Relative Size :: Wordless Wednesday

Adapted from Scale the Universe #44 by TOPS Learning Systems

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Effervescence :: Inquiry in Action

Inspiration struck me the other day while we were enjoying our lunch - Buddy and I had selected sushi while Sweetie, not one inclined to eat fish of any sort, selected mini toasts with an assortment of cheeses and sliced meats.  Once in a while, I allow the kiddos to share a soda with their lunch and this day was one of those occasions.  I asked them to observe the little bubbles that were rising up and asked if they knew what they were.  Sweetie replied, "I think they are carbon dioxide gas escaping into the air."  

"You are right!" I explained.  "Each bubble we see in the soda is a collection of carbon dioxide gas.  Carbonated beverages like soda are made by dissolving large amounts of CO2 in flavored water.  This excess amount of CO2 is able to stay in the liquid because it is pushed with high pressure into the bottle (or can) and then immediately sealed.  The  bubbles that are rising in the soda re escaping CO2."    

I then asked them what they thought would happen if I were to drop a teaspoon of salt (NaCl) into the soda.  Buddy hypothesized, "The salt will sink down to the bottom of the glass and  push some of the bubbles up."  Indeed, that was our result.  I then asked them to sketch their observations / set-up ... here is Sweetie's journal page:

I talked to them about what was taking place during this reaction. NaCl and CO2  are both examples of matter and matter takes up space.  When the salt is added to the soda, it pushes the bubbles of carbon dioxide out of its way. These bubbles rise to the top bringing small amounts of the flavored water (soda) with them.  This movement of the gas forms the foam on the top of the liquid.  Replacing a gas with another substance is called effervescence.  In other words, effervescence is created by dissolving a gas in a liquid and then adding a soluble solid (salt).  

As I explained this to the munchkins, they came up with their own experiment question, "What about sugar then? and flour?  Will they make the soda foam up too?"  "Let's find out!" I replied.  Indeed, sugar worked!  We didn't have enough soda (I didn't want to open another can) to test other solids .. but I promised them we could continue this experiment again.

What intrigues me about this activity is that it is one that is frequently found in science experiment books for children, like Janice VanCleave's Chemistry for Every Kid.   While these books are excellent introductions to science ... they are not considered true INQUIRY by science standards.   The National Science Education Standards (NSES p.23) defines scientific inquiry as "the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and props explanations based on the evidence derived from their work.  Scientific inquiry also refers to the activities through which students develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, as well as an understanding of how scientists study the natural world."


The activities in these books are great hands-on activities that help to demonstrate key scientific processes or concepts yet they are not true inquiry.  This is one of my biggest pet-peeves or frustrations with curricula and books targeted for parents.  Parents must use caution, therefore, when considering these for use in science fairs.  However, most of the activities can easily be adapted or modified ... by applying inquiry processes ... to achieve the goals and standards set by NSTA and/or the state benchmarks.  


I've always said that if the student can phrase their experimental question, to fit the pattern:  How does ________ affect ________ ?  then they are all on their way to developing a successful inquiry project that will do well in a traditional science fair.

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Our Discovery of Electrolysis

Late last week, we began a chemistry unit ... yet, I don't think I've seen the kids more excited and turned on about a subject before.  Particularly, Sweetie - who just two days ago checked out 4 books on specific elements (Tin, Aluminum, Zinc, and Lead), a fun introductory book to the periodic table (The Periodic Table by Adrian Dingle), as well as a book of fun experiments.  She has already read 3 of them!

One of the first experiments we undertook enabled us to observe the process of hydrogen electrolysis to separate the elements in water .. hydrogen and oxygen ... into their gaseous state.  The setup was very simple and the kids were ecstatic with what they observed.  We had to look closely ... as the bubbles were small ... but we indeed could see the accumulation of oxygen gas (O2) and hydrogen gas (H2) on the electrodes (we used two pencil leads, a polymer carbon, not the element we know of as Lead).

As we all know, the chemical formula for water is H2O, meaning there are twice as many hydrogen molecules as oxygen molecules.  When electricity is introduced to water, the molecules split with hydrogen gas (H2) appearing at the cathode.  Since there are more hydrogen molecules than oxygen molecules in water, the electrode that the hydrogen goes to will have more bubbles.

 

[ Admin Note:  I was able to find two diagrams that illustrate this process - however, you may wish to flip one image horizontally so that the cathodes are on the same side of the image (as they are shown, the images are criss-crossed). ]

The image shown below is of Buddy's journal entry.  As they are young yet, I didn't discuss with them the process of reduction or oxidation.  Our focus was simply to understand that by passing a current of electricity through the water, we could separate the atoms of water to get a pure element.  

I have been reading aloud Kathleen Krull's Marie Curie (Giants of Science) and through much of the book, it discusses that Marie and her husband Pierre worked tirelessly to isolate radium from a complex compound called Pitchblende.  This simple electrolysis experiment gave the kiddos a small window through which they could understand this process.  

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Nature Journaling & Heritage Courses Now Available

For the past year, I have been teaching a course called Alien Invaders through the Heritage Institute whereby the participants are able to familiarize themselves with the native and non-native species (both plants and animals) in their local area while customizing lessons and projects for their unique professional situation.  Whether that may be a K-12 public, private, or homeschool setting.  I have enjoyed the process so much and have not only broadened my own awareness of invasive species, but have also learned a great deal about teaching adults.


I am excited to share that I now have two additional online courses available, Discover Your Heritage and Nature Journaling in the Classroom.   Discover Your Heritage is course designed to help elementary educators develop an integrated heritage unit for his/her classroom. The purpose of this course is to promote and to preserve the heritage and culture of one’s ancestry and to celebrate our relationship with other countries.   Nature Journaling in the Classroom  was developed to help classroom teachers integrate nature journaling into their art and science curriculum. University credit is available for all three via
Antioch University Seattle.

The Heritage Institute offers continuing education for teachers, revitalizing the enthusiasm for their calling in the more than 3,000 educators they reach annually.  Through workshops, field courses, global travel studies and distance courses, the content offered by the adjunct faculty (myself included) becomes a vehicle to learn about whom we are, our relationships to everything around us, the beauty in the world, our connection and obligation to our communities and the larger whole.  The philosophy to “educate for humanity and the world we want” considers character more important than content, and the development of whole human beings above simple knowledge.

• ALIEN INVADERS: All About Invasive Species 
• DISCOVER YOUR HERITAGE 
• NATURE JOURNALING IN THE CLASSROOM 

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How They Croaked :: Book Review

We have been reading a series of books by Kathleen Krull called the Giants of Science.  While looking for the one on Marie Curie at our library (it was mis-shelved and we'd asked the librarian for assistance), the librarian recommended another book, How They Croaked: They Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous.  Many of the famous people portrayed in the book, we've covered in our history studies so we were intrigued and we quick to bring it home with us.  We've read several chapters thus far and have found ourselves giggling and simultaneously wrinkling our noses.


The book specifically looks at the lives and unpleasant ends of some of the worlds most famous people including: King Tut, Cleopatra, Henry VIII, Pocahontas, George Washington, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Darwin.  While it is definitely not for the squeamish, Bragg's light-hearted take on the subject keeps things moving while convincing the modern reader to be very grateful for modern medicine.  The illustrations by Kevin O'Malley were also engaging, encouraging the little guy to grasp the book to look for smaller details.  Some of the double entendres were lost on the munchkins but we all found it educational and entertaining.

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Our Top Ten Homeschool Apps

Project Noah


This is by far one of my favorite apps and websites of all time. It takes the social platform of Facebook and applies it to real-world science ... connecting nature enthusiasts from all over the globe. Project Noah has quickly become one of the most popular communities for nature exploration and documentation.  Post pictures of the plants & animals you observe, browse and enjoy the nature photography of others, learn to identify species, and earn patches!

Google Translate

I am passionate about languages.  I am fluent in Spanish and am currently learning Norwegian and Mandarin (picking up phrases and vocabulary from the munchkins). As such, I find this app to be a very useful tool.  With Google Translate, I can toggle between languages ... many of which also have audio, allowing me to speak phrases and/or hear the translation spoken aloud.  I can also save key phrases I may want again.  With this app, you can translate words and phrases between more than 60 languages.

Awesome Note +2Do


As the name implies, Awesome Note is for creating notes and to-do lists. Of all the personal organization apps available, Awesome Note is one of the most visually compelling, letting users choose which colors, background images, fonts, and icons they want to use in their notes.  It allows you to import photos, password protect files, and choose between several note categories (to do list, calendar, memo, etc.).  I use this app in homeschool in many ways ... 

1. List the animals we've observed while on a nature outing
2. Record cute things the munchkins say
3. List the blog posts I intend / hope to write
4. List project ideas - for the munchkins and/or just myself
5. Take notes while attending naturalist/docent guided field trips
6. As a travel diary - quickly journaling what we do each day
7. List movies we want to see & books we want to read
8. Create my Christmas list

Clue Tracker

We love to Letterbox and Geocache.  I don't always remember to plan ahead (aghast!) and print off clues for new areas.  This is where Clue Tracker comes in.  Clue Tracker is a location-aware app that makes it easy to find and use letterbox clues.  Of course, it will function only in areas with reception ... so you may still need to print the clues of boxes hidden in more isolated / rural areas. 

Geocaching

Similarly, we also love the Geocaching app from Grounspeak. 

Geocaching is similar to Letterboxing in that it is a treasure hunting game ... however, Geocaching is high-tech requiring adventure seekers to equip themselves with GPS devices.  We use our iPhone ... again, signal dependent but thus far, it has served our needs well. 

Goodreads

I read a lot.  It is one of my favorite pastimes.  I used to keep lists of books in my journal.  Goodreads has changed all that.  Now my lists are online and I can share my favorite books easily with my friends.  The app enables me to use the site while on-the-go ... and as a homeschool mom, we all know how often that is.  We should really call it car-schooling.   Sweetie even has an account of her own now!

Stopwatch

This is a very basic app ... simply a stopwatch that shows time on a digital display as well as on an analog clock face.  We've used Stopwatch for many science labs.  I can never seem to find our real stopwatch ... and the few times I have, the batteries have not functioned.  Since this app is integrated into my smart-phone, I always have it with me and we've thereby done some experiments on-the-fly. 

Pinyin Trainer

We have numerous apps for learning Mandarin.  We have been using Pinyin Trainer the most recently as we are reviewing our pronunciation skills.   No matter if you are a beginner or a long-time student of Chinese, its tonal nature requires you brush up on your skills every now and then.  Pinyin Trainer has almost 2,000 audio recordings and a variety of question/answer drills to keep you on your toes.

  

Stack the Countries /  States 

Two similar game-playing apps whereby you are asked trivia questions: "Boise is the capital of what state?"  "Which state has the abbreviation CO?"  "Which of these states is Alabama?"  When you answer the questions correctly, the states stack up on the bottom of the screen and you earn points.  The kids love it!  

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Fun Input Toy :: Tech Review

My daughter has been learning Mandarin for several years now and in all this time, when we wanted to write something in her second language, we would use iGoogle translate and then copy/paste.  This tool was sufficient for a beginner but as her skills advanced and as she wanted to write more, it was time consuming.  We also began to discover difference in the translations - not being familiar enough with the language, we weren't sure if the characters we were given were simply variations or were indeed errors.

Recently, our Mandarin teacher suggested a free program called  Fun Input Toy or FIT.  It took a little time to install the software as instructions are all in Mandarin characters.  Believing that I had done something incorrectly, I actually downloaded it three times before I realized what I had neglected to do.
[ Admin Note: If you are interested in downloading this software yourself,  just let me know and I can email you screen images and instructions to install it.  FYI - The link provided here, is for Mac-Lion OS. ]

When we want to type in Mandarin now, we simply switch the keyboard to Simplified Chinese and type the pinyin.  As we do so, characters pop up and we can select the one we want efficiently.  FIT has provided us with a great way to practice her Mandarin reading/writing skills. She now enjoys writing little books to practice here vocabulary as well as integrate her skills with Photoshop and Pages.

While playing with this tool, we also discovered that we have the ability to switch to other languages as well, including Norwegian and Spanish.

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