EXPLORATORIUM INSTITUTE FOR INQUIRY

Process Circus Station Task Instructions

At each station, teachers find one of the following set of instructions written on a card. Their task is to follow the instructions, record the process skills they employed doing the task, and then move on to another station.

1. CANDLES

Draw what you think the candle will look like when it is lit. Put your labels on your drawing.

Now light the candle.

Draw it again. What is different from what you first drew?

2. DRIPPING WATER

Measure the amount of water that drips from the tap in 30 seconds.

Work out how much water will drip in one day.

3. SOILS

If you have three different kinds of soil, how would you find out which had the most water in it?

What kinds of process skills would you use to find the answer to the above question and to describe the investigation you would do?

4. VELCRO

Put two pieces of velcro together. Try to part them. Try with one reversed/crossways. Make a series of drawings that explain how velcro works.

5. HINGED MIRROR

Place two mirrors at an angle so that reflections of the coin can be seen.

Count the reflections and measure the angle.

Repeal for angles of 30, and 90 degrees.

Can you see a relationship between the number of images you get and the angle between the mirrors? (drawing a graph may help)

Use your results to say how many images you will get at 49 degrees.

See how near you are.

6. CARTESIAN DIVER

Squeeze the bottle and watch the "diver".

What differences do you see in each diver when the bottle is squeezed?

Try to use these observations to explain how it works.

7. CAN OF ICE

Put ice part way up in can.

Look at the outside of the can.

Write down as many possible explanations as you can of what you see.

Wipe off the can afterwards before you leave and empty the ice out into original container.

8. WET PAPER

Take a strip of paper and hold it vertically with one end in the water.

Watch what happens for about a minute.

Write down any questions which occur to you as a result of your observations.

9. EGGS IN WATER

Gently lower an egg into the jar of tap water. Notice where it settles.

Take it out and put it into the jar of salt water. Notice where it settles.

Write down an explanation of what happened.

10. TOY ON DIFFERENT SURFACES

What process skills would it take to fill in the table for an investigation to find out whether the kind of surface on which the toy is put makes a difference too how far it walks.

What will be changed?

What will be kept the same?

What will be measured?

(What process skills would you use to complete this task without having to actually do it?)

11. WIND-UP TOY

On a surface covered with paper a wind-up toy moves 23/4 inches given one turn of the winder. 71/8 inches for two turns and 11 inches for three (Accept these results as if you had obtained them)

Display these results in a form that will help you to predict how far the toy will go for four turns.

(What process skills would you use to complete this task without having to actually do it?)

12. PENDULUMS

The two pendulums are of different masses. Use them to see if the mass of the bob makes any difference to how fast a pendulum swings.

Are you entirely happy about the result and the way you found it? If not, suggest ways for improving the investigation so that you would be quite confident about the result.