General Science: Whatever floats your boat!

This week the kids were given 6 items to analyze. They were assigned to order them by weight, first by guessing, and then by measuring the weights with a scale. The kids were pretty surprised by how wrong their guesses were. We wondered why it was that some things, like say, a large piece of styrofoam "feel" lighter than others when they actually weigh more. We got some clues when we moved on to part two of the lab: testing each item to see if it floats or sinks in water. Wouldn't you know it, the things the kids thought were light, were floaters, and the things they thought were heavy, were sinkers. However, contrary to our expectations, whether something sinks is NOT simply about weight.

Then each kid was given a lump of clay. After observing that it too was a sinker, they were challenged to build a boat out of said sinking clay, and not just that, but a boat that could carry cargo (any number of marbles, also sinkers). After some trial and error, the kids figured out which shapes worked best.

Biology: The birds and the bees

 

This week we investigated flowers...beautiful displays of nature, so fragrant, so delicate, so easy to cut into lots of tiny pieces! Yes, this week ten flowers donated their bodies to science, so that your children could learn about the birds and the bees...literally.

The kids dissected lilies and matched each part with a description of the role it plays in making more flowers. Pollination, fertilization, ovules, and anthers, we covered it all...a comprehensive discussion of the facts of (plant) life.

Physics: Sink or swim

Today we continued our investigation of why things float. The kids were given various materials and a tub of water and were challenged to fill 3 canisters so that one floated, one sunk, and one was suspended. As you might imagine, sinkers and floaters were relatively easy to manage, but suspending a canister under water was a bit trickier.

Having already established last week that floating and sinking isn't JUST about weight, we considered a new concept, DENSITY, how much mass is stuffed into a particular space. The kids then measured each canister's mass and volume and then calculated whether its density was greater than, less than, or equal to 1 g/ml, the density of water. We concluded that objects with densities greater than water sunk, less than water floated, and equal to water were suspended.

We concluded by measuring the mass of a canister of oil. Taking into account the volume of the canister, the kids correctly predicted that it would float. Then we looked at some salad dressing I conveniently forgot to put away last night after dinner.

Physics: Whatever floats your boat

This week the kids were given 6 items to analyze. They were assigned to order them by weight, first by guessing, and then by measuring the weights with a scale. The kids were pretty surprised by how wrong their guesses were. We wondered why it was that some things, like say, a large piece of styrofoam "feel" lighter than others when they actually weigh more. We got some clues when we moved on to part two of the lab: testing each item to see if it floats or sinks in water. Wouldn't you know it, the things the kids thought were light, were floaters, and the things they thought were heavy, were sinkers. However, contrary to our expectations, whether something sinks is NOT simply about weight.

Then each kid was given a lump of clay. After observing that it too was a sinker, they were challenged to build a boat out of said sinking clay, and not just that, but a boat that could carry cargo (any number of marbles, also sinkers). After some trial and error, the kids figured out which shapes worked best.

Then just for fun, the kids made bouncy balls out of water balloons.

Physics: Which ball is the bounciest?

This week we looked at another example of Newtons 3rd law, the law of action and reaction to understand why balls bounce. The kids compared 3 types of balls: a super-ball, a tennis ball, and a basket ball to see which one had the highest bounce height and which one bounced the greatest number of times. Most of the groups found the super-ball to be the bounciest. We wondered what about it makes it so bouncy. Next week we will continue this investigation to look at why certain materials bounce more than others.

General Science: Physical and chemical properties

This week we continued our exploration of physical and chemical change by investigating 4 different white powders: sugar, salt, potato starch, and baking soda. The kids used microscopes to collect data on how these substances appear magnified 100X. They also tested and recorded if and in what way each one reacts with vinegar, iodine, and whether or not they conduct electricity when dissolved in water. Each kid now has a fairly comprehensive data sheet on these substances and their physical and chemical properties. If by chance, they should come into contact with some unknown white substance, you can rest assured, they've studied them extensively and will have no problem making an identification.

One never knows when these skills and/or data might come in handy...