Mrs. Makarewich’s third grade science students practiced using the scientific method when they performed the Fastest Fizz experiment.

Step 1:  State the Question
Our experiment focused on the following questions: 
Using hot, room temperature and ice cold water, which will dissolve an effervescent tablet the fastest and which will dissolve it the slowest?

Step 2:  Collect Information
The students discussed what they had learned in second grade about how the temperature of water affects melting.  Some examples they gave were making Jell-O and iced tea as well as melting an ice cube.   

Step 3:  Form a Hypothesis
Each child then wrote a hypothesis.  They predicted which temperature of water would dissolve the tablet the fastest and which would dissolve it the slowest.

Step 4:  Test the Hypothesis   
Each lab group needed the following materials to perform their experiments:

• lab sheets, pencils
• beakers
• graduated cylinder to measure the water  
• hot water, room temperature water, ice cold water
• 3 fizzy tablets
• rubber gloves
• stop watch

The students demonstrated a great deal of enthusiasm for this step as these pictures show.

Step 5:  Record and Study Data
The students recorded the time it took for each tablet to dissolve and graphed their results.  Next, working together in their small lab groups, they discussed what happened to the tablet in the hot, room temperature and ice cold water.  They summarized their observations and wrote their findings on their lab sheets.

Step 6:  Draw a Conclusion
Using their graph and their written observations, the students answered the following questions:

• How does the temperature of water affect the speed at which the tablet dissolves?
• Which temperature of water has the most energy?  Explain how you know this.

The students concluded that the hot water had the most energy because it took about 2 minutes to dissolve the tablet while the cold water had the least amount of energy because it took about 10 to 12 minutes to dissolve the tablet.
We all decided that using the Scientific Method for problem solving will continue to be an important part of our third grade lessons.