Why do mittens work?: fun investigations exploring classification and insulation.Fun investigations exploring classification and insulation insulation (ĭn'səlā`shən, ĭn'sy  –), use of materials or devices to inhibit or prevent the conduction of heat or of electricity. I've found that for every season, there is a ready-to-go science lesson right at my fingertips--and this season, I mean that literally! Just gather together your students' colorful mittens, and you're all set to teach children about classification and insulation. In the first investigation, children will warm up their classification skills while sorting mittens. In the second experiment, they'll find out for themselves why mittens keep their hands toasty toast·y adj. toast·i·er, toast·i·est Pleasantly warm. . (Note: If you live in a warm climate, you can have students make mittens out of construction paper to use for the first investigation. They can trace mitten shapes around their own hands onto construction paper, and then cut, color, and glue glue: see adhesive. glue Adhesive substance resembling gelatin, extracted from animal tissue, particularly hides and bones, or from fish, casein (milk protein), or vegetables. them together. For the second activity, you'll need actual mittens or gloves--but only one pair per group of students.) A MITTEN-SORTING GAME Concept: Objects have observable ob·serv·a·ble adj. 1. Possible to observe: observable phenomena; an observable change in demeanor. See Synonyms at noticeable. 2. characteristics. These properties help us classify clas·si·fy tr.v. clas·si·fied, clas·si·fy·ing, clas·si·fies 1. To arrange or organize according to class or category. 2. To designate (a document, for example) as confidential, secret, or top secret. objects. Skills: observing, predicting, classifying, collecting and recording data, communicating Materials: mittens (gloves may be included, too), clothesline, clothespins (one clothespin for each mitten), index cards Steps: 1. Have students sit in a circle around you on the floor, with their mittens in front of them. Ask them to think of ways they might sort all the mittens into two groups. Jot down Verb 1. jot down - write briefly or hurriedly; write a short note of jot write - communicate or express by writing; "Please write to me every week" their ideas on chart paper. 2. Pick a characteristic that you will use to sort the mittens into two piles--but don't tell students what it is. Younger students will do well if you choose a characteristic based on color or design. For example, red/not red might be the defining characteristic. With older students, you might choose a more subtle criterion--for example, mittens made of wool and wool blends. Older students may also be able to handle two characteristics--red wool mittens, for instance. 3. One at a time, direct students to place their mittens in the appropriate pile. Encourage them to figure out the sorting criteria--without saying their ideas out loud. After you have sorted four or five pairs of mittens, invite students to take turns pointing to the pile in which they think their mittens belong. If they guess incorrectly, have them put their mittens in the correct pile--but don't yet tell them why they missed the mark! 4. After you've sorted all the mittens, ask if anyone knows the characteristic you used. If no one guesses correctly, have students take another look at the mittens in each pile, and guide their observations to the correct answer. Gather the mittens, and repeat the activity using a new characteristic. Then invite your students to take turns choosing the characteristic and leading the activity. 5. Next, prepare to make a clothesline graph by hanging two 10-foot pieces of clothesline in an area of your classroom that's out of traffic. Write down the two choices for a mitten-sorting criterion (e.g., red/not red) on separate index cards and pin one to each clothesline. 6. Invite students to use clothespins to hang their mittens each day on the appropriate clothesline. You've now got a concrete graph that you can use to explore all sorts of math questions. Younger students could determine: Which line has the most? Which line has the least? What is the difference between the two? Challenge older students with questions such as: There are 18 mittens on the first clothesline. Each mitten is a part of a pair. How many pairs of mittens are there on the first clothesline? Ask students to develop their own math problems for their peers to solve. 7. For a greater challenge, select two characteristics by which to graph the mittens--and don't share them with students. For example, you might hang only mittens made of polar fleece fleece, mat of wool formed by shearing a sheep in one continuous operation. The average fleece weighs from 5 to 10 lb (2.3–4.5 kg); in highbred wool sheep such as the American Merinos a ram's fleece may reach 30 lb (13.6 kg). on one clothesline and invite children to try to figure out your strategy. 8. You may want to keep the clothesline up for the rest of the winter. Surprise your students from time to time by changing the sorting labels on the lines. You can even let them take turns making up the sorting labels. WARM HANDS Concept: Mittens keep hands warm by trapping trapping, most broadly, the use of mechanical or deceptive devices to capture, kill, or injure animals. It may be applied to the practice of using birdlime to capture birds, lobster pots to trap lobsters, and seines to catch fish. body heat. Skills: observing, predicting, measuring, collecting and recording data, making conclusions Materials: for each small group--one thermometer thermometer, instrument for measuring temperature. Galileo and Sanctorius devised thermometers consisting essentially of a bulb with a tubular projection, the open end of which was immersed in a liquid. , one pair of mittens (these should belong to one of the group members) Note: The temperature differences will not be striking when you test inside the classroom, so for a more dramatic demonstration, conduct this experiment outside. Preparation: 1. Ask students: Why do you think mittens were invented? (The obvious answer, of course, is that they were invented to keep hands warm and protected from cold.) What might mittens from hundreds of years ago have been made of? (Students may suggest that mittens were made of animal skins and furs.) Now make a list of the materials from which students' own mittens are made. 2. Divide the class into small groups. Have each group make a lab sheet like the one above. 3. Ask students to predict whether there will be any differences in the temperature readings and to explain their reasoning on their lab sheets. 4. Give a thermometer to each group. Steps for Groups: 1. Select one pair of mittens to use in your experiment. 2. Record the temperature on the thermometer on your charts. 3. Now piece the thermometer inside one of the mittens for five minutes. 4. After five minutes, take the thermometer out of the mitten and record the temperature on your charts. 5. The student who owns the test mittens should now hold the thermometer in one hand and put on for five minutes. 6. After five minutes, remove the mitten and record the temperature shown on the thermometer. Follow-up: 1. Discuss the results of this experiment with your students. What did they learn from this investigation? (The temperature should be highest when the hand is inside the mitten. This is because the mitten traps body heat, so it keeps your hand warm.) 2. Have groups of students compare the materials from which the mittens are made. Do they notice a correlation between the materials and the temperature readings? Which mittens seem to do the best job of trapping body heat and keeping hands warm' (Students may notice that wool is an excellent insulator insulator Substance that blocks or retards the flow of electric current or heat. An insulator is a poor conductor because it has a high resistance to such flow. Electrical insulators are commonly used to hold conductors in place, separating them from one another and from . This is because wool fiber has lots of air pockets; the air trapped a contrivance for shutting off foul air or gas from drains, sewers, etc.; a stench trap. See also: Air in these pockets forms a barrier that keeps body heat in--and cold out. Wearing loose layers of clothing keeps us warm for the same reason.) 3. Ask students: Do you think it would be better to wear mittens or gloves to keep your hands warm? How could you find out? (Mittens are generally warmer because they expose less of the surface of the hand to the cold, and allow your fingers to touch. which helps trap body heat.) ACROSS THE CURRICULUM If the Mitten Fits (language arts language arts pl.n. The subjects, including reading, spelling, and composition, aimed at developing reading and writing skills, usually taught in elementary and secondary school. , art) Younger students will enjoy listening to Jan Brett's retelling re·tell·ing n. A new account or an adaptation of a story: a retelling of a Roman myth. of the old folktale folktale, general term for any of numerous varieties of traditional narrative. The telling of stories appears to be a cultural universal, common to primitive and complex societies alike. The Mitten. This is a story about a collection of animals who try to fit their way into a young child's lost mitten. After reading the story, invite students to design their own pair of mittens out of construction paper. On the back of one mitten they can illustrate their own cast of animal characters who try to get into their mitten. On the second mitten, hive them write or dictate their own version of The Mitten. Attach mittens to a piece of yarn yarn, fibers or filaments formed into a continuous strand for use in weaving textiles or for the manufacture of thread. A staple fiber, such as cotton, linen, or wool, is made into yarn by carding, combing (for fine, long staples only), drawing out into roving, then and hang them in your classroom. Making a Better Mitten (language arts, art, technology) Challenge students to think of ways that their mittens could be improved. What are the problems, if any, that they have with their mittens now? Give students time to work in small groups to brainstorm ideas. Then provide each group with a variety of materials with which to design their improved mittens. When their models are complete, students can write brief descriptions advertising their new mittens. RELATED ARTICLE: RESOURCES Books The Mitten by Jan Brett With over thirty three million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation's foremost author/illustrators of children's books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts. (Putnam, 1990) Caps, Hats, Socks and Mittens by Louise Borden (Scholastic, 1989).This book for primary students explores the characteristics of each season. Shivers and Goosebumps: How We Keep Warm by Franklyn Branley (Crowell, 1984) and The Winter Book by Harriet Webster Webster, town (1990 pop. 16,196), Worcester co., S Mass., near the Conn. line; settled c.1713, set off from Dudley and Oxford and inc. 1832. The chief manufactures are footwear, fabrics, and textiles. (Charles Scribners Charles Scribner is the name of several members of a New York publishing family associated with the company bearing their name. Charles Scribner Charles Scribner , 1988). Both of these books will provide intermediate readers with hours of fun. Technology Seasons is part of the Wonders of Learning CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). library for grades Pre-K-2. As students click on any of the hundreds of buttons, they will investigate what happens to trees in winter, explore animal adaptations, and more! (National Geographic Society National Geographic Society U.S. scientific society founded in 1888 in Washington, D.C., by a small group of eminent explorers and scientists “for the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge. ; Mac/Windows, $69.95; [800] 368-2728). RELATED ARTICLE: MITTEN-TEST LAB SHEET We predict The reason we predict this is because The temperature at the beginning of the experiment is The temperature after 5 minutes in the mitten is The temperature after 5 minutes of being held in hand Inside the mitten is LYNNE KEPLER, a former elementary school elementary school: see school. teacher, is a freelance writer and elementary science consultant based in Pennsylvania. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion