And that's a wrap!  Students used all the data from their chemical tests to determine the identities of FIVE mystery substances!  Way to go 5th grade!

​After all of our tests, fifth graders have worked hard to summarize all their findings, both at the chemical level and at the test level.  We'll be using the evidence to support claims regarding each of the chemical's identities.  

We also integrated technology, and students created their own Google Slides Presentations to share this information with others.  



Here are three student's work!  Way to go!

With more chemical tests underway, we're discovering that each of the five mystery chemicals has unique chemical properties.  Each of the chemicals responded differently to the red cabbage juice, iodine, and heat.  We've even looked deeper at the mathematics involved in heating a chemical.  Students wondered what would happen if we also cooled the chemicals, too!

Our water and filtration tests certainly revealed some really interesting things about our five mystery chemicals! Some of them reacted with water and dissolved, breaking the pieces of the chemicals down so small they became "invisible" to our eyes and passed through a filter.  We saw evidence of the chemicals' presence the next day when the water evaporated and crystals remained in the petri dishes.

Some of the chemicals didn't dissolve, and when we attempted to pass them through the filter, we noticed they couldn't pass through.

Now having access to vinegar, we're curious how each of the chemicals reacts to vinegar.  What will the vinegar test reveal???

​THIS!

We added more questions to our Driving Question Board and agreed that the next best investigation would be to add more than the 6 drops.  We agreed to 10 mL!

We're discovering all kinds of interesting phenonmena...and are seeing how these events can help identify each of the mystery chemicals.  Our first test revealed that the red chemical dissolved.  But what does it mean for a chemical to dissolve? We'll be working on the practice of modeling to explain this!

After learning about our mystery chemical's physical and chemical properties, we're digging deeper into our five mystery chemicals.  Each of the chemicals has its own unique properties, yet they all share one physical property in common--they're white!

Just how can we tell the difference between them?  We looked at texture, noise, and odor to name a few.  Our next steps will be to see if there are any unique chemical properties between them!

So as fifth graders dig deeper into understanding the basics of chemistry, they are discovering that not all chemicals have the same properties.  Taking our mystery chemical, students decided to add water to it to see how it reacted.  The results surprised them for sure, discovering new properties about the substance!

We'll be using the ideas behind developing investigations and analyzing data to help us state claims about what each mystery chemical is.  It's certainly exciting in our classroom!

We kicked off our Chemical Tests Unit by working with a mystery chemical.  Learning about physical and chemical properties, students are recognizing that each chemical has unique properties that help with its identification.  Over the course of the unit, students will develop investigations and analyze their findings to identify five mystery chemicals.

They'll then communicate their findings using the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning model we've been working on since the beginning of the year.  Fifth graders are certainly walking the walk and talking the talk of scientists!