Do all kinds of sugar dissolve at the same rate?
With assistance, students design a fair test to find out which kind of sugar will dissolve in water most quickly. Kinds of sugar to investigate include brown sugar, cane sugar, icing sugar and lump sugar. They construct spreadsheets to record results of experimental work and with help, create bar graphs to illustrate their results. Students write a scientific report and make inferences based on their data using the expressions ‘dissolve’ and ‘making a solution’ correctly. They begin to distinguish between the processes of dissolving and melting. They explain in what way their test was ‘fair’. Students pour each of the sugar solutions produced in the activity into shallow saucers and leave them in a sunny place. Based on their experience they predict the outcome of the experiment and observe any changes daily. They discuss their findings and are assisted to describe the processes which took place in terms of evaporation of water from the solution to leave the sugar crystals remaining. S
