Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

In this modeling exercise students can explore a diversity of phenomena that result from the properties of water to learn about the cross-cutting concept “Scale, Proportion, and Quantity”.

There are a number of phenomena that can be used to promote student engagement with understanding the properties of water in terms of scale. These include comparing the number of drops of water versus oil that can fit on a penny, the fireproof balloon demonstration, normal versus heavy water, evaporation, and interactions of hydrophobic and hydrophilic substances among others. In all cases, students can model what the water molecules would look like in the phenomena to try and understand why water has the properties it does. The CCC focus in this modeling would be scale with students having to grapple with how polarity/hydrogen bonding at a small scale can result in larger emergent properties.

Suggested Modeling Elements: Molecules, Molecular bonding, States of Matter

Suggested Sensemaking Components: Flow of Matter, Zoom in/out