While I did not add all the graphic organizers and pictures for this lab I did include these pictures and a few with the graphic organizers (see link above). I only included the front of the graphic organizer and will be revising the back to include a chart. This lesson was on mixtures and solution, with the concept of how temperature will affect a solution ability to dissolve a solute. The students really enjoyed the lab and working with the equipment, especially the hot plates which I was a little skeptical about. The students handled them well, however, I will in the future make them harder to crowd around. Revision or reflection number one, make sure you keep the lab as safe as humanly possible. Like I said before, I will also revise the graphic organizer so that it includes a chart which shows how much salt will dissolve at the different temperatures. I will have the students fill this in as they work on their specific temperature range and create a final copy that includes the whole group information at the end so they have a visual that they can relate to when it is all done. Overall, the students responded quite well to this inquiry lesson, they found how hard it is to be accurate yet how important it is to be precise, and they came up with many good questions as the lab progressed that showed me they were interested and engaged during this activity. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Working with mixtures and solutions is a fun
time in the science lab. Carefully working with the hot plates and epson salt.
Very cool lab Mark! Believe me, I understand how important it is to stress safety when doing experiments. It is something we need to address before and during the lesson, once your class gets on a roll they get excited and active- which is not a good time to stop them to talk about safety.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you used this lesson to teach your students how temperature affects the ability to dissolve. It is one thing for our students to read about it and another when they can actually see and ponder the differences. Very well done!
Mark,
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great lab experiment. I loved teaching mixtures and solutions when I taught middle school. The students look engaged and that they are all contributing. A few questions I have for you, why is there a foldable around the student working at the hotplate. Was there something that was suppose to be kept secret? Also, why did you choose epson salt as opposed to regular salt. Just a few questions I was wondering about. I bet the kids did a great job and it sounds like they were all excited.