Monday, October 29, 2012

How is the Mass and Volume of Matter Measured?

Today our young scientists participated in a science lab to answer the essential question, How can mass and volume be measured? 

To get started,  students had to make a hypothesis about which has more mass a crayon or a pencil. Then, using a pan balance with gram weights, they had to measure the mass of each. 

After that, they made a hypothesis on whether a marble or a seashell had more mass, and then measured the mass of each. (When the groups analyze their data, they will realize that the mass of all the marbles in the class are the same, however the mass of the seashell changes. The smaller the seashell the less the mass, the bigger the seashell, the larger the mass.)

Furthermore, students made a prediction about the volume of two cups of liquid, and then used a graduated cylinder to measure each volume.  (The red liquid was in a tall narrow glass and the blue liquid was in a small wide glass. Each contained 150 mL of colored water.)




Students were surprised to discover that they could also find the volume of a solid. An object's volume is the amount of space the object takes up. To find the volume of a solid, like the marble and the seashell, students used water displacement. They put 100 mL of water in a graduated cylinder, then gently dropped the solid in the water. The volume is recorded by the number of mL of water that was displaced, or moved. 


Tomorrow, we will have Closing Session where students will have to compare and then explain their results. By the end of Science Workshop tomorrow, students will be able to tell how the mass of matter is measured, and how the volume of a solid and liquid is measured.

5 comments:

  1. I loved measuring the mass of an object and measuring the volume of liquids in class today.
    From, Gavin B.

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  2. I loved seeing your scientists at work!

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  3. Super science! Loved that they learned to measure the volume of a solid by using water displacement. It's amazing to see the depth of the science lessons in 3rd grade.
    Lourdes

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  4. It was so fun in science measuring the volume of a marble and a seashell.
    We also had fun weighing things such as a pencil.
    Nicole

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  5. Okay...so Im just getting back on here to see what amazing things you are teaching my little Kati~and others! I am thrilled to see all of the examples and charts for math..students are so loving school and learning so much from ALL of YOU! Thank you for making learning fun with tons of rigor!! WOW!!! Love Kim

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by our blog. We love reading your comments and/or questions. If you are a student in our class, please remember to choose "anonymous" and write your name (first names ONLY) along with your comment. For example, you might write something like: "I really loved our most recent science experiment because... From, Ashley."