Welcome to GEMS Science!

Today our budding scientists discovered properties of a substance discovered recently on a new moon in our solar system. Their job was to investigate how this substance, called Oobleck for it’s similarity to the green, oozy substance in Dr. Seuss’ Bartholomew and the Oobleck, performs using their senses of hearing, seeing, touching, and smelling. We decided that tasting was a sense we would leave out of the equation for now!

These scientists really got into their job as they were up to their elbows in green goo! Even my hands were covered as we discussed our observations! Hence, the idea of taking photos was, unfortunately, put on the back burner.

Once their observations were recorded they used different tools to conduct tests on the Oobleck to see how it performed. The scientists discovered under certain circumstances the Oobleck performed as a liquid, while other times it acted as a solid. Very mysterious indeed!

Next week we plan on holding a scientific convention where groups will share their observations to create “Laws of Oobleck”, which will involve lots of discussion based on evidence gathered today. The goal will be to encourage refinement of our wording to most accurately describe Oobleck. Tests will be conducted in order to prove our laws.

Please have your child bring in colored pencils for use in our next class as we will be using them for a follow up exercise where their creativity comes out.

See you next week!

“Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen, but thinking what no one else has thought.”
   - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Nobel Prize winner in medicine

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