from Day 1 without looking at the first attempt, then compare. The game, all three rounds. The weekly check. | game.html · assessment.md §4 |
The shape of each day
| Part | Minutes | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| One change, both questions | 4 | A change of state on the board; energy in or out, spacing up or down, answered on fingers |
| Review | 3 | Yesterday's denial, restated by a learner rather than by the teacher |
| Main activity | 25 | The day's focus |
| Into practice | 8 | Worksheet, game, or offline activity |
| Close | 5 | Exit ticket — one statement, marked true or false, with the correction if false |
Day 5 begins by repeating Day 1's task. The same three boxes, without looking at the first attempt, and then the two sheets side by side. It is the only measurement in this week that the learner can read for themselves, and it is worth more than the check that follows it.
III — ASSESSMENT
What is looked at, and when
| Instrument | Day | Component it feeds |
|---|---|---|
| Observation card — the learner's exact words | 1–5, continuous | Formative only, no mark |
| The Day 1 drawings | 1 | Not marked. Diagnostic only, and saying so out loud matters |
| Worksheet, Sections A to C | 1 | Written Works |
| Group performance record | 2 | Formative only, no mark |
| Game record, Round 3 | 3 and 5 | Formative only, no mark |
| Day 1 against Day 5 drawings | 5 | Written Works — the Day 5 sheet only |
| Weekly check, 7 items | 5 | Written Works |
| Quarter 1 performance task | Week 8 | Performance Tasks |
Weights are 20 / 50 / 30 under DO No. 015, s. 2026 — see
class-record.html, which carries the transmutation year switch.
The item that reads
On the weekly check, item 7:
A student draws steam with bigger circles than ice, far apart, with tiny dots labelled 'air' in the gaps. Name two things wrong with the drawing, and say why the second one cannot be right.
Items 1 to 6 can be answered from the wall chart. Item 7 asks the learner to criticise a model-drawing, which is what competency 1 means by understanding that scientists use models.
| What the learner wrote | What it means |
|---|---|
| Both errors named, and the regress given for the air | Full understanding of the model as a set of claims |
| Both errors named, no reason for the air | Knows the rule, has not internalised why |
| Only the circle size named | The commonest partial answer. The air error is subtler and it is the one to teach next |
| Neither | The model is being held as a picture. Remediation sheet, and Activity 2 |
IV — WAYS FORWARD
Remediation
For learners still drawing bigger particles in the gas box on Day 3.
worksheet-remediation.html starts with the class standing as
particles in an open space and reaches paper only in task 3, where every circle is traced round the
same coin. A learner who cannot draw a bigger circle cannot make the error, and after doing it the
right way three times the drawing stops feeling wrong.
For learners still putting air in the gaps on Day 5.
Do not repeat the answer. Run Activity 2 again with them as the particles inside the air particles, and let them find the point at which the class runs out of learners. The regress is the argument and it cannot be delivered as a sentence.
Enrichment
For learners who finish Day 2 early.
Water expands when it freezes. The model says cooling brings particles closer together, so ice should be denser than water — and it is not, which is why ice floats and why pipes burst. This is a genuine exception with a genuine explanation (the pattern water forms is unusually open), and handing a Grade 7 learner a real exception to a model they have just learned is the best thing available in this week.
For learners who have the whole idea by Day 3.
Ask them to design the Quarter 1 performance task — how much salt is in a sample of seawater? — as a five-step investigation, before Week 5 teaches the five steps. Their design becomes the worked example Week 5 opens with.
Teacher reflection
Answer at the end of Friday:
- Compare the Day 1 and Day 5 drawings across the class. What fraction changed? Write the two numbers down; they are the only clean measurement this topic offers, and they are worth repeating in Week 6.
- Did anybody reach the air is made of particles too regress without being led there? Name them — that learner should run Activity 2 for a group next year.
- How many exit tickets across the week could name something the model forbids? A learner who cannot is treating the model as decoration, and it will show again in Quarter 3 when convection has to be explained with it.
Next week
Week 5 is the five steps of a scientific investigation and accurate measurement in standard units. It does not depend on this week directly — but Week 7 does, because solubility is a particle-level explanation and the Quarter 1 performance task is a solubility investigation.
If the class does not have it, do not delay Week 5; it is procedural and can run regardless. Instead put the three-box drawing on the board as the Week 5 warm-up every day, for thirty seconds, and let it accumulate.
Part of the E-turo MATATAG artifact set. Companion files:
syllabus.md · lesson-plan.md ·
assessment.md · offline-activities.md