6th Graders Explore Weird Properties of Oobleck

"What is it?" "Ew, it's gooey AND hard." "Whoa! Why does it do that?" This is how science class started today. Students were given a container of mystery substance (Oobleck) and charged with the task of identifying as many properties of matter as they could. They quickly dispatched with the easier ones: color, odor, and texture. Phase proved to be the more challenging and thought-provoking property. Sometimes a solid and sometimes a liquid, the students experiemented with different scenarios in order to nail down just exactly when it was each.