Thursday, March 5, 2009

Becoming Better Scientists!

One very important thing that a scientist does is to make a hypothesis and conclusion about a question that he or she has. Today in science class, we practiced writing several "hypotheses" and "conclusions." In order to have a reason to write a hypothesis and conclusion we posed three questions: What will happen if we put a sharp pin next to an inflated balloon?, What will happen if we mix an equal amount of oil and water?, and What will happen if we put some raisins in a container of club soda?
Students worked on restating the lab "question" in their hypothesis and their conclusion. Let's take a look at the oil and water lab. For her hypothesis, Alise wrote "If you mix oil and water I think the oil will come to the top of the water." As luck (or smarts) would have it, Alise was correct. Her conclusion stated, "When we mixed oil and water, they separated because the water was more dense. The oil was less dense so it stayed on top. My hypothesis was completely correct!" In her conclusion, Alise did a fantastic job of restating the original "question," including what she learned, and referring back to her hypothesis.
The students did a wonderful job duing our lesson today. They will certainly be using these lab skills next week as we dive into matter with several fun experiments! Not to give away too many details but here a few a words to desribe some of the labs for next week: sweet, bubbly, crunchy, EXPLOSIVE and SLIMEY! Check back soon. More awesome science stuff to come!!
-Miss Russell :)

PS- Here are the lab results:
1. The balloon popped. 2. The oil and water serparated. 3. The raisins "danced." (moved up and down in the container due to the air bubbles) :)

Check out these cool pictures from science class today:


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My favorite part about today's experiment was me and the class stepping in the oobleck. I liked stepping slowly in the oobleck more than quickly stepping in the oobleck. I liked stepping slowly in the oobleck because you get your feet more gooey! your student,jake