Special to the News
Central Elementary School is excited to expand opportunities for their students to get hands-on science lessons by utilizing the science lab. Pictured are Mrs. Compher’s third graders and Mrs. Lea’s fourth graders measuring the mass of various objects.
Students have been studying matter and its properties in their science classes. They learned that all matter has mass that can be measured in grams on a balance, so they headed to the science lab to put that knowledge to work.
The students had 15 items, including a pencil, an eraser, a small candle, a marble, a golf ball, a wooden cube, a glue stick, a pair of scissors, as well as some other items.
The students first had to make a hypothesis estimate of the number of grams of each item. Then, they used a double pan balance with plastic known masses to find the mass of each item.
They placed the item in one pan and added the known masses to the other pan until the pans were equal in height. Then, they calculated the known masses to prove the mass of the item. The students were especially thrilled when the actual mass they calculated matched their estimated hypothesized mass.
It was such a great time of learning, and both the students and teachers are looking forward to returning to the lab on a regular basis this school year to put more classroom instruction to work.
Special thank you to Coosa County Schools science coach Shelley Wood for preparing labs and sharing pictures and information.
