Pumpkin Science with Mr. Musselman

We were very fortunate to have Mr. Musselman from the Burlington Science Center come to our classroom to share some pumpkin science with us.  We used our scientific skills to find out all about pumpkins.

Will a pumpkin sink or float?

Here is what we thought

Here is what we found out.....pumpkins float!

       The parts of a pumpkin   

                                        

Next we learned about the parts of a pumpkin.

                                                         

A pumpkin has ribs...

                          

A pumpkin has seeds.  The job of the seeds is to make new pumpkins.

                                

The seeds are connected by fibers.

                           

After we learned about the parts of a pumpkin we began talking about the season and how people carve pumpkins for Halloween.  We also discussed how people put candles in the pumpkin to create a light inside with fire.  This led us to learning about the Fire Triangle.

We learned that three things are needed to have fire......

Next we carved our pumpkin to find out if we take away one of the elements, would we still have fire.  We found out that the candle will not burn inside the pumpkin if there is no way for oxygen to get in.

Finally, Mr. Musselman taught us about chemical reactions........