Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Science

This month's SK theme is "electricity and magnetism": our first scientific theme of the year! We began, today, by discussing the scientific method, since we'll be careful to use that in all our experiments. I gave the kids an example of an explanation arrived at without using the scientific method by writing a short story about a farmer in the middle ages who leaped to the conclusion that rats were spontaneously generated from the corn he'd spilled in his barn. We then talked about the story, our impressions of the farmer, and our own beliefs about where rats come from. The kids made some fascinating comments about the character of the farmer and his process of deduction; they said he "didn't think it through, just went with his first thought," "didn't go to school," and that he was "religious." These were particularly interesting comments because I hadn't put any information about the farmer's background into my story!

I want to find out a little more about what the kids already know about electricity and magnetism, and then we'll begin some experiments. Hopefully, that will include a trip to the Hands-On Museum in a couple weeks.

1 comment:

  1. Electromagnetism is a really cool phenomenon. I think it would easily strike people of long ago as being "magic". I hope the kids have a good time learning about it--sounds like fun to me!

    Ron (Parker's Dad)

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