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Science Y3/Y4 – Water – week 4

WATER GOING UPWARDS

Truth to Teach (Source)

To appreciate more of God’s creative wisdom in seeing how water moves up through plants.

To discover how water moves up through narrow tubes by capillary action.

Way to Work (Means)

1. Review previous lessons.

2. Read Jeremiah 17:7-8 and Psalm 1:1-3 and discuss how water reaches the top of plants
when gravity would cause it to go down to the roots. Let each child have a beaker of water
and a straw. Tell them to drink the water through the straw as this may give them a clue.
Introduce ‘capillary action’ and explain that water is pulled up the narrow tubes by the
process.

2. Let the children try sucking water up the straw then putting their finger over the top of it.
The water should stay in the straw until they release their fingers. Discuss why this
happens. (The water stays in the straw until air can get into the top then it pushes down
on the water.)

3. Set up an experiment to observe over the next few days – Put a freshly cut daffodil, piece
of celery or a carnation into a jar of water into which food colouring has been poured. The
plant will ‘suck up’ the coloured water in time showing that the water rises up, overcoming
the pull of gravity.

4. Let the children use sugar paper to draw a square with sides of 3cms. On each side draw
a petal shape so that the petals can be folded inwards over the square. Float them on a
bowl of water. The petals should slowly open as the water moves through the fibres in the
paper by capillary action. Different kinds of paper could be tried.

5. The children should copy up the results of these experiments on their worksheet.

6. Talk about God who created plants and the way in which He planned that water should
reach every part of the plant.

Learning for Life (Fulfilment)

Things which seem impossible with man are possible with God. God has shown amazing wisdom
in the way he created plants so that the top of the plants can access water from
underground.

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