Spotlight | Grade 4
Amazing Ice Lab
Grade 4 is studying Matter as an overarching topic in their current chapter; specifically, the properties of matter and how they can change both physically and chemically.
Grade 4 teacher, Mrs. Nell Fitchie, designed a 5-station lab including:
Dry Ice - they watched it change to a gas as soon as it came into contact with water.
Baking soda and vinegar - they mixed a half cup of baking soda and added vinegar which created a "boil over" type of reaction.
Alka Seltzer - they dropped a tab in water and watched it - "plop, plop, fizz, fizz..." you remember the jingle??
Ice cubes - Mrs. Fitchie set them out about an hour before, so they would be partially melted.
Matches - the compared the difference between an unlit match and one that was set afire.
At all of the stations listed above, they discussed whether the changes were physical or chemical, and the students had to describe the changes and explain why they answered the way they did.
“Reinforcing the concept of physical vs. chemical change with REAL, OBSERVABLE ingredients the students can touch, see, smell, etc is a way to make the concept stick in a concrete kind of way. Often, we approach these concepts in a more abstract sense, i.e., a discussion, pictures, or video, but for a Grade 4 mind often still making the transition from concrete thinking to abstract thinking, they need these kinds of activities to bridge the gap.
Also, a kinesthetic learning style cannot often understand a concept unless they have something tangible to connect and construct a new understanding. Taking what they have observed with their senses and asking them to put it on paper, takes prior knowledge from their senses and connects it to construct a new understanding of how to formulate a complete sentence.”
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