The Tech Savvy Teacher

Activity: Temperature of water

Standard: 3, Objective 2a
Observe and measure characteristics of water as a solid and liquid.

In the olden days, you pulled out your twenty pound microscope, gathered some slides and swabbed some specimens on them, then watched as your students all tried to gather around to take a peek through the lens. Today there are such things as digital microscopes which can be projected on a computer screen for all to see, and can even capture video. Other savvy options include computer programs to record the eclipses of the moon. With all of the many technological options for school teachers today to put a little “oomph” in lesson plans, we decided to take a test drive on the wide open road of advancements for the classroom and put one of these new inventions to the test.

To teach the characteristics of water we began by putting ice water in a pot and watching as the temperature increased, heating it to the evaporation point, and then collected the evaporating water with a glass plate, allowing it to condense to form water. During this process we recorded our data with the digital thermometer and tracked the increase in temperature, noting the change in the state of the water from solid to liquid, making observations along the way, hypothesizing about the changes that might take place.

For the experiment we used a digital thermometer, digital camera and computer program which charts and collects the data from your experiment called logger pro. Using the digital thermometer allows students to visually observe the increase, or decrease in temperature. The data was collected in the logger pro program which allows students to see the results and discuss their hypotheses and view the generated data to see if they were correct or proven wrong in their theories.

Here's an up close view of our ice in it's beginning stages:

Here we are watching as it changes from ice to a liquid, beginning recorded with the Logger Pro software and the digital thermometer.

Notice our safety gear! Goggles and gloves, always be protected!

Finally a liquid!

Here we cover the boiling water with a plate to create moisture (or condensation), giving the appearance of rain.

Here Devin is entering his observations using Kidspiration 2, a great program with many different formats to document programs, use diagrams, etc.

Our temperature graph. At the top of the graph it reached the boiling point.

A video of our "rain".