During this unit, students had a STEM activity that related to our Social Studies topic for that week: the Boston Tea Party! Students were given a set of materials (popsicle sticks, wax paper, string) and a tea bag. They were give the challenge of creating a tea crate that would keep their bag of tea dry the longest. (Students were very creative and some were pushing the rules a bit by creating a raft, covering everything in glue to 'waterproof' it, etc, but they didn't blatantly break the rules!)
The students were given a STEM activity during this unit. The challenge was to create a "flinker" using a baggie of objects. A "flinker" is a silly name given to an object with neutral buoyancy- it doesn't float or sink...it "flinks"! The objects included paperclips, styrofoam, beads, string, bubble wrap, a sponge, and other items. During the activity, students kept a tracking sheet with the design and result. They then revised the design and tried again each time. Here are the students working and some of the creations:
Our last big science activity for the year was with the densities of liquids. They had seven liquids: syrup, honey, dish soap, water, vegetable oil, isopropyl alcohol, and baby oil. (The water was dyed blue and the rubbing alcohol dyed red so that the students could easily see the layers. The baby oil is on top and is clear.) The students predicted the order of the liquids, from most dense to least dense. We then poured in each liquid and observed the order. Next, I gave them the seven densities (as decimals), and they had to match them to the correct liquid based on the layers. Afterwards, we placed in four small cylinders made of different materials and observed where they stayed in relation to the liquids. Our discussion included using our math knowledge of decimals to give the approximate density of each solid cylinder based on the given density of each liquid. Here are some pictures from that day:
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