Oksana’s Science Blog

 This week in science we did a really cool experiment that goes with what we have been doing in prior weeks. The experiment that we did this week was seeing how different factors can affect a single thing or group of things.  We first learned about how the thing we were testing, which was M&M's, are made up of different chemical compounds. For example, the candy shell on the outside of the chocolate is different from the chocolate in the inside. We also learned how to make predictions and claims to back up the evidence of our experiment. Prior to the experiment, we tested out how the candies react to regular water. We recorded how these two react with one another, which was that the candy shell would dissolve when in the water, then we set up our next experiment. Our next experiment consisted of testing out if the M&M would dissolve their candy outer shell faster with regular water or sugar water.  Here are some photos from our experiment:  Testing the M&...

 This week in science we did another really fun hands on experiment for our lab portion of class. And in lecture we talked about some different chemistry type ideas.  In lab, we did a longer experiment where we had to test different objects to see if the sank, floated, and conducted electricity. We also recorded their mass and volume while conducting the other portions of our experiment.  I liked this experiment a lot, it was really fun and not something that we get to do all the time! It also was fun because I had done an experiment like this one when I was in elementary school and we always had a blast getting to do hands on activities. It also made me feel like a kid again which was awesome. I also really liked doing this again so that when I do an experiment like this with my future students I know how to conduct it and help my students when they need it.  Here's a photo I took of one of my group members and I testing out which materials conduct electricity. We h...

 This week in science we did something different than we usually do. We actually got two new teachers this week. These two teachers will be teaching the chemistry section of our course.  In lab, we did a few new things. We made name tents and then were introduced to what we are going to do in class that day but also what we should expect the next five weeks of the semester.  After we discussed all these different things, we then started to do some different experiments around the room. We started with an experiment with M&M's and water. This experiment was really fun and awesome because we got to eat the candy. The purpose of this experiment was for us to practice writing down observations, questions, and evidence to our findings.  After this experiment we went around to different tables and did a few different ones for the remainder of class. It was really fun doing the experiments and getting to write down our observations, questions, and reasonings.  Over...