5E Inquiry Water Cycle Condensation Experiment

By: Nicholas Ciambrone, Piedmont IB Middle School

Engage: (3 minutes)1. Show students a glass of water. Ask: Where did this water come from? How old is

this water? 2. Tell students we are going to explore this water cycle more today.

Explore: (30 minutes)1. ASK: What will happen if I put ice water in a cup? Take answers.2. ASK: What if I put ice water in a cup and placed it inside a plastic bag? Take

answers.3. Walk students through how to complete an experiment sheet.4. They will use this for other experiments, so make sure they know what to do!5. Provide an example for them to look off of and write the experiment sheet

together.6. Run the experiment, however the class decides, even if you know it’s wrong! Have

students set up the experiment.7. Have more students check the experiment at the times the students want, and let

them make observations.

Explain: (5 minutes)1. ASK: What happened during the experiment?2. Fill out the Analysis.

Elaborate: (12 minutes)1. ASK: Why did one cup have condensation on it, while the other did not?2. Let students answer, then explain there was much less water vapor in the bag then

in the world where the first cup sat.3. ASK: Where are places on Earth that do not have a lot of water vapor in the air?4. ASK: What does this mean for the weather in those areas?

Evaluate: (3 minutes)1. Give the homework of answering the experiment questions at the bottom of the

experiment sheet. Collect this sheet the next day as a grade. Each question should be answered.

2. Tell them this will be graded, they can submit the conclusion in the Google Classroom, or in paper form.