Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Emily
That sounds like a lovely fun inquiry based activity and a great way of getting the children to think about the sun and shadows, come up with their own ideas of how shadows are formed and then investigate making shadows.
Hi Emily
That sounds like a lovely fun inquiry based activity and a great way of getting the children to think about the sun and shadows, come up with their own ideas of how shadows are formed and then investigate making shadows.
Hi Angela
This sounds like an interesting research project and could form the exploring phase of an Inquiry based science investigation. Perhaps the research could be used to encourage the children to think about the design of rockets. They could go on to design and make their own rockets capable of being launched into the air or using one of the rocket activities from primaryscience.ie they could come up with a question to investigate as a whole class or separate questions for each group to investigate such as “will the amount of stretch in the elastic (the force) affect the distance travelled (for foam rockets)” or “will a greater amount of water in the container cause the fizzy tablet rocket to launch more quickly?”
Hi Mick
Paper helicopters is a great activity to investigate forces and lots of fun too. I like your progression with the questions starting off with a broad question like what is the best helicopter and then encouraging the children to discuss what we mean by the best so that they can arrive at a starter question for themselves.
Hi Sarah
That’s a lovely example of an inquiry based lesson. The idea of the investigation is simple enough but the real learning is in the discussion about what happens when we drop things and getting the children to predict. Another lovely element to that investigation would be to hand out the items to the children in advance of the question on dropping and ask them to discuss the different objects and materials in groups. They could talk about various properties of the materials such as colour, size, shape, soft or hard, stretchy or rigid and then group the materials according to their own criteria. Groups could then report to the rest of the class on how they decided to group the objects and why. This way, when they come to make predictions on dropping they will be thinking about the properties they have described and will be able to expand on their predictions. For example they may make statements like “The Lego brick has straight sides so I think it will drop straight down and land here” or “the ball is bouncy so I think it will bounce when it lands and end up over here”. Also a good end to the discussion would be to ask why things fall and to introduce the word Gravity.
Hi Sarah
I think you might also want to introduce the word translucent into your investigation. As transparent items are completely clear and allow all light to pass through, you would not require a torch to test them. Where your torch would be useful is in comparing translucent and opaque items. Another follow up lesson on light involves the making and use of a light box and is explained on the SEAI website https://www.seai.ie/community-energy/schools/primary-school/resources-for-teachers/. Just go to 1st and 2nd class chapter 3 on light.
Hi Ciara
I like the idea of deciding on materials for the boat. Your use of a story as a trigger along with a discussion about floating and sinking should have the children engaged from the start. I wonder though are you trying to do too much at once with prediction about materials that float and a design and make project in one. Would you perhaps be better concentrating on the prediction and testing of materials first and then look at making a boat afterwards as a separate activity? When you ask the children to predict which materials will float or sink, they could then go on to test their predictions by placing each of the materials in water. Afterwards, possibly even on a different day, the children could use what they have learned about the different materials to design and make a boat that will float.
Hi Leanne
I just looked up https://storytimefromspace.com/ as I hadn’t previously been aware of it. What a great trigger to have a story read by an astronaut!
I like your idea of using the idea of a spaceship to test materials for strength or other properties. Asking the children to brainstorm ideas on what properties the material for a spaceship would need to have is a great start that would really help the class to come up with a starter question. Guiding them towards testing strength first but then allowing them to suggest other properties to test would really make this a great inquiry based lesson.
Hi Una
Using a story as a trigger is always good and it is great that you plan to use the story to discuss the idea of forces and how things move. Do you plan to introduce s ome questions to investigate with your balloon rocket? Even asking the children to come up with ways to control the direction of the rocket would allow them an opportunity to brainstorm before introducing the string. You might also try some fair testing by launching 2 rockets at once and allow some opportunities for prediction. Will the long balloon travel faster than the round balloon? Will the balloon with more air travel further?
Hi Holly
That sounds like a lovely lesson with the story for your trigger and plenty of opportunity for the children to explore materials and discuss the properties that shoes need to have. You might consider not pre-teaching the language but rather get straight into the investigation and teach the language afterwards. Through carrying out the investigation and testing the materials, the children will gain an understanding that some materials soak up water and hold onto it. Once they understand the concept you can then ask does anyone have a word to describe materials that act this way and they may be more likely to remember the word absorption that way.
Hi Celine
You lesson shows great use of the steps of Inquiry based science and the steps of the DPSM / ESERO framework for Inquiry. The trigger of the gloved hands holding a cup gives plenty of scope for discussion around heat and heat transfer and you have lots of ideas for taking the next step. A little prior practice with reading thermometers would be very useful for this investigation if the children have not already used them.
Hi Mary
That sounds like a great use of the steps of the DPSM/ESERO framework and a nice way to round out your lesson on floating and sinking and extend it into thinking about space. I particularly like the reflection piece and the emphasis on working as scientists. I’m sure your class will love it
Hi Dervilla
I see you are having some issues with formatting your replies. If you are typing the reply elsewhere and then cutting and pasting into the forum you need to right click in the comment box and then chose paste as plain text. That will get rid of the extra formatting.
Hi Patrice
You have some lovely techniques there for making your lesson inquiry based with lots of room for discussion with the KWL chart at the start, the chance for children to discuss the differences between the planets from looking at pictures, prediction of the outcome of their investigation and the think pair share at the end to discuss the outcome and what they have learned.
Hi my name is Una and I’ll be helping Frances out by replying to a few posts here and there. I recognise a few names from our other courses and I love the friendly atmosphere here on your discussions. I think it’s fascinating that there are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth.
