1) Purpose
2) Hypothesis
3) Experiment
4) Observations
5) Conclusions
6) Applications
here are some activities you can do.
Please note that I've tried all of these activities myself, with children of various ages.
Take something that happens in your home or backyard all the time. Pose a question and design a simple experiment to try and answer the question, and follow the scientific method.
For example, I notice that my houseplants always lean towards the sunlight.
1) My question is "What will happen if I turn my plant away from the sun?"
2) My hypothesis or prediction is that the plant will start to turn so that it faces the sun once again.
3) My experiment is very simple - I'll just turn my plant.
4) I'll observe and see what happens.
5) Once I think I've found my answer, I can conclude that plants turn towards the sunlight.
6)Armed with this knowledge, I can make sure that my plants don't topple over to one side by rotating them on a regular basis.
I SPY
We've all played "I Spy (with my little eye)" before, and it's a great way to get younger children using their powers of observation.
TEXTURE COLLAGE
I've made this texture collage with kindergarten students. Using materials of various textures, you can introduce words such as rough, silky, smooth, coarse, grainy, slippery into their "observation vocabulary". Glue the material onto a large piece of construction paper or bristol board. Try macaroni of various shapes and textures, sandpaper, fabrics - velvet, faux fur, satin, gravel, cellophane - the possibilities are endless!
QUALITATIVE VS. QUANTITATIVE OBSERVATIONS
A qualitative observation is an observation that does not involve any measurement or numbers. "The rose is red" is qualitative. A quantitative observation does involve measurements. "The rose is 30 cm long" is quantitative.
You will need: 5 different objects, a ruler, a paper, a pencil
For each object, make three qualitative observations and three quantitative observations. Write the observations down while you are making them. It is important for scientists to record observations as soon as they are made because sometimes people forget what they have observed if they wait.
WRITING PROCEDURES with BUILDING BLOCKS
You will need:
2 identical sets of building blocks (like LEGO), 10-20 pieces (or more, depending how complex you want to make this)
paper and pencil
a partner
1. Take one set of building blocks and build something (anything!) using all the pieces.
2. When you are finished, place your structure on the table and observe the different pieces and how they are connected.
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