ART IN PHYSICS - preparation and evaluation of lesson in Bulgaria

Art in Physics

Teaching: An effective key to self-learning This project was funded by European Union.

PRESENTATION AND EVALUATION OF THE LESSON

• In September our team decided to teach Physics in Bulgaria

• We made a research: we studied books, the Internet, YouTube and talked with teachers.

• We chose experiments with water, oil and food dye to demonstrate surface tension, density and dissolvement.

Part 1 – Why Art in Physics?

We used Facebook chat to learn the experiments. First our teacher posted motivation pictures:

Our teacher sent us tutorials and other materials for the lesson.

We also used Facebook to learn the physical laws which are demonstrated in our experiments. Ámal was very good at the discussions.

Then we practiced experimentsourselves.

Ámal decided to practice his experiment at home. He did not have a food dye. But he remembered that it could be replaced. He used Acryl colour.

Growing interest in the experiments

When he ran out of the cheap oil, he used expensive oilto finish his experiment. Feedback from Ámal: „It was satisfying to see how thecolours are blending into each other in various shapes.“

Bára tried her experiment at home too. In the first photo she sprinkled the salt slowly and in the second photo she added the salt quickly. She observed the differences in the reaction between oil and water.Feedback from Bára: „When I added the red colour, only the water went red. And when I added the second colour, both colours mixed in water together. And it made a nice new colour.“

Rehearsal in class 6.A13 October 2016

Rehearsal in class 6.A13 October 2016

Rehearsal in class 5.B17 October 2016

Part 2 – OUTCOME for MANUAL • Title: ART IN PHYSICS• Subject: Science – Chemistry Target age: 10 - 11 Time: 1 lesson• Goal: To raise interest in physical laws• Objectives:• To introduce experiments with liquids • To demonstrate surface tension of liquids• To explain density of liquids• To demonstrate the scientific principles of immiscible liquids

(liquids that won’t mix)

Lesson plan1) Introduction of the team and project 5´2) Science Show – all experiments 5´3) Dividing into 6 groups, preparing desks and

supplies 5´4) Experiments in groups with worksheets 20´5) Conclusions – revision, checking understanding

5´6) Feedback, cleaning 5´

1) BEGINNINNG of the lesson

• The first activity was introduction of our team• After this our team shortly introduced the topic of

the lesson which is based on experiments with liquids.

Lukáš presents experiment with pepper (class 5. B)

2) Motivation - Science Show Experiment 1a

What you need: a plate or a bowl, water, ground pepper, toothpicks, washing-up liquid

Instructions:1

Pour water in a plate. Then sprinkle a thin layer of ground pepper on the

surface.

2Place a toothpick in the water and watch what

happens. Is it covered with pepper?

Pepper grains do not move away if a clean toothpick touches water surface sprinkled with ground pepper.

Instructions:3

Dip a toothpick in washing-up liquid. Then touch the middle of the water with

the stick´s tip.

4As the washing-up liquid touches the water, watch

the grains of pepper. What happens to them?

Pepper grains instantly disperse to the sides of the bowl if a toothpick is dipped in washing-up liquid.

Explanation: SURFACE TENSION• We explored how liquid molecules pull each other

together. We learnt about surface tension.• Surface tension describes the attraction or adhesion

of molecules to one another on the surface of a liquid.

• The surface of the water is like a stretchy elastic skin on top of the water.

• The surface tension is broken by the washing-up liquid and it snaps away quickly.

• As the water molecules try to straighten up again, they quickly move to the sides of the bowl, and the pepper moves with them.

Adéla presents experiment with milk(class 6. A)

2) Motivation - Science Show Experiment 1b

What you need: a plate or a bowl, fat milk, food dyes, toothpicks or cotton buds, washing-up liquid

Instructions:

1Pour milk in a plate or a

bowl. About a half.

2Then add two or three

drops of liquid food dye in different places. Use several

colours if you have them.

Drops of food colour do not mix with milk easily. Fat milk is better then skimmed milk for this experiment.

Instructions:3

Touch the colour spots with a clean toothpick or

a cotton bud.

4Place a toothpick in the washing-up liquid and then touch the colour.

The food colour moves away if we touch it with a stick covered with washing-up liquid. The different colours mix.

Explanation: SURFACE TENSION• Surface tension is an interesting concept, like

molecules like to stick together. • Milk has surface tension, just like water, but

unlike water, it is high in fat and is solid coloured.

• As the dye is less dense, it does not mix into the milk unless stirred. It remains separate.

• Washing-up liquid breaks down the fat of the milk and decreases the surface tension in milk.

Adéla presents experiment with oil (class 6. A)

2) Motivation - Science Show Experiment 1c

What you need: a plate, vegetable oil, food dye, toothpicks, or cotton buds, washing-up liquid

Instructions:

1Pour oil in a plate or a bowl.

About a half.

2Then add two or three

drops of liquid food dye in different places. Use several

colours if you have them.

Drops of food colour do not mix with oil. Food dye is mixed with water and is heavier then oil. Drops go down.

Instructions:3

Touch the colour spots with a clean toothpick or

a cotton bud.

4Place a toothpick in the washing-up liquid and then touch the colour.

The food colour moves away only a little if we touch it with a stick covered with washing-up liquid.

Explanation: SURFACE TENSION• Surface tension is an interesting concept.

Molecules like to stick together. • Oil has surface tension, just like water and milk. • As the food dye is less dense, it does not mix

into the oil unless stirred. It remains separate. • Water food dye is heavier then oil. The drops of

colour slowly goes down.• Washing-up liquid decreases the surface

tension in oil and breaks the fat. The colour mix with oil but not as much as in milk.

Barča presents experiment with salt(class 5. B)

2) Motivation - Science Show Experiment 2

What you need: a glass jar, spoon, water, oil, food dye, salt, a dropper

Instructions:1

Fill about 2/3 of a glass jar with water. Add oil to form a layer on top of the water and wait until the different layers settle. Shake gently a spoon of salt into the jar.

2Salt goes down and takes

some light oil with it. At the bottom salt melts. The oil is

released and floats up.

Oil does not mix with water. Oil is lighter than water.

Instructions:3

Now you can add drops of a food dye. The drops of colour do not mix with

oil. They are heavier and go down.

4Colour mixes with water. Add another spoon of salt in the jar to restart the reaction. Watch the colour globs to

float up with oil in our video.

Drops of food colour do not mix with oil. Colour is heavier than oil but now it floats up.

Explanation: DENSITY OF LIQUIDS • The oil floats on the water because it is less dense

(lighter) than the water. • Oil doesn’t mix with water. It will not dissolve into the

water. • The salt however, is denser than water and heavier. • When you shake the salt onto the oil, it clings to the oil

and after a bit of it piles up, drags the denser glob to the bottom of the jar.

• After a while, the salt begins to dissolve in the water until it reaches a point where it can no longer hold down the glob of oil – the glob floats back to the surface where you can sprinkle more salt on it and repeat the reaction.

Adam and Ámal present experiment with tablets (class 5. B)

2) Motivation - Science Show Experiment 3 – Lava lamp

What you need: a bottle, water, oil, food dyes, effervescent tablets (citric or ascorbic acid in little water)

Instructions:1

Fill a third of a bottle with water. Add oil almost to the top. Wait until the different layers settle.

2 Add drops of food dye, you

can use more colours. Watch what the drops will do. After

a while add 1 or 2 effervescent tablets. Watch the water float up in video.

Oil does not mix with food colours. Heavier water floats up.

Explanation: IMMISCIBLE LIQUIDS • In this science experiment, you could create a real

working lava lamp. • This experiment demonstrates the scientific

principles of immiscible liquids (liquids that won’t mix).

• Next you can explore density of liquids. During the reaction is released CO2 which floats up and takes heavier coloured water with the bubble. At the surface the density of the bubble grows as the gas is released into the atmosphere and we can observe the colour drops to go down.

3) Class management

1) Dividing pupils into small groups2) Preparing working place3) Getting to know each other4) Preparing supplies for experiments5) Distributing tasks6) Preparing worksheets and pens7) Safety rules for experiments

4) Experiments in small groups(class 6. A)

Experiments in small groups (class 5. B)

5) ConclusionsWhat happened?

• We demonstrated the scientific principles in several experiments with liquids:

• We explored how liquid molecules pull each other together and observed surface tension in different liquids.

• We observed immiscible liquids (liquids that won’t mix).

• We demonstrated density of liquids and used salt and tablets. Pupils observed globs of lighter oil going down and bubbles of heavier water floating up.

6) Feedback asked:„What do you think about the lesson?“

• Did you like the experiments?• Did you learn something? What was it?• What was the best part?• Did you understand your „teacher“?• Did you have a task? How did you feel about it?• Did your group worked as a team? • Did you feel well in your group?• Do you have other comments or

recommendations?

Czech „teachers“ wrote: I need to learn

English.

It was fun. Now I am exhausted.

I enjoyed teaching this children. I would like to do it again.

Czech pupils who do not learn Physics wrote:1) We asked 17 pupils 10-11 years old (12 boys/9 girls) if they liked the experiments:„It was fun.“ 17 (10 boys, 7 girls) „It was good.“ 4 (2 boys, 2 girls) „I didn´t like it.“ 0

2) Next we asked what they learnt:• „Various experiments which we can do with water and it is great.“ (a girl)• „To work with water, oil, colours.“ (a boy) „Experiments.“ 2x (girls)• „Pepper moves in water when I add washing-up liquid.“ (a boy)• „I learnt something about team work.“(a boy)• „To pay attention.“ 2x (boys)• „Some tablets make bubbles.“ (a boy) „Water is heavier than oil.“ (a boy)

3) We asked what was the best part of our lesson:• „Everything.“ 2x (a boy, a girl) „Experiments“ (a girl)• „Pouring oil into water.“ (a boy) „Adding colours into oil.“ (a boy)• „When I was doing the experiment.“ 4x (boys)• „Lava lamp – experiment with effervescent tablets.“ 6x (3 boys, 3 girls)• „Adding a tablet into the bottle.“ (a boy)• „Experiments with milk.“ 2x (boys) Experiments with pepper.“ 2x (girls)

4) Problems: „I didn´t like cleaning up.“ (a boy)

5) Recommendations for us: „Speak louder.“ (a boy), „Work on your English“ (a girl, a boy

Czech pupils who do learn Physics wrote:1) We asked 15 pupils 11-12 years old (10 boys/5 girls) if they liked the experiments:„It was fun.“ 10 (6 boys, 4 girls) „It was good.“ 5 (4 boys, 1 girl) „I didn´t like it.“ 0

2) Next we asked what they learnt:• „Water colours do not mix with oil and milk.“ (a boy)• „Water is heavier than oil“ (a boy)• „Oil does not mix with water.“ (a boy)• „I learnt experiments with milk and with lava lamp.“ (a girl)

3) We asked what was the best part of our lesson:• „The best part was when we added colour into milk and then touched the colour

spots with a toothpick which was dipped in washing-up liquid.“ (a boy) • „Lava lamp – experiment with effervescent tablets.“ 10x (7 boys, 3 girls)• „Experiments with milk.“ (a boy)

4) Problems: None

5) Recommendations for us: „We had a problem with English.“ (a girl)

Part 4 – DISSEMINATION1) We will tell about our lesson and the whole

meeting in Bulgaria to classmates in form 8.A and 8.B in November 2016 and to parents and public during the Open Door Day in January 2017.

We taught this lesson:class pupils town country Language date

6. A 15 Ostrava Czech Republic

Czech, English

13. 10. 2016

5. B 17 Ostrava Czech Republic

Czech, English

17. 10. 2016

Sevlievo Bulgaria English 25. 10. 2016

Sevlievo Bulgaria English 25. 10. 2016