Grade Level: 6,7,8

Goals:

*The students will realize the impact of oil spills on bodies of water by doing a hands-on lesson dealing with density

*The students will write a concise lab summary about the density lab

Materials:

*plastic cups *rubbing alcohol

*clear straws *vegetable oil

*clay *salt

*eye droppers *water

*food coloring *newspaper articles about oil spills

Content Areas:

*Science

*Math

*Language Arts

Concepts:

*Problem solving

*Experimentation

*Writing

Procedure:

1. The students will be asked to discuss how environmental issues may affect the environment and in turn the life around their port cities. For example, the students may discuss such topics as oil spills, acid rain, or erosion just to name a few. The students would see the connection between these environmental issues and the port cities; especially in the areas of economy, commerce, transportation, weather and many more areas.

2. The students will be given articles from newspapers dealing specifically with oil spills and how individuals have attempted to fix a disastrous situation. Discussion can follow the reading of these articles. The teacher will pose questions dealing with the detrimental effects of oil spills in the ocean. He/she will discuss how oil is damaging to the marine environment based on the fact that oil and water do not mix. He/she could also discuss with the students what they found in the articles dealing with such issues as the effects on the economy, commerce, and weather because of an oil spill. The students are not limited to these topics and are encouraged to discuss other issues as well. The fact that oil and water do not mix, will be demonstrated by the following science lesson and also in the articles that the students read at the beginning of this lesson.

3. Explain to the students that the point of this little experiment is to notice that different substances have different densities. Ask the students why they think that this might be a problem if oil is spilled in water.

4. Break the students into pairs. Have each pair gather the following substances:

*1/4 cup of the following--oil, water with 2 tsp. salt, rubbing alcohol, fresh water. (Explain to the students that they are using vegetable oil instead of crude oil but the vegetable oil will show what we want it to for this experiment.)

5. After putting the designated amounts into separate cups, add food coloring to the rubbing alcohol, the fresh water, and the water with 2 tsp. salt to make each a different color.

6. Then take a clear, plastic straw and put into a mound of clay. The students need to make sure that the straw is secure in the clay and is not going to leak.

7. Then take an eye dropper, and drop 3 drops of each substance into the straw trying to make sure that the liquids stay separate and that each color can be seen.

8. Steps 6 and 7 should be repeated until the students have successfully accomplished the task of keeping the substances separate.

9. Have each pair of students write-up a summary as to why they think that the different substances were able to stay separate. The students should also include in this summary why this experiment is pertinent to the issue of oil spills. The students should also relate this experiment to the topic of port cities and the ocean.

Evaluation: Each pair of students will be assessed based on their summary of the activity. It will be evaluated based on whether or not they use correct grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraph organization and also if they gave good support as to why the experiment turned out the way it did. The summary also needs to show that the students understand why this topic is important to the overall theme of oceans and port cities. This paragraph will be graded taking all of these points into account and then given a letter grade (A,B,C,D,F) based on the teacher's overall impression of the paper and standards of quality. For example, the teacher may decide that for an A, the student would need to show excellent understanding of not only the experiment but also how the experiment is pertinent to the overall theme of port cities and the ocean. The teacher should set the criteria for his or her own classroom and make sure that the students are aware of what they need to do, to be successful.

Approximate Time: 3.5 hours

Resources: We modified this lesson from one that we found on the Internet.

~Eagan, Robynne. Kid Contraptions. Carthage, Ill.: Teaching and Learning Co., 1995.

~Mebane, Robert. Water and Other Liquids. New York: Twenty-First Century Books, 1995.

~Strahler, Arthur Newell. Understanding Science: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1992.

~Wekesser, Carol (ed.). Water: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1994.

Internet site:

~http://www-cxro.lbl.gov/cgi-bin/density.pl

Newspaper/magazine articles:

~McQueen, Mike. "Oil Spill--How Oil is Cleaned Up, What's Done for Animals." USA Today, March 30, 1989. 2 pp.

~Associated Press. "Alaska Fears Long-Term Woes From Oil Spill." San Diego Union-Tribune, March 30, 1989. 3 pp.

~Mathews, Jay. "Spill Cleanup Expected to Take Months; Extensive Harm to Alaska Foreseen." Washington Post, March 29, 1989. 6 pp.

~Wires. "Oil Foils Cleanup Effort: Defensive Measures Used in Spill." Chicago Sun-Times, March 29, 1989. 3 pp.

~"Another Valdez-type Spill is Likely, Report Warns." Los Angeles Times, March 22, `1990. 3 pp.

~Schaefer, David. "Oil Spill Inevitable, Report Says--Cleanup Efforts can be Hazardous Study Warns." Seattle Times, April 1, 1990. 3 pp.

~Dumanoski, Dianne. "One Year Later--The Lessons of Valdez." Boston Globe, April 2, 1990. 6 pp.

Extensions:

*This activity could be done using other substances to see how they compare to each other.

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