Phenomenal Explorations™: How Can We Keep Pets Cool During Hot Weather? Kit

Grade 3. Over 1 lesson consisting of 5 activities, students investigate phenomena related to keeping pets cool in hot weather. Phenomenal Explorations™ kits support the NGSS innovations of phenomena and three-dimensional learning by integrating literacy and science investigation.

Kit includes a teacher’s guide, a 12-month individual license for 1 teacher and up to 32 students on CarolinaScienceOnline.com, and enough hands-on materials for a class of 32 students. In addition to the lesson activities, the teacher’s guide includes a pre-assessment, a post-assessment, and a scenario-based assessment. Also included are remediation activities to support struggling students and enrichment activities to challenge students who demonstrate a high level of comfort with the lesson’s concepts.

To replenish items consumed during the teaching of the kit, purchase individual components listed on the “What’s Included” tab.

Next Generation Science Standards Alignment*:
Performance Expectations

• 3-ESS3-1: Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.
• 3-5-ETS1-1: Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• 3-5-ETS1-2: Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

• ESS3.B: Natural Hazards
• ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems
• ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions

Science and Engineering Practices

• Asking Questions and Defining Problems
• Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
• Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
• Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Crosscutting Concepts

• Cause and Effect
• Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural World

Connections to English Language Arts (ELA) and Math
English Language Arts

• RI.3.1: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
• W.3.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
• SL3.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Math

• MP.2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
• MP.5: Use appropriate tools strategically.

Activity Summaries:
Pre-Assessment (10–45 minutes)
An optional pre-assessment activity identifies students’ prior knowledge of the lesson’s concepts about different types of weather, helps teachers identify and address misconceptions, and reviews the scientific concepts that are foundational to the lesson.

Strengthening NGSS Connections
Activity 1—Literacy and Science (45 minutes)
Students observe images and identify problems related to animals and hot weather. Students learn about weather hazards, focusing on heat waves and their effects on living things. Students use evidence from the activity to make a claim for whether a heat wave occurred in a given scenario.

Activity 2—Define the Problem (30–45 minutes)
Students begin the engineering process. They identify potential problems of a heat wave’s effect on outdoor pets. Students are tasked with designing an outdoor habitat that will keep pets cool during hot weather. Students identify criteria and constraints for their design solution. They observe the building materials and predict which will work best to keep pets cool.

Activity 3—Plan and Carry Out an Investigation (45 minutes)
Students gather quantitative evidence to determine which building materials to use in their outdoor pet habitat design. The class plans and carries out a fair test to determine the cause-and-effect relationships between the Sun and the available building materials.

Activity 4—Design and Test a Solution (60–90 minutes)
Student groups analyze the data collected during Activity 3, which aids in the design and construction of their outdoor pet habitat. Another fair test is conducted of each habitat’s effectiveness at solving the problem of keeping pets cool during hot weather.

Activity 5—Make a Claim (60–90 minutes)
Student groups evaluate one another’s habitat models to determine if each design successfully meets the identified criteria and constraints from Activity 2. Next, students review the feedback they receive from their peers and determine how their outdoor pet habitat could be improved. Students end the lesson by using evidence and reasoning to construct a claim that addresses the problem of how to keep pets cool during hot weather.

Scenario-Based Summative Assessment
Scenario-based assessments blend science and reading comprehension and relate to the fundamental scientific concepts from the lesson. Students apply their knowledge to answer questions based on a lesson-specific scenario.

*Next Generation Science Standards® is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.