Children wonder about lots of things. They are naturally curious. In one of the programs at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, they see the various levels of children's curiosity. Generally, kids want to know the answer on some questions like:

-How big is a polar bear?
-How deep is the ocean?
-If whale and shark will engage in fighting, which will win?

Although these questions have been answered many years ago, we also want to do better and teach kids to answer these questions themselves. We can do this through the wonders of Science.

Science must not be complicated, especially for children in the elementary level. In certain activities, we need to emphasize that science is a process. It is fairly straightforward. We can even define Science according to Richard Feynman, “a special method of discovering things as very tough but really simple”.

In fact, there are variations in the so called “Scientific Method”. Scientists do things in different ways. This includes:

-emphasize experimental tests
-observe
-studies complex mathematical models

Although they differ in some aspects, they still follow the fundamental steps in the scientific process. Those integral steps are:

•observing, wondering
•hypothesizing or predicting
•experimenting
•analyzing
•concluding

All the activities used in teaching students how to do science follows the components of the Scientific Method. This would be:

•observation of nature
•Wondering Why?
•Forming hypotheses in an “If” format
•Collecting data that includes defining dependent vs. independent variables. By using appropriate experimental controls and repeated trials.
•Analyzing data
•Deriving to conclusions
•Asking the next questions

Using the scientific method in a variety of activities will help teachers and students find it enjoyable. It is also a useful method to learn about nature and how things work.

Here are suggested workshops that use “comparing and classifying”. Students will work in groups of four for this type of ands-on experiment. It focuses on:

-planets
-atmospheres
-soils and
-classifications of objects

TERMINOLOGY

Process related

•observation
•hypothesis
•comparison
•classification
•prediction
•dependent variable
•independent variable
•inference
•data

Content Related

•asteroid
•astronomer
•astrobiologist
•atmosphere
•fossil
•infiltration
•landforms
•gas
•meteorite
•nanobacteria
•particle size
•percolation
•soil moisture
•soil profile
•soil texture
•soil types
•solar systems

ACTIVITY OUTLINE:

-The first 50 minutes of the workshop consists of the following:

•Slides
•Demonstrations about object classification
•A discussion on the search of life on Mars, which will be conducted using fossil evidence of Martian meteorites.
•Students will work in groups of four to examine soil components like:

-sands
-clay
-pebbles
-organic matter

•Each student will examine three vials of soil particles.
•They will use their senses in order to record data on certain particles.

-size
-texture
-smell
-color

•The group will combine their samples and decide how they will classify this soil. This will be based on various soil characteristics.

Ex. Students will be assigned occupations like:

-farmer
-builder
-artist

They will then decide on how to categorize the soils. This is in accordance with which properties would be most important to people, especially those with different occupations.

Thus, as you go along, children will realize what it means to do science. Kids will realize that doing science is to learn its methods. Learning its methods means they need to:

-observe
-question
-hypothesize
-gather data
-analyze data and
-conclude