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ScienceElementaryPrimary

A properties of matter lesson where each student tests what keeps their own pet dry

Follow one student who picks cotton for his dog's raincoat because it's soft. Sparky sends him back to the water test he already ran, then asks whether the dog's towel should be plastic too.

Jemel Fanfan

Jemel Fanfan | Founding Member at Flint

Title card reading 'A properties of matter lesson where each student tests what keeps their own pet dry', next to a picture Sparky drew of a golden dog in a yellow plastic raincoat in the rain, and Sparky asking what happened when the student dropped water on the cotton.

"My students love being able to interact with the material. They can ask questions, explore topics in their own words, and revisit explanations as many times as they need. That kind of autonomy and repetition is huge for SPED learners."

Ekaterina VorobievEkaterina Vorobiev, Science Special Education Teacher at Livingston Public Schools

Why this matters

A student can watch water soak into cotton and still pick cotton for a raincoat, because soft is the property he already knows. On a worksheet the water test and the choice are separate boxes, so nothing connects them, and the teacher has to wait for quiz day to find out.

Leo picks a raincoat for Biscuit

Leo has a dog named Biscuit who likes soft things. Leo can tell soft from hard, but he hasn't used the words "absorbent" or "waterproof", and he hasn't used a test result to make a choice.

Every student in the class gets the same greeting and the same Material Sort: six materials to drop water on and sort into two bins. The rest of the chat is each student's own. Sparky puts the student's pet into its questions, and its next message depends on what the student just said.

Sparky uses Leo's dogSparky sends Leo back to his own testA right answer gets a harder question
L

Leo

Interest: His dog, BiscuitStarting point: Knows soft and hardGets stuck: Picks the softest material for every job

Sparky

Hi there, scientist! Today you're going to help your pet stay dry in the rain. First, what pet do you have, or what pet would you love to have? And what's their name? Then press Drop Water on every card in the Material Sort and drag each card into the right bin.
Flint's Material Sort interactive partway through. Cotton cloth and a wool sweater show a dark wet spot and the words 'The water soaked in!'. A rubber boot shows a round bead of water and 'The water rolled off!'. Below, the 'Soaks up water (absorbent)' bin holds a paper towel, and the 'Keeps water out (waterproof)' bin holds a plastic sheet and aluminum foil.
InteractiveMaterial Sort

Leo

i have a dog named biscuit

Leo

done! it says all sorted

Sparky

Great job sorting! Which material would you pick to make a raincoat for Biscuit? Why?

Leo

cotton because its soft and biscuit likes soft stuff

Sparky

Aww, that's sweet that Biscuit loves soft things! What happened when you pressed Drop Water on the cotton card? What did the water do?

Leo

it soaked in

Sparky

Right! The water soaked in. What would happen to Biscuit if his raincoat soaked up all the rain?

Leo

he would get wet and cold. so not cotton. plastic! the water rolled off it

Sparky

Yes! The water rolled right off the plastic! When water rolls off, we call that waterproof. When it soaks in, we call that absorbent. Should Biscuit's towel be made of plastic too? Why or why not?

Leo

no! the towel has to soak up the water to dry him. so cotton for the towel

Understanding check

Cotton is absorbent, just right for drying Biscuit off! What other property matters for the raincoat, besides keeping water out? Think about foil vs. rubber.

Leo

it has to bend so biscuit can run. foil is stiff and crinkly. plastic bends

Sparky

Biscuit needs a raincoat that's waterproof and bends, so plastic is perfect! Here's Biscuit in his shiny plastic raincoat.
A picture Sparky drew in Leo's chat: a smiling golden dog in a shiny yellow plastic raincoat, standing in puddles in the rain, with water drops beading on the coat.
PictureBiscuit's Rainy-Day Raincoat

Picked cotton, went back to his water test, chose plastic, then explained the towel

Leo and his chat are an example. We ran this activity in Flint as a test student, typing Leo's messages, and shortened Sparky's replies and took out the emoji. One turn is left out: after Leo named Biscuit, Sparky reminded him to finish the sort. The Material Sort picture comes from a second test run, stopped partway through the sort so the wet spots still show.

What Flint did for Leo

  • Sparky's greeting gave Leo the Material Sort, where he dropped water on six materials and sorted them himself.
  • Sparky put Biscuit into the raincoat and towel questions after Leo named him.
  • When Leo picked cotton because it's soft, Sparky asked what the water did when he tested the cotton, and didn't give him the answer.
  • Once Leo picked plastic, Sparky named the two properties he had tested, then asked whether Biscuit's towel should be plastic too.
  • Sparky drew Biscuit in the plastic raincoat Leo chose.

A teacher can't do this by hand for 30 students at once. Sparky does it in every student's chat.

The activity page shows who picked a material that soaks up water

While students work, Needs attention lists each student who is stuck and the message that showed it. Once three or more students submit, activity analytics sums up what the class understood and what to practice next.

Flint's activity page for Pick the Right Material. Needs attention shows that one student picked cotton for her cat's raincoat a second time, after her water test showed cotton soaks up water. Activity analytics says most students sorted all six materials after testing each one, and 9 students first picked a soft material without checking their water test. The Sessions table lists three students: two submitted and graded Proficient, and Leo still in progress.

Example activity page

After a class picks raincoat materials

The school and students are made up for this page. Click any student to read their chat and see which material they picked first.

Set up the activity for free

Pick the Right Material is in Flint's public library, with the Material Sort, the greeting, Sparky's guidelines and a rubric already set up. Open it, duplicate it into a free Flint account, and assign it to a class. Every student gets their own chat with Sparky and their own Material Sort, and the activity page fills in as they work.

For more science activities, see Flint for science.

Start the activity for free

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