The Cubes Won!?

This week was the melting race! We started off the lesson by recapping what the kids knew about solutions and dissolving and they did very well! I ran to the back of the room where the teacher so kindly let us hang up our process skills posters and I asked the students what each poster meant and how we could use it in class. They're so smart! We also went over safety rules including not using our sense of taste, especially because everyone wants to eat sugar! Jen went over the data sheet and what they'd be filling in for each section. The students observed both the sugar cubes (without breaking it) and the sugar grains by placing them on black paper. We asked what they observed and one smart kid said "they're both sugar." Before we distributed the cups of water we gave them different colored stickers with a 1 or 2 on them and the 1's were the stirrers and the 2's were the holders of the cups. It seems to work really well because even if it's not the most exciting job, each kid does have a job to do.

During the experiement Jen and I went around and spoke to each group, asking them what they're observing and which solid was winning the race. We took a poll of hands and made a chart on the board of how many solids won, grains won, and how many ties there were. Jen asked the kids whose cubes won, if there was a specific thing they were doing to make it dissolve faster and many admitted they were poking and stabbing it with the stirrer. We talked about why each other solid won or tied with the cube and each person who spoke gave a well thought out and detailed answer!

To incorporate some sort of Engineering into our lesson, I asked the kids what substances would be better stirrers for our experiments, the coffee stirrers we had, a long piece of paper, or a piece of fabric. They understood that the stirrers we had were the best options because they were solid but flexible and durable for the task we had. They told us that paper would get soggy and dissolve and fabric would get soggy and not stir well.

We asked the students to take out their science journals and write down what their favorite science lesson so far has been. They could draw a picture of it and write a sentence or two about the experiment. Most kids loved this mini-assignment and wrote and drew with ease. There were a few students who needed guidance/encouragement. This showed me that as much as the kids are loving the experiments and are learning, it is important to have them feel comfortable and happy writing about their experience in the lesson. We'll collect the journals next week so we can see what they have liked over the course.

Overall the lesson went really well! I love teaching with my awesome partner Jen and I love being able to interact with such smart, funny, and awesome kids!