Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Will it Sink or Float??
This week our class has been studying density and matter. The students have also learned about the different properties of matter. For this experiment my second graders were given an unpeeled orange and a container of water. The students worked in groups of four and predicted whether the unpeeled orange would float or sink and explained their choice. The students placed the orange into the container and was able to see that they unpeeled orange floated. Students then peeled their orange and placed it in the container again. The students could then see that the orange sank to the bottom of the container. Many of my students correctly predicted what would happen, but many did not. However, I was very happy to see that even the students that did not predict correctly still linked their predictions to what we learned in class about density. The students were very excited about this lesson and linked their previous information to what they were seeing. Many of the students started predicting if other objects, such as an eraser, pencil, and crayon, would float and then placed them in the water. All of my students did an excellent job!!
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I sure the kids loved this. Density is such a difficult concept. I teach 8th grade and try all year to present different activities that deal with density. The students have a hard time dealing with abstract concepts. What type of product/assessment did you do with this activity?
ReplyDeleteI love to hear that the kids started to predict other items that this might happen with. That's exactly what we want as teachers, to get our students thinking and using their brains. The earlier we start our kids on doing this, they better ready they will be for everything!
ReplyDeleteI used to teach K-4 science, and did "sink and float" with second grade. One of my favorite things to do with them was give them a ball of modeling clay, and have them drop it in water and watch it sink. Then I would challenge them to see if they could figure out a way to make it float. I would give them time to think about it and try different things in their groups, and once in a while, a group would come up with the way to make it happen, but most often, I would have to demonstrate for them... make a little boat out of the lump of clay.
ReplyDeleteThis always led to animated discussions about the difference between "magic" and science.
Sorry to chime in so late! This was the week that was to say the least!