What a week it has been! Somedays I can't believe I get paid to do what I do. The lesson I was teaching this week dealt with temperature impact on the viscosity of liquids. The students understood flow rate as well as viscosity in terms of things being thick (very viscous like ketchup) or thin (no viscous like water).
I began the inquiry based lesson by placing three students with turkey baster in hand along with a sample of corn syrup. The goal of the competition was to cover the the outside of an inverted bowl with the liquid. The three students each had a different sample (one was cold, the second was at room temperature and the thirds was warm). What a race it was. I was so caught up in the action I forgot to take some pictures...The smiles were priceless!
The pictures I did include are from the lesson where they constructed their own viscometer (Styrofoam cup) and calculated the flow rate of three oil samples. As you can tell from the shots I have a small class. The students were all engaged, talking about their observations and relating science to their own life. This activity added so much meaning of viscosity. Their scientific literacy skills also improved because of the context the lesson was presented in.
Have a great week!
