A four-section knowledge check for 2nd grade science on protecting land from wind and water. Students decide what a fence, stream rocks, a seawall, and a tree windbreak are built to stop. They then compare two solutions for a hillside and two for a beach, and judge a farmer's row of trees. The sheet has ten questions over five pages and targets NGSS K-2-ETS1-3. The answer key accepts several answers about the plastic sheet.
K-2-ETS1-3
“Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.”
Sections 2 and 3 each compare Solution A with Solution B for the same problem, and Section 4 asks students to pick the strengths and the weakness of one design.
Students write Wind or Water under four pictures: a tall wooden fence, rocks by a stream, an ocean seawall, and a tree windbreak.
A dirt hill washes away when it rains. Questions 5 and 6 compare planting grass and small trees with laying a thin plastic sheet.
Questions 7 and 8 compare a stone wall with a sand fence against big crashing waves, and ask why the fence is weak.
A farmer plants trees to stop dry dirt blowing off her field. Students tick two strengths and one weakness, each from three options.
After a tray test
Pour water down two trays of soil, one covered with grass turf and one bare. Section 2 then asks about something students have seen.
Talk about weaknesses
Students often think a good solution has no weakness. Question 10 shows that even the windbreak takes time to grow big enough to work.
Before a design task
Set it before students test their own designs. The Solution A and Solution B layout gives them a pattern for writing up a comparison.
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