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Week 15: Vinegar and Baking Soda

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  This week in lab, we worked with our groups to figure out what happens when you mix vinegar and baking soda. We were supposed to come up with a lesson to teach to 5th graders about it, but my group just did multiple different experiments until we saw firsthand the conservation of matter. We could not figure out how to show the conservation of matter, so we tried four different ways until we finally got the same mass before and after mixing vinegar and baking soda. We could not explain what was happening exactly until we all came back together and saw how the gas in the beaker blew out the candle.  I am not sure if I can use this experiment in my future classroom because I want to teach kindergarten or 1st grade. I think this lesson is a little bit out of reach for that grade level. I think this is a great lesson to teach to 5th graders, though, because it gives them a lot of autonomy over figuring out what is really happening when vinegar and baking soda are mixed. I would h...
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Week 14: Particle Models of Matter

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  Today in lab, we talked about the different characteristics of the different states of matter. We also talked about the particle makeup of each state of matter. Each group drew models of how particles look in each state of matter. We then talked more about the plunger experiment we did in week 1. We experimented and discussed with our group to come up with an idea as to why we think that a plunger sticks to certain surfaces and not others. Each group was then given another experiment from week 1 to investigate. My group looked into the question of why cold drinks get water droplets on the outside. We learned that when the warm air particles come in contact with the cold can, they cool down, which in turn makes them slow down. As the air cools down, it can not hold as much water, so the excess water forms droplets on the can.  I could relate this to previous knowledge because I have experienced a cool can getting condensation on it on a warm day. I had never known why this ha...
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Week 13: Matter Behavior

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  This week in lab, we looked into the behavior of matter by revisiting the M&M experiment we did a couple of weeks ago. We had also continued our discussion on density. We investigated into if we thought a bigger dice and a smaller dice would sink or float. We were given complete freedom to do whatever we saw fit to test our hypothesis. We calculated the density of the dice to see whether we thought the dice would sink or float, and both of the dice ended up sinking.  We were also tasked with investigating whether certain colored M&Ms spread out faster than others. My group first tried it with just regular water, and we guessed that the lighter colored M&Ms would spread faster than the darker colored M&Ms because we guessed there was less dye. We found that the orange M&Ms spread out fastest and the brown ones spread out the slowest. We then put the M&Ms into sugared water to see if that had any effect on the speed of the color spreading out. We notice...
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Week 12: Properties of Matter

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  Today in lab, we looked into the different properties of matter. I learned about the different properties of matter and how different they can be depending on the type of matter you are examining. There were some objects that we were looking at that I thought would be magnetic, but they weren't (like the coin). It was cool to learn about the properties of matter through a hands-on experiment that is elementary level.  I could relate this information to prior knowledge because I have learned about the different properties in previous science classes. Some of them I can't remember ever testing, so it was cool to look at multiple different properties and see how they varied. None of this information was new to me, but I like how we got to test them with hands-on experimentation.  I can apply this learning to my future classroom because I think this is friendly for an elementary classroom. Some modifications may need to be made to make it more accessible for younger student...
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Week 11: Science Stations

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   This week in lab, we did a bunch of different stations to get us confused and thinking like a kid who is just learning about science. I thought this lab was a lot of fun and had us curious and thinking about matter and its behavior. I think all of these experiments I can use in my future classroom because they are simple but provides room for prediction and consideration.  Cold soda   Prediction: the pop is going to get wet again  Nothing is happening. If it was warmer in here, I think maybe it would have gotten covered with more condensation (water droplets)  again.  Plunger push  Prediction: I think the plunger will stick to the table and not the cardboard.  My prediction was correct. The plunger did not stick to the cardboard, but it stuck well to the table. It stuck to the cardboard for only a couple of seconds. Once we opened the cardboard up and tried to stick it to the white part, it stuck for a little longer but not as long as the ...
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Week 10: Evolution and Natural Selection

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  This week in lab we refreshed our learning from two weeks ago. We talked about natural selection and evolution and how those affect different species. We did an activity in lab where we each got a different utensil, and we had to see which utensil could collect the most beans. The utensils represented different traits, and the beans represented prey. We tallied up at the end of each round to see who had the least amount of beans. That person got to pick a new utensil to have. Picking a new utensil represented evolution because over time new traits become more popular and favored.  This activity was easy, and the instructions were pretty clearly laid out for us. This activity helped show me how natural selection and evolution happen over time. I think it would have also been cool to actually change the environment to see how that would affect this experiment.  This activity would make a good addition to my future classroom. I want to teach younger students, so I think th...
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Week 8: Mutations

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 The first thing we did in lab this week was just on our fast plants. They are starting to reach the end of their lifecycle, so a lot of the leaves are starting to die. Our flowers are still really tall and a vibrant color, but our leaves are starting to turn brown and shrivel up.  This week in lab we talked a lot about mutations. Mutations are changes in an organism's DNA sequence. Mutations can have advantages, disadvantages, and also not even cause any changes. It all depends on what kind of mutation occurs. We did a worksheet that helped us look at what kind of mutation causes changes and what kind does not cause any effect. We also looked at a simulation that let us mutate different DNA strands and see what happened to the amino acids.  I was able to relate this week's lab to a human biology class I took my freshman year in college. We learned about all different kinds of mutations and looked at what kinds of changes occurred. I think it was a lot easier to understan...
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