Water and Motion Investigation

The children have been very interested in how the water travels through the tubes. We provoked the children’s interest with the water table, colored water, the plexi-glass hole insert, plastic expandable tubes, and plastic cups. The children began their investigation by scooping up the colored water in their cups and pouring it into the tubes. The children observed how the water traveled through the tube until it reached the other end.

“It’s coming back out!”-  Tyren

The children discovered how they could use one cup to pour the water into the tube and another cup to catch the water. Hadi worked on connecting two of the tubes together.

The plastic tubes provided the children with more control of changing the shape of the tube and the length of the tube.  We wanted to extend the children’s ideas about the movement of water by providing them with PVC pipes, instead of the flexible plastic tubing.  Right away, the children noticed the differences in the PVC piping.

“I can’t see the water”- Tyren

The children observed how if you poured the water through the L shaped pipe, the water wouldn’t always come out the other end on its own.  When a teacher asked Calvin, “How come your cup won’t fill up?” He stated:

“Because it is going out. If it is not the same direction, it needs to go up or down.”- Calvin

Calvin realized the pipe needed to be straight in order for the water to easily travel from one end to another. Calvin worked tilting the PVC pipe until the water came out the end. Caden discovered how if he flipped the PVC pipe upside down, the water would come out.