SAVY Saturday, Week 2, Matter Mysteries, Elliott (1st-2nd)
What an exciting second week we’ve had at SAVY! We continued our journey into the world of matter and expanded our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of our universe.
This week, we kicked off with an observation lab to delve into the essence of being a scientist. Students participated in a hands-on activity where they used three of their senses—hearing, smell, and touch—to explore and identify the “mystery matter” concealed in a bag. This exercise was not only fun but also encouraged critical thinking and sensory involvement.
We began by revisiting the three states of matter—solid, liquid, and gas—and exploring how they transition from one to another. The class reviewed how matter changes states through processes such as melting, freezing, condensation, vaporization, sublimation, and deposition. Temperature and pressure play a key role in these transformations. To see this in action, students observed water heating and evaporating before cooling and condensing. As a fun (and delicious) demonstration, they also enjoyed a chocolate treat that melted in their mouths!
- Melting: Solid to liquid
- Freezing: Liquid to solid
- Vaporization: Liquid to gas
- Condensation: Gas to liquid
- Sublimation: Solid to gas
- Deposition: Gas to solid
To their surprise, students discovered that matter can sometimes exist in more than one state simultaneously. This rare phenomenon was demonstrated through our exploration of non-Newtonian fluids. We had a blast (and a bit of a mess!) creating Oobleck, a unique substance that behaves like both a solid and a liquid.
In the latter part of our day, we shifted focus to the concepts of mass and volume. Students learned the key differences between weight and mass. We clarified that mass refers to the amount of matter in an object, which remains constant, whereas weight is the force exerted on that object by gravity. Students also discovered that volume is the amount of space that an object takes up and can be calculated through a formula of length x width x height or displacement. To reinforce these concepts, students engaged in hands-on activities, measuring the weight, mass, and volume of various objects.
To further enrich your child’s understanding of these concepts, consider the following activities:
- Read: Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss, which is a delightful story that ties in perfectly with our exploration of Oobleck.
- Watch: Bill Nye The Science Guy: Phases of Matter. This educational episode is available on Amazon Prime or YouTube and provides a fun, engaging way to reinforce what we covered in class.
Thank you for your continued support and encouragement. We look forward to another week of discovery, learning, and more matter mysteries.