Changing materials
Lesson: Science
Year 6 are starting a new topic examining the properties of materials. Over the course of unit we hope to identify different states of matter and how they can be useful to us. We also hope to investigate how materials can be combined and separated.
Our first investigation examined conductivity. During the lesson we tested which materials were best at transferring heat and thought about why this would be useful. During our second investigation we measured how some materials can prevent the transfer of heat and examined which was best at keeping something warm. This required taking accurate measurements and making sure to work as a class to share our findings.
Our second experiment examined dissolving. During the lesson we tested which materials dissolved in water and what what actually happened to a substance when it dissolved. We discovered that the size of a substance didn't always help us to predict what dissolved and what didn't.
In our third experiment we studied evaporation. We created a salt solution by dissolving salt in water. We then separated our solution by heating our solution until the water started to evaporate. After the water had evaporated we were left with the salt which had originally dissolved but not disappeared.
In our final lesson this term we had to use the our knowledge of materials in order to separate a mixture of salt, sand, rice, metal fillings and rock. Each group were given a funnel, filter paper, a magnet, water, a jam jar, a candle, tin foil, cling film, a sieve and 5 Petri dishes. In order to succeed, each group had to use the magnet to separate the filings. They then had to use the sieve and their hands to separate the rice and the rock. The sieve was essential to sort the rice as there were too many grains to separate manually. After that, each group was left with the salt and sand. To separate, the teams dissolved the salt in water and allowed the sand to settle at the bottom of the solution. They then used the filter paper to separate the salt solution properly from the sand. Finally the groups had to use the tin foil and candle to separate the salt from the water. The groups heated the solution and the water began to evaporate. In order to capture the water vapour we used the cling film to cool and condense it back into a liquid. This was less successful but still a lot of fun!
more to follow...
