A Scientific Model of a Flame

A First Grade Inquiry into the Phenomenon of Fire

This lesson is in alignment with the eight practices of science and engineering as outlined by Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

In January, I embarked on a new adventure in first grade. The class was beginning a project to tackle the BIG questions, "what are some of the problems in our world?" and "what can we invent to solve them?" After learning about which problems students found most concerning, we decided to focus in on wildfires and trash. To help the class gain some background knowledge on the topic of fire, I created a two-day lesson that led them on a scientific investigation of the phenomenon.

At the launch of the lesson, students observed a live demonstration.

Students developed and refined models to answer the question, “what causes a flame to go out when placed under a glass jar?”.

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Students synthesized the evidence they gathered from observations, models of the oxygen cycle, class discussions, vocabulary study, and peer work.

Student vocabulary managers posted definitions of scientific terms for their classmates.

Students used evidence to evaluate their thinking and revise their initial models.

This practice gave students a more robust understanding of how a fire burns and what is needed to sustain the phenomenon. At the end of the lesson, students had acquired an understanding of the modeling process and certain characteristics of fire to consider when creating prototypes of their inventions.