A primary vehicle to scientific instruction is that of example. Because the study of scientific concepts incorporate both observation and experimentation, our classroom activities strive to both display and apply this type of instruction.

This activity involved the science of sound. Students were given a large metal bowl and a large glass bowl. The glass bowl was wrapped with saran wrap and on top of that saran wrap was rice.

Students were then encouraged to hit the metal bowl to see what would happen to the rice. They were delighted to see that the rice moved! Your budding chemist first learned that all sounds are made up of sound waves.

We talked about how when we make sound, exciting things happen that we can’t see, and that every time we make a sound we create invisible waves. In the case of the rice, these “waves” caused the rice to actually move!