As part of our unit on plants, we learned about how trees and leaves take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen (while also learning that humans do the opposite -- the students thought it was amazing that plants help us while we help them ... isn't God creative??). We did a science experiment that actually showed the leaves giving off oxygen. First, we headed to the playground to hunt for the perfect leaves!
Next, the students had to work in groups to decide which leaf was the best for the experiment. This was harder than you'd think, since everyone wanted their own leaves to be included! (Compromise is a life skill! 😉)
Water on your hands is always fun!
We waited an hour or so (see ... literally the easiest science experiment ever) and then observed what we saw. There were oxygen bubbles all over each leaf!
As time passed, the bubbles disappeared due to there being a finite amount of oxygen in the leaves. However, one container was still quite "bubbly" the next morning, so we decided to investigate each leaf to see if we could figure out why.
We didn't really arrive at a conclusion -- all of the leaves were the same, so we couldn't identify size or species as the reason. But as I always tell the students, science isn't about having all the answers, it's about being willing to ask the questions!
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