By Cathy Dykstra….
Here’s a simple and well-explained experiment that models the water cycle.
Pause the video after the ice cubes have been placed on top of the saran wrap and ask your students to predict what is going to happen next.
- This is a fantastic video explained by a young girl!
- Perhaps use the POE (predict, observations, explain model) here to encourage more thorough scientific thought.
Then conduct the experiment as a whole class:
You’ll need 5 ice cubes, a big glass bowl, a small glass bowl, Saran Wrap, 2 c. hot water, oven mitts, spoon, 1 tsp. salt
- With oven mitts, place hot water in a big glass bowl
- Pour in salt and stir with a spoon
- Place small bowl (land) in the big bowl (ocean), making sure it’s empty and dry
- Place 2 layers of Saran Wrap (clouds) over the bowl and seal the edges
- Place ice cubes (cool atmosphere) on top of the Saran Wrap and directly over the small bowl
- Wait 10 minutes….or until evidence that your water cycle is working
- Have a class discussion about what happened and why. Were their predictions accurate?