Investigating How to Make Icy Roads Safer

If you've ever driven on icy roads, you'll know just how treacherous they can be. How do road crews make the roads safer for travel? You may have seen them spraying a solution on the roads prior to a big storm, but what exactly is in that mixture and how does it help? With the extremely cold weather conditions across the country recently, this would be a timely topic for your students to explore.

I grew up in New Hampshire, and I can remember wondering why crews spread salt and sand on the roads. If you live in a cold climate where roads are often covered with ice in the winter, your students may have wondered the same thing. As it turns out, the salt lowered the freezing point of water which kept it from freezing at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and the sand made the roads less slippery providing traction for the vehicles.

The Icy Road Investigation is a terrific way to have your students explore these concepts. This hands-on science experiment involves placing ice cubes in zippered plastic bags with sand and salt so students can observe the effects of those two substances on the melting ice. The activity uses simple materials that you can easily find around the home, and it's great for cooperative learning teams or students working with a partner. This lesson includes includes teacher directions and a 3-page lab report for students to complete as they conduct the investigation.

The Icy Road Investigation can be purchased alone, but it's also one of the seasonal lessons in my January Activities pack. In addition to this science activity, the 28-page January packet has over a dozen printables for January or winter including literacy, math, and social studies activities. Most of the lessons and printables are designed for cooperative learning teams or students working in pairs, but many of them can be used for independent work, too.

Preview Icy Road Investigation on TpT

Preview January Activities Pack on TpT

Icy Road Investigation Follow-up Activities   

Researching and Investigating Other Ways to Make Icy Roads Safer
Recently scientists have been exploring other options that are not only environmentally safe - they actually save money. A few days ago I read an article with information about various solutions that seem to work even better than salt water. Would you be believe some states are using substances like cheese brine and a solution made from beets?

I wonder what other solutions might work to make roads safer in winter? A fun follow up to the Icy Roads Investigation above would be to have students repeat the Icy Road Investigation using a different solution to see how the new substance affects the results.

Know-Wonder-Learned Chart Freebie

You could also use a KWL chart to guide students through the process of researching how to make icy roads safer. Give each student a copy of the free printable shown here, and display a copy for the class. Together, write what you know from your investigation in the Know column. Then ask students to complete the Wonder column by brainstorming questions they have about how roads can be made safer. Provide time for them to research the topic, take notes, and complete the Learned column. Wrap up the lesson by having students share what they learned with the class.

Even if you don't live where winter weather is a problem, your students have seen enough movies to know that snow and ice on the roads create dangerous driving conditions. Exploring how roads can be made safer is a timely science topic, and your student are sure to enjoy this hands-on activity and research project.

Mitten Science

Mittens keep our hands warm, but are mittens themselves warm? That's the question Selina Smith of the Classroom Magic blog posed to students in her mitten investigation.

Using inquiry science, students discovered that  mittens keep our hands warm because they trap our body heat, but mittens alone are not warm at all. Selina pairs this investigation with the book, The Mitten, by Jan Brett. Visit her blog to download the complete directions and handouts for the activity.


More Mitten Investigations
Selina's blog post intrigued me right away. I like her original question because it's easy to understand and can be explored with a simple science experiment. This activity also started me thinking about other mitten experiments that would be very easy for students to explore. A great follow up to her activity would be to have students brainstorm a list of mitten questions to investigate. Here are a few mitten of MY questions:

• Are thin cotton mittens as effect as thick thermal mittens for keeping hands warm?
• Do gloves keep hands as warm as mittens?
• Do hands get warmer the longer they are inside the mittens? 
• How does the outside air temperature affect the temperature of hands inside mittens? (If you are wearing mittens indoors will your hands be the same temperature as they would be if you were wearing them outdoors in cold weather?)

Designing Reliable Experiments

If your students are new to science inquiry, I would suggest choosing one experiment to do as a class. Later your students can choose another question to explore with a partner or a team. Download the Science Experiment Lab Write up from Teaching Resources before you begin.

To get started, give each student a blank copy of the form. Work through the various parts of the write up together, starting with the question and hypothesis.

Discuss how to design an experiment that will be reliable because this may be a new concept for elementary students. They tend to think that if they do an experiment one time, the results are "proof" that their hypothesis is correct. Experiments can be made more reliable by changing only one part of the experiment at a time (the variable), repeating the experiment, and measuring carefully.

After you design the experiment, let each team carry it out and record their results. Walk them through the remaining steps to draw conclusions and complete the science lab write up.

Can you think of other mitten questions to investigate? How would you use this activity in your classroom? Visit the Science page on Teaching Resources for more investigation ideas!

Visit Teaching Resources at http://www.lauracandler.com