We have begun our very first Open University course this week. It is ideal for home educators, and involves simple household equipment. This is the link if you are interested in joining in:
This was our Potato experiment. Trying to work out the water content of a potato. We discovered this potato was fully dehydrated after 6 minutes of cooking in the microwave, when it promptly burst into flames. Using simple calculations derived from the mass difference we established that the potato had a water content of 90% This was the children's first experience of using a simple xy axis analysis graph.
In the next experiment we looked at what happens to cucumber when allowed to rest in saline solution and distilled water. We were left with a flabby and lighter cucumber slice in the saline and a denser heavier cucumber slice in the distilled water. We have yet to discover why....
We have begun our very own field journal, where notetaking is made. Quite exciting to have something like what the researchers use. We look forward to the next 3 weeks of the course, and probably courses in the future on other subjects.
When looking over the results and the notes we discovered that we were learning about the process of Osmosis and how liquids like to be at an quilibrium but if there is a semi permeable membrane in the way there is a possibility that the liquids cannot pass through from one place to another because the size of the parts are too big - we used a sieve and a colander to demonstrate this on a practical level.
This week we learned about properties of solids and liquids, and their corresponding densities. Using an ice tray and some liquids as well as a freezer. See the picture below for our results.
We learned that whilst water in its solid state (ice) decreases in density, and therefore floats, this is due to the hexagonal structure that is created when it freezes which takes up more room than the water molecules in their liquid form. This is, however, unique to water, and is not found in other liquids, whose solids would sink in their liquid form. Sadly, as both the extra liquids we chose were water-based - despite my best efforts to persuade them to use other liquids, we only saw this difference in Olive Oil. The demonstration on video showed this happen with honey though, so the children witnessed this, even though it was secondhand.
This week we are looking at conditions necessary for living and thriving. We are doing this with really basic organisms - yeast.
This was our Potato experiment. Trying to work out the water content of a potato. We discovered this potato was fully dehydrated after 6 minutes of cooking in the microwave, when it promptly burst into flames. Using simple calculations derived from the mass difference we established that the potato had a water content of 90% This was the children's first experience of using a simple xy axis analysis graph.
We have begun our very own field journal, where notetaking is made. Quite exciting to have something like what the researchers use. We look forward to the next 3 weeks of the course, and probably courses in the future on other subjects.
When looking over the results and the notes we discovered that we were learning about the process of Osmosis and how liquids like to be at an quilibrium but if there is a semi permeable membrane in the way there is a possibility that the liquids cannot pass through from one place to another because the size of the parts are too big - we used a sieve and a colander to demonstrate this on a practical level.
WEEK 2
This week we learned about properties of solids and liquids, and their corresponding densities. Using an ice tray and some liquids as well as a freezer. See the picture below for our results.
We learned that whilst water in its solid state (ice) decreases in density, and therefore floats, this is due to the hexagonal structure that is created when it freezes which takes up more room than the water molecules in their liquid form. This is, however, unique to water, and is not found in other liquids, whose solids would sink in their liquid form. Sadly, as both the extra liquids we chose were water-based - despite my best efforts to persuade them to use other liquids, we only saw this difference in Olive Oil. The demonstration on video showed this happen with honey though, so the children witnessed this, even though it was secondhand.
WEEK 3
This week we are looking at conditions necessary for living and thriving. We are doing this with really basic organisms - yeast.
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