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Hypothesis part is confusing
As I was mentally visualizing how this activity would go, I found myself struggling with the hypotheses at the end of each section. I also was pretty sure my students would be confused as well, especially since they had already made a prediction at the beginning. I've only completed Part A so far, and sure enough, all,students struggled with the hypothesis. I helped them out with this first one, so hopefully they'll be able to independently do the others.
On a positive note, Part A definitely helped to solidify the students' understanding of cohesion and adhesion, and how they were similar and different.
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Sun, 01/13/2013 - 15:27
Are you talking about the part of the activity in which students hypothesize how many drops will fit on the surface of a penny? Or are you talking about having students explain what is taking place to allow so many drops to stay on the surface of the penny?
If it is the latter, I did a demonstration with my students using an upside-down plastic container and a handful of marbles. I put the marbles on the flat bottom of the container and released them, allowing students to watch them roll all over the place. I asked students to tell me what we could do to ensure that the marbles stayed on top of the container. They gave many suggestions (most of which involved the use of various forms of adhesive). I then related the marbles to water molecules and asked them to explain what could possibly be happening with the water molecules.
Hope this helps!