Lesson Plan 17 – DIY Lava Lamp | Page 4
2008 | ABC Science Online
• Ask students to predict what will happen at each step ie:
will the oil and water mix?
how will a drop of food colour behave in oil?
will the soluble aspirin tablet float or sink in the oil and how else might it
behave?
• Assign group jobs and distribute materials required
Make and observe DIY Lava Lamps – Small Groups (15–20 min)
• Equipment Manager collects materials required for activity from science store
• Group members cooperate to make a Lava Lamp – each group member should
have a turn at adding one of the ingredients to glass:
y ¼ fill glass with water
y carefully add vegetable oil until glass is near full
y add two or three drops of food colouring and observe
y add soluble aspirin tablet and observe
y discuss ideas about how the lava lamp works
NOTE: a whole class discussion about the theory of operation may assist groups to
formulate and articulate their ideas at this point
y repeat, observe and revise ideas
• All group members cooperate to clean up
• Equipment manager returns equipment to science store
NOTE: You may want to delay clean up so that early finishers can repeat the
experiment
Discussion – Whole Class (5 – 10 min)
• Discuss the activity and observations
• Discuss how to approach writing and illustration of instruction guide –
students could design a one page illustrated instruction sheet or poster.
Students could also take photographs for their instructions or make a video
presentation (eg for the class BLOG on the school’s website)
Individual – Whole Class (20 – 30 min)
• Students write and draw instructions in the format discussed above – they can
complete their instructions as a homework task if they run out of time