Week 12- Different Types of Properties

 What question are we investigating?

For the twelfth week of Science Methods I, we would continue with the question: “How can we support elementary students in learning about matter and its interactions?”. We also would look at the question “How do properties change when objects are broken into pieces?” We did this in small groups investigating different things for objects like sinking or floating and their mass. Then we would talk in a whole group about the different results we got to see the similarities and differences for it. This would help in lecture where we talked about the different properties like objects or substances. 

What did we do in lab to investigate this question?

The teacher started by explaining that we would get different objects like marble, play dough, and paper clips. He also would say we would have to record different things within these objects like mass, volume, or attractions to a magnet. This would be done in small groups and we started by seeing if the different objects sinked or floated. An example of this can be the marble sinking and the wood block floating. This would make my small group talk about if the mass had anything to pick which objects float or sink based on our initial observations with the first part. The second part we did is do the volume for different objects like play dough and crayon. This would be done by putting the object into a cylinder with water and to see how much it rose from the initial number. The third part was to put the objects like chalk on a scale and see how much mass it had. The fourth part would be to see if the object like a paper clip was able to conduct electricity with a battery with wires. The final part to do was to see if the different objects were attracted to a magnet. An example of something attracted to it would be a paper clip and a marble not being attracted to it. We would go back in a whole group and see the similarities or differences that people had based on their results. 

What did we figure out?

Another important part would be in the lecture and talking about the different types of properties. This would start by doing a probe and asking how to compare them based on their properties. The teacher then would explain the properties of a substance and the properties of an object. We would continue in small groups by talking about what we felt would be a property of a substance or a property of an object based on the probe. Then as a whole group we would create a list of the properties of a substance and an object. Some examples of a substance are electrical conductivity, color, reflectivity, and response to magnetic forces. While the objects are mass, temperature, length, and volume. This would allow us to go into the next part during lecture which would be how to do density. In small groups we would find out how to calculate density which is mass over volume and eventually do it as a whole group. It would make us as a whole group revisit the Coke Float and see the reason behind why the big original Coke sank while the others floated. 

What are new or remaining questions after the investigation? 

This lab taught me about the different types of properties and I got to see the different matters within objects. The reading also would help me to learn more about this concept from this part in the class. This would be done through talking about density and how someone is able to get it. This would help me when doing it in lecture as a small group and eventually in a whole group. One of the remaining questions that I continue to ask myself is what the differences are between the properties of a substance and an object after doing it in lecture.