Learning+Experience+4

Materials: containers of colored water, corn syrup, and vegetable oil eye droppers waxed paper newspaper other liquids food coloring

Learning Targets: I can observe drops of liquids and describe how they behave. I can compare properties of drops of different liquids.


 * Session 1**

1. Check in on learning targets. Do you know anything about drops and how they act? What hypotheses do you have? 2. Quick review: What are some ways liquids are different from each other? What are some properties of liquids that not all liquids have? (ask about thick liquids, thin liquids, dark and light, etc.) Add to the chart of properties of liquids (students can add to any of the charts at any time during science if they want to.) 3. Tell students that today we are going to explore how liquids are different from each other by looking at drops of water, oil, and corn syrup. Demonstrate how to carefully use the droppers and the liquids to make drops on waxed paper. Students need to find out as much as they can about the differences between the drops. 4. As students explore, ask questions about how the drops feel, if they fall easily from the dropper, how the shape of the drops changes as the drops get bigger, how they can move the drops on the waxed paper, which liquids are easy to move, and what happens when they tilt the waxed paper. 5. After exploring, students pair up with a partner and tell their partner two things they discovered about the differences between the drops.


 * Session 2**

1. Introduce Long-term learning target # 3 and have them give themselves a //beginning// score. Also revisit #s 1, 2, and 4 and give themselves a //middle// grade. 2. Model using the science notebook to draw the drops -- what the water drop looks like, the oil drop, and the corn syrup drop, from above and from the side. 2. Students get the same materials. This time they record observations on the science notebook page, and draw the drops from above and from the side. notebook page: [|drops.doc] 3. Share on the rug the things they observed. Things to be sure to ask: 3. Look back at the class definition of liquids and ask if they want to change it in any way.
 * Which liquids stuck together well to make the largest drops?
 * Which drops moved the fastest / slowest when you tilted the paper?
 * What word could you use to describe liquids that move easily? that stick together well in drops? What kind of liquid would form drops easily? What kind of liquid wouldn't form drops easily?
 * (The property that makes liquids stick together is called cohesion. You can teach this word if the students describe the concept of cohesion.)