Lesson 0.4, Unit 0. One period. Eleven slides.
Do now
- Yesterday your team ranked ten items.
- Finish this: "The one thing my team needed more of yesterday was ___."
- Then: "The one thing I did well for my team was ___."
- One line each.
Teacher notes
Four first lines on the board. Leave them up; they come back on slide 8.
Today
- In a real lab, four of you share one station, one stove, and twelve minutes.
- Today you get water, rice, and four measurements.
- And nobody may say a word.
Teacher notes
Image: four paper cups in a row, a pitcher, a bowl of rice.
The four roles today
- Station Manager: reads the team card, points to who does what, does the final check. Does not measure.
- Head Cook: measures cups 1 and 3.
- Second Cook: measures cups 2 and 4.
- Prep Cook: fills the cups, holds the tray, wipes spills, carries the tray up.
Teacher notes
Hand out the role cards from the Unit 1 set. "The card is the boss."
Two techniques
- Dry (rice): spoon it in until it mounds. Level off with a straight edge. Do not pack it. Do not shake it.
- Liquid (water): pour. Set the cup on the table. Read the line at eye level.
Teacher notes
Image: left, a dry cup being leveled with the back of a knife; right, a clear cup on a table with an eye at the level of the line.
The rules
- No talking. No writing. No mouthing words.
- Pointing and showing are allowed.
- The Station Manager points before anyone measures.
- The reset cue ends it. Then carry the tray to the check station and stand behind it.
- Ten minutes.
Teacher notes
Say the check is not a grade before the timer starts. Time calls at 5 and 8 minutes only.
The four targets
- Cup 1: 1 cup water.
- Cup 2: 1/2 cup rice, leveled.
- Cup 3: 2 tablespoons rice, leveled.
- Cup 4: 1/4 cup water.
Teacher notes
Image: four cups numbered 1 to 4, water drops on 1 and 4, rice grains on 2 and 3.
Grade 6: cups 1, 2, 4. Grade 8: add cup 5, 1 teaspoon rice. Leave this slide up during the challenge.
Results
- Table 1: ______ on the line, ______ close, ______ off.
- Table 2: ______
- Table 3: ______
- Table 4: ______
Teacher notes
Announce counts, not names. Then the debrief question on the next slide.
What did you do without words?
- Pointing. Showing. Waiting. Taking over.
- Which did your team use most?
- What helped? What hurt?
- One thing you would do differently.
Teacher notes
Five minutes. Share one observation per team from the clipboard, no names. Point back to the do now lines.
What a norm is
- A norm is a behavior someone could see.
- "Be nice" is a feeling. "Ask the quiet person before we decide" is a norm.
- The test: "Could Mr. Prevosto see us doing this?"
- Sentence starter: "We ___ before we ___."
Write four norms
- Examples that pass the test: we wait for the Station Manager's point before we start; we say the amount out loud before we pour; we clean our own spill; nobody leaves until the station check.
- Write four. Test each one aloud.
- Everyone signs.
- Twelve minutes.
Teacher notes
Walk and ask "what would I see?" at every table. Grade 6: three norms. Grade 8: a fifth norm for what happens when someone breaks one.
Read one aloud, then the exit card
- Each team reads one norm. I write it on the chart paper. It stays up.
- Exit card: my role today and one thing I did in it; the norm from another team I wish we had written.
- Tomorrow: the Room and Lab Agreement. You read it, you change it, you sign it. Then a short pre-test that is not graded.