Yesterday, we enjoyed a mind-blowing science lesson in which we practised our observation skills (LO: To be able to use observations to verify predictions).
We started off by moulding some ‘Soapy Foam’ (other brands available) into a sphere.
We knew we were going to leave the soap (untouched) all day. We each made a prediction about what we thought would happen:
- ‘I think it will shrink because the water in the soap will evaporate.’
- ‘I think it will expand because of the pressure from the air.’
- ‘I think it will turn into a puddle because it will melt.’
Then, as a group, we ordered our predictions from least likely to most likely.
We observed the soap throughout the day. This is called an ‘observation over time’. Ask your child what happened and encourage them to explain why they think this occurred.
In the next part of the lesson, we filled a small glass with water. We filled the glass to its absolute full capacity – ask your child what we noticed about the top of the glass. On the table, we had a range of items (cotton wool, counters, paper clip, Base 10 rod, Multilink cube) and predicted what would happen if we put them in the glass. Obviously, the water would be displaced and overflow, right? Well, we all decided that the cotton wool had the best chance of fitting in the glass without any water spilling over the slides so we investigated. We put the cotton wool in the water and observed what happened…
You’ll never believe it but the cotton wool went into the glass without a single drop of water being spilled! Ask your child if they can explain to you why this strange phenomena occurred (hint: think about particles and the three states of matter).
Everyone’s mind was blown. Especially this person…
