Week 11

 This week in lab we focused on matter and completed several activities where we made observations about different reactions. We made observations about which surface the plunger would stick best to, why an ice cube melted faster in a metal pan than on wood, why certain can sizes floated while others didn't, the reaction between baking soda and vinegar, and finally what happened when we added water to M&Ms. My favorite observation was the M&M and water station. I found it interesting that the colors did not mix hardly at all. I was expecting them to mix together and form one color. I was also surprised by the ice melting station. I expected the ice to melt faster on the wood than in the pan but this was not the case.

We can apply this to our future teaching because it shows the value of actual hands- on activities and being able to witness things first hand using our senses. This makes student observations, explanations and questions more impactful when they are using reasoning from things they actually witnessed. I also really liked that there were multiple stations and we did not spend too much time at one station. This would keep the learning exciting and ensure that the students are discovering multiple new things.

Some things I am still wondering about would be if the results would stay consistent every single time the students set up the activity? What if some of the procedure steps were not done correctly. Would we still expect to see similar results? 






Comments

  1. Julia MikkelsenApril 5, 2023 at 11:54 AM

    Great post Matt! I also agree that this could be a very engaging and fun way of teaching about matter to future students. I also think that if the experiment was done incorrect that it would change the results.

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  2. Amber EmbrockApril 5, 2023 at 12:29 PM

    I also thought that the ice would melt faster on the wood rather than the pot, but I was not thinking about conductors and insulators. It has been so long that I did not even think about those words. I really liked the hands on activities and can see these activities being so fun in elementary classrooms!

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  3. Emily StultzApril 13, 2023 at 9:38 AM

    Hi Matt, I also found that it was really interesting that the colors from the M&Ms did not mix. I thought they would mix and become a big mess on the plate but they didn't.

    ReplyDelete

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