Science · 1st Grade

Active learning ideas

Making and Unmaking Simple Changes

Active learning helps first graders grasp reversible and irreversible changes because hands-on experiences let them see and touch the evidence of each change. When students manipulate real materials, the differences between pressing a crease flat and never having a crease become clear in ways that pictures or words alone cannot convey.

• Common Core State Standards
• 2-PS1-4

• 15–35 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Experiential Learning
• 25 min · Pairs

Sorting Activity: Can I Undo It?

Give each pair of students a set of identical paper strips. Students bend one strip, tear another, fold a third, and cut a fourth. They then attempt to reverse each change and sort them into two groups: 'easy to undo' and 'hard to undo'. Partners discuss their reasoning before sharing with the class.

Describe what happens when you bend, tear, or cut a material.

Facilitation Tip

During the Sorting Activity: Can I Undo It?, circulate with a hand lens and ask each student to show you a change they labeled reversible and explain how they know.

What to look for

Provide students with a strip of paper and scissors. Ask: 'First, carefully tear the paper in half. Now, try to put it back together exactly as it was. Can you do it? What word describes this kind of change?' Then, ask them to fold the paper in half and ask: 'Can you unfold this? What word describes this kind of change?'

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness

Activity 02

• Gallery Walk
• 30 min · Small Groups

Gallery Walk: Before and After

Post six stations around the room, each showing an image of a material change (folded aluminum foil, torn fabric, snapped pretzel stick, crumpled paper, cut string, bent wire). Students walk with a clipboard and mark each as reversible or irreversible, then justify one choice in writing before a whole-class debrief.

Compare changes that are easy to undo with changes that are not.

Facilitation Tip

During the Gallery Walk: Before and After, give each student two sticky notes, one for questions and one for new wonderings, to post next to the photos they study.

What to look for

Give each student a small card. On one side, they draw a picture of a material being bent or folded. On the other side, they draw a picture of a material being torn or cut. Below each drawing, they write one word: 'reversible' or 'irreversible'.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 03

• Think-Pair-Share
• 15 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: The Impossible Fix

Hold up a torn piece of paper and ask: 'What would I need to make this look exactly like it did before?' Students think quietly, then discuss with a partner, then share ideas whole class. Guide students to notice that tape changes the paper further and the tear itself cannot simply be reversed.

Predict if a simple change to a material can be easily put back the way it was.

Facilitation Tip

During the Think-Pair-Share: The Impossible Fix, provide sentence stems on sentence strips so pairs have language support for their discussion.

What to look for

Present students with a few common objects: a pipe cleaner, a rubber band, a piece of clay, and a dry leaf. Ask: 'Which of these materials can you bend or shape easily and then return to its original form? Which ones change in a way that is hard to undo? Why do you think that is?'

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 04

• Experiential Learning
• 35 min · Small Groups

Collaborative Notebook: Change Journal

Small groups receive clay, paper, and a craft stick. They record what each material looks like before, then make three changes to each and sketch the results. The group labels each change as reversible or irreversible and compares notes with another group at the end.

Describe what happens when you bend, tear, or cut a material.

Facilitation Tip

In the Collaborative Notebook: Change Journal, model how to draw a line of symmetry on a folded shape so students transfer the skill to their own entries.

What to look for

Provide students with a strip of paper and scissors. Ask: 'First, carefully tear the paper in half. Now, try to put it back together exactly as it was. Can you do it? What word describes this kind of change?' Then, ask them to fold the paper in half and ask: 'Can you unfold this? What word describes this kind of change?'

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teach this topic by letting students test their own predictions first, then guiding them to notice what they missed. Avoid telling them the answer up front; instead, ask them to compare their ‘fixed’ paper with a fresh sheet side by side. Research shows that when students articulate their own observations aloud, misconceptions surface naturally and can be addressed in the moment.

By the end of these activities, students should confidently sort materials into reversible and irreversible changes and explain their choices using evidence from their work. They should notice small details such as ragged edges or remaining creases that prove a change was not fully undone.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Sorting Activity: Can I Undo It?, watch for students who think pressing a crumpled paper flat returns it to its original state.

  Have students place the ‘un-crumpled’ paper next to a never-crumpled sheet and use a hand lens to compare crease lines; prompt them to describe what they see that proves the change left evidence.

• During Sorting Activity: Can I Undo It?, watch for students who treat cuts and tears as the same irreversible change.

  Give each student a torn piece and a cut piece, then ask them to trace the edges with their fingers and describe the differences; record their observations on a class chart labeled ‘Straight vs. Ragged’.

• During Sorting Activity: Can I Undo It?, watch for students who assume harder changes are always irreversible.

  Provide thick cardboard and ask students to bend it and then try to return it to flat; have them explain why bending is still reversible even though it took more force.

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Methods used in this brief

• Experiential Learning
• Gallery Walk
• Think-Pair-Share