Science Demonstration

Please click on the attachment below to view the science demonstration.

Rationale

DPI Standards:

Standard 3, Indicator 2

Standard 15, Indicator 1

Context-

            For this assignment, I picked out, planned, practiced, and presented a science demonstration that would be appropriate for an elementary classroom setting.  This demonstration was supposed to be around 5 minutes when presented to an after school program at ASU.  My goal for this demonstration was to gather children’s interest in science and get them thinking about how things work.

            For my demonstration, I showed students how oil and water do not mix when poured into the same bottle.  I made sure to ask students why this happened.  Some of them knew about density and some didn’t.  After pouring the liquids in, I added food coloring.  This added color, but also showed students that the coloring didn’t mix with the oil either.  Before shaking up the bottle, I added crumbles of Alka-Seltzer tablets.  This caused the water to bubble up through the oil and to the top of the water.  The bubbles created from the Alka-Seltzer released air once they reached the top of the bottle.  The color droplets dropped back down to the water section of the mixture in the bottle.  Once the demonstration was finished, we talked about density, what it means, and how it affects the world around us.   

Impact-

            This demonstration allowed me to get in front of a class and perform a science demonstration.  The demonstration can be used in any classroom that might be studying density.  I hope to use this demonstration in my own classroom in the future. 

Alignment-

            This demonstration allowed me to meet many DPI standards.  Standard 3, Indicator 2 states that teachers should have knowledge of basic physical science concepts.  This demonstration can be used to teach density and density is a basic physical science concept.  Standard 15, Indicator 1 states that teachers should encourage underrepresented groups to engage in the schooling process, including science, by utilizing community resources and use relevant and real-world applications that interest a diverse population.  I meet this standard by performing this science demonstration in front of an after school program.  I also used materials that are found in the real world.  Water and oil is all around us and students might wonder why they do not mix.