States of Matter

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Home : 2002 : March : 10

States of Matter
By Jess

I don't know if this would help you because it may be just a little too close to the same thing you tried, but this did work with my 5th graders. I took a popcicle right from the freezer and told them that matter can CHANGE
state, but not be the SAME state as another (solid and a liquid at once). Frozen popcicles are of course the solid. I laid it in a cup and let it melt. When it was all melted, I reminded them that it was no longer a solid, but a liquid. We rediscussed what properties something must have to be a solid, and then a liquid, and wrote them down on the board, so the kids could see that it

couldn't be a solid and liquid at the same time, because the properties of it was different. Then, I let the cup sit out for several days on one of our heaters until there was only a sticky, small amount of goo at the bottom, and explained that what was there evaporated, thus becoming gas. I know this worked for my group, probably because they are a litle older and the concept isn't quite so new to them. I don't suppose it would work with your kiddos especially since they didn't get it with ice cube. You might go to the resource section of ProTeacher under Science, and browse through there. There is tons of resources, and surely there would be some activity you could try. Also, try a search on some other sites, such as teachers.net or flip through some old Mailbox magazines. Its a hard concept for little ones to understand, I know. Best of luck! Let us know if you found something that works!