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Go to LZ95 WebQuest Page
Grade: 9th and 10th
Subject: Experimental Methods
Curriculum Goal: To promote an understanding of density
Introduction:
You are all familiar with ice floating in your glass of water, but are you aware that
ice is one of the few substances that is less dense as a solid than it is as a liquid. If
water behaved as other substances do, the lakes would freeze from the bottom up in the
winter. Ice skating would not exist as a sport. What makes ice (the solid form of water)
so different from other substances? Why is ice less dense in the solid state than it is in
the liquid state?
Task:
Process:
Project at a glance:
 | Do research to answer the question |
| Collect text and images from your research |
| Prepare a formal presentation on your findings to present to the class |
| Include charts, drawings, models, and demonstrations as a part of your presentation |
Project in detail:
| Each member of the group is responsible for searching for information on the web and in
the library. |
| After reading all of the instructions, individual students will choose one of the
following role: |
| The demonstrator is in charge of finding an appropriate experiment to show to the class |
| The audio-visual manager is in charge of making appropriate charts, graphs, drawings,
etc. |
| The presenter is the person to present the project in a professional manner. |
| During your research, you should save pictures, texts and other supporting material to a
disc |
| You can save information from web pages by highlighting and going to file "save
as" to your own disc. |
| Images can also be saved by right-clicking on the picture and clicking "save as
option" in the window. |
| After all of the presentations, take a moment to reflect : Were you able to answer the
question in a manner that was meaningful to you? Were you able to quickly find the
information that you needed? Did the project go as well as you hoped? Were there any
frustrations for your group? |
Resources:
Evaluation:
 | The grade of each group will depend on the effectiveness, professional demeanor, and
quality of information presented in the presentation. The group presentation will account
for 70% of the grade. |
| 20% of the grade for the group will depend upon a written report with all of the
supporting evidence. |
| 10% of the grade for the group will depend upon a peer and self-evaluation. Click here. Evaluation Sheet |
Conclusion:
Water has many other unusual properties. Life on Earth could not exist without water,
but even more important Life could not exist if the two hydrogen atoms and the oxygen atom
bonded in a straight line in the water molecule rather than bonding at an angle. For those
of you who are intrigued, try to find out why an angular shape for water promotes Life as
we know it and a linear shape would not. This is worth 10 points of extra credit.
Authors: Jane Reed, Dale Pijut, Jennifer Krueger, Steve Schmidt
Created: 10-8-99
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