After our first science input we were given the task by Richard to think of, and plan, a small science experiment which we would present to our peers in a ‘teaching’ way. Initially, this scared me as I had no clue what to do but after swiping through Pinterest and Googling a bit I decided what I would plan to do. A Fizz Inflator! If you don’t know what this is, (I didn’t either), it is basically a chemical reaction which occurs when bicarbonate of soda is added to vinegar and then blows up a balloon. Seems straightforward enough…
Not for me… I looked the experiment up numerous times and on a few websites, it said you could either use bicarbonate of soda or baking powder. So off I went to the shop to buy baking powder and vinegar. Wrong Choice. After buying the materials I needed for my experiment I decided to try it out and it is just as well I did. As you can probably guess, it didn’t work and I couldn’t work out why. So, I tried again numerous times because I was so confused. I then decided I would get bicarbonate of soda and try it with that and…IT WORKED!!!! I was ecstatic about this. So, now that the experiment worked it was time to apply it to teaching.
In terms of teaching this, I think I would focus on the Chemical Reaction aspect of the curriculum area and explain that the Vinegar mixed with Bicarbonate Soda creates an acid-base reaction which works to form Carbon Dioxide, a gas and that due to there being no place for the gas to go it then floats up and blows the balloon up. However, I would use the Predict, Observe and Explain process with pupils so that they could think about what might happen and then engage more in their learning.
After carrying out the experiment today in the workshop and reflecting upon the result, I came to the conclusion that it had both good and bad aspects to it. In terms of the good aspects, the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda reacted creating a chemical reaction and blowing the balloon up. However, the flaw in the experiment was that the ratio of vinegar to bicarbonate of soda was not as it should have been as the balloon did not blow up to its full capacity.
I really enjoyed this input and in terms of teaching Science, it has made me much less apprehensive about it as I now know that I don’t need extensive knowledge on the subject in order to be able to teach it and it showed me how to make Science fun in a simple way.
Want to try it yourself? Here’s how:
- Half cup of vinegar
- Fill a balloon half full of bicarbonate soda
- Attach the balloon to a bottle with the vinegar in it and pour the bicarbonate soda into the bottle.
