Sink or Swim University of Chicago（芝加哥大学的沉浮）.pdfVIP

MSCOPE Final Project Report Melanie Hopkins, Mary Leighton, Roscoe Nicholson, and Panos Oikonomou Sink or Swim Type of Project: Facilitated activity with optional demonstration Target Museum : SciTech Hands-On Museum, Aurora, IL Target Audience: 8-11 year old visitors Sink or Swim. Photo: M. Leighton Big Idea The aim of Sink or Swim is to teach the principles of density and buoyancy through guided experimentation. Aimed at an 8-11 year old age group and therefore highly suitable for SciTech, this activity takes a highly interactive approach. Children predict what will happen when different types/sets of objects are placed in a tank of water, carry out the experiment, then discuss with the facilitator a) what happened, b) their prediction and c) the explanation. Following this, the children use what they have learned to make objects that float sink and objects that sink float. The strength of the activity comes from the directed but still open-ended nature of the experimentation that can be tailored to the 1 audience, from the hands-on approach, and from the ability to directly address preconceptions. It differs from similar activities that teach density in the context of sinking and floating objects because it invites visitors to design combinations which change the results of the experiments. Description Sink or Swim is highly flexible and can function as a demonstration, “directed play”, or both. In all three situations, it needs at minimum a low level of supervision by nearby volunteers or museum staff because of the open tanks of water. The physical components remain the same in all situations, and consist of tanks of water and a selection of contrasting objects. These are listed below. The exhibit is designed to be easily transportable, able to be set up in school classroom, in the classroom area of SciTech, or potentially on the floor