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Kathy- the beauty of the inquiry method of learning science is that the teachers is NOT the fount of all knowledge. You can put on an air of slight uncertainty in these activities as you encourage the children to make predictions using:
I think that XXX will happen if we do YY because…
You can help them phrase their thinking, and challenge if they are predicting one thing that is totally at odds with why they think it will happen, but you (and they) don’t need to know the “Right” answer before you start.
So, for forces, a child might say:
I think a big toy car won’t go as far when it goes down a ramp, because it takes more push to throw a heavy ball… and then you test this.
Leanne,
that sounds like design and make perfectly in action. Annoying for you, but learning that “many of the rockets had to be re-stuck ” if not stuck enough the first time is spot on.
Katie,
to use the inquiry framework that we have referred to in this course with a research task needs just a slight bit of tweaking in the investigate section.
The children can still be engaged through a suitable prompt (What is it like on Mars? – show an image of Mars from https://www.google.com/maps/space/mars/)
They can then share knowledge as they wonder and explore. From this sharing they can identify starter questions that are testable and give a prediction based on their understanding.
So, they might note that Mars in the image is all the same colour, so they might wonder about water on Mars, and does it have any oceans (which on Earth are blue). They might predict that there are no oceans on Mars right now, since none of the picture they can see is blue. They can then use the google Mars tool and zoom in to check if they are correct as the investigate section. Then they can share their findings.
Michelle,
do you have a set of day and night images? I know there are a few in the ESERO resource, and a quick google found me this set
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P7V_O0BlzTFsR7ERNR_osM7lC02nl3JnQS8Bhpl6FLE/template/preview
from https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/lessons/cycle-day-and-night
They come with an interesting observation, which is to be aware of cultural differences in times of eating. For example, people who observe Ramadan eat their dinner after sunset.
I’d recommend the Moon journal pages from Mayo Dark Sky Park: https://www.mayodarkskypark.ie/discover/the-moon/
and an overview of the phases each year can be found on the Moon Calendar from spaceweek.ie (this is last year’s stay tuned for next year’s you’ll find it on the for teachers page).
So if you want them to observe in the evening, start a few days after New Moon when they can see a crescent moving towards the 1st quarter Moon.
Dates of new Moon this year are September 2, October 2, November 1, November 30 and December 30.
International Observe the Moon Night is on September 14 this year.
Hi Leah,
dropping to make craters is a great inquiry activity, since the children can play with the equipment for a bit to get a sense of what is going on, then make a starter question with a prediction based on what they understand.
There is the Curious Minds Activity: https://www.sfi.ie/site-files/primary-science/media/pdfs/col/meteorites_activity.pdf
I make one change, since I keep the material around for my next visiting school – so I use different colour sand as the impact surface. This way I don’t have a food product hanging around all year. If you get sand from a local builder’s providers or hardware supplier, allow time for it to dry. The bags are often stored outside and the sand is too wet to flow when you first get it.
There is a nice ICT extension: https://down2earth.eu/impact_calculator/planet.html?lang=en-US
that lets you vary the mass, diameter, material of impactor and material of surface and then see the size of crater that gets created!
Grainne,
using scrap paper is a great way to implement this, since if you require each drop to be the same size paper, the children can really see the effects of air resistance without getting tangled up in the science around mass and weight.
Children can scrunch the paper, fold the paper, leave it flat, drop it sideways….
Celine,
you’ve got me hunting for that now – I’ve definitely seen one from https://marsed.asu.edu/stem-lesson-plans
which were made for an earlier Mars mission.
This isn’t it:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/mission-to-mars-unit/
There are a few sites that have Little Green Martians – which is https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/looking-for-life/
And I bought all the pencils and two of the magnets from the Tiger in Mahon Point – so go into town to find more!
Hi Valerie,
Composting can open up a world of inquiry. Children might have observed a compost heap, or read an information leaflet about composting (like this one: https://compostingireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Compost-Booklet-Web-Version.pdf)
They then might look at how shredding improves the break down of brown materials, or explore the mix of brown and green materials to see which breaks down the best.
When it comes to composting, the smaller the particle, the faster it will break down. This is because composting works from the surface of materials inwards.
This statement could be explored – how small is small enough…
If they are looking at the breakdown of materials under soil, then they should reference their understanding of the various materials, perhaps sorting them into green or brown materials and non-green/brown (like the marble).
Hilary,
the StarScapes video is so chilled– I could easily have that on all day!
Look at the satellites zipping across though. It’s hard to see any constellations because they have focused on the centre of the Milky Way – so I’d include that in the discussion – why does the sky look different when we look over at this bit…
Hi Denise,
on checking this you need to enable access, I am getting
You need access
Request access, or switch to an account with access.Thanks Frances
John,
Stellarium on a laptop is great outside. There is a little eye button that changes the display to be night sky friendly, so it can be taken outside and used on the spot for stargazing (no internet connection needed).
Of course, the user will have had to set their own location, but that is quite straight forward.
Jane,
Do you have a link to some flash cards and the key that they use? I have used this really nice source of three star filled skies with constellations to hunt from project astro:
https://astrosociety.org/file_download/inline/808cd9d5-3a2e-4880-88d0-c29a6ecb60d5
Edel,
thanks for sharing how this has worked for infants. The discussion around why they think the ice will melt faster in one place than another is the vital part of the inquiry.
The plastic containers are essential – I have seen this done with plastic bags, and the heat from children’s hands as they check the level of melting affects the speed of melting. Ice cubes that you would have expected to melt last because they were insulated were checked more frequently, so melted first!
Laura,
You have described the inquiry process for an activity on plant growth. If we frame it using the Framework for Inquiry outlined in this module you have introduced a prompt = What happens to a plant when…
The children then can share what they know as they wonder and explore – and exploring can include looking at the planned equipment for the activity so that they can make up their own starter question that is directly relevant.
I’d draw attention to fair testing, which is vital in this case, since “Each group of students planted seeds and varied one condition while keeping the others constant.” which sounds as if each group could compare to the other groups, which would be valid if the seeds that were watered, had the same amount of water, and each group had the same amount of soil, the same shape container, planted the seeds to the same depth etc.
I note that you had the plants growing from seeds – so there are two different processes under examination. Did any group find that their seeds germinated in darkness, but then the plant didn’t grow the same as others?
Depending on the type of seed you have, some will not germinate unless they are in darkness, so did you try scattering seeds on the top of the soil vs planting?
“and adjusting their hypotheses as necessary.” is the learning happening. As the children observed different growths they would revise their undertanding.
