Download Title: Maple Syrup: Solid or Liquid? Objective: To demonstrate to

Title: Maple Syrup: Solid or Liquid?
Objective: To demonstrate to students that different liquids can become solids through a
variety of processes or solids can become liquids through different processes.
Standards: EALR 4 Physical Science: Big Idea: Force and Motion
Materials: Plastic bottles, Assorted liquids (water, syrup, dish detergent), Assorted solids
(wooden blocks and pieces of plastic and metal), Basin or sink, Maple Syrup, Heavy
Saucepan, Heat source to heat the maple syrup, long wooden stirring spoon, Journal or
notebook.
Procedure:
1. Show your students the liquids you’ve assembled. Have them name and describe
the appearance of each liquid. Use a special journal to write down their
descriptions.
2. Now fill the water bottles with each liquid and pour each liquid from one bottle to
another empty bottle. Be sure to write down their observations. Your students
may notice that liquids pour and flow and liquids take on the shape of the
container that holds them.
3. Gather up the solid objects you've accumulated and have your students name and
describe each one. Ask them what they would like to write down in their
"scientific journal." As they examine each solid, help your students name
different properties (hard, soft, etc.) of the solid objects. They can write some of
the words in the journal themselves.
4. Compare and contrast! Encourage your students to compare the two states of
matter and list the ways solids and liquids are alike and different.
5. Now it’s time for some culinary fun. Pour one cup of maple syrup into a small,
heavy saucepan. Heat it over medium heat, stirring constantly. Make sure to use a
long-handled spoon to minimize any spatters. Hot sugar syrup can hurt!
6. Gently boil the maple syrup for about ten minutes, and then invite your students
to see what’s going on. Has the syrup changed? Is it thicker? That’s because some
of the water in the syrup has boiled off!
7. Now put the syrup back over the heat and gently boil again for another 10-15
minutes. Be careful to keep the syrup from burning the bottom of the pan!
Observe the sweet development: the sugar will crystallize into a soft, solid,
scrumptious maple sugar.
8. Yummy knowledge! After all this scientific inquiry, your students can probably
explain quite clearly the differences between solids and liquids -- unless they are
enjoying a mouthful of maple sugar candy.
Science Behind It: On your mark, get set, pour! Your first grader has probably already
noticed that some liquids, such as pancake syrup, pour slower than liquids like water.
While this topic is always fun (and a little sticky) to explore in the kitchen or at
mealtimes, it’s good first grade science, too. In fact, a common core topic in early
elementary school science is the difference between solid and liquid states of matter. And
you don’t need any fancy lab equipment to learn about it.