Guided Inquiry Lesson Plan #10: Acid and Base Cleansers

Length of Lesson: One class period

Scientific Processes Addressed: Observing, Classifying, Communicating, Measuring, Predicting

Science Concepts Addressed: Acids and Bases

National Standards Addressed: A,B,D,F

Objectives: Students will:

    1. Experiment with various liquids with different pH levels.
    2. Hypothesize which liquid will clean the pennies the best based on the previous lesson about acids and bases.
    3. Record all observations.
    4. Determine the liquid that cleans the pennies the best and discus why they believe this to be so.

Materials:

Beakers

Lemon juice

Baking soda and water

Vinegar

Lava soap and water

100 dirty pennies.

Introductory Activity: Review previous lesson about acids and bases. Review the differences between them.

Main Activity: Have students hypothesize individually which liquid will clean the dirty pennies best. List these hypotheses and reasons for them. Pass out the liquids in the beakers and the dirty pennies. Have the students place a penny in each liquid. Students should record all observations. Students should report their observations and conclusions as to which liquid cleaned the pennies best with the class.

Expected Conclusions: The students should practice their hypothesizing, observation and recording skills and develop a deeper understanding of the differences between acids and bases.

Assessment: Performance assessment will be used as they will be discovering information throughout their activities.

Possible Extensions:

Math - The students can time and chart the time it took for the pennies to become clean.