I wish I could get every science student to understand this one key fact-the greatest discoveries have came from failure.
All too often, students think the “science fair” project is the end; but really it is just the beginning! Sometimes scientists experience times when things don’t work or don’t go as they thought it would. Simply put, what they learn is their data does not support what they hypothesized would happen. And you know what, it really is okay!
Take for example my freezing bubbles activity. I managed to get it to work back in December when it was really cold. But the second time I tried to do it, it didn’t work. No matter what I did, I could not duplicate what happened the first time. This drove me crazy. In fact, I felt really bad. Several of my friends were trying it as well and could not get it done either!!
Then a friend of mine sent me a message with a different bubble solution. Since we had such cold temperatures today, I experimented with changing the bubble solution. Guess what!! It worked!
Although the bubble did not freeze all the way like last time, you could see the ice crystals forming from the bottom up. Here are some pictures I managed to get:
In the first picture you can see the bubble before it pops! The second picture shows the frozen remains of the bubble. I love how you can see the colors!
Here is what my experimenting showed me-you need to add something to the bubble solution to make it stronger. I added Karyo syrup to my solution of dawn soap and water. In fact, here is the receipt:
3 cups water; 1 cup Dawn soap; 1/2 cup of clear Kayro Syrup
From Silly Putty, corn flakes, even the microwave oven, some of our greatest inventions came from mistakes! So if your children want to give up when their experiments don’t come out like they thought, just have them keep going!
