Evaporation Investigation
Lesson Plans
Grades1, 2, 3, 4, 5Science
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Provided by NASA
What it is
- In this lesson, students will complete two simple experiments to help them understand evaporation.
- Students will observe what happens to the water level in a container over time, discover that only the water in saltwater will evaporate, record data, and discuss findings.
Teaching tips
Positives
- Most of the materials for this experiment are easy to find and may already be on hand.
- The resource provides rich background information the teacher can use to deepen their understanding of the concepts.
Additional Prerequisites
- The reference links on page two are broken, however, these links aren't necessary for completing the lesson.
- Some students may need the terms evaporation, precipitation, and condensation defined before beginning the lesson.
Differentiation
- These experiments would fit well with an extended unit on the water cycle to help students better conceptualize evaporation.
- Some students may need pictures and diagrams to understand what happens to water when it evaporates.
- Teachers can extend the portion where students create saltwater paint art to introduce students to artwork that uses science ideas as inspiration. Students can also look at other watercolor pieces for inspiration.
- Extend this lesson by reading a story about weather, precipitation, or the water cycle.
- Teachers can discuss how the water cycle is affected by rising temperatures, mentioning extreme weather events and increased evaporation as a result of climate change.
From the scientist review
This resource is from the CLEAN collection. “The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness.”
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