Science Explorations!

     Our learning about air continues!

Here we "submerge" a candle and watch it burn!  How is it possible?  The beaker traps the air and allows us to push the candle under the water. Once the air inside is burned up, the candle goes out.

Air is strong enough to lift objects!

Designing balloon powered rockets that propel along a string to the other side of the classroom. 

Designing hovercrafts that trap air and create lift!!

Proof of Air

We've been on a quest to prove that air exists. It's tricky because you can't really see it or touch it which is how we prove other things exist. So we have completed several experiments to try and prove that air:  takes up space, has mass, has pressure,  has volume, and that it can be compressed. 

Our experiments have been wet and messy but that's totally cool because often messy learning is the best learning. 

Here we were submerging a paper ball attached to the bottom of a beaker. When we pulled it out, the ball of paper was dry!!!  What does that prove?

Here a bottle covered by a balloon is placed in very hot water. Slowly the balloon inflates!  What does that prove?

Here we pull plungers out of syringes while covering the hole. One girl has her ears covered. Hmmmm?  What's about to happen?

Haunted House RIG

So I challenged my students with a RIG for Halloween. RIG stands for Rapid Idea Generation. Students are given a challenge with a tight time window. It's basically like physical brainstorming. Because they have such little time they need to dive into the project and work collaboratively to solve it efficiently. They don't have time to second guess themselves or for doubt to set in. Afterwards, one person explained their design in the sharing portion. Then the creations were dismantled which is also an important part of the process. 

Today's challenge was to build a model of a Haunted House and then walk the rest of us through it with their description. They could use anything from within the classroom. The creative chaos was super fun to watch and document. Kids create amazing things in 10 minutes......