Capacity

Last week my math class learned about capacity.  The students first arranged 5 containers in order from least to greatest and then they used beans to determine if they were right.  I didn't tell them how  to use the beans.  It was really interesting to listen to the groups' discussions about how to use the beans in order to figure out if they had their containers in the correct order.  Next, they had to find containers that had a capacity of 1 cup, 1 pint, 1 quart, 1 gallon and 1 liter and use the beans again with various measurement tools.  For the last bean activity the students had to first estimate and then prove how many cups are in a pint and so on. 

Sounds in Science

We have been studying sound and how sounds are made.  For one lab we made a straw whistle and experimented with the pitch by making the straws shorter.  The students concluded that as they shortened the straw, the pitch of the whistle got higher.  To take this a step further we examined the strings on a guitar.  The thinner strings had a higher pitch while the thicker strings had a lower pitch.  The students also discovered that shortening the string on the guitar also yielded a higher pitch.

To experience the vibration of sound, pairs of students tied two pieces of string to a wire hanger.  Then one partner wrapped each string a couple of times around their index fingers and put their fingers in their ears. When their partner gently tapped the hanger with a pencil, the other student could feel and hear the vibration.  The partner with the pencil could gently touch the string and feel the vibration as well.