Implement this lesson:
Students have a hard time understanding that air impacts water. This is a great lesson to correct that misconception. This would be a great lesson to implement before or after ‘Ocean Acidification in a Cup.’
Learning objective:
Students will be able to understand that air has an impact on water chemistry by watching a teacher led demonstration.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Common Core ELA Standards
Informational Text Grades 4-8: 1 – Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text 4 – Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text 7 – Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears. Writing Standards Grades 4-8: 1 – Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information 2 – Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly 4 – Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
Common Core Math Standards
Mathematical Practices: Construct viable argument and critique the reasoning of others Attend to precision Measurement and Data Grades 4-5 Represent and interpret data
Next Generation Science Standards
4 Structure, Function, and Information Processing 4-LS1-1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction Science and Engineering Practices: Engaging in Argument from Evidence Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect Systems and System Models 3-5 Engineering Design 3-5ETS1-2 Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem. Science and Engineering Practices Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions Crosscutting Concepts: Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural World MS Human Impacts MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment Science and Engineering Practices: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural World
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
K.6A use the senses to explore different forms of energy such as light, thermal, and sound
K.9B examine evidence that living organisms have basic needs such as food, water, and shelter for animals and air, water, nutrients, sunlight, and space for plants
K10B identify basic parts of plants and animals
1.6(A) identify and discuss how different forms of energy such as light, thermal, and sound are important to everyday life
1.10(A) investigate how the external characteristics of an animal are related to where it lives, how it moves, and what it eats
2.9(A) identify the basic needs of plants and animals
2.9(B) identify factors in the environment, including temperature and precipitation, that affect growth and behavior such as migration, hibernation, and dormancy of living things
2.9(C) compare the ways living organisms depend on each other and on their environments such as through food chains
3.9(A) observe and describe the physical characteristics of environments and how they support populations and communities of plants and animals within an ecosystem
5.9(A) observe the way organisms live and survive in their ecosystem by interacting with the living and nonliving components.
5.9(B) describe the flow of energy within a food web, including the roles of the sun, producers, consumers, and decomposers
5.9(C) predict the effects of changes in ecosystems caused by living organisms including humans, such as the overpopulation of grazers or the building of highways
5.9(D) identify fossils as evidence of past living organisms and the nature of the environment at the time using models
Overview:
Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is the main culprit in ocean acidification. Isopropyl purple/blue or cabbage water indicate a pH change.
Materials:
- 3 erlenmeyer flasks
- dry ice (can be bought at grocery stores such as HEB)
- isopropyl purple or other pH indicitator
- tap water
- plastic wrap
- Sodium hydroxide (or drop or two of vinegar
Advanced Prep:
- Properly store dry ice
- Pour some air of the dry ice into flask and quickly cover with plastic wrap
- Pour tap water into 2nd flask
- Add sodium hydroxide to create a neutral pH in your tap water. Tap water tends to be slightly basic
- Add a little bit of pH indicator into your flask with the tap water
- Cover 3rd flask with plastic wrap
Procedure:
- Tell students you are going to do a magic trick. You are going to change the color of water by adding air
- Pour the 3rd flask (the one with regular air) into the flask with water. Ask students what they predict will or will not happen.
- Repeat step two with the flask that contains the dry ice air. A color change should occur.
Questions to Ask:
Pre-experiment
- Does air have an impact on water?
- How do air and water interact/
- What do you predict will happen?
Post-experiment
- Why did one flask change the color of the water and not the other flask?
- What is so special about dry ice?
- How does this experiment relate to ocean acidification?
Extensions:
- Students research how air affects other color changing items such as the shoes that change in UV light.
Evaluation:
Students draw or write a paragraph about the experiment and why it occurred.
