Float (Mahmoud)

Last week, Mahmoud found a piece of bark in our school yard.  Previously, we had tried to make wood chips float in a water puddle, but because it had rained, it did not float.  In continuing the investigation,  I asked Mahmoud if his piece of wood would float in water.  He answered that yes it would float.  We encouraged him to ask his friends if they thought the piece of bark would float or not.  We had the children write the popcorn words "yes" and "no" to indicate their prediction.

Mahmoud counted 14 "yes" and 3 "no".  He concluded that there was more "yes" than "no".  More friends thought the bark was going to float.

Mahmoud poured water in the container and placed the bark in it.  It floated.  Alessa and Tammy had also brought pieces of bark from outside and got to place their wood in the container.  We observed the bark floating.  We told the children that we would leave the bark in the water and do more observations on another day.


After a few days, we asked the children what happened to the bark.

 

Here are their observations:

Some pieces are floating and others are not. Sean

The bark is making the water change color.

It is brown. (Why?) Because the bark is brown. Giuliana G.

Because the bark is dirty and it is being wash by the water. Ella

The bark is soaking up the water. Sean

(How can you tell?)

Because some of the bark is in the water. Sean

(Why do you think some pieces of bark do not float?)

Some are heavy, some stayed light. Ben

(Why some pieces of bark are heavy?)

We left them overnight. Tianna

Maybe water got in. Giuliana G.

The water was hard. Antonio

Maybe the water went toward the big pieces. Kaitlyn

On YouTube, I saw that when the water is lower, it floats. I saw on Wild Kratts some lizards walk on water. Sean

We concluded that the wood absorbed the water and made the bark heavier and it sank to the bottom.


We decided to extend Mahmoud`s activity by adding more objects.  In this activity, the children got to place objects in the water and then put its picture in the bowl indicated by "yes" or "no" to answer the question "Est-ce que je flotte?"