Foam Activity:
What does the Guided Investigation look like?

1
The groups begin by measuring out and beating their foam based on the recipe in the instructions.

Bowl A is beaten 200 strokes...

Bowl B is beaten 600 strokes...

A tower from the 200 stroke batch...

and a tower from the 600 stroke batch...

2
After looking at the two foams to observe any differences, each pair attempts to build the highest tower they can from the two batches:

When placed side by side, it's apparent that the less-beaten foam, which has lighter, larger bubbles, build a higher tower

3
Next, each pair builds a tower of foam four inches high from each batch to see what is the longest sharpened dowel that will stand up in in each.

The 200-stroke batch:
the 5" dowel stands up
but the 7" dowel falls over

The 600-stroke batch:
the 12" dowel falls over
but the 9" dowel stands up

4
Both batches placed side by side. It looks like the 600-stroke foam has smaller, denser bubbles that hold up objects better than the 200-stroke foam, which has larger, fluffier bubbles.