Surface Tension
This activity was about experimenting with coloured water on wax paper. The point was to see how water behaves on a surface it can’t stick to. We used droppers to put the water on the paper and saw what happened. Some students focused on making designs with the coloured water, while others were more interested in the science part, like seeing how small or large they could make the water drops before they broke apart or spread out too much.
Using different colours made it visually interesting, but the main goal for some was to understand more about water’s properties, like surface tension. By trying to make the smallest possible drop, we learned about how water molecules stick together. By dragging drops to make them bigger, we saw there’s a limit before the drop can’t hold its shape anymore.
This activity was a mix of art and science. One side of it was about being creative with how we arranged the drops to make different patterns. The other side was about observing and thinking about why water behaves the way it does on a hydrophobic (water-repelling) surface like wax paper.
What made today’s lesson useful was how it combined direct hands-on experimentation with learning scientific concepts. It wasn’t just about watching water drops; it was about understanding the forces that shape their behaviour. The activity showed that learning can be interactive and that science isn’t confined to textbook definitions or lab experiments.
Looking back, the “Aha moment” was that simple experiments like this can teach a lot. It was a practical way to learn about scientific principles while also having the freedom to be creative. For me, the lesson was clear: science can be found everywhere, and sometimes, the simplest experiments can be the most enlightening.