Mr. Topel Portfolio
Examples of Puzzling Phenomenon
I like to create a sense of mystery and wonder in my students, and one of the best ways to do that is through in person science activities and demonstrations. This page contains a few demonstrations which I share with the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students in my science classes. Each demonstration contains a "puzzling phenomenon" that illustrates a scientific concept in an unexpected and unexplained way. After showing these brief demonstrations, I split the students into groups three or four and ask each group to come up with possible explanations for what is going on. We then meet back as a whole class and test their theories to see what parts of them are accurate, and which parts need further explanation. In this way puzzling phenomenon can become powerful tools when learning about otherwise abstract science concepts. Some explanations for these events can be wrapped up in a few minutes while, other phenomenon can be used to anchor a whole unit of study that lasts for several weeks. Have a look at some of these demonstrations and see if you can explain why they work.
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Fixing Broken Glass
I use this dramatic demonstration an an anchoring phenomenon for our unit on light. To understand why this demonstration works my students need to know the difference between reflection and refraction, and understand that while many materials have a different refractive index you can make some interesting illusions when their refractive index is the same. |
Fire in a Bottle
My students love fire, and this demonstration does not disappoint. In this activity I show the same chemical reaction twice, and ask students to explain why we can make it happen so much faster the second time. I typically perform this demonstration after we have discussed reactants, products, and chemical reactions, but to create a thorough explanation students need to combine those existing ideas and discover our new concept the reaction rate. |
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Can Crushing
There are many ways to crush a can, but in this demonstration I crush a can with nothing but water and some heat. In the past I have used this activity as an anchoring puzzle when introducing the idea of air pressure in physics class, but I have also used it to discuss the importance of air pressure in our unit on meteorology. At it's core, however, this is an exercise in observation since it takes sight, sound, and sometimes even smell clues for students to discover what is really happening |
More Showcase Work
Videos recorded by Mrs. Samantha Topel
Photo used under Creative Commons from Toolstotal