OpenSciEd Unit 7.2 · Lesson 01
Initial Design Reflection
From Teacher Edition
Facilitation guidance from the lesson plan — what to notice in student thinking and how to respond while teaching.
What to look / listen for
What to look and listen for
Since this is the first lesson in the unit, this is a pre-assessment opportunity to how students are designing a solution and whether they are beginning to incorporate systems thinking along with knowledge about energy flow from chemical processes into their design models. Student designs may represent how their proposed heater system interacts with the food system (by using arrows or showing molecules moving at different speeds) and/or they may propose some kind of chemical process to cause the food to heat up. However, at this point, it is OK that students may not have included these details in their designs.
What to do
If students’ designs do not indicate how their heater will cause the food to heat up, ask them to go back and add that thinking. Even if they’re not sure what, specifically, they need to put in the heater (such as reactants), they could attempt to show in their design how the heater causes the food to heat up. If students have designed a heater that uses traditional heating methods (such as flames or electricity), remind them that we want our homemade heater to be usable in many circumstances, such as after a flood or inside a car, where those traditional methods may not be available.
Materials
Last updated from official OpenSciEd on 7/1/2026
Assessment opportunity guidance
L01-AO3.html
Student handout
7.2 Lesson 1 Handout Initial Design Reflection.docx
Google Form
Not digitized yet — teacher-ready Form required for Drive export
Teacher guide
7.2 Lesson 1 Teacher Edition.docx