My Education Junction

One of my many memories of my grandmother is picking Queen Anne’s Lace in the summertime. We would fill big jars with this pretty wildflower, and often we would put food coloring in the water to see what color the flowers would turn. I never thought we were conducting a science experiment. I was just having fun. While reading a science book I picked up at the library, I found dying Queen Anne’s Lace listed as an experiment.

Dying Queen Anne’s Lace allows you to observe how water is drawn up the stem of the flower.  If you do not have Queen Anne’s Lace available to you, you can use white carnations.

What You’ll Need

Mason jars or large glasses -number required is dependent on how many dyes you will use

Scissors

H20

Food Coloring - red and blue work the best

Queen Anne’s Lace - enough to fill each of your jars with 4-5 blooms

What You Will Do

Upon picking your Queen Anne’s Lace, cut each stem on the diagonal to insure optimal water intake.

Put several drops of food coloring in each jar, and fill the jars with enough water that the stems are submerged between 1-2 inches.

Place your flowers in the jars and observe them every few hours.  Look closely.  You should begin to see faint colored lines appearing up the stem of the flower.  In 12- 24 hours you will notice your flower changing colors.

You are witnessing the process of plant transpiration and osmosis. You can use this experiment as an exercise in collecting data. Observe and record if a certain dye travels faster than another. Measure travel on an hourly basis. Use two identical samples and place one indoors and one outdoors.  Is one jar producing results faster than the other?

There are lots of ways to have fun with this experiment.  When you’re all done you’ll have a bouquet of very pretty Queen Anne’s Lace.

Filed under: Science on July 30th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

You probably thought Science Saturday wasn’t going to happen- me too :( 

We went to an art festival today, and then we went shopping.  Suddenly, the whole day had passed, and I had yet to post our science experiment. I didn’t want to delay any longer though I did have a bit of a problem when we did this experiment. When I went to take pictures, I realized my camera was dead. We are going to have to repeat this one so I can get some pictures to add to this post. In the meantime, here it goes….

This is a really simple experiment that allows you to extract your own DNA from saliva. No my seven year old doesn’t know a lot about DNA. He gets the gist of what it is, and he thinks I’m super cool, because “they do that DNA stuff on tv.” So if you want to be cool like me, try this one out.

What You’ll Need

Salt

Water

Liquid Dish Detergent

Rubbing Alcohol

Measuring spoons

3 cups

A test tube, pill vial or olive jar (any small, clear, narrow container that can work as a test tube)

Lid or stopper for the container you have chosen to use as a test tube

Chopstick or skewer

What You Do

1. In a cup mix 1 tablespoon of salt in 1 cup of warm water. Mix thorougly to insure the salt has dissolved.

2.  In a second cup mix together 3 tablespoons of water with 1 tablespoon of dish detergent. Mix the solution gently, because you do not want to create bubbles.

3. In a third cup place 1 teaspoon of water. Have your child use this water to swish for at least 30 seconds. When he/she is done have them spit the water back into the cup.

4. Put 1/4 teaspoon of salt solution in the container you are using as a “test tube.”

5. Now pour the spit into the test tube.

6. Add 1/4 teaspoon of your liquid detergent solution into the test tube. Pour the solution slowly done the side of the test tube.

7. Place the cap onto your test tube. If you don’t have a lid or stopper, use plastic wrap and secure with a rubber band.

8. Turn your tube from top to bottom but do not invert the tube to the extent that it is completely upside down. Do this several times gently, Do your best to mix but not agitiate.

9. Remove the lid and pour 1 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol down the side of the tube very slowly.  You should begin to see a white stringly film form on top of the solution. That white stringy stuff is made up of DNA (and a little bit of protein). Using your chopstick you can pull the white stringy thread from the test tube.

When you swish the water in your mouth, you are rinsing cells from the insides of your cheeks. The cells are broken down when they are added to to liquid detergent solution. The salt then combines together with the DNA causing it to clump together.

Pretty neat- Have fun detective:)

Filed under: Science on July 22nd, 2007 | 1 Comment »

10 creative ways to teach your children how to recycle and give your plastic bottles a second run.

1. Make a Bird Feeder

2. Bowling Playset

3. Create a Portable Golf Set 

 4. Pop Bottle Planters 

5. Lacrosse Stick


Then keep the bottom of the bottle and use it as a paint cup…

6. Rocket Launcher 

7.  Baking Soda Boat 

8. Make a Volcano 

 

9. Distill Salt Water 

 
 10. Make a  Tornado in a Bottle

What do you do with your plastic bottles? Looking for more ideas? Check out The Kitchen Picasso.

***Update 7/21- Kris has offered up another awesome bottle craft. Check out the article she wrote at Family Fun! Thank you Kris

Filed under: Rainy Day Recipes, Science, Arts & Crafts on July 17th, 2007 | 6 Comments »

A long time ago we did an experiment I called Let’s Make Rain. Basically, the experiement demonstrates condensation.  When the water vapor cools it begins to fall creating rain.  

By modifying the experiment we can use the same principal to distill water.

What you need:

1-2 liter soda bottle cut in two (see photo for proportions)

1 cup salt water

A small glass that will fit inside of your bottle

What you do:

I began by heating water in microwave for a little less than 2 minutes. Heating the water allows you to create a saturated solution. I then added roughly 3 tbsp of salt to the water and stirred the solution making sure the salt was dissolved. At this point we poured the salt solution in the bottom half of our soda bottle. We then placed our small cup in the center of our solution and then replace the top half of the bottle only this time we do so in an inverted fashion. We then placed the soda bottle out in the sun and checked periodically as condensation formed on the walls and top of the bottle. As the day progressed the temperature dropped, and  water droplets began to fall into the cup placed at the bottom of our soda bottle. The water that has evaporated and then condensed is pure water.  The salt remains at the bottom of the soda bottle. The only problem was that we did not collect a significant amount of water in our cup, and I attribute that to the fact we did not have a bigger drop in temperature.

I had hoped by sitting the bottle in the sun and allowing the process to take place during the course of the day we would watch the process occur as it ordinarily would. If our evening was cooler we might have had more success, but with a little intervention we can still create more dramatic results. If you place ice in the inverted top half of your bottle you will create rapid cooling, hence your solution will condense faster, and you will collect more pure water in the cup. Also, heating the water to a higher temperature helps.

The great thing about this experiment is that children approach it with certain expectations. They expect the water in the glass to taste salty, but they are amazed and surprised when they taste fresh water. The bottle I used in our experiment comes from a science kit. We use pop bottles quite often, but I am not keen on buying pop so I bought this bottle instead. It was created for the purpose of doing experiments.

Give it try.

Filed under: Science on July 7th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

It’s funny how life works. I was completely unaware of Ohio Treasure Chest until I came across the  Rippling Ponds Blog which is written by Kathy Shields in Alpharetta Georgia. Ohio Treasure Chest provides lists of websites catagorized by grade and subject matter. It then breaks down resources by the following:

Web Resources - Educational web sites that support that indicator - This is the main focus of the Treasure Chest

Lesson Plans - Lessons that help teach that indicator (Note: This section is new and still developing)

Connections - Other indicators in any content area that relate to that indicator - Or click to get full list for this subject and grade

Comments - General comments or ideas related to that indicator (Note: This section is new and still developing)

Assessments - Assessment questions related to that indicator (Note: This section is new and still developing)

The site was created by the Canton School system, and  I applaud their efforts.  It is great seeing a public school system embracing technology and providing an open resource to guide students in Canton and beyond. Check it out!

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This post was brought to you by DNA -the stuff you and I are made of

Filed under: Phonics, Math, History, Science, Reading on July 6th, 2007 | No Comments »

We have been working on a project for the past week where we are dying t-shirts in sunbath.  This is something you could just as easily do on a stovetop, but sometimes I like to do things the hard way because I want the kids to see how things use to be done way, way, way back in the old days. The process stinks- and I mean STINKS, but it is still interesting to see what color the vegetables create.  I will be posting more on this activity next week. We haven’t pulled our shirts from the jars yet, and I wanted a finished project to show you.

In the meantime, a curious thing occurred. After making what was essentially a red cabbage tea it was time to add a mordant to the mixture in order to “fix” the dye. At this point the color of the dye was reddish purple but after adding alum to it it turned a very deep shade of purple almost blue. I found this rather perplexing and wanted to find out why.

Red Cabbage is a natural acid-base indicator. So in adding alum to my solution the cabbage mixture immediately turned blue indicating a base had been added.

Here is a PH scale

0 is a very strong acid (bright red)

3 - 5 is a weak acid (hot pink)

7 is neutral (liliac)

8 - 9 is a weak base (dark purple- blue)

13 - 14 is a very strong base. (green-yellow)

Want to try this experiment?

This is what you need:

Fresh red cabbage

A sharp knife

A cutting board

Hot tap water

You will need a cup for each household substance you test

A spoon for each corresponding cup

A large plastic bottle or glass jar

A range of the household substances which may include: (acids) toilet cleaner, vinegar, lemon juice, (neutrals) pure water or baby shampoo, (base) baking soda, liquid dish soap or milk of magnesia.

This is what you do:

Cut your red cabbage into small chunks and place in a plastic bottle or glass jar. Now fill the container to the top with hot tap water, and allow the container to set for approximately 20 minutes or until the mixture has cooled. Once the mixture has cooled, strain the cabbage from the mixture but retain the liquid because it will serve as your base-acid indicator. Take the liquid and pour it evenly in the glasses you will be using to test your household substances. Add one household substance per cup and stir. What color is the liquid now?

Below you can see some of our photos. I apologize because the lighting isn’t the best. We used baking soda, vinegar and dish detergent.  The baking soda changed our solution to a blue, vinegar to a hot pink and our dish detergent appears to be more on the neutral side because it really had very little affect when it came to changing the color.

Filed under: Science on June 30th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

Summer is upon us, and this week marks the opening of The Pirates of the Caribbean Part 3. My son loves Pirates of the Caribbean, and I am certain I will be spending the rest of my summer hearing things like, “shiver me timbers,” or ” I invoke the right of parley.” If your kids are Pirate fans here is a little pirate fun.

Ocean in a bottle
What You’ll Need
Clean, clear empty plastic bottle
Water
Baby oil
Blue food coloring
Small plastic fish, ship or small sea shells

1. Fill your bottle half way with water and add several drops of blue food coloring.
2. Place the cap on the bottle and shake the water to insure the food coloring mixes with the water.
3. Remove the cap and now pour baby oil into the bottle until the bottle is full.
4. Add plastic fish and/or sea shells to the bottle and replace cap, making sure it is closed tightly.

Turn the bottle on its side and rock the bottle gently right to left. You should see the rolling motion of the oil which will look exactly like wave.

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Another fun activity is to make treasure stones. You can do so using my the same recipe previously posted for fossil stones.

Treasure Stones
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup used coffee grinds
1/2 cup cold leftover coffee

Mix ingredients together in a large bowl until it becomes a rough mix. Turn dough out onto a cutting board and knead into a smooth dough. Tear dough into equal sized chunks roughly the size of your fist. Shape dough into rock like form. Pressing your thumb down into the dough to create a small opening to place treasure. You may chose to place novelty gold coins, or plastic jewels inside the opening. Pinch the opening closed. Place your treasure rocks in a warm dry area to dry. This will take roughly a week. Once the rocks are dry, you can crack them open to find the treasure.

For more pirate fun see my Pirate Page!

Recent Pirate Post: Kraken Salad

Filed under: Rainy Day Recipes, Science, Pirate Pages on May 21st, 2007 | 3 Comments »