Tag: general science

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The Scientific Method

Are you doing science activities or science experiments?  Do you know it isn’t that difficult to turn an activity into an experiment?  An activity leaves out the critical thinking process that is so well formulated in the scientific method.  Use these age-adjusted steps in the scientific method to help you with your science studies by transforming your activities into experiments!

For Your Youngest Child
These questions should be asked orally.  Introduce as much vocabulary and terminology as your child has the attention span for.

What do you think will happen?
What happened?
Draw a picture of what happened and label it (with help)

For Elementary Students
These questions should be asked orally with the answers to the questions dictated by the student and recorded by the parent onto the experiment writeup or observation sheet.  If your student can write, then he should do the writing himself.  Introduce as much vocabulary and terminology as your child has the attention span for.
 
What do we want to find out?
What do you think (or guess, or hypothesize) will happen?
What do we need in order to find out the answer?
How will we test our guess (or hypothesis)?
What happened? (Use a simple chart or graph as appropriate to record results)
Draw a picture of what happened and label it.
What do you conclude from this experiment?

For High School Students
The college preparatory high school student should be using all the steps in the scientific method and producing a typed or handwritten report for his or her science notebook.  The italicized steps below require more effort and are typically reserved for a science fair project or professionally published report.
 
Statement of the Problem
Research of the Literature on the Topic
Hypothesis
Materials List
Procedure Used
Observations
Calculations
Results
Statistical Analysis
Sources of Error
Conclusions
Possibilities for Future Research

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Tips for Planning Your Year in Science

  1. Choose two or three topics you would like to investigate.  You can use broad topics or activities you have always wanted to try.  You can let your child choose the topics.  You can let the test book choose for you.  Two or three is enough as you will want the freedom to let your child go further into a topic if it interests him or her.   If you have more than one child, it is easier if you study the same topic together, only on different levels.
  2. Choose the text or reference material you would like to use.  You may decide on a textbook.   Two points to remember about a textbook are:  early science texts are more readers than science references and later texts can get very boring if you use them as the sole guide for the class.  Choose a book for its information, its readability (by you not your student), and its pictures.  The younger children will learn a lot of science if it is read to them and if they can see the pictures as you explain them.
  3. Look through your science experiment books for ideas for hands-on fun.  Sometimes the book you have choosen for a reference has experiments in it.  Sometimes it is fun to use those cute little experiment books for ideas.  Choose experiments to go with  your topics.   Don’t worry about doing every experiment in the book, or every one on a topic.  Just plan for about one a week.  You don’t have to do them on that schedule though and you can add more as your children think them up.  Playing with science is important.
  4. Decide what you want for a product.  Do you want to grade something?  A test?  A paper?  A notebook?  Something aloud?  Or no grade at all?  Please try to keep a notebook.  In the notebook you can have sections for new terms, notes, maps, photos, experiment write-ups, reports, news clippings, speech notes, tests, and activity pages.  This way your child will have something concrete to remember all about his year in science.
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Preschool Science: Worm Farm

By Rachel Paxton, Homeschool-articles.com

Preschool-aged children love to play with worms (at least my boys do!). You can turn their curiosity with worms into a science project with just a few items from your house and garden. Here is what you’ll need:

Empty two-liter pop bottle
Exacto knife
Dirt
Small shovel
Sand
Grass clippings
Kitchen compost (apple peelings, etc.)
Worms

Before you let your child loose in the garden, you will need to use the exacto knife to cut off the entire top of the pop bottle.

Help your child create a label for the container that has the child’s name and “worm farm” printed on it. You can make it by hand or on the computer. Tape the label to the front of the container.

Go out to the garden with your child and let he or she shovel a couple of inches of dirt into the plastic container. Pat the dirt down so the next layer of sand won’t filter through. Explain to your child that they need to be careful not to shake or jar the bottle or the sand and dirt will become mixed up.

Add a thin layer of sand, and then continue with a couple of inches of dirt and another thin layer of sand. The top layer should be dirt. Leave an inch or two of space at the top of the bottle.

Next add a few grass clippings on top of the last layer of dirt. The worms will need food, so add a few pieces of fruits or vegetables in with the grass, such as apple or orange peelings.

If you are lucky enough to have worms in your yard, help your child dig for a few worms for his or her worm farm. If you can’t find any, go to your nearest bait shop and buy a small package of night crawlers.

Let your child play with the worms before putting them in the worm farm. Help them make observations about their worms. Check out a book about worms at your local library or search for information online about worms. Talk to your child about how a worm’s job is to eat waste and mix it into our soil to fertilize it.

After your child places a couple of worms into the worm farm, they will be able to see for themselves how worms mix up soil. When the worms dig through the container, they will leave a trail of sand behind them that your child will be able to see mixing into the dirt.

For the most worm activity, place the worm farm in a dark place or tape a piece of paper around the worm farm to keep the light out. Worms do most of their work at night.

Your preschooler will have a lot of fun creating his or her worm farm. From digging in the dirt, to playing with worms… what’s not to like!

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of five. For resources for the Christian family, including parenting, toddler and preschool activities, homeschooling, family traditions, and more, visit Christian-Parent.com.