Oobleck

Niki Diestel and Mary Ennis

Clinical Interview 2

For the clinical Interview I chose to ask about the states of matter. The Gems guide I chose reviews the states of matter by creating a substance called Oobleck. The lessons we created for the GEMS guide are for a fourth grade science class. I was curious to see how much a fourth grader already knew about matter. I interviewed a student who just graduated from fourth grade and will be entering the fifth grade in the fall of 2008.

1. What information do I want to discover through the interview?

• I want to discover what Jeff knows about the three states of matter.

2. What do I expect the interviewee to say? Why?

• I believe he will know that the three states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas but I think he will have a difficult time explaining why they are a solid, liquid, or a gas.

3. How can I avoid steering the interviewee in the direction of my expectations?

• I must word questions appropriately and be sure to deliver them in an even tone. I must also be aware of my facial expressions and the way I receive information the interviewee tells me. He knows my tone and expressions well and will pick up on them. He also already thinks he is “bad” at science so I want to make this a positive experience for him.

4. Opening Questions:

• How many states of matter are there? What are they?
• What determines is something is a gas, liquid, or solid?

5. Questions to introduce the main ideas:

• What is the difference between a solid and a liquid?
• What is the difference between a liquid and a gas?

6. Probes for specific information:

• Can something be both a liquid and a solid? How? Why?

7. Possible follow-up questions:

• Do you think slime is a liquid or a solid or both? Why?

Clinical Interview:
Jeff
5th Grader in the fall of 2008

Jeff, I am going to be asking you some questions about matter today. Did you lean about matter in school this past year?

Yes.

I’m going to ask you some questions to see how I could help you learn even more about matter, ok?

Ok.

How many states of matter are there? What are they?

Three. Solid, liquid, and gas.

What determines if something is a gas, liquid, or solid?

A solid is something at a certain temperature. When it gets hot the solid moves to water and when it gets even hotter the solid moves to gas.

What is the difference between a solid and a liquid?

The liquid is runny and the solid isn’t.

What is the difference between a liquid and a gas?

You can breathe gas and you can’t breathe water.

Can something be both a liquid and a solid? How? Why?

No, they are two different things. Well, maybe magma or an ice cube could be both. I don’t know.

Do you think slime is a liquid or a solid or both? Why?

I think slime is a solid surrounded by liquid.

Thanks for answering all of my questions. You have helped me see how to teach my lesson on Oobleck. Do you want to see Oobleck?

Sure. What’s Oobleck?

Analysis         

            I was happy with Jeff’s responses to my questions. They were about what I expected from him. He went into more detail on what makes a solid, liquid, and a gas than I thought he would. He is very hesitant when it comes to science and it is hard to get him to talk about it much.
            I asked him to help me make Oobleck and then I let him mess around with it. He had a good time making it and making a mess in the kitchen with it. I wanted to make sure that this was a positive experience for him because of the anxiety that he has for science already. I told him about how in the lesson students would get to design a spacecraft and he asked if he could be in my class. At the end of the day he realized science could be fun and that he just didn’t have fun with it at school (yet.)