What is Oobleck?: Solids vs.

Liquids
Pre-requisite Knowledge:
This lesson is intended for first grade students; they have previous learned about
properties of matter, with some basic ideas about solids and liquids. They all have had
experience with solids and liquids, so they should be able to draw on the knowledge to
come up with some characteristics.
Goals and Objectives:
Students will observe and explore what solids and liquids are.
Students will be able to observe and recognize characteristics of both solids and
liquids.
Students will be able to recognize similarities and differences between solids and
liquids and classify different materials and substances according to whether they
are solids or liquids.
Students will be able to make predictions of objects that are solid or liquid and
predict what will happen to the solid/liquid under a new circumstance.
Students will be able to understand that liquid can change into a solid and vice
versa, that a solid can turn into a liquid and that a substance can change its state,
but the substance still remains the same.
Students will begin to understand that changes can take place when two or more
substances are mixed together.
Materials:
The book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss
Water
Cornstarch
Measuring cups
Green food coloring
Zip-loc bags
Paper
Pencils
Containers of different sizes
Ice cubes
Blocks
Crayons
Clear cups of water

Pre-Assessment:

Before the lesson begins, the students will brainstorm everything they know about
solids and liquids so that I can gain a better understanding of how much they already
know about the topic. I will record their answers on board in a Venn diagram. One side
will be labeled Solids. The other column will be labeled Liquids, and the space
where they meet will be to list the similarities between solids and liquids.
Procedure:
I will present the students with a cup of water, a block, a crayon, and an ice cube.
After all the students are able to observe and explore these items briefly, they will
be a given a chance to clarify, modify, or add anything to the Venn Diagram.
Next they will work in small groups of 2 or 3 students in order for them to study
the materials further. Each group will be given a set of clear containers each
shaped differently. Water will be in one of their containers, and they will
experiment with it by pouring the water from one container to the next. They
should record their observations in their science journals. By doing this, they
should notice that the water takes the shape of the container it is in and therefore
does not have a shape of its own.
After they have experimented with the water for a while, I will present each group
with some solid objects, such as blocks and crayons. They will explore these
objects and make observations about them. They will record their answers in their
science journals. They should notice that solids have their own definite shape and
that they do not take the shape of a container if they are placed in one.
The students will then record in their science journals some differences between
the solids and liquids they observed.
I will next present them with an ice cube, and they will explore with the ice cube,
making observations. As they observe the ice cube, they should notice it begin to
melt. At this point the students will be asked to put the ice cubes in their cups.
The class will then meet on the rug for a class discussion. One of the cups with
an ice cube will be brought to the rug as well so that the class can keep an eye on
it as the class has a discussion about what they just observed. Before the
discussion begins, I will take a moment to ask the students to predict what will
happen to the ice cube. Some responses may include that the ice cube will keep
melting, the ice cube will turn into a liquid and take the shape of the cup, or the
ice cube will not change anymore. I will record their responses on chart paper.
The discussion will then start out by having the students share some of their close
observations about liquids and solids. If the students get stuck during the
discussion, I can ask questions. (What did the solid/liquid feel like? What did the
solid/liquid look like? What happened when the water was poured from container
to container? What happened to the shape of the water as it moved from container
to container? Does liquid have a shape? Did the solid materials ever change
shape?) As the students share their observations, we can continue to modify,
clarify, or add information to the original class Venn diagram.
After that part of the discussion is complete, I will turn the students attention
back to the cup with the ice cube in it. I will ask the students what they observe

about the ice cube now. (By this time the ice cube should be mostly, if not all the
way, melted). They will record some observations in their science journals, and
then they will be asked to compare their observations to their predictions. They
can also compare their observations of the melted ice cube to the observations
they made about the ice cube when it was frozen. This will allow them to grasp
the concept that just because a substance changes form does not mean the
substance changes; the substance remains water no matter what state it is in.
To further reiterate the point of the states of matter, the students can help the
teacher place the water from the melted ice cubes back inside the ice cube trays
and place the trays in the freezer. The students will then predict what will happen
again. The next day, the students will be able to observe that the water turned
back into a solid state.

Assessment:
I will start out the assessment process informally by walking around from group to
group to observe what they are doing and asking them questions, as stated in the
procedure, about their observations. I will take a mental note of what they are saying.
Then I will record the responses they give in the group discussion to determine who
grasps the concepts of liquids, solids, and different states of matter. I will also take note
of how the students compared what they predicted would happen to the ice cube/water to
what they observed actually happened. I will be able to look at the responses in their
science journals, as well. To see if they can apply what they have discovered about solids
and liquids, they will be asked to think of or find objects to go under the two categories.
This can lead to the question about whether or not a material or substance can be both a
liquid and solid.
Follow-up Activity/Further Assessment
Show the students the cover of the book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr.
Seuss. Explain that the green substance on the cover is called Oobleck, and ask
them to predict what Oobleck could possibly be. I will record their predictions on
chart paper.
After we have a good list of predictions, I will read the story to the students.
After the story is completed, the students would have learned a little bit more
about the mysterious substance called Oobleck. This should lead them to want to
learn more about it to discover what it is.
I will then tell the students that they are going to make Oobleck.
Each student will measure out 2 cups of cornstarch and 1 cup of water. They will
mix the contents into a zip-loc bag.
I will then add a few drops of green food coloring into each students bag, and the
students will be asked to close their bags, and mix around the contents with their
hands until the corn starch and water are completely mixed.
The students will then record some observations in their science journals about
the new substance in their bags. From their observations, they will be asked
determine whether the substance is a solid or a liquid and why they think it is
either a solid or a liquid.

Next the students will take the mystery substance out of their bags and explore
and observe some more. I will let the students explore for themselves for a while,
and then I will go around and ask them some guiding questions if they need help.
Such questions could include: How does this substance relate to what you
observed about the ice cube? What happens if you put the Oobleck in a cup?
Does it retain its shape? What happens if you pick a small piece of the Oobleck
up and put it in your hand?
After, the students are done making observations I will ask them one more time to
record in their journals whether they think the substance is a solid or liquid now
and why. Further questions would include: Did your answer change from the
first observation you made while the Oobleck was still in the bag? Is the Oobleck
a solid, a liquid, or both? Explain. Did your answer change from the first
observation you made while the Oobleck was still in the bag? Is it possible for a
substance to be a solid and a liquid? If this is possible, explain how it is possible.

Process Skills
The process skills involved in this lesson include observation, communication,
classification, measuring, predicting, and investigating.
The students made observations using their senses. Then they were asked to
communicate these observations with each other and with the teacher through oral and
written language. They were then asked to classify materials and substances as liquids
and/or solids. They used the evidence of their observations to make predictions about
what would happen to materials and whether materials were solids or liquids. While they
were making their mystery substance they had to measure the water and cornstarch out
using measuring cups. Throughout the whole lesson, the children were investigating.
Curriculum Frameworks and Learning Standards
Science and Technology/Engineering
Strand 3: Physical Science
Learning Standard 1:
Sort objects by observable properties such as size, shape, color,
weight, and texture.
Learning Standard 2:
Identify objects and materials as solid, liquid, or gas. Recognize
that solids have a definite shape and that liquids and gases take the
shape of their container.
Mathematics
Measurement
Learning Standard 2.M.5:
Select and correctly use the appropriate measurement tools.

English Language Arts

Language Strand
General Standard 1: Discussion
1.1 Follow agreed-upon rules for discussion.
General Standard 3: Oral Presentation
3.2 Maintain focus on the topic.
General Standard 4: Vocabulary and Concept Development
4.1 Identify and sort common words into various classifications
(colors, shapes, textures).
4.2 Describe common objects and events in general and specific
language.
Reading and Literature Strand
General Standard 8: Understanding a Text
8.1 Make predictions using prior knowledge, pictures, and text.

Arts

Composition Strand
General Standard 19: Writing
19.3 Draw pictures and/or use letters or phonetically spelled words
to give others information.
Visual Arts
Standard 1: Methods, Materials, and Techniques
1.4 Learn to take care of materials and tools and to use them safely.
Standard 2: Elements and Principles of Design
2.3 For texture, explore the use of textures in 2D and 3D works.
2.4 For shape and form, explore the use of shapes and forms in 2D
and 3D works.

Safety
The main safety precaution for this activity is to make sure that the children are
aware that they are not to put any of the materials we work with in their mouths.
Cornstarch and water are ingredients in many recipes, and the children are used to
drinking water, so the students must be told that for purposes of the project and for their
own safety (allergies, germs), they are not to put these substances in their mouths.
Students should also wash their hands before and after working with the materials to
avoid spreading germs. All the students must follow directions and use the all the
materials appropriately to ensure the safety of every member of the class. Children must
also listen for clean up directions and clean up materials properly when they are done.

Alternative Conceptions
After completing this lesson, children should have a better understanding of the
states and properties of matter and should be able to clarify and modify some of their
common alternative conceptions:
Particles of solids have no motion. When the students experiment with solids,
they should notice that solids can change shape. Can they tear the Oobleck apart?
Have they ever broken a crayon?
Materials can only exhibit properties of one state of matter. Water can be a
liquid, solid, or gas. The students will experience that water can change its state.
It is not always just a liquid, and it is not always just solid.
Resource
Beaty, Bill. Childrens Misconceptions about Science. AIP Operation Physics
Project. 6 March 2004 <http://www.amasci.com/miscon/opphys.html>

Background Information

MATTER IS THE STUFF AROUND YOU

Anything that takes up space or has a mass of any kind is MATTER. Everything you can
touch is made of matter.
Matter has many properties. It can have PHYSICAL properties like different densities,
melting points, boiling points, freezing points, color or smells. There are also
CHEMICAL properties that define matter. A good example of chemical properties is the
way elements combine with each other in reactions. The big thing to remember is that
matter can change in two major ways, physically and chemically.

STATES OF MATTER
There are four main STATES of matter. SOLIDS, LIQUIDS, GASES, and PLASMAS.
Each of these states is also known as a PHASE. ELEMENTS and compounds can move
from one phase to another phase when special physical forces are present (* physical, not
chemical *). One example of those forces is TEMPERATURE. When temperature
changes, the phase can change. Generally as the temperature rises, matter moves to a
more active state.

Phase describes a PHYSICAL state of matter. The key word to notice is physical,
because things only move from one phase to another by physical means. If energy is
added (like increasing the temperature or increasing pressure) or if energy is taken away
(like freezing something or decreasing pressure) those are physical changes. Those kinds
of forces change states of matter.
One compound or element can move from phase to phase, but still be the same substance.
You can see water vapor over a boiling pot of water. That vapor (or gas) can condense
and become a drop of water. If you put that drop in the freezer, it would become a solid.
No matter what phase it was in, it was always water. It always had the same chemical
properties. On the other hand, a chemical change would change the way the water acted,
eventually making it not water, but something completely new.

CHEMICAL FORCES DO NOT CHANGE THE STATE

Other forces that can be applied to something are the chemical forces. If you pour acid on
something it dissolves. That isn't changing from one phase to another, it is changing the
basic chemical structure of the compound NOT the physical state of matter it happened to
be.

SOLID BASICS
Solids can be made up of many things. They can have ELEMENTS or compounds
inside. They can also be made up of mixtures, or combinations of different elements and
compounds. Most of the solids you see are mixtures. Most rocks are mixtures of many
elements and compounds. Concrete is a good example of a man-made solid mixture.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOLIDS
Characteristics are the traits or features that something might have. One characteristic of
a solid is that it might be hard.
One of the main characteristics of solids is that they hold their own shape. So if you put a
solid in a container it won't change its shape, no matter how much you move or slide it
around. You can even grind a solid up so that it fills up a container. If you look at the
powder under a microscope you will still see little tiny solids that you couldn't change.
You know that liquids are different because if you put a liquid into a container it will fill
it up as much of the container as it can.
In the same way that a solid holds its shape the atoms inside of a
solid are not allowed to move around much. This is a physical
characteristic of all solids. It happens no matter how small the pieces
are. The atoms in liquids and gases move around in all directions.
The solid atoms and molecules are trapped in their places. The atoms
still spin and the electrons still move but the entire atom doesn't go
anywhere.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A SOLID
Obviously not everything is a solid. If you look around you'll see solids, liquids, and
especially gases (remember the air around you). Sometimes liquids feel a physical need
to become a solid, and then phase changes are about to happen.
Scientists use something called a FREEZING POINT to measure when a liquid turns
into a solid. There are physical effects that can change the freezing point. Pressure is one
of those effects. When the pressure surrounding a substance goes up the freezing point
also goes up. That means it's easier to freeze the substance at higher pressures. When it
gets colder, most solids shrink in size. There are a few which expand but most shrink.

LIQUID BASICS
Liquids are an in-between phase of matter. They are right between solids and gases. One
characteristic of a liquid is that it fills the shape of any container. So you pour some water
in a cup. It fills up the bottom of the cup first and then fills the rest. It also takes the shape
of the inside of the cup. It starts filling at the bottom because of GRAVITY. When it is in
that cup it also has a flat surface. That's because of gravity too.
One other characteristic of liquids is that they are very hard to COMPRESS. When you
compress something you take a certain amount and force it in a smaller space. Solids are
tough to compress too but gases are easy. When you compress something you squeeze it
so the atoms in the substance are closer together. When pressure goes up, substances are
compressed. Liquids already have their atoms close together so it is hard to push them
even closer.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A LIQUID

If you want to be a liquid you could start out as two different things. You could be a solid
or you could be a gas. Each of them has a different way of becoming a liquid.
Let's say you're a solid, such an ice cube. What you need to become a liquid is some
ENERGY. Atoms in a liquid have more energy than the atoms in a solid. The easiest
energy around is probably heat. There is a magic temperature for every substance called
the MELTING POINT. When a solid reaches the temperature of its melting point, it can
become a liquid. For water the temperature has to be a little over zero degrees Celsius. If
you were salt, sugar or wood your melting point would be higher than water.
So solids need more energy. The reverse is true if you are a gas. You need to lose some
energy from your very excited gas atoms. The easy answer is to lower the surrounding
temperature. When the temperature drops, energy will be sucked out of your gas atoms.
When you get to the CONDENSATION POINT, that's the temperature when you
become a liquid. If you were the steam of a boiling pot of water and you hit the wall, the
wall would be so cool that you would quickly become a liquid.
EVAPORATION
Sometimes a liquid can be sitting there and its molecules will become a gas. That's called
EVAPORATION. You might be wondering how that can happen when the temperature
is low. It turns out that all liquids can evaporate at room temperature and pressure.
Evaporation is when there are atoms or molecules escaping from the liquid and turning
into a vapor. Not all of the molecules in a liquid actually have the same energy. The
energy you can measure is really an AVERAGE of all the molecules. There are always a
few molecules with a lot of energy and some with barely any energy at all. It is those with
a lot of energy that build up enough power to become a gas and leave the liquid. When it
leaves it has evaporated.

MIXTURE BASICS
Mixtures are usually how you find things in nature. Rocks, the ocean, just about anything
you find. They are substances held together by PHYSICAL FORCES, not chemical.

MIXTURES ARE EVERYWHERE

There are an infinite amount of mixtures. Anything you can combine is a mixture. Think
of everything you eat. Just think about how many cakes there are. Each of those cakes is
made up of a different mixture.
Solutions are also mixtures. If you put sand into a glass of water it is considered to be a
mixture. You can always tell a mixture because each of the substances can be separated
from the group in different physical ways. You can always get the sand out of the water
by filtering the water away.

SOLUTIONS
Solutions are groups of molecules that are mixed up in a completely even distribution.
Scientists say that solutions are HOMOGENEOUS systems. A mixture can have a little
higher concentration on one side of the liquid than the other. Solutions have an even
concentration throughout the system.

CAN ANYTHING BE IN A SOLUTION?

Almost anything can be a solution. Solutions can be solids dissolved in liquids. They
could also be gases dissolved in liquids (like carbonated water). They can be gases in
other gases and liquids in liquids. If you mix things up and they stay at an even
distribution, it is a solution. You won't find solid-solid solutions, they are usually
considered to be mixtures.

SOLUTES, SOLVENTS AND CONCENTRATION

A simple solution is basically two substances that are going to be combined. One of them
is called the SOLUTE. A solute is the substance to be dissolved (sugar). The other is a
SOLVENT. The solvent is the one doing the dissolving (water). As a rule of thumb, there
is usually more solvent than solute.
Resource
Andrew Radar Studios. Matter. Raders Chem4kids. 6 March 2004
< http://chem4kids.com/files/matter_intro.html>

Resources
Andrew Radar Studios. Matter. Raders Chem4kids. 6 March 2004
< http://chem4kids.com/files/matter_intro.html>
Beaty, Bill. Childrens Misconceptions about Science. AIP Operation Physics
Project. 6 March 2004 <http://www.amasci.com/miscon/opphys.html>