The Matter of Matter 

3/4 level 

Year 3/4 Incursion 

Our focus for inquiry in 3/4 this term is chemical science and in particular we are looking at matter. On Friday 7th May the 3/4 students participated in an incursion called ‘The Matter of Matter’. We learnt about the different states of matter and what heating and cooling can do to each state, we did many experiments and explored the answers to many questions. We worked in small groups to do the experiments and we all took on different roles. After each experiment we came back together and discussed what we saw and what happened. We also got to use materials and equipment we hadn’t used before. We really enjoyed our incursion and had many highlights. 

 

Here are some of 3/4C's favourite moments and new learnings: 

 

"I liked using the dry ice. It was really cool when we added dry ice to the water and detergent and it made lots of bubbles." - Nethuli 

 

"I liked when our teacher Sophie made bubbles and smoke with dry ice. I also enjoyed learning about solids, liquids and gases." - Tina 

 

"Our incursion, The Matter of Matter, was about learning about the three states of matter. My favourite part was when the bubbles came out of the measuring cylinder by adding dry ice. We got to touch the bubbles and pop them and when we popped the bubbles, it turned to gas." - Onal

 

"It was fun when we got to work with our group to make bubbles. For another experiment Sophie put a candle in a beaker and then dry ice. We wanted to see what would happen to the flame. The flame went out so that meant carbon dioxide was added." - Lula

 

"We learnt about matter. There are four states of matter which are solids, liquids, gases and plasma. I really enjoyed when Sophie made bubbles with hot water, detergent and dry ice." - Sienna 

 

"We learnt that there are different types of gases like argon, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Gases can do different things to a flame. Oxygen makes a flame bigger, carbon dioxide extinguishes a flame and argon makes a flame smaller." - Aidan 

 

"I liked learning about the four states of matter. The four states of matter are solids, liquids, gases and plasma. We got to see a plasma ball and the plasma followed along with Sophie’s finger." - Alexander 

 

"Sophie showed us oobleck as a solid in the shape of a ball. The oobleck could bounce. We then left the oobleck and it started to turn into liquid. We learnt that solids can turn into liquids when heat is added. We also found out that there is a fourth state of matter which is plasma." - Yilong