This crowd-pleasing, Colonial America lesson is my favorite way to integrate science and social studies. You can take the same concept applied here and use it with other eras in social studies as well. This is meant to be more of a template.
5th Grade Social Studies
My fifth year as a teacher was the year that I taught 5th-grade social studies exclusively.
I remember it now as one of my favorite years to teach. It’s where I first dove into the research and designed my classroom to be highly engaging through what I now consider as just good pedagogy: arts integration, brain-based best practices, and cross-curricular ties.
The Template for How to Integrate Science and Social Studies
It’s super simple.
Find science experiments that have to do with your unit of study, like closed circuits when you study the railroad or sound experiments when discussing the telegraph. Then create a lab around it.
Why Colonial America?
Firstly, I have used this exact lesson in 5th-grade social studies and I know that it works. But Colonial America is a time that is harder to understand for our Gen Alpha kiddos. This lesson is designed to help them experience what life in the colonies was like.
For preliminary lessons/resources, I really love this article from The Clever Teacher on Life in the 13 Colonies. But I am also a huge fangirl of Colonial Williamsburg. They’ve got excellent resources as well, like this Virtual Tour and these Teacher Resources (which they’re updating this year and migrating to a new website).
Science
This lesson is a science lab exploration that explores physical change, energy, and force in addition to the scientific method. Let’s break it down first by scientific method.
Ask a Question
How did science influence Colonial American life?
Make a Hypothesis
I predict that science influenced Colonial American life through (physical change, energy, and/or force) by ______________________.
Test the Hypothesis/Observe & Gather Data
In this lab, students will make butter in jars, grind corn with a brick, dye fabric with coffee, and make a bar of soap.
Analyze Data
How did (physical change, energy, and/or force) affect the colonists’ daily life?
Draw Conclusions
Was your hypothesis correct? This can also be used as a writing piece to compare and contrast Colonial Life to modern life.
Colonial American Life Science Lab
Here are some resource links for the lab activities:
- Butter: this is so much fun!
- Soap: We used molds and a solution from Hobby Lobby for time purposes.
- Cornmeal from Popcorn Kernels: Despite directions, I did this activity with a brick and it was an interesting experiment for the kids.
- Dyeing Fabric: I would suggest using instant coffee instead of tea since tea was not something consumed by Patriots.
