Earth & Space - Changing materials - Mixing & Separating - P5G12 - ES-C3.3

ISE 5-14 Curriculum Support Materials Overview advice

Group 12 exemplar Earth & Space - Mixing & Separating (Word)

1. Introduce this lesson by comparing two solids in water - e.g. sugar and tea. Revise the term ‘soluble’ and introduce the term ‘insoluble’. Discuss the usefulness of solubility and insolubility e.g. would it be useful if our shoes and clothes dissolved? Is it easier to take medicine when it has been dissolved in a syrupy drink?

2. The point to focus on for this investigation is the planning aspect. The children should come up with the ideas of things to try but steer groups in the direction of tests such as stirring and heating gently.

The planning sheet worksheet C7a (G) will help the children to gather their ideas and to think about which one to choose. Worksheet C7b (G) can then be used for recording what they actually used, how they did the experiment and what they found out.

A good way to help the children plan an investigation is to use a modified version of the Investigations Package method.

List on the board all the things the children can investigate.

Help them choose one for the whole class or one per group depending on your intended organisation. It helps for them write out in their Science jotters sentences such as :-

a) The things we could investigate are - ........ (List all their ideas here)

b) We are going to investigate .............. (Write down their chosen idea)

c) To make a fair test we must keep these things the same.......... (list all the things from (a) which are not being investigated.)

d) We predict that ......................(What do they think they will find?)

Alternatively, write their ideas onto post-it notes. The ideas can be listed under question (a), those not being used can then be moved to make a list under (c). This helps to clarify exactly the conditions which the children must then plan their investigation under.

3. If you keep adding sugar to water, there will come a point at which the sugar will no longer dissolve. This is called the saturation point and the solution is now called a saturated solution - there is no more room for sugar molecules between the water molecules. The children could try this out with sugar or salt.