Center Focus

Dancin’ Raisins

  1. You will need baking soda, vinegar, raisins, and a clear glass for this activity.
  2. Have students experiment with these ingredients. You may want to give them specific instructions or just let them discover things on their own.
  3. Have them change variables and see what differences occur. For example the higher the concentration of vinegar, the more the raisins will dance.
  4. They should record their findings in an easy-to-read fashion, such as graphing the independent vs. dependent variable.
  5. Students should also be able to form conclusions based on their data and more experienced students might be able to explain the phenomenon as the conversion of chemical energy to mechanical energy.
  6. Go to the Science Lesson Plans area to check out this cool lesson.