Leading students to develop better concepts

This article describes how a fun introduction to cohesion and surface tension can help students to better understand how water absorbs energy as it goes from a solid to liquid to gas. In add... See More

This article describes how a fun introduction to cohesion and surface tension can help students to better understand how water absorbs energy as it goes from a solid to liquid to gas. In addition to the activities mentioned, I generally use a comb and stream of water to emphasize the polar nature of water, and when I have the materials, capillary action and pouring water down a string. But the way the authors use these to lead students to develop their own models is a great learning progression.