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I had a hard time keeping my students focused duringt this activity. It was difficult to explain why we need to break down our steps and analyze how we do things the way we do and what we think about them as we do them. Anyone have an easy time with this activity please let me know and I will re try it with my class. Felt 'canned' but maybe it's just getting used to using new vocabulary and philosophy.
We enjoyed this exercise. Writing the phase diagram on the table was fun and different. They were a little bit confused that I wanted them to write on the table but afterward they found it fun and I bet we do it again sometime soon. :)
Fun activity!! Students really liked being able to "break" water molecules and see how fast the gas was produced.
When I did the cans we had lots that were less dense then water. We found in my class that measuring out a volume of soda and rendering flat worked a lot better for looking at soda densities. Also in a regular sandwich ziplock two small paper clips neutralized the plastics buoyancy. Side note Coke zero is neutral.
This also allows you to buy 2L bottles instead of cans.
Lesson plan for phases and modes. It was really fun to do this activity with my 9th grade students. We will be doing a learning styles inventory next to continue our foray into metacognition.
I treat this section like a magic show that you get to see how the trick was done. FUN!
Vicky from Kauai asked me about connecting density concepts to her biology class. She is specifically interested in connections to cells idea. Here are some ideas:
1. Cell density (e.g. the number of cells per unit volume. Often cell density is denoted as viable cell density which is the number of living cells per unit volume. This is important in blood cell counts, algae counts, etc).
I broke the lab into two different labs - creating and modifying the circuit and then using it as a conductivity meter. The first part was just okay. They were able to create the circuit with little difficulty. But when they started to modify it to include more than one light or to make a brighter light, they had much more difficulty. The fact that the LED lights had polarity was one issue - it took several attempts and a lot of assistance for most groups to even get it to light.
This is the lesson plan for TSI Inquiry Modes (no phases till next quarter.) I wa pretty happy with this activity - the kids were more curious and open to the metacognitive aspects than I expected.
I found that in one class, nobody got a clean 2:1 ratio, but all had more hydrogen. In other classes, got some 2:1 gas ratios, and really drove home the point of replication. I think kids had some powerful A-HA! moments!
Activity on Phases of Inquiry