Raincatchers set up by school composter for 24 hours of data gathering.
Yesterday with background information about the next 24 hours percentage of rain in the weather forcast and the knowledge of having gathered rain before, and since we are studying area and perimeter in math, the kids and I set up an array of raincatchers. It was fun to see their faces when we put 4 rows of 5 catchers into the moist grass.
We did this experiment becasuse we wondered if they will all collected the same amount all together. When the kids took the raincatchers home in the fall, it was very different-- lots of variables from trees in the way to dogs.
Knowing so much more now and with fewer variables, they each gave a prediction about how much liquid (water) would be collected. The catchers will hold 40 mm of liquid. A few students thought that would be the total amount collected, which is how much the raincatchers will hold when full, while others thought as little as 3 mm. At 1:45 this afternoon, we shall see the total, but we will give them a look this morning.