Week 12

 

What did you learn this week?

Although I was sick this week and wasn’t able to attend class, I was able to catch up by reviewing the slides posted on ICON and talking with my table mates. From that, I learned about different experiments we can do with future students to help them develop an understanding of matter. Even though matter can be a complex topic, we broke it down into smaller concepts like sink or float, volume, mass, magnetism, and electricity. For each object we observed, we conducted simple tests to explore those properties, making it easier for students to visualize and understand each phenomenon.

How can you apply what you learned to what you already know?
I remember doing similar experiments as a kid, like testing whether things float or sink, or whether something is magnetic or conducts electricity. What’s different now is that I understand why these things happen. For example, I learned that mass can be a factor in whether something floats. I also learned how to help students go beyond just observing—by guiding them to think about what’s happening and why. Taking notes and tracking each object’s reactions to different tests helped make those connections clearer.

What questions do you still have?
One thing I’m still wondering about is why wax appeared to be magnetic. In our experiment, the wax stuck to the magnet several times, which was surprising. What materials are in wax that could cause it to be magnetic? Is it the wax itself or something that was added to it?