Mrs. Spets’ 3rd grade class studied surface tension as a STEM project. Water molecules are attracted to each other and form a strong bond. Since the molecules on the surface do not have neighboring molecules to bond with, they contract to resist being stretched or broken. This property also makes the outer molecules form bubbles to resist outer forces.
Students worked in groups to invent bubble makers. Each group could purchase items from a list to create their own bubble maker. After some experimenting, we were allowed to purchase more items to make changes and try again. After we studied the process of bubble making, we used oil pastels for a bubble art project.