The Flinking Lab

Today, we took an approach to the learning cycle which follows the 5 E’s (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate) through an investigation. As the class was learning about floating and sinking, our professor showed us that a piece of wood floats and a rock sinks. Although, he showed us a rock that floats and a piece of wood that sinks, so how can it do this?! To further investigate, the class was given the challenge to create something that would “flink” (neither float nor sink). My group used many different strategies to try and achieve this. One way was to fill a glass container with some air and some water. Another way was to fill a bag with some air, a little water, and a little weight (pennies). The last way, which was super easy to find the balance with, was taking a styrofoam cup, filling it with water, and adding three washers to it. All three strategies “flinked.” Through this experience, I learned a rock can float in water if it is less dense and a piece of wood can sink in water if it is more dense, but anything can "flink" if it has the same density as water.

The Milk Lab

This week our professor gave us a group experiment using a small beaker, a petri dish, 3 different colors of food coloring, milk, and detergent. We were first instructed to put 30 mL of 2% milk into the petri dish. Next, our group placed a drop of each color of food coloring in the points of a triangle. We observed this for 30 seconds and noticed the darker colors spread a lot more. Then we put a drop of detergent in the middle and watched the action begin! All the food coloring in the milk was repelled from the detergent to the side of the petri dish. Once again, we observed, but needed to try some other things to see what was going on. So, we tried this same experiment four more times, but changed something every time. In trial two, we changed the order to detergent, food coloring, and then milk. The same reaction happened, but at a slower rate and the coloring was repelled from the bottom of the petri dish. Trial three we used water instead of milk and the same thing happened. In trial four, we delayed the time between the food coloring and detergent which led to a stronger reaction. Finally, trial five we used warm milk which resulted in our strongest reaction yet! The food coloring not only repelled from the detergent, but it hit the walls so hard that it bounced back and mixed together into the art pictured below. Through our different experiments, we figured out that time, temperature, and order all play a factor in how strongly food coloring reacts with detergent.

The Fortune Fish

In class, our professor gave us this fish in a little package. The instructions were to take it out and put it in our hand. Then, however our fish moved told us our fortune. My fish curled up on me (so I'm passionate), but the underlying question is why did it do this?! That is what we were to set out to find!

In small groups, we thought about why the fish did what it did. First, someone thought it was due to moisture on our hands. To test this, I poured a puddle of water on the desk and put the fish in it. The fish shriveled and basically "died." So, maybe it wasn't just any kind of moisture? After, putting the fish in my hand and testing it on others, I made the conclusion that the paper of the fish reacted with the oils in our hands. Some people have more oils on their hands which is why the fish shrivels up more and others have little which is why the fish can appear to be dead.

Welcome!

 

 Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog All About Science! I am an elementary education teacher in the making. Part of my career goal is to not only to teach young kids, but to do so through fun, hands- on activities. Since I am still a college student, I am going to be sharing a little about what I learn in none other than one of the best subjects for interactive activities.... Science! I'm very excited to see where my semester in my science methods class will take me! Hope you enjoy what I learn!