Duration: 90 minutes
SPIRIT Skills:
- Critical thinking
- Curiosity sense of wonder
Brief Description:
In the science part, students learn about the three states of matter and the names of the different phase transitions through concrete situations and experiences. (see PowerPoint for the different situations and experiences)
Each state of matter is visually represented using the particle model.
The learned content is synthesized through a board diagram that the students copy.
How does this develop particular SPIRIT skills:
Wondering (This taps into their sense of wonder; students are amazed that water is not lost, but transformed into another state of matter.)
What do we want to achieve regarding SPIRIT skill development (student understanding and/or behaviour)?
Wondering (e.g., “How do these particles move in different states of matter?”)
Children engage in wondering by becoming curious about how particles behave in different states of matter. The concrete experiences and visual representations spark questions about the world around them, which leads them to explore and seek answers. Behaviour:
- Asking questions about the particles, such as “Why do particles move differently in solid, liquid, and gas?” or “What happens to the particles when something melts?”
- Showing curiosity by pointing out examples of different states of matter in their everyday lives (e.g., ice melting into water or water vapor rising from a kettle).
- Expressing surprise or excitement when they see the particle model and realize how it represents real-world phenomena.
Academic/Curriculum Objective connection
To describe some natural phenomena related to temperature: expansion and contraction, melting and solidification, evaporation and condensation. To describe gas, liquid, solid.
Materials and tools needed for implementation
PowerPoint with photos of the different phenomena’s ice cubes, mirror, electric kettle, etc.
Preparation notes
PowerPoint and worksheet.
Guided Questions
Imagine that you are a tiny water particle! How would you feel if you were trapped inside an ice cube? Would you be pressed tightly together with your fellow particles? And what would it be like to flow through warm water, or to float freely through the air as steam? In which state could you run around most freely, and in which would you be completely trapped?
Did you notice that one of the phase changes (such as melting or freezing) is missing from our worksheet, leaving an empty space? Which phase change is missing an explanation? If you were the teacher, how would you explain the missing phase change to a robot that has never seen ice or water?
Stage Debriefing Questions (Optional)
- When you were filling out the worksheet, how did you know which drawing corresponded to which state? What was your strategy: did you just guess, or did you look at how closely the particles were packed together and rule out the wrong answers step by step?”
- What was the strangest or most surprising thing you learned today about invisible little particles, ice, or steam? What question about freezing, melting, or evaporation interests you even more now than it did at the beginning of today’s activity?
- Was there a moment when someone in your group thought a completely different solution was correct on the worksheet about particles or phase changes? How did you manage to discuss this: were you able to convince each other with arguments without arguing, or did you work together to find the right answer?
- Adaptation of the “biggest hailstorm” question:“What do you think happens to particles if we cool them down incredibly, to a temperature much colder than our home freezer? Do they ever stop moving completely? Let’s look into this together after class.”
Tips and Tricks for dealing with stage challenges
- Consider the students’ prior knowledge and personal experiences. It is essential to build on these.
- Use concrete materials (e.g., a solidified candle, water vapor and condensation from a kettle) or highly visual materials that clearly show the different states and transitions. You can also use “moving materials” to illustrate the processes, such as a time-lapse of a candle melting and then solidifying.