Helen,
I hope your class have fun with the rockets. By showing them first and then asking them to extend their learning with what they have just seen they can carry out true inquiry. I’d give them a few balloons to play with first, or demo one so that they know the balloon shoots off. If they have never seen that before, how will they be able to predict what will happen?
Children’s predictions should be grounded in their science understanding. When I work with children I ask them…
what do you think will happen when…. and this is because…
or .. if [this] is the case, then [this] will happen…
So: “The balloon moves when you let it go. If we put it on a string, the balloon will follow the string.”
They test this and find out that if the ‘nozzle’ isn’t lined up to the string, the balloon goes in circles around the string, and they can then refine their thinking and improve their balloon rocket.
