Our kitchen cabinet and the many common items found in it constituted the framework for this unit's focus on how matter behaves. Using everyday household substances, students learned about the properties of matter, physical changes, chemical changes, atoms, molecules, and reactions.
Is turning cream, sugar and vanilla into yummy ice cream a physical or chemical change? The students discussed this matter while munching on their own homemade ice cream. How about making pancakes? In our own "Chemical Change Cafe", students pondered the evidence for which kind of change occurs to make pancakes while the pancakes were cooking on the griddle. What about the maple syrup? Did the sliced strawberries that went on top undergo a chemical or physical change? These were among the hot topics that the class explored.
Chocolate chip cookies provided the centerpiece for a discussion on conservation of matter, while a whole host of substances found in the kitchen were used to understand the what acids and bases are.
This unit was a fun and tasty introduction to the amazing world of chemistry.
No comments:
Post a Comment