Welcome back!! Term 3 - Scientific Experiments

We have started term 3 by looking at experiments. With our focus on Up Up and Away we are going to work in groups of up to 4 students and prepare an experiment for our Science Fair on August 16th - Week 4.

We began in class with Foaming and Fizzing - see below. We really enjoyed this one, especially when Mrs B made us taste the ingredients first! That is why the title of our experiment is Yuk and Yum! We had lots of reactions when we mixed the 2 chemicals together.

We will be trialing different experiments throughout the term in our reading and writing, using the Scientific report exemplar to write each one up in a scientific way.

                                                                                         

Scientific Experiment Language and Structure

B E G I N N I N G	TITLE	Yuk and Yum!
	QUESTION.	If we mix vinegar and baking soda together will we observe some kind of reaction?
	THESIS.	Vinegar tastes sour and it is a liquid. Baking soda is a solid, soft white powder and it tastes salty and horrible. They are both food substances but based on their different taste, they must be  chemically different. So, if they are mixed together, there might be a chemical reaction.
	HYPOTHESIS.	We predict that when we mix vinegar with baking soda an observable chemical reaction will occur. We might see and hear an explosion, fire, foaming, bubbles, fizzing or something else. The resulting mixture might look and taste different. There might even be a difference in the size of the materials.

M I D D L E	EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS:	Baking soda Vinegar Container for mixing Teaspoon for mixing
	PROCEDURE	Step 1: Pour some vinegar into a container to a depth of about 2cm. Step2: Use  a teaspoon to measure in half a teaspoon of baking soda. Step 3: Mix with teaspoon. Step 4: Observe and record what happens.
	OBSERVATIONS:	At Step 2 the mixture started to fizz. A fizzing sound was heard, bubbles were seen to appear in the mixture and the materials rose higher in the container. At Step 3, when the materials were mixed, even more bubbles appeared and the volume of the materials in the container rose even higher.When the mixture was tasted, the taste was unpleasant and was similar to baking soda.hi

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ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION

The goal of this experiment was to see if an observable reaction would take place when vinegar and baking soda were mixed together. The result of our experiment proves that our hypothesis was correct. We predicted that there would be an observable reaction, and there was. There was lots of foaming and fizzing happening and bubbles appeared which mean a gas must have been produced. A quick check online showed us that the gas was carbon dioxide.

Learning how to read a scientific report.

Kia ora

We are learning how to read and write scientific reports. We have been doing experiments and writing about them. This is a reading activity we did. We had to be able to match a title for a report with a wondering question.

We are learning how to understand the structure and language of a report about a scientific experiment.

In this exercise you need to match a title with its question. Use the ‘Fill tool’ to colour code the matching ideas.

Notice that none of these questions begin with a ‘Why….’.  This is because the purpose of a scientific experiment report is to share what you thought you knew, what you thought would happen and your observations about what actually did happen. It’s a bit like you are saying:

I’m wondering this…..because I know this…...so therefore if I do this I think this might happen.

So, at the end of a successful scientific report, you may not be able to say why something happened but you will be on the way to finding out why.

Then, when you do find out why, you will have to learn how to write an Explanation. The purpose of  Explanation writing is to answer Why questions. So, do not be surprised if your teachers decide to teach you Explanation writing later on!!!

Freezing Water.	What will happen when you mix vinegar and baking soda?
Floating and Sinking.	What will happen to an ice cube if you take it out of the freezer?
Kitchen Chemistry.	Which materials make the best insulators?
Disappearing Water.	What happens when you put a container of water into a freezer?
Keep Your Cool.	What will happen to a puddle of water on a hot day?
Ice Cube Experiment.	Does changing the shape of an object affect its ability to float?