This week I implemented a lesson on density using coke and diet coke as the prime example. To begin the lesson, students were asked to come up with explanations for what is being displayed. The photo attached is an example of some of the reasons students gave for the cans floating and sinking.
This type of guided inquiry starts off with a scenario and the students are asked to come up with ways to prove their explanations true. Through exploration, measurements, and research, students can find answers to their own questions with limited guidance from the teacher.
As an added assignment, I had students research different densities of common materials and add it to a spreadsheet I created through excel. The students were guided to different websites to find information on different materials and I had them order these materials by increasing densities. The next day I showed them the "stacked" liquids and materials in a graduated cylinder as a review and reinforcement activity.
The image below is very similar to the example I showed the students. As you can tell the liquids are layered according to increasing densities, with the most dense materials at the bottom. This demonstration kept the students engaged and it was evident that the students understood the nature of density through this activity. As an addition to this activity, I had different solids of varying densities and I had students hypothesize where they would be placed in the column of liquids. It was uplifting to see that most students knew exactly where the objects would end up based on the research done the night before.
Julius,
ReplyDeleteI love this lesson! For one, I'm sure your students were thoroughly engaged, simply by using something familiar and interesting to them...Coke! The way you had them come up with explanations as to why one can floated and the other sank was a true example of inquiry in action. Many times, teachers may just tell the class the reason. I also like the extension activity in which students did research on their own and applied it to the density concept. What a cool picture of the stacked liquid of various colors! That visual surely drove your standard home. Neat lesson. I'll keep this in mind if I ever teach density.
Julius,
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like such an interesting and fun lesson. Did you have them use the simulation activity that one of the professors from the video showed us during week 1? I really like the way you had them come up with explanations about why one of the coke cans floated and the other sank. The picture of the stacked liquids of various liquids is what I do with my 6th graders at the beginning of the year with sugar water, salt water, regular water, and oil and corn syrup. I usually don't have them do research before, but this would be a really great way to do it with something that is so familiar to them, Coke and Diet Coke.