This inquiry worksheet encourages students to record their observations by drawing what they see happen as they conduct the "Blowing up the Bag" experiment. Students should be encouraged to label their drawings so they are able to reflect back on their understandings throughout the learning process. Below their representations, students should provide a brief description, explaining why they thought the baking soda and vinegar reacted the way it did.
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Appendix B lists a series of physical and chemical reaction samples. Students will have the chance to further their understandings of what constitutes a chemical change by comparing the two. As mentioned in the POE, students often confuse a chemical change, such as effervescence or the formation of a gas, (e.g., adding baking soda to vinegar to produce carbon dioxide gas) with a state change (i.e., creating a gas through evaporation). Students will also have the opportunity to brainstorm some other examples of physical or chemical changes as they are familiar with in their daily lives.
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Before beginning the second activity, students will be asked to predict what they think will happen when the corn kernels and raisins in the baking soda and vinegar mixture. Some other predictions include what they think might happen when variables are manipulated such as amount of baking soda and vinegar. Students will then describe what they observe as they conduct the experiment followed by their explanations or best guesses as to what happened. This format is an example of a Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) inquiry-based worksheet.
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