This practical task requires students to describe to a partner their observations about an ice cube melting. Students then develop questions about what they observe.
This practical task assesses students' ability to record and graph data, and draw conclusions, as they conduct an experiment on the rate at which an ice cube melts in different temperatures.
Task: Decide whether described situations are examples of melting or dissolving, provide further examples, and describe what happens when something melts, and when something dissolves. Assessment focus: definitions of melting and dissolving.
Describe methods for speeding up and slowing down melting of an ice cube using one of three provided objects, and explain why the methods would work. Assessment focus: planning an investigation.
For this practical task students make a prediction about which lot of ice will melt first. Then students record their observations and explain why one lot of ice melted faster than the other.