Laboratory Instruction

The Dry-Ice-in-Water Cloud

Have you ever wondered where the cloud comes from when dry ice is placed in water? If you think the answer is “atmospheric water vapor”, be sure to read this post because experimental evidence suggests that this explanation is wrong.

Seeing Is Not Believing

“It sort of started to look kind of like a very pale blue.” A friend who teaches at the middle school level told me about a science experiment he’d done with his students. The procedure suggested to students that a particular solution would turn blue, but also asked them to write down what they saw happen. The thing was, it wasn’t actually designed to turn blue.

Putting It All Together: Lab Reports and Legos

In this Activity, students study a structure made from Lego blocks and then attempt to build the structure from memory. During a second examination of the structure, students write building instructions. The instructions are then given to another student who attempts to recreate the structure without looking at the original.