Brenna Hunt

 Today in lab we started by creating definitions for matter, properties, and particles. Then, we tried to explain the motion of particles when a plunger sticks to the table. We thought that as you put pressure on the plunger, it pushes the air particles out through the bottom. Once you stop putting pressure the seal forms because it is not being pushed up by the pressure of the air. The seal is what prevents air from rushing back in and putting air particles in between the plunger and the table, so it stays sealed to the table.  Then we tried to design explanations for why ice melts faster on metal than wood, and why water condenses on the outside of a cold can. We created a flip book for these and showed the steps of each with explanations.  One thing that is clear about this is the movement of the air out of the base of the plunger when we press down, but something that is less clear that we are investigating is why the plunger gets stuck to the table.  One questio...

Today we started class by sharing our modifications we made to the 5E lesson plan from last week. Then, we started developing models as a group to show different densities of substances. We discussed what this means and what it might look like, as well as how this conversation could look among elementary students. Then, we talked about our last investigations that used the M&Ms and tried to explain why the colors spread out in the water using models. This led into another investigation on if certain colors spread out quicker than others using different variables. We used salt in room temperature water.  One question I had was why the control group's colors spread out more evenly than ours, which spread into trail-like shapes and not out around the whole thing. We can use this in our future classrooms as a part of engage or explore part of a lesson plan, because I think that students would engage in valuable conversation about why certain variables (water temp, sugar, salt) chan...

Today in lab we started off with a lot of discussion about last week's reading, and discusses what we learned, what we found interesting, and what questions we had. Our group felt like we didn't learn too much actual material that we didn't know from the reading, but we learned more technical skills.  One thing we did during lab that I can relate to what I already knew is building a circuit. We did this to test the conductivity of our object and used a battery, a light, wires, and our object to make the circuit. I have built a circuit before, both in several of my classes growing up and other activities such as the Science Center of Iowa, and at work with my students. I think this is a fun activity for students to learn about the property of magnetism.  One thing I would like to bring into my own teaching is the stations that we have been doing to observe different properties. These stations/different activities allow the students to have some independence while they make d...

This week we started with some introductions and creating name cards. Then, we were asked "what is matter", and shared our ideas with each other and then put them on the board. Then, we did stations to investigate different activities.  Station one : Coke float. We thought that the regular cokes would float, but all floated except for the full sized regular Coke. We were not sure why this happened, and thought the weird result could be because the sodas were all expired.  Station two : baking soda and vinegar. When we mixed the substances, it got very cold and fizzy and made bubbly noises. When the bag was closed, it filled with air. We think the chemical reaction released gas to fill the bag.  Station three : M&M melting. We put M&Ms on a plate and poured some water over them, and after a few minutes the color from the M&Ms starting leaking off and going into the water. We think the color was mixing in and being distributed with the water. The color was sligh...