Building Snow Castles to Infuse STEAM in a Unit on Physical Changes




Our second grade students in Mrs. Northey's, Mrs. Townson's, and Mrs. Lynch's classes at Concord Elementary School investigated the scientific question, "Does the temperature of water affect how fast sugar dissolves?"   In following the steps of the scientific method, the students first proposed hypotheses of whether they think hot water or cold water would cause the sugar to dissolve more quickly.  The students developed their own hypothesis based on what they have been learning in science class, as well as, their background knowledge and experiences.

To begin the experiment, students worked together in pairs to complete a STEAM Challenge to build a snow castle out of 30 sugar cubes.  At each table, each group of students were designated either hot water (more like "very warm" water) or cold water to drop on their castles.  The students used eyedroppers to help put water on their castle.  Each student was responsible for writing what happened to the snow castles after each temperature of water was "dropped" on the castles.  Each student also drew their snow castle for both before and after they added the water.


In the end, it was concluded that the sugar cubes (their snow castles) dissolved more quickly in hot water than in cold water, and had a lot of fun along the way! Stay tuned for more second grade science experiments and findings!!


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