Lab 11

 

1. What did you learn this week? 

This week during lab, we took part in six different stations where we practiced predicting, observing, and making scientific conclusions. The first station we visited was called "Coke Float." We were instructed to drop two small cans of coke into a bucket of water and then two larger cans of coke. I was surprised to see that the only can that did not sink was the larger coke can. My partner and I concluded that it is most likely due to the amount of sugar in that can compared to all the others. The second station we visited was called "Baking Soda & Vinegar." We were instructed to add baking soda and vinegar to a zip-loc bag and observe what the reaction is. When we did this, the mixture started to fix and even got cooler in temperature. The third station was called "M&Ms in Water." We were instructed to put an M&M of each color onto a paper plate with water. We observed the color slowly start to leave each piece of candy. Something that I thought was very interesting was that the colors do not combine with one another. The fourth station was called "Cold Soda." We retrieved a cold can from a cooler, and dried it off as much as we could. I was surprised to see that the coke can did not condensate on the outside. The fifth station was called "Plunger Push." We tested the plunger on several different surfaces: table, white board, cardboard, the floor, and the window. We found that the plunger stuck the best to the table, window, and floor. We thought that it did not stick that well to the cardboard because it was more flimsy than all the other surfaces. The sixth station was called "Melting Ice." We tested how quickly ice melts using two different surfaces:  wooden block and a metal pot. We were very surprised to see that the ice cube melted much quicker in the metal pot over on the wooden plank. 

2. Which parts did you find clear and which were confusing? 

Some of the parts that I found confusing were why the one can of coke did not float and why the other can did not have any condensation on it after we had removed it from the cooler. After talking both of these conclusions through with my partner, it became more clear and I was able to gain more of a clear understanding. 

3. How can you apply what you've learned to your teaching in the future? 

I can apply what I learned to my future teaching, because I really enjoy the idea of conducting activities that involve things that are very simple everyday items. Many of these were scientific relationships that I have seen many times before just in my everyday life. I think this is a great way for my students to see that science is happening all around us and it does not always have to be crazy or difficult to understand concepts.