Science Fair

We were assigned to make a science fair project for our fieldwork school. Before doing this project, I had a little bit of experience with science fair projects because I did a few when I was younger. This project was a bit more in depth then the once that I did as a child, but I definitely learned a lot more from this one.

I decided that I was going to do an experiment on density. The experiment was called " Rainbow in a Jar."  What I did was put all different kinds of liquids( after putting food dye in them) into a jar to see which would sink and which would stay at the top (density).

I ended up doing a trial run with my class in the daycare (school age) that I work at. The children really enjoyed doing it. Then when I got home, I did the project again but with different colors, so you could see the "rainbow" better.

Through this experience I noticed that children (in my class) like to do science. It is both engaging and educational for them. with most projects they will just think "this is fun", but they will actually also be learning. When students are engaged and are having "fun" they learn more. 

When I did it in my class the children were all different ages. So I could see which grade understood density and which did not. However, no matter what grade they were, they really didn't grasp the density of liquids because they are a little harder to tell. So no matter what grade would do this with I would weigh each liquid after the lesson. 
For 2nd and 3rd grade: I would do it how I did it in my class as a whole group project, each student would have a part in the lesson but it would be done as a whole the students could understand it better.As a group we would come up with which liquid we think is the most dense and which is the least dense and put them in order according to our hypothesis. ( it most likely wont be right) so we will trial and error until we get them into the correct order (density, so non of the liquids are mixed)
for 4th and 5th grade: I would have them do the experiment in small groups. they would get the process sheet and follow the directions. Then as a group I would let them hypothesis what would happened if they did it out of order and allow them to put the liquids in out of order to see what would happen.
for 6th grade: I would allow the students to do the experiment in small groups. they would hypothesis what order the liquids should go in and them try it in that order. If the liquids mix, they will see that they did not do it correctly. They will have 3 tries to put the liquids into the correct order. 

This experiment will teach the students about the inquiry process because they would hypothesis which liquid is most and least dense and test their hypothesis through trial and error until they get it right.

here was the process:

 Materials: 

• A tall, see-through container (I used a clean mason jar.)
• Honey
• Light corn syrup
• Dish soap (either blue like Dawn or green like Palmolive)
• Olive oil
• Rubbing alcohol
• Water
• Food coloring

Steps:
1. Pour Honey into the middle of the jar
2. Dye corn syrup and pour into the middle of the jar
3. Pour dish soap into the middle of the jar
4. Dye water and pour it into the middle of the jar
5. Last pour Olive Oil into the middle jar.