Physical vs. Chemical Change Sorting Activity
For this blog entry, I am updating an earlier post that I did over the summer. I am also adding pictures from one of my classes that did this activity on Friday.
This following activity is one that I used last year for the first time and it worked really well. The kids were so engaged and felt really satisfied when they figured it out. They will be able to use their Foldable as a resource for this activity.
To prepare this lesson, I printed out the activity cards on pages 2 & 3, laminated them, and cut them apart. I placed each set of cards in a zip-top bag, one per group of 2 students.
On their desks, I have the students place the “Physical Change” card to their left and the “Chemical Change” card to their right. Now they have to sort each card into the correct column. You can do one together to demonstrate the procedures. The kids continue to sort the cards until they have all 15 lined up in the correct columns. When they are done, they raise their hand to call me over and see if their cards are in the right place.
I walk over and when they ask if they have it right, I smile and say “Nope”. (Usually there are at least a few in the wrong spot). So now they have to evaluate what they did and figure out what is in the right spot and what is not. I usually give the kids 2 or 3 tries without any hints from me. Then I give hints like “You have 3 in the wrong spot” or “Everything in your physical change column is correct so far.” (There may be 1 or 2 in the chemical change that need to be moved over.) Or “You have to switch one from each column”, but I won’t tell them which ones.
Once they have everything correct, I push/pile up the physical change card together and give them to one lab partner and tell them to write it in their lab journal. I push/pile up the chemical change cards together and give it to the other lab partner to write in his/her lab journal. Then I tell them to switch cards so they have everything written down in both journals. We keep it top-secret so their nosy neighbors don’t see their answers! =)
This year, I gave the students a certain amount of time (about 10 minutes) to work on their sorting before I gave them any clues. I pulled up the pdf on the SmartBoard that showed some of the cards they had. One helping clue would be something like “Boiling water is a physical change” and I would circle it on the Smart Board so they can see it and have it as a reference.
I would drop clues slowly over the next few minutes. After about 20 minutes, we went over each item and classified them as physical or chemical changes and made corrections to our categories. What seemed like an “easy” activity was really challenging for them. There were several misconceptions that kept holding on, even though we talked about boiling water and ice melting during our lessons on states of matter as being only physical changes, some kids still classified them as chemical changes.
I love seeing the lab partners talk about where each item goes and they get into some great discussions, they try to reason with their lab partner, they compromise, sometimes they argue, etc… To quote some of my students “This was so fun, and so frustrating!” The groups that placed their items correctly were really proud of their accomplishments. And as we went over the answers, the kids would cheer when they got each one right, and talk to their partners about how they sorted it, what they weren’t sure of, etc. To wrap up the lesson, the students answered the analysis questions and wrote a conclusion.
Handout:
Changing Phases – Using a Venn Diagram
Smart Board Activity – Using a Venn Diagram to classify the states of matter and the changing phases. The purpose of this activity was to visually represent how the states of matter and the phase changes are related to each other.
I pulled up the Venn diagram onto the Smart Board screen with the list of words and phrases listed on the right side. This Venn diagram has circles/categories for solid, liquid, and gas. I reminded the students that wherever the circles overlap, it is something that both categories had to have in common, or it was a true statement for both. Where all 3 circles overlap, it is something that all 3 categories must have in common.
I divided the class into small groups. I explained that each group would have a turn at the Smart Board, sending one person at a time as their representative. In their small groups, the students discussed amongst themselves what words or phrases they would like to place into the Venn diagram. They also had to decide who would go first, and so forth. I set this activity up to be a friendly competition to see which group can get the most items placed into the Venn diagram correctly.
Using the tri-fold brochure for their note taking, they took notes in blue or red colored pencil. They used the blue colored pencil for the phrases that were in blue and related to the properties for each state of matter, red for the words that were in red and referred to each of the phase changes. They only wrote down the answers if they were placed correctly into the Venn diagram, I didn’t want them working ahead. This kept their focus on the board. If a student did place a word/phrase into the wrong spot, I moved it back to the list on the right. The next team could either correctly place the word/phrase into the diagram or choose a new word/phrase.
From start to finish, this activity took about 25 minutes. Overall, the activity went really well and the students were engaged and enjoyed the friendly competition.
For HW, students will review the terminology related to phase changes, as well as read about hot water freezing faster than cold water.
Handouts:
States of Matter
Today we talked about the phases of matter and I broke the lesson up into 4 different activities using a variety of strategies.
Part 1 – Brief introduction to set the stage
I told the students to place their hands on the table and close their eyes. I then asked them “Is the table moving?” Variety of answers. I told them that the table is made up of billions of atoms that are vibrating, we just can’t feel it. Atoms do not stay still, I mentioned absolute zero and how scientists think that atoms would stop moving at this extremely cold temperature. Last I checked, we got really close but have not reached absolute zero yet.
Keeping their eyes closed, I ask them if they feel the air molecules hitting them right now. Gasses move very quickly and are bouncing around the room, hitting each other, bumping into the wall, off the ceiling, off the floor, kind of like a pinball machine. I also ask them to take a deep breath – the air is filling up their lungs. I also mention that they are breathing the same air that the ancient Greeks and Australopithecus did (they just studied early man in History class). All the matter on Earth has always been here and is constantly recycled. The oxygen you are breathing right now was once part of a water molecule, or part of an animal, etc… They think its cool and gross at the same time, of course!
Part 2: BrainPOP movie on States of Matter.
I show the movie and paused it when it zoomed into the glass of water and showed the water molecules. I ask the kids, “What do you notice about how the atoms are arranged?” We discuss it and I have them draw the atoms, in a color of their choice, into their notes in the liquids box. Continue the movie.
Paused the movie again when it zoomed into the gas atoms up close. ”What do you notice about how these are arranged compared to the liquid?” Using a different color, they draw the gas atoms into the gas box. Continue the movie.
Paused again when it zoomed into the solid atoms up close. “What do you notice about how these are arranged compared to the liquid and gas?” They came up with great observations, such as many more atoms, close together, not a lot of empty space between each, and they were neater – arranged almost in a pattern. Using a third color, we drew in the atoms for the solid. Played the rest of the movie.
Part 3 – Notes – Jigsaw/read aloud
I assigned a paragraph to each group and gave them about 3 minutes to complete their assigned section. Once they were done, each person in group 1 read a sentence out loud to the rest of the class. Student 1 read the 1st sentence, student 2, the next, and the group continued until the whole paragraph was done. I used 3-4 students per group for this activity.
The other groups/students listened and filled in their notes. We then moved to group 2 for the second paragraph, and so forth. This worked really well. Some of the kids noticed that it was exactly the same as the movie, which it was, I made a transcript and cut out important words and placed them in the word bank.
Part 4 – Closure using the matrix
Using the BrainPOP graphic organizer, we reviewed the main concepts that we learned today, making sure to fill it in completely and correctly.
Homework: cut ‘n paste vocabulary to review terms we discussed today.
Resources:
Famous Scientist Wanted Poster – Research
I am so excited to use my wanted poster lesson with my 5th graders this year. The last time I used this lesson was in the fall of 2003 when I taught 6th grade. We are using two class periods for their research and I was able to schedule our time slots in the library.
In their tech classes, they are learning about how to use the library and subscription databases we have, as well as Microsoft Word. Our Mac laptops were updated over the summer and now have Office 2008. One of the features that I really like in Word is the Notebook Layout. This is such a great way for the students to organize their research information. The students are making 4 tabs: Basic Requirements, Choose 5 additional, Images, and Resources. The research counts for half of their grade and they will be uploading their docs to a workspace on our server when they are done with their research, instead of printing it out. The wanted poster will be the only sheet of paper that they are physically handing in.
For the wanted poster, they have to create one really strong sentence, almost like a slogan or catch phrase. If someone were to look at their poster and not read anything else, they should be able to tell someone why that scientist is famous or what their important contribution was. They have to have their sentence approved before the end of their second day of research. So far, some of the sentences have been really wordy or have not really pinpointed what that scientist accomplished. For example, John Glenn was the oldest man to go into space. Yes, but is that what he’s really famous for? Dig deeper. Or “So and So won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1962.” Well, for what? What did he or she do that lead to the Nobel Prize? I really want them to zero in and focus on the important details, then add the rest.
My catch phrase this year is “Chew it up and spit it out”. In essence, get to the main idea. For example, when they do vocab and give these long rambling definitions, I ask them (with a smile) – ”Can you remember all that? Because I can’t.” Process that information and put it into your own words so that you can remember it. So for their project, we are going to process all their information and make one strong sentence about their scientist. Chew it up and spit it out. The details will be added later and make up the rest of the poster.
- One version of the Famous Scientist Wanted Poster Project
- List of scientists
Penny Boat Challenge 2009
Penny Boat Challenge – Top 5 for 2009. Last year’s record was 441 pennies
- CS – 463
- HM – 337
- MD – 319
- OS – 214
- AV – 202
The penny boat challenge takes place at the end of our density and buoyancy unit. We spend one day going over the rules, brainstorming, building, and testing. We test if their design will float and if its water proof using two very large stoppers as our testing load. We don’t use any pennies in the testing phase.
If a student has a boat that does not float or remain water tight, they have the option of using a 2nd piece of foil on the day of the challenge. If they use a second piece, their score will not count, but they still get to compete.
On the day of the challenge, we take pics of each student holding their boat before they compete. Each competitor must have a spotter/counter. Both the competitor and the spotter count together to verify the exact number of pennies that enter the boat. The spotter also looks for signs of water entering the boat. Once water enters the boat, the turn is over.
Once the boat enters the water, the boat can not be modified in any way. If the boat sinks and the pennies get wet, we carefully remove the boat and pennies, drain, and dry off the pennies. Pennies must be dry for the next person to use them.
The kids did really well this year and it was a fun and relaxing competition day. Luckily I had a ton of towels handy from the car wash last year! Thanks Mr. M.!!
Notebook:
Dunkin’ 4 Density Activity
We completed the “Dunkin’ for Density” activity today, collected our data, entered it into excel, and discussed our findings.
For this lesson, the kids had to make 1 film canister float, 1 film canister suspend, and 1 film canister sink in water by changing their densities. We used white/clear plastic film canisters and I calculated the volume as 39 ml or cm3 by using water displacement and a large graduated cylinder. (The film canisters hold about 35 mL of water, in case you were wondering!)
Supplies: plastic tray, 3 film canisters per set of two lab partners, a bowl or large beaker filled with water, pennies, rubber stoppers, cork stoppers, paper clips, and bits of clay. I also had a really large/deep bowl as the “official suspend testing tank”. Once the kids tested their suspending canister, they brought it over to be officially checked by me.
Using whatever combination they like, they place the items into the film canisters to complete the task. I only have two rules: you must have at least one item in the canister (which I forgot to tell the 1st class!) and it must be able to close and seal tightly so no water enters the film canister. The floaters and sinkers are the easiest to do and the kids figure those out pretty quickly. But I am very picky about my definition of suspend and it drives them nutty! In order to qualify as a suspender, the film canister has to touch the bottom of the bowl when I tap it, and then float up slowly until it is near the surface of the water. Only a small part, if any, may rise above the water line. This is a great problem solving activity and after a few tries, they usually get just the right combination of stuff inside their film canisters to make the density very close to 1 g/cm3. (For this to happen, the mass ends up being close to 39 g,)
Once they have completed all three tasks, they use the TBB to find and record the mass into their notebooks. (Tip – make sure the film canisters are dry before they use the TBB) (Tip #2 – have them find the mass of an empty film cansiter before they begin dunking.) Using the formula for density (D=m/v), they find and record those densities into their notebooks. Once everyone is done, each group reports their data and we enter it into the excel spreadsheet, displaying the data on the SmartBoard. We then discuss the data and I ask the kids if they notice any patterns in the data. (Sometimes I’ll show the data from previous classes so they can compare their results to older experiments.)
After we have discussed the data, they answer the analysis questions and write a conclusion on page 41, the right side of their notebook. The one misconception that some kids may have is that the film canisters sank because they became heavier. We talk about how yes, they did get heavier, but they sank because they became denser.
Notebook:
If you have completed this activity, I would love to hear from you and see your results!
Density Bottles
As an introduction to density, I do a demonstration/discussion/group activity using density bottles. They are small sports drink bottles that I estimated to have a volume of approximately 400 mL. There are 5 bottles, each filled with a different item: cotton, air, sand, rice, and colored water.
These are some of the questions I used for our discussion:
- “Do these bottles have the same volume?” There is some uncertainty at first, but then they quickly say “yes”.
- “Do these bottles have the same mass?” No
- “Why don’t they have the same masses?” Variety of answers
- “Which one do you think is the heaviest?” We do a survey with a show of hands then have the kids give some reasons for their answers
- “Which one do you think has the most ’stuff’ crammed into the bottle?” It’s interesting, there is a wide variety of answers and it usually doesn’t match the answer to the question of which is the heaviest
I tell them that they will find out the answers in a minute! We watch the BrainPOP movie for Measuring Matter. After the movie, I give the analogy of standing and waiting for an elevator. Two identical elevators open up: one has 2 people in it and the other has 15 people in it. “Which elevator would you choose and why?” Naturally, they say the one with only two people, there is more room in that one. I ask them, which elevator is denser? The one with 15 people, of course. We then discuss that there is less empty space available in the elevator with 15 people in it. I then relate molecules to the people in the elevator, matter that has a lot of molecules, or atoms, crammed into a given space are denser than objects whose molecules or atoms have a lot of empty space between them.
I hand one bottle to each group and have them find the mass. We collect the data and I write it on the board. I re-ask the following questions:
- Which one is the heaviest?
- Which one has the most ’stuff’ crammed into the bottle? (Variety of responses)
- Which one is the densest? (Variety of responses)
Now that we have the mass and the volume, we calculate the densities for each bottle. After we collect the data, I have the kids come over to the dunk tank. One at a time, we predict which bottles will float. We do a survey and raise our hands if we think the bottle will float. I have one student place the bottle into the tank and we see if it floats or not. We continue until all 5 are in the tank.
The cotton, rice, water, and air filled bottles floated, the bottle with the sand, sank to the bottom. I then ask the kids “Why did the bottle of sand sink?” They usually say it was the heaviest. I then say, “But a cruise ship is a lot heavier, and it doesn’t sink? Why?” I give them a hint, “Look at our data, what do the bottles that floated have in common?” After a while, they figure out that the bottles that floated, all had numbers that were decimals, or less than one. The sand was over 1, and sank. I tell them the density of water is 1, so objects with a density greater than 1 will sink.
We talked about how the bottle of sand is the densest b/c it has the most amount of “stuff” crammed into the same space, and that there is less empty space between the atoms. I tell them that the density of gold is 19.3 g/cm3, and that if this bottle was filled with gold, it would be about 19 times denser, meaning that there would be 19 times more “stuff” crammed into the same space. The next day we talked about the story of Archimedes. We calculated how much mass the same bottle would have if it was filled with pure gold - it would be 7,720 grams!!
After the dunk tank, we did a small group acitivty using the graphic organizer from BrainPOP. It shows a ring, balloon, yo-yo, and pillow. We have to categorize them according to mass, volume, and density, from highest to lowest. We do one category at a time and I give them a minute for each, going over the answers between each category. I liked this graphic organizer b/c it really made them think about each item and their properties.
Triple Beam Balance Activities
To introduce the triple beam balance (tbb), I had the students complete a tbb tutorial where they learned how to find the mass by reading the riders on the 100’s, 10’s, and 1’s beams and how to combine those values into a single value.
My expectations were for them to read the mass to the nearest 10th, but if they wanted to guess the 100ths place, they could attempt that as well. The students caught on very quickly and some were really proud of themselves if they guessed the 100ths place exactly. In the past, when I introduced the tbb and didn’t use the tutorial, most students had trouble reading the ones beam and the 10ths place value. Completing the tbb tutorial really increased the students’ accuracy in reading the measurements on the beams and very few, if any students, asked for help when they used a real tbb and had to record the masses.
Another thing I really like about this tutorial, is that the students have immediate feedback as to if their answer was correct or not. If their answers were incorrect, they could compare their answer to the correct answer and reflect about it, figure out what they did differently, and how they can correct it for the next problem.
After completing the tbb tutorial, I introduced the real tbb with a demonstration on how to use it correctly and how to find the mass of an unknown object. I also emphasized that the riders have to click into the notches for the 100s or 10s beam, otherwise its not that exact value, its somewhere in between two adjacent values. We also discussed the proper way to hold, carry, and take care of a tbb. When the tbb is not in use, my mantra is “Riders to Right“. Moving the riders to the right reduces the bouncing of the beams when they are being transported or not in use.
Each lab table had a group of random items from the science room and they had to find the masses of whatever they liked, and however they wanted to group the items. For example, the could stack 3 blocks onto the pan and find the combined mass of those items. They could do a single item such as a penny, too.
Notebook handouts
Current Events Blog
Each year, I usually do some type of current event assignment with my students. This year, to promote science literacy and 21st century skills, I thought I would try having the kids blog for their current events. I created a free edublog account and came up with a format that I thought would be appropriate for 5th graders, most of which are 10 years old.
Two of the concerns I had last year with kids finding their own articles were:
- choosing appropriate news articles from reliable sources
- articles that were at their reading level
For the blog, I came up with a format where I would post articles from various reliable sources that cover a wide variety of topics. The students could then pick any article that they were interested in and write a summary and reflection. I posted some questions to give them an idea of what they would be learning about when they read the article. The second thing that I liked about this format was that the kids could then read comments from other students who read the same article they did.
Once the students are comfortable with using the blog and reading news from reliable sources, I will ask them to send me articles that they are interested in and I can post those articles on the blog. To help students find good news articles, I set up a pageflakes page which posts RSS feeds from all the science news sites I have bookmarked. It acts like a funnel, funneling all the information into one page instead of going to all the different news websites. Its very easy to see all the current headlines and click on something that you are interested in reading about.
When the students are writing their summary and reflection, I have them type it into Word, proofread, spellcheck, and edit first. I also tell them to save a copy on their computer. The problem with typing directly into the comment box is that they can not spell check or edit their work as easily. And if the webpage or internet connection snarls up, they lose everything that they worked on. When they are ready to post, they copy and paste those two paragraphs into the comment box under the correct article.
For their summary, I ask that they have at least 2 sentences that answers the questions: who, what , where, when, and why. Their reflection is more about what they learned, their opinions, thoughts, etc… And that should be at least 3-4 sentences.
When a students submits a comment, it gets held for moderation. In the blogging dashboard, a little orange square pops up next to the comments tab and tells me how many comments I have waiting to be moderated. I click on it and can see the new posts. I approve the posts and they are instantly published on the website. I can edit the comments, but I choose not to. The only thing I will edit is if the kids accidently post their last name, otherwise I leave it as is. The main reason I moderate the comments is so that only my students are the ones posting to the blog, not anyone else since it is open to the public.
I came up with a simple rubric to grade the postings. They complete one current event assignment every 6 day cycle.
Do you use blogging in your science class? If so, would love to hear about or see your class blog.
Volume Labs- Regular and Irregular
Over the period of about 3 days, we covered finding the volume of a rectangular prism using the formula length x width x height and finding the volume of irregularly shaped objects using water displacement. I usually do these labs as stations labs, but decided to have the kids do the activities at their tables.
For finding the volume of rectangular prisms, I placed some everyday objects onto a tray as well as some scrap wood from our woodworking shop. Students could choose what they wanted to measure in whichever order they like. We then compared our results. I usually allow a +/- 2 mm window for their measurements.
I made up some hand signals and we practiced them as a class so that the students could remember the three dimensions when taking their measurements. It helped a lot and I saw the kids use it to orientate themselves for the 3 dimensions.
- hold your hand flat and straight on the table = length
- hold your hand sideways with your wrist bent at a 90 degree angle = width
- hold your hand straight up in front of you, fingers towards the ceiling, with your wrist at a 90 degree angle = height
What happens sometimes is that they forget which side they already measured or have trouble choosing which side will be their length, which side is their width, and which is the height. I have them lay the object flat on the table in front of them and have the longest side be their length and pointing towards them to get them started.
For the irregular volume, I kept it simple and the kids really liked it. I placed an assortment of rubber stoppers and marbles on their try. Some stoppers were solid, some had one hole, some had 2 holes, some were skinny, some were wider. They could place whatever combination they wanted into the graduated cylinder and they recorded what they tried. They also asked questions like “Does the stopper with 2 holes have a smaller volume than a stopper with no holes if they are the same size?” and they tried it out.
They also figured out that if they fill up the graduated cylinder with too many stoppers, they couldn’t find the volume b/c it was more than 100 mL or items were no longer in the water, they were stacked above the water line.
The spoon is there to prevent the items from falling into the beaker, they cover the top of the graduated cylinder, drain the water, and then place the objects back on the try. Keeps everyone dry!
See below for my notebook pages:
