As scientists, students agreed that in order to see if our lake changes, we'll need to track the changes over time. Besides qualitative observations, students will also be recording the weight of their lakes over time. For starters, we agreed to leave the covers on our lakes to see if there are any changes, and we will soon take off the covers to see what happens. Don't forget--we're trying to explain why these ships ended up in a field. As scientists, we can't visit the actual lake, so building and studying model lakes in our classroom will be a close second!
We also are digging deeper into understanding the difference between weight and volume. We compared two materials in our lakes (water and sand) and discovered that even though we measured the same weight of the materials, they took up quite a different amount of space, indicating that they had different volumes for the same mass. This is introducing the concept of density as "heavy for size." Sand is heavy for size since it occupies less space for the same mass. Therefore, sand is more dense than water, and therefore, it sinks!
We also are digging deeper into understanding the difference between weight and volume. We compared two materials in our lakes (water and sand) and discovered that even though we measured the same weight of the materials, they took up quite a different amount of space, indicating that they had different volumes for the same mass. This is introducing the concept of density as "heavy for size." Sand is heavy for size since it occupies less space for the same mass. Therefore, sand is more dense than water, and therefore, it sinks!
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