Use Cooking To Explain Matter: Solids, Liquids, Gases, Plasma Lesson Plan for 9th Grade Example Students

Topic: Use Cooking to explain Matter: solids, liquids, gases, plasma

Objectives & Outcomes

• Students will be able to explain the properties of matter and how they can be manipulated in cooking, using examples from their own experience.

Materials

• Recipe for making cookies
• Various ingredients (e.g. flour, sugar, eggs, baking soda)
• Kitchen equipment (e.g. mixing bowls, baking sheets, oven)
• Handouts with pictures of different types of matter (solids, liquids, gases, plasma)

Warm-up

• Ask students to think about the different types of matter that they encounter in everyday life. Sample questions could include:
• What is the ground like when you walk on it? (solid, liquid, gas, plasma)
• What is the air like when you breathe it? (solid, liquid, gas, plasma)
• What is water like when you swim in it? (solid, liquid, gas, plasma)
• Have students share their responses and discuss how they can tell the different types of matter apart based on their properties.

Direct Instruction

• Introduce the concept of matter and explain that it is anything that has physical existence and occupies space.
• Discuss the different types of matter and their properties.
• Solid matter has a fixed shape and volume and does not flow.
• Liquid matter has a fixed volume but not a fixed shape and can flow.
• Gas matter has neither a fixed shape nor volume and can flow.
• Plasma matter is a state of matter that exists in stars and is made up of ionized gas.
• Use the cooking demos and activities to illustrate the different types of matter.

Guided Practice

• Demonstrate how to make a simple recipe (e.g. cookies).
• Have students work in pairs to follow the recipe and make the dish.
• Have the students describe the various properties of the different types of matter as they make the dish.

Independent Practice

• Have students choose a type of matter other than the three typically studied (e.g. plasma, solid, liquid, gas) and research its properties.
• Have students create a simple recipe that includes the type of matter they have chosen and explain how it behaves differently from the three typically studied.

Closure

• Review the four states of matter and their characteristics.
• Ask students to share their recipes and explain how the type of matter they have chosen behaves differently from the three typically studied.

Skills:

• Observation
• Critical thinking
• Communication
• Problem solving
• Classification
• Use of scientific vocabulary