Welcome to Science Explorations! We kicked off our year of looking into the physical sciences this week. We started at the very beginning today, with some questions about what it means to be a scientist and how we use science every day. I let the students spend a little time brainstorming their ideas about these topics and then we had a class discussion and shared our ideas. They came up with some great insights! Several of them were blown away by the idea that we're using science when we bake, check the weather, or use electronics. It's everywhere! With the youngest class, I read Ada Twist, Scientist, about a curious little girl, inspired by real life scientists, Ada Lovelace and Marie Curie. I highly recommend this book for any of the older students who still enjoy picture books (I still do!)
The questions they asked and the insights they came up with were amazing. The used their senses to listen for the slight variances in the sounds of the items rattling around as they shook the box, to feel the vibrations as the item rolled easily or slid or got caught inside the box. I had groups from every class asking if they could use a scale so they could compare the weights of the unknown box and the various items. One group asked for a magnet and then systematically worked out which items had magnetic parts, checked if they were strong enough to feel through the box, and then tested the unknown. They were all putting their scientific skills to work today and I loved watching their brains work through the possibilities. We had a moment of real science experience when, after discussing their conclusions, I didn't tell them whether they were right or not. We can't always "check our answers" in science. Many things we have to keep testing over and over and assume are correct if we can't prove them false. It was a little frustrating for quite a few of them, but I think they understood why I didn't want to let them know. Finally, the younger students were able to set up their science notebooks this week. We talked a little about how important it is to write down, and draw pictures of, what you are doing when making observations or running an experiment. That's how we keep track of what we are learning, and how others will know how to repeat our work if they want to try it for themselves. We will be setting up our binders next week with the other classes. |
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May 2020
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