This week, children have been given two pieces of homework to complete – both are due on Thursday 15 June 2017.
The first piece is creative: To be able to observe science in real life.
This week, we’ve completed three science investigations. For each investigation, we used our observation skills to make sense of what’s actually going on. Science is everywhere. We often don’t even realise that we are watching science in action. This week, children should spend some time observing science in action. Children don’t necessarily need to understand what is going on but the skill of actually taking time to observe something and think about what might be happening is a crucial aspect of being a scientist. I did this earlier without even realising at the time…
When I entered the supermarket, it was reasonably sunny. However, when I left five minutes later, it was raining extremely heavily – so heavily, in fact, that the rain was actually bouncing off the floor. I was caught up in a monsoon! It made me think: how does it physically bounce off the floor? The rain is made of water so surely it should splatter as it hits the ground? This wasn’t happening. The rain drops seemed to stay intact and bounce like a ball. I presume this has something to do with the amount of force that the rain was falling with. I don’t actually understand the exact scientific reason for this happening but the important thing is that I saw something happen and then questioned why.
We discussed how we could respond to this as a class and the children had the following ideas:
- You could complete a scientific investigation of your own
- You could complete an everyday activity (like diving into a pool) and wonder about the science behind it (why does the water splash?)
- Complete a diary of your scientific thoughts
The second piece this week is Talk Time: I can discuss the general election results.
Children should discuss the results of Thursday’s election with an adult.