Gabriella De Feo Science Blog

1. What did you learn this week?  This week in lab, we took a deeper look at the relationship between baking soda and vinegar. In order to do this, we were instructed to design an activity with the people at our table, and our goal was to be able to explain the outcome of the activity and why the two materials react the way they do. To model this reaction, we poured equal parts of vinegar and baking soda into a ramekin. We put the lid on and shook the container before observing what happened. We noticed that after we did this, the mass of the materials actually changed. This was incredibly interesting to us, because theoretically matter is not supposed to be able to be destroyed. We guessed that this was most likely due to a tiny amount of air escaping when the lid was screwed on.  2. How can you apply what you've learned to your teaching in the future?  I think this experiment would be really interesting to do with my students. I remember doing this when I was an element...

  1. What did you learn this week?  In lab this week, we revisited a topic that we started to discuss earlier in the school year. In our groups, we were instructed to discuss why a plunger works the way it does and why it works differently on specific surfaces. We found that once there is less space for particles, it creates a greater suction. Additionally, we found that condensation does not occur on the outside of drinks that are not cold.  This has to do with the amount of particles on the outside and how quickly they are moving.  2. How can you apply what you learned to your future teaching?  I really like how we were able to explore our thinking on white boards as a group and then were instructed to share with the table next to us. It felt nice to be able to "teach" each other what we found about the information. It was also a really great way to get ideas from the other group that we hadn't thought about in our discussion time.  3. Which parts did you...

  1. What did you learn this week?  This week I was absent from class due to a surgery, so I asked many of my peers around me what the content was that I missed out on. This lab's content was surrounded by density and how it can be effectively taught to elementary aged students. Particle models were introduced as a way to show visual understanding on the content that is being described. To help make some content connections, the M&M experiment from the beginning of the year was revisited. This experiment results the way to does because once the M&Ms are placed in the water with some sugar in it, the color seems to spread much slower than without sugar.  2. How can you apply what you learned to your teaching in the future?  This week, the content of the class showed me truly how important it is to let students be curious and to let them freely explore. This is incredibly important for students to be able to critically think about how they want to go about comp...