Is there a mistake in this research?

Question

i am helping a fourth grader with a science project about which kind of matter (gravel, soil, clay, water, or sand) absorbs the most heat energy and they said they needed to do reasearch (background information) and what they did is give a brief explanation of each type of matter and what it is composed of but his teacher said it "wasn't what she was looking for". is there anything missing from the reasearch? thanks

Answer 1

If you are researching the ability of materials to absorb and dissipate energy then explain why the materials would vary in their ability to do so.  Explaining how sand forms or what it is  composed of won't explain how/why its ability to absorb heat differs from water.  You need to get to the molecular level of these substances.

Answer 2

Science teachers in grammar schools are frequently not very science minded.

That makes it difficult to guess what is going on in her mind.

It sounds good to me. But perhaps she is looking for something more simplistic, like what colors they are or how shiny they are, which affect how much heat is absorbed.

Answer 3

If you're doing an experiment to determine which absorbs the most energy, then that's what you should be researching.  No one expects a kid to do something completely original - there's always similar work to compare it to.  The teacher probably wants them to find out what other results have been so they can compare theirs.