GEMS® Dry Ice Investigations and Chemical Investigations (Grades 5-12)

This workshop will focus on science investigations and will help teachers develop the skill to foster inquiry abilities, which research has shown is very difficult to teach. Students will learn that science is about wondering why, asking questions, observing, and coming up with possible explanations before designing investigations to test the explanations. In the morning, teachers will work with dry ice to investigate the particulate theory of matter, phase change, and chemistry. In the afternoon, an ordinary zip-lock bag becomes a safe and spectacular laboratory as teachers learn how to mix chemicals that bubble, change color, get hot and produce gas, heat, and color. This section will review chemical changes, endothermic and exothermic reactions, and will help support skills in observations, experimentation, and inference.

SOURCE(S): SMUD