We agreed that our next best steps would be to figure out how water flows since our treated water may end up where we get our drinking water. But no one knew if water from the Chicago River flows into Lake Michigan, or if the lake flows into the river. This will make a BIG difference to us!
From there, a lot of students chimed in that they know that other rivers connect to the Chicago River, and some students even suggested that the Chicago River flows into other rivers. We even heard talk about water leading to the ocean.
So before we could figure all that stuff out, we agreed to figure out all about flow. Here's are the summaries between the two fifth grade classes about how we could investigate how water flows.
From there, a lot of students chimed in that they know that other rivers connect to the Chicago River, and some students even suggested that the Chicago River flows into other rivers. We even heard talk about water leading to the ocean.
So before we could figure all that stuff out, we agreed to figure out all about flow. Here's are the summaries between the two fifth grade classes about how we could investigate how water flows.
So both classes agreed to the following investigations:
1. Use a toy boat (like a wind-up toy) to see if boats make the water flow.
2. Use a straw/fan to mimic the wind, and see if that's what causes flowing water.
3. Build a river, and see how it flows.
Here are some still shots from what we saw today:
1. Use a toy boat (like a wind-up toy) to see if boats make the water flow.
2. Use a straw/fan to mimic the wind, and see if that's what causes flowing water.
3. Build a river, and see how it flows.
Here are some still shots from what we saw today:
We figured out that the toy boat (all we had access to was a toy scuba diver that moved) and the wind didn't really make the water flow, although it slightly influenced the water's direction. We also figured out that there must have been a time where there were no boats on any type of water way, and the water must still have flowed then. And the same is true for wind...while it influences the water, sometimes there's no wind and the water in the river still flows.
Building a riverbed with sand that Mrs. Brinza had didn't really do much either. So we were kind of stumped. How could we get the water in the river to move consistently, in one direction, and ultimately flow like the rivers we've all seen?
Building a riverbed with sand that Mrs. Brinza had didn't really do much either. So we were kind of stumped. How could we get the water in the river to move consistently, in one direction, and ultimately flow like the rivers we've all seen?
Someone suggested to raise one end of the container, and the moment we did that, the water from one end moved to the other end. Now there was only a limited amount of water in the container, so someone suggested we added more water, and we did. So there was four things we noticed: 1. The water did flow downwards, until it got stopped by the wall of the container. 2. We needed to add more water to see if it kept flowing (which it did). 3. Our container seemed kind of small, so we wanted to see what would happen on a larger scaled-model. 4. The sand seemed to be really absorbent of the water, and became super saturated, possibly affecting our results. |
So we all agreed that we should build a better model tomorrow to better represent this idea that hills/tilts/angles (or whatever students were calling them) are important in understanding how water flows.
We're not quite sure about the following:
1. What gets water to keep refilling the top (like where Mrs. Brinza poured the bucket of water from the bucket)?
2. Where does the water go from a river? Like where does it stop? Or lead to?
3. If water moves downwards, how can a river flow even it appears flat?
We're not quite sure about the following:
1. What gets water to keep refilling the top (like where Mrs. Brinza poured the bucket of water from the bucket)?
2. Where does the water go from a river? Like where does it stop? Or lead to?
3. If water moves downwards, how can a river flow even it appears flat?