Week 12- Why does Matter, Matter?

  

 Week 12- Why does Matter, Matter?

 Learning This Week:

This week in lab we looked further into matter and its properties. We spend time brainstorming what constitutes as a property of matter. The list we came up with was mass, weight, volume, odor, etc. Then, we took this into an investigation of certain materials to explore their properties. We looked at if the item could sink/float, if it would produce electricity, if it was magnetic, and its mass and volume. Our group looked at six different materials: marbles, aluminum foil, chalk, playdoh, candles, and paperclips. Each material had a big item and a small item. After observing a property for each we recorded the results on the board. 


Our Data Table

Application to Future Teaching: 

Our lab section this week was based a lot on experimentation and observation. I liked how our learning was up to us instead of getting direct instruction from the teacher. This is an aspect that I want to bring into my future teaching by having students be accountable for their learning. I want to teach upper elementary so I think that this style of instruction and investigation would be appropriate for that age group to get them thinking about a topic or material. Then, we could move into a discussion of our findings and why we think that occurs. Students are more likely to engage in these activities when they have the chance to be hands on and discuss with their peers. 

Questions for Further Study

1.) What are other experiments we could conduct to classify what is or is not matter?

2.) Why do certain items float and why do certain items sink? 

Comments

  1. Briar Crain - Science MethodsApril 11, 2024 at 9:30 AM

    Hi Bailie! I also found this lesson particularly interesting because of the freedom we got in experimenting with the different objects. Also, I like how you are ready to apply this to your upper elementary classroom! It would work great! Your questions are perfect, I am curious too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Piper PriceApril 14, 2024 at 8:38 PM

    Hello Bailie! I think that this lesson can definitely apply to our future teaching. I love how you mentioned that these experiments can be student-oriented. We continue to engage with material and activities that operate like this, which is great when thinking about our classrooms one day.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 10- Rock Cycle

Image
      Week 10: Rock Cycle Learning in Lab : This week in lab we looked closer at what constitutes as a rock and how the three different rock types are created. We started with a formative assessment where we were given a list of items and had to determine if they were considered a rock, and why we thought that. After completing the assessment, we learned that a rock is naturally made, therefore items like a gravestone or marble statue are not considered rocks since they were make by humans. Limestone, cooled lava, and sediments are considered rocks because they are made through natural processes. We then experimented with the rock cycle by creating the three different types of rock, sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Sedimentary is when materials are cemented and tightly packed together. We created this by cheese grating three different colors of starburst, then compacting them together into a little ball to represent the small minerals combined together. For our igne...
Read more

Week 6: Intro to Earth Science

Image
    Week 6: Intro to Earth Science Initial Thoughts : 1. How do the phases of the moon occur? I think that the phases of the moon occur because the Earth is orbiting the sun constantly, as the Earth orbits it block part of the sun from shining on the moon. When the Earth covers more of the sun, then there is a smaller part of the moon showing at night, but when the Earth covers less of the sun or none at all, it is a full moon.  2. What causes the seasons? The sun is closer to either the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere. In the summer we are closer to the sun in the Northern Hemisphere so it is hotter, whereas in the winter we are further away from the sun so the weather is colder.  3. what causes a lunar eclipse?  I think a lunar eclipse is when the moon goes in front of the sun? Learning in Lab : This week during lab we did hands on discovery over each of these questions. We used a lightbulb, and two balls to see what position the Earth and moon ...
Read more

Week 8: Timeline of our Universe

Image
    Week 8: Timeline of Our Universe Learning in Lab : This week during lab we listened to six different presentations that cover the timeline of our universe. We started with the origin of the universe, which was my presentation, and we described that our universe was created at one single point called the Big Bang. During the Big Bang, Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation was left behind and protons and electrons combined to from hydrogen atoms. We understand today that space is continuously expanding. Then, we learned about the lifecycle of stars as they go from a nebula to a protostar, to the main sequence and transition into either a high mass or low mass star. Our sun is considered a low mass star. The more mass something has, the greater gravitational pull they have. Then, we learned about galaxies and how there are billions of galaxies out in space. Galaxies have several different shapes such as spiral, elliptical, and irregular. Our galaxy is spiral and our sun is pl...
Read more