The Blue Dragon
Programme 8: Changing Things
This programme aims to develop children's understanding of changes in state
and the idea that some things can be changed through heating and freezing.
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In this programme the characters find themselves in a Polar Region of snow and ice.
They are hungry but cannot see food and they are thirsty but all the water is frozen.
Along comes an animal called Po-Lar Bear, who shows them an ice-house (igloo) where
people have left food. The animals find that the food is frozen but Cinders comes
to the rescue by thawing, then cooking it, but has some mishaps with chocolate and
ice lollies. The programme focuses on changes due to heat, both raising and lowering
the temperature.
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The programme explores:
- changes in state of water from liquid to solid (water to ice);
- changes in state of water from solid to liquid (ice to water);
- different substances melting and solidifying, eg chocolate, butter;
- changing food due to heat, eg making toast, cooking eggs;
- reversible and irreversible changes.
There are many curriculum links that can be made for example:
- Design and technology – designing and cooking their favourite bread baguette pizza.
- English – create a list of words describing cold places and challenge children to use them in written work on Polar Regions.
- History – tell children the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton
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Ice is water that has been cooled to freezing point and changed to a solid. Although
we cannot see it, the atoms in materials are vibrating all of the time. When cooled
they vibrate less and move further apart and the water becomes solid (water when
turning to ice expands and becomes lighter so that it floats). Whilst young children
will not need to know about the changes at the level of the atom, they do need to
understand that cooling some liquids to zero degrees centigrade will make them change
from a liquid to a solid.
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Make some 'Ice Hands'. Take some ice into the classroom, but not
just ice cubes, make ice shapes or ice hands (filling plastic gloves with water
and freezing them). The latter will melt slowly through the day. Ask children to
predict:
- How long will the ice hand take to melt?
- Which part do you think will melt first, and why?
- What other ice shapes could we make and how?
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