Purpose of the discussion:

The purpose of this discussion is to uncover student ideas about what happened to the water on which the ships once floated.

Engage students in the focus question

Why are these ships in a field?

Engage students by situating the learning in a real world context. Show students the set of images in the Power Point presentation or in the front of their Science Notebooks. Present the situation as a mystery as you share today's investigation question. If you need to distribute the science notebooks, tell students they will learn more about using the notebooks later in the class. For now, the focus is just on the images in the front section of the notebooks.

Ask students briefly to share ideas in their small groups. Then have groups report their ideas to the class. Ask students to listen carefully. Do they see connections between their own ideas and those of others? Do the suggestions of others inspire new ideas? Make a list of the different possibilities that students suggest. Expect all students to participate.

Explain that the class will not attempt to determine an answer to the investigation question today. As they investigate additional questions this new science unit students will find out what happens in situations such as the one shown in the photographs.

Summarize the discussion

Using the same language students have used, summarize their list of possible explanations.