Day 64 / 101 - VanCleave's 201 Experiments

We've had fun this year completing science experiments from Janice VanCleave's 201 Awesome, Magical, Bizarre, and Incredible Experiments.  This book is a collection of science experiments designed to show students that science is more than a list of facts.  It shows that science is a way of solving problems and discovering why things happen the way they do.  It takes science out of the laboratory and puts it into our daily life.  We find the answers to many questions by doing the experiments in the book.

The experiments in the book cover five different fields of science: Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, and Physics.  Since we've been studying Biology and Chemistry this year we've completed experiments in Biology (the way living organisms behave and interact) and Chemistry (the way materials are put together and their behavior under different conditions).  For instance, we've asked the questions, how do our lungs work? or what are fingerprints?  The book then guides us through the steps necessary to successfully complete a science experiment and to teach us the best method of solving problems and discovering answers.

The picture above is a little unclear, but it shows how we grew needle-shaped crystals of Epsom salt.  It was one of our chemistry experiments showing us how an element's behavior changes under different conditions.