We Are Scientists!

KG-M is full of scientists and we have been expanding our understanding of matter by doing lots of experiments in class. Our central idea for this Unit of Inquiry is, "Exploring and classifying diverse matter can help people become knowledgeable about the materials in our world." By understanding how matter behaves and changes we can be more knowledgeable about why and how different materials are used around us. Here are some of the experiments we have done:

Can matter change states? Can it change from a solid to a liquid and then to a gas? Many children thought that initially the ice was melting because the lights in the room were shining on it. We did an experiment to see if this was true by placing it inside a completely dark closet for 10 minutes and saw that the lights were not needed to make it melt (although they may have played a role in how quickly it did so). We explored this concept further and learned that yes, matter can change states. Heat helps it do so!

We then examined what happens when we try to do the same with coffee. We saw that not all of the mixture evaporated; some of it (the original solid part -- coffee) just burnt!

After examining how heat can turn a solid to a liquid and then to a gas, we wondered if solids could change directly into gases. We observed as paper was lit on fire and smoke was created. The solid (paper) transformed color, shape and texture. The smoke was a combination of solids and gases.

Another experiment involved finding different liquids throughout the school. We made predictions about which if any would freeze. We saw that all of them expect the hand sanitizer froze in the school freezer. We then predicted what would happen if we put all the solids on a tray and let them sit for an afternoon. This is what happened:

 

We were interested to see what would happen to an M&M if left in water for a while. We saw that the color dissolved (a new word for us) and the 'm' on top of the candy fell off. The longer the M&M sat, the more it dissolved until it was all white, then all brown as only the chocolate portion was left.

Now it was time to experiment a little with gas. We knew we could trap gas inside a balloon, but we decided to see if we could trap gas another way. We realized that we could do so by blowing bubbles! We gathered some wire and made our own rings to use in this experiment. 

We did another experiment with gas and explored reactions between materials. We first predicted and then observed the reaction between water and baking soda. Next we hypothesized what would happen if we mixed vinegar and baking soda. We were surprised to see that it foamed! We completed this experiment by seeing what would happen if we put some baking soda in an empty balloon, put the balloon over the opening of a bottle filled with vinegar, and then dumped in the baking soda. We observed as the balloon filled up with gas! We realized this happened because baking soda and vinegar react to make a gas (carbon dioxide). The gas was trying to 'escape' but was trapped by the balloon.

 

We compared solids and liquids with Ms. Marie (Nora's mom) during learning centers and saw that a collection of very small solids and liquids behave the same in many ways. In exploring these hands-on we can identify what makes them different, however.