Being a Scientist - Experiment Fun!

Science is important. It is engaging. And it is fun!  If you missed the first part about how I set the stage for my little scientists, you can go back and read about that {HERE}.  Now we are ready to apply what we have learned about being a scientist.

Since my kiddos were now pros at being a scientist - they could measure, observe, classify and communicate with the best of them, it was time for the final piece. The mystery box came out again, and this time it held MORE excitement!

We went through each item, one by one, talking about how it might be used. The magnifying lasses and safety goggles we already knew about... but now we had lab coats, too!

The lab coats were inspired by Becca from Foxwell Forest and this great pin!

They were easy peasy to make - I just cut size XL boys tshirts up the middle and voila! This was a great photo op (which unfortunately, I cant show you!), but imagine a class of second graders, dressed in lab coats, and safety goggles, all holding magnifying glasses and striking their best "scientist" poses. What a hoot!

But we're not done with the box yet! There was also a bottle of soda (clear), a box of raisins and some clear plastic cups. Next to those were a set of recording sheets. If we weren't excited before, we sure were now! We all sat together and I posed the question, "What do you think will happen when we add raisins to a cup of soda?" Now I have to tell you, I was AMAZED at the thoughtful, analytic and creative answers I got! We immediately started recording our ideas (spur of the moment, as you can see by the charts pushed over to make room!)

"I think the raisins will disintegrate." (Someone suggested the word "dissolve" instead)
"They're going to get bigger because they'll absorb the soda." (that statement led to "I think they'll turn into grapes because raisins are just dried out grapes!)
"The water will turn purple because the color will come off the grapes. It's like putting a mix in water."

WOW!

Then came the questions.
"If we put the raisins in the bottle and shake the bottle,, will the raisins come shooting out?
"What if we used a different kind of soda?"
"Will water work the same as soda?"

I'm telling you, I couldn't have asked for a better group of scientists! Now that we had our predictions (we introduced the word 'hypothesis'), we recorded our thinking.
(pic)

Ready for the experiment? First step, pour soda in the cup. We stopped and observed and draw and wrote and talked about what we saw. Bubbles. Lots of bubbles. Where in the cup were they? How do you think they will affect the raisins? (Didn't remember to take pictures until the next step!)

Next, drop in the raisins! I added a little musical touch to this part by playing salsa music as we dropped in the raisins. If you're going to have dancing raisins, you might as well add some dance music! My kiddos oohed and aahed and laughed and watched as he raisins were covered in bubbles, lifted up to the top of the cup, stayed on the surface for a moment while some bubbles popped, and then drifted back down to the bottom to start all over again. Dancing raisins!

After more observing and drawing and writing we waited a bit to see what the raisins would do. They slowly sunk to the bottom of the cup and stayed there. Why? We noticed that there were a lot fewer bubbles in the soda than when we started. Fewer bubbles meant fewer dancing raisins.

We finished our recording by writing an explanation of what had happened. Then we returned to our predictions to see how each one worked out. We had some amazing scientific talk, had a chance to observe very carefully and had some fun in the process!

If you'd like to do the dancing raisins experiment with your class, you can download the sheets by clicking on the image below. You can also visit my store and take a look at my "Being a Scientist" resource to see how we started our unit.

My kiddos are so excited about everything science related now, and we have some great science vocabulary words to be able to use, as well. Throughout this introduction to science, I've used lots of great books to get my students excited and learn more about science. Head over to read PART 3: Being a Scientist to see some of the titles I use.