1. Schoolwork made by pupils from 1st and 2nd grade Ecole d’Hermeville (twined with Vergetot) It floats or it sinks ?

2.  A bucket with water.

3.  Students in each class have brought several items of their choice.  The students have sorted them in two piles, depending on whether they thought the object would float or sink. What is floating ? What is sinking ?

4.  The hypothesis put forward by the children was:  When it is big and heavy it sinks. When it's small and light it floats.  The boat sank and the little plastic tub floated, even with two balls.

5.  Following this first series of observations, we have set aside items that do not meet the expectations of children and we wrote our results on a large sheet:

6.  We have reached the first conclusion:  There is light and small objects that floats (elastics, paper clips, erasers) and heavy objects that float (large piece of wood, clothespin, rule).  Some can also float and sink.

7.  Pupils from 2nd grade experiment :

8.  To test this hypothesis we put in a bucket a big heavy piece of wood and a small metal nail.  According to a student, "the wood absorbs water and eventually sink after a few hours".

9.  After 3 days the wood was still floating. We came to the conclusion that some materials such as wood floats continuously.  This was confirmed by a carpenter who came to our class and told us that only a few species like ebony can sink.

10.  The 1st grade pupils « try » :

11.  With other plastic items, glass, metal, we realized that the shape was important. When the object is hollow, it floats.  Here is a small glass jar filled with marbles that floats. A problem of shape

12.  To test this hypothesis we did an experiment: we tried with some plasticine.  It sinks when shaped into a ball but floats when it is flat like a dish.

13.  Conclusion from the children: "It's not that simple."  "This is not because it's big and heavy that it will sink but something small and light may not float.  Some materials such as wood still floats.”  For others, the object's shape is important: "It's like a boat hull”. We made a parallel with the huge boats that are made of metal.