Briana Friddle, Diana Dayhuff (Butler), Chalice Quintero, Prestan Cornelius
GRADING CRITERIA
Grade Level
Title of Discrepant Event
(1 pt.)
Next Generation Science
Standards (7 pts.)
Content Learning
Objective(s) (10 pts.)
Summary of Science
Concept/Content (10 pts.)
Materials for DE (5 pts.)
Second Grade
Magic Milk
2-PS1. Matter and Its Interaction
- Performance Expectations:
2-PS1-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to describe
and classify different kinds of materials by their observable
properties
- Science and Engineering Practices: Plan and conduct
an investigation collaboratively to produce data to serve as
the basis for evidence to answer a question.
- Disciplinary Core Ideas: Different properties are suited
to different purposes.
- Cross Cutting Concepts: Events have causes that
generate observable patterns.
After successful completion of the lesson, the student will
demonstrate understanding of surface tension and
chemical reaction by applying dye and soap to milk and
observing that the chemical reaction is the explosion of
colors once the surface tension is broken by the soap, a
surfactant.
Surface Tension: A force which causes a layer of liquid to
behave like an elastic sheet or skin.
Chemical Reaction: A chemical reaction by definition is
the change of a substance into another substance. For
example, Iron and oxygen alone are just iron and oxygen,
but when they come together they change into rust, a
chemical reaction.
- Q-Tips
- Dish Soap
- Paper bowls
- Food dye (several colors)
- Whole Milk
Discrepant Event Procedures - Before we start the lesson, teachers will pass out
(15 pts.)
materials to desks. Each table will have one bowl
with whole milk already in them and labeled.
Teachers will also pass out, to each table, a
medicine cup of dish soap and 1 q-tip per person.
- Students will get into their book chat groups. Please
rearrange yourself if needed.
- “Welcome stellar second graders! We are going to
do a really fun experiment today! You will notice that
there is material on your desks, do NOT touch
anything unless we tell you to.”
- “Before we begin, it is important that we discuss all
necessary classroom rules.
1. Only use the materials as instructed
2. Do NOT taste any of your materials. When doing
science experiments it is not safe to do this.
3. You need to participate with your group
members.
4. You need to be respectful
5. Please pull out your science journal to take notes
and do any drawings
6. And have fun!
- “At your tables you are given a few items. Go ahead
and take a moment to use your senses to figure out
the materials in front of you, what do your senses
tell you about these materials? Remember, class
that we are not using our sense of taste because
that is not safe.”
- Students will take about 3 minutes to smell, see,
feel the materials and write or draw about it in their
science journals. We will set a timer for 3 minutes.
- We will go on to explain that in front of them they
have whole milk, food dye, Q-tips, and dish soap as
their materials for today's experiment .
- Today we will be observing a reaction between
whole milk, food dye, and dish soap.
- We will pose a hypothesis question, “what do you
think will happen when you add dish soap to the
drops of food dye in the milk?”
- Students, please answer this question in your
journals.
- We will direct each student to add 10 drops of food
coloring, make sure each color is different, to their
bowl with the whole milk. Please place the drops of
food dye spatially around the bowl. Make sure the
dye colors do not touch each other.
- Now please take turns by placing your soapy Q-tip
in the food dye. Make sure this process is one
person at a time.
- Observe what happens and record it in your
journals.
- Place the Q-tip several other times around the
magic milk.
- Students will take a moment to observe what is
going on, we will pose questions such as what
happened to the colors? Did it happen fast or slow?
- Students will write down all their noticings in their
science notebook about the occurrence using whole
milk.
- After they do this, they will write down their
observations in their science notebook.
- We will then discuss their observations as a class
and ask students to write down their findings for
both types of milks and water.
- We will then pose the question of what effect does
the food dye have on the surface tension of the milk
- students will have a moment to think and discuss
with their group what they think the effect was
- we will then call on a few students to share their
ideas
- Students will then be posed with the question of
why the soap did what it did to the food coloring,
their observation
- We will allow students to discuss this for a moment
before we come back to the whole class
- We will ask some student to share their thoughts as
to why the soap caused the food dye to “explode”
- We will explain to students that there are several
things that explain what is happening behind the
magic of magic milk.
- When we add the food dye to the milk we will ask
the students, “why the food dye didn’t get absorbed
and mixed in the milk immediately?”
- We will call on 2 students to share an answer.
- We will explain that Milk is made up of minerals,
proteins, and fats. Milk is high in fat. When dish
soap enters the milk the fat begins to break up. The
soap molecules run around and try to attach to the
fat molecules in the milk.

Questions to Ask Students
Before (Hooking Students),
During, and After the Event
(Summarizing) (12 pts.)
Discuss with your table
group.
Write in your journal.
- The dish soap actually breaks down (decreasing
the cohesive forces between the milk molecules)
the surface tension of the milk.
- The bonding of the molecules causes an explosion
of color, that is a chemical reaction because the
dish soap acts as a surfactant.
- Soap is made up of two sides, one side that attracts
water, called hydrophilic, and one side that attracts
fats and oils, called hydrophobic, it repels water.
The soap works by attracting the oils on its
hydrophobic side because it is repelling the water
and bonding with the water on its hydrophilic side.
When the soap is washed away with water it takes
the oils and fats along with it.
- Dish soap immediately destroys the surface tension
the moment the q-tip hits the surface of the milk.
- As the milk starts to mix with the soap, the more
soap you add (after re-dipping q-tip) all the fats are
already bonded and the surface tension is already
not the same and the effect will NOT continue.
- “Second graders it was wonderful to explore
surface tension and chemical reactions with you
today. We hope you learned a lot. Please quietly
return to your seats and we will come around to
collect your materials.”
Before:
Discuss with your book chat group.
1. What do your senses tell you about these
materials?
2. What do you predict we will do with the materials?
3. We will ask students to then discuss among their
table groups what they believe the following terms
to mean: solid, liquid, gas, surface tension,
surfactant, hydrophilic, hydrophobic
 4. What other substances might be considered
surfactants?
5. What are we going to use the q-tip for?
Write in your journal.
6. Explain what occurs during a chemical reaction
7. Explain what occurs during a physical reaction
8. Explain what you think will happen when we use
different types of milk
9. Explain what you think will happen when we use
water instead?
10. Explain if you think a chemical or physical reaction
will occur?

During:
1. What happens when you place the drops of food
coloring on the whole milk's surface?
2. What happens to the food coloring when you touch
the qtip with soap on it to the surface of the whole
milk?
3. Why does the food coloring not immediately spread
out when dropped into the milk?
4. Why do we put dish soap on the q-tip?
5. Explain what you think is going to occur.

After:
Explanation of the Science Why is it happening
Concept (10 pts.)
1. What makes up the milk?
2. Was your hypothesis correct? Why or why not?
3. What kind of reaction is happening here? Physical
and/or chemical? How do you know?
4. Why do we need soap?
5. Explain what the soap acts as in this event.
- There are several things that explain what is
happening behind the magic of magic milk. All
liquids have something called surface tension which
means that the molecules in the surface of the
liquid come together to form molecular bonds which
create the surface tension.
- Milk is made up of minerals, fats, and proteins.
When dish soap enters the milk the fat begins to
break up. The soap molecules run around and try to
attach to the fat molecules in the milk.
- Normally this process is invisible, but the
food coloring helps you to see all the
movement taking place.

Possible Student
Misconceptions Regarding
the Science Content (10 pts.)
Assessment Plan to
Determine Student
Understanding
(10 pts.)
- The second effect at work here has to do with the
interaction between the fat molecules in the milk
and the soap molecules. The dish soap starts
bonding with those fat and proteins (Milk) . It
causes the milk to start to move because the
proteins and fats are “being agitated”. Soap is made
up of two sides, one side that attracts water, called
hydrophilic, and one side that attracts fats and oils,
called hydrophobic, it repels water. The soap works
by attracting the oils on its hydrophobic side
because it is repelling the water and bonding with
the water on its hydrophilic side. When the soap is
washed away with water it takes the oils and fats
along with it.
- When the dish soap is dropped into the milk there is
a swirl activity of soap molecules finding and
bonding with fat molecules in the milk, this causes
the explosion of color and thus we have a chemical
reaction because the dish soap acts as a
surfactant.
- Dish soap actually breaks down (decreasing the
cohesive (attraction) forces between the milk) and
destroys the surface tension of the milk.
- However, when we place our q-tip of dish soap over
the milk, the surface tension is broken because the
dish soap breaks those bonds, this causes the
colored milk to explode, or spread out over the
surface of the plate.
Some misconceptions the students may possibly have
during the science content:
- That it is a physical reaction instead of chemical
reaction.
- When the dye is placed, it will immediately begin to
spread.
- The q-tip will soak up the dye.
- All the milk will become the color of the food
coloring.
How you will assess student understanding? How will they
demonstrate understanding of the science concepts?
What criteria will you use? Why was the criteria chosen?
Provide a complete PLAN.
- Students will be asked after each step to observe
what they are doing, discuss with the class and
write about it in order to know that they are
understanding what it going on
- Students will be asked to pose a hypothesis that
they can later revisit. This will help them also track
their learning as they will have to explain why their
hypothesis was correct or not, this is something
they will verbally explain as well as write down in
their science journal.
- Students in their writing and speaking will show
understanding by using the academic vocabulary
we went over before the lesson, they will show
understanding by using the language properly.
- Students will be asked to explain what kid of
reaction they think this is and why? They will show
understanding by explaining their reasoning and
using accurate academic vocabulary.
- Students will need to accurately record their
investigation findings
- Students will need to carry out accurate steps in the
investigation
- Overall they will need to “Apply a scientific inquiry
process and perform an experiment. Differentiate
between the different states of matter. Understand
the property of surface tension. Describe the effect
of soap, a surfactant, on surface tension. Describe
the general composition of milk.”

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Teaching Tips for the DE
(5 pts.)
Possible Extension Activity of
Discrepant Event (5 pts.)
TOTAL POINTS
POSSIBLE = 100
Make sure to not use bowls. Using a foil flat pan or
something that has a bigger visible surface to be able to
hold more milk and foil because the food coloring will dye
certain containers. Asking for parent volunteers because
this experiment is with dye, which can stain and students
might get a little too excited and end up dripping it on their
clothes or school materials, more parents means more
visual aids to assist the students.
Also watching this video on youtube for a step-by-step of
this experiment, with an explanation as well to help
address the reason behind this experiment to clarify any
confusion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc5ljuG4FYE
A possible extension activity is trying this experiment with
other types of materials. Other materials can include other
milks, oils, or even water. Using different materials
students can see how those results differ or are the same
as what they did in this activity, and why or why not.
Science Background
For this discrepant event our group chose to do an event called “Magic Milk.” This is a
discrepant event because it is a demonstration that produces an unexpected outcome. It uses
science to capture the students' attention about surface tension, physical reactions, and chemical
reactions. As teachers it is important to have an understanding of what surface tension is, and
what chemical and physical reactions are.
When it comes to “magic milk” it is important to understand that milk is made up of
minerals, proteins, and most importantly for this event, fat. All liquids have something called
surface tension which means that the molecules in the surface of the liquid come together to form
molecular bonds which create the surface tension. We see this in the discrepancy: the bond is
broken when we introduce the dish soap to the milk. When the soap interacts with the milk, the
soap molecules “run” around and try to attach to the fat molecules in the milk. This reaction
causes the food dye to spread around and make this beautiful display of color.
The reaction is due to the bonding of fat molecules and the disruption of surface tension.
The soap is a surfactant which is a chemical compound that decreases surface tension. The soap
has two sides to it, both hydrophilic and hydrophobic. Hydrophobic repels water and hydrophilic
attracts water. Another thing a teacher should understand is the chemical and physical reactions
at work. It is important to understand that while the experiment is a physical reaction, it is also an
experiment where a chemical reaction occurs.
A physical reaction is a change in appearance whereas a chemical reaction is when a
substance is converted into another substance. The dish soap starts bonding with the fat and
proteins in the milk. It causes the milk to start to move because the proteins and fats are “being
agitated”. Soap is made up of two sides, one side that attracts water, called hydrophilic, and one
side that attracts fats and oils, called hydrophobic, it repels water. The soap works by attracting
the oils on its hydrophobic side because it is repelling the water and bonding with the water on
its hydrophilic side. When the soap is washed away with water it takes the oils and fats along
with it. When the dish soap is dropped into the milk there is a swirl activity of soap molecules
finding and bonding with fat molecules in the milk, this causes the explosion of color and thus
we have a chemical reaction because the dish soap acts as a surfactant. Dish soap actually breaks
down (decreasing the cohesive (attraction) forces between the milk) and destroys the surface
tension of the milk. The food dye is there just to see the chemical reaction happening in the milk,
without it we would not be able to see what is going on.