We had a lot of fun experimenting with cranberries before Thanksgiving Break!
First, we made predictions and experimented to see if cranberries would float. Once we discovered that they DO float, we cut them open to find out why. We discovered that cranberries have 4 air pockets inside. This is what allows cranberry harvesters to collect their cranberries from the bog.
Next, we explored what would happen if we put cranberries in boiling water. The heat built up inside the cranberries' air pockets and then made them pop open. It was pretty cool!
Then, we observed and made noticings about the surface of dried cranberries. We identified that they had ridges all over them. If you drop dried cranberries in a glass of clear soda, the cranberries will dance! The air bubbles from the soda would gather under the ridges of the dried cranberry and push it to the surface. When the air bubbles reached the surface, they would pop and the dried cranberry would fall back down to the bottom of the glass. This happened over and over for a long time! The Twosies collected data on how many times one dried cranberry rose and fell.
Last, I challenged the Twosies to design a cranberry catapult! We got some help from some awesome fifth graders. Each group was given a plastic spoon, popsicle sticks, rubberbands, and cranberries. There were many failures at first, but by the end, some groups were even shooting cranberries over the school building. I was super impressed with their distance!!
