Week 11: Matter

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 What did you learn?

In lab this week, I learned the importance of teaching science in elementary schools. We did lots of experiments that we could do with students. Most of these experiments were things I've never done before, like the melting ice experiment. I thought it was really interesting that the pan melted the ice faster than the wood. I also learned that when you mix baking soda and vinegar, the final product is colder than either of the original ingredients. 

Are you able to relate what you learned to what you already know?

Yes, for the coke float experiment, I already knew that Diet Coke floats, but I didn't think either of the regular Cokes would float so that was pretty cool to see. I already knew that drinks only "sweat" when they are in warmer rooms and our room was cooler, so the experiment didn't really work. I'm not sure how warm the room would have to be for the experiment to work, so that would be interesting to test out. I have also previously done the M&Ms in water experiment, but I observed this time that the separate colors didn't really mix when they met. They kind of layered on top of each other in the water, which was pretty cool to see. 

How can you apply what you've learned to your teaching in the future?

I can do all of these experiments with my future students. I think the melting ice one would be especially fun to do with students. I think the discussions we had about each of the experiments would also be good to use in future teaching. Not only did we do the experiments, but we made our own observations and hypothesized why each phenomena occurred. 

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