Learning+Experience+7

Session 1
Learning Targets:
 * //I can describe the differences in how objects behave in water, oil, and corn syrup.//
 * //I can collect data about whether objects sink or float in corn syrup or oil.//
 * //I can reason about why things might sink or float in different liquids.//

Materials:
 * 6 small containers for each group, 2 with oil, 2 with corn syrup, and 2 with water
 * for each group, either 3 steel balls and 3 balls OR 3 and 3 corks (Put the objects in the containers ahead of time)
 * recording sheets [|sinkfloatotherliquids.doc]
 * trays
 * funnels
 * balances
 * 3 wooden cubes

Procedures:
 * Start with a quick writing prompt. Put out tubs of the last sink / float experiments from L.E. 6, Session 2, and ask them to write about the following:

//What do you think makes an object float in water? What makes an object sink in water? [|sinkfloatcheckin.doc]//
 * Look at the objects from LE 6 and talk about why they sank or floated. Ask what is similar about things that floated? What about things that sank? What would you look for now if you had to predict if something would sink or float? Make a class list of what to look for and examples of objects that sank and / or floated.
 * Explain that today we will be looking at whether objects sink or float in liquids other than water. Review the differences between oil, water, and corn syrup. Ask how the 3 liquids are the same and different, and what they remembered about how they moved and how their drops were different. Ask how it feels to stir oil, or corn syrup (if they have ever done it.) Review what happened when they dropped oil into water and corn syrup into water.
 * Predict what each object will do in oil and corn syrup. Make a class chart for predictions and to write what really happens (see p. 106). Go through each of the 4 objects as a class and make predictions. Include what the object did in water.
 * Demonstrate with wooden cubes and note what happens to them in each liquid. Record predictions and results on the class chart.
 * Groups take their materials and science notebook pages and go off to observe and write. As they write, try to help them get at the idea of the "thickness" of the liquids. Ask them to compare how the objects behave in each liquid, how they move in each liquid, and what happens when you turn the containers on their sides or turn them slowly.

Session 2
Share observations, check predictions.

Were you surprised by anything? How did the objects behave in each liquid? Compare each of the 4 objects and where they sank and where they floated.

Which objects sank most quickly in all the liquids? Why do you think they sank quickly?

Focus on why different objects acted differently in different liquids, and come back to the question of what makes things float or sink.