Handouts are available below

Big Idea

Here’s a lab I’ve done with my students for the past 2 years that not only has them practice using a balance to find the mass of objects, it also gets students to practice lab skills like data analysis and drawing conclusions using the CER (Claim Evidence and Reasoning) framework. Best of all, this lab doesn’t need anything elaborate or complicated.

Simple Lab Activity: Beaker Mass vs…

My lab activity is made up of 2 big questions I want students to investigate and answer: (1) do beakers of the same volume have the same mass, and (2) do beakers of increasing volume also increase in mass by the same proportions?

For the first question, students use a balance to find the mass of three 100ml beakers that all look the same. Students find the mass of these beakers and record the mass on a table like this. To answer the first question, students just have to look across and see if the masses are identical. Not surprisingly, the masses are almost always off. I get students to write a CER statement about it and to provide some reasons to explain the differences. For example, some students mention that perhaps the beakers are dirty or chipped, which would add or take away mass from beakers that would otherwise be the same mass.

For the second question, students use a balance to find the mass of beakers of increasing volume. Students find the mass of a 100ml beaker, a 250ml, a 400ml and a 600ml. And, I get students to expand their current table to look like this so they can record their results. As for the conclusion, students are sometimes confused by the question itself, so I explain it this way: a 400ml beaker can hold 4 times more liquid than a 100ml beaker – but, does a 400ml beaker also have a mass that is 4 times bigger than a 100ml beaker? Consider a 250ml beaker and a 100ml beaker, where the former is 2.5 times bigger in volume than the latter. So, is the mass of the 250mL beaker also 2.5 times greater than the 100mL beaker?

If you’ve tried or am trying this with your colleagues, please email me and let me know! 

Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk science again soon.

Resources

Handout(s): Beaker Mass Activity

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