So we came to an agreement from sharing our models that we could represent the dissolved salt, sugar and citric acid as pieces. We know that each ingredient got smaller and smaller when it entered the water, and that we could eventually NOT see it anymore, and all our tests yesterday gave us evidence that they were still there.
But one thing we were stumped on is the vinegar. We don't really know how to show that it was there because we couldn't see any pieces under the microscope, so we left it as one big blob like the water.
So Mrs. Brinza helped students change their 2D thinking into 3D thinking. She brought out the base-10 blocks and built something similar to this picture:
But one thing we were stumped on is the vinegar. We don't really know how to show that it was there because we couldn't see any pieces under the microscope, so we left it as one big blob like the water.
So Mrs. Brinza helped students change their 2D thinking into 3D thinking. She brought out the base-10 blocks and built something similar to this picture:
Building water as one big blob makes sense for how we actually see a cup of water, but it doesn't make sense for how water actually behaves and for how an ingredient like salt, reacts with it. In our model on the left, the salt (represented by orange pieces), sits on top. This is NOT what it does when it enters the water. When it enters the water, it's able to move through the water. Through a thoughtful discussion, we realized that the water must be in pieces in order to let the salt through. It also made sense to have water be pieces because that's the only explanation for how it fit through a coffee filter when we were trying to get out the other stuff.
We tried to represent everything we've learned about this stuff we can't see and how water behaves in a model below. Here is our work!
We tried to represent everything we've learned about this stuff we can't see and how water behaves in a model below. Here is our work!