Departments : Teaching Day-by-Day :
Teaching Day-by-Day: Science
This month, inspire your students to explore the world around them using science!
- Capture your young athletes' interest in the science of sports at the Exploratorium website, www.exploratorium.edu/sports Ask your students to create posters for your school's gym.
- February is often the snowiest month of the year in many places. Teach young children that snow is frozen by melting real or fake snow (crushed ice, shaved ice or frost from a freezer) in class. How long does it take to melt? Why?
- Make a balloon-powered milk carton car in class to teach about air pressure. Details and materials you'll need can be found at www.pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/ballooncar.html
- Learn about weather and the tools meteorologists use to make accurate predictions at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's website for students: www.education.noaa.gov/sweather.html
- Who wouldn't want to fly? Ask young students to name as many flying objects or animals as they can: plane, bubble, kite, balloon and bird. How do they manage to stay in the air?
- What's the hype about hydrogen? Help older students understand fuel cells through streaming video and activity ideas at www.pbs.org/nova/sciencenow/ and www.pbs.org/saf/1506
- Explore the value of vaccination with the "Making Vaccines" interactive at www.pbs.org/nova/meningitis/vaccines.html Research vaccines for humans and pets and create pamphlets with information about each one.
- Venture deep into the rainforest with your friends from It's a Big Big World to learn how science is an exciting process of discovery. www.pbskids.org/bigbigworld
- Let's learn about caterpillars! First step: read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (Philomel, 1981).
- Next, make a paper caterpillar by connecting construction paper circles with brads. Write one fact about caterpillars on each circle.
- Finally, discuss with your students how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. Use tissue paper to make "stained glass" butterflies for the classroom window.
- Build a virtual marble drop at www.pbs.org/parents/creativity/challenge/marbledrop.html Discuss how gravity takes the marble from top to bottom.
- Use everyday items to create your own marble drop.
- Did you know that your heart beats over 100,000 times a day? Get "heart smart" by checking out some amazing facts. www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/heart/heartfacts.html
- Ask your students: What is a hurricane? What causes it to form? What are the main parts of a hurricane? Visit www.comet.ucar.edu/nsflab/web/hurricane/311.htm
- DNA is the blueprint of our bodies, and there is a copy of that blueprint in each of our body cells. Just how is that possible? Start to learn more about DNA at www.pbs.org/wnet/dna
- Kids can also visit NOVA's Fingerprinting Lab site (www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sheppard/analyze.html) and use DNA to solve the interactive mystery of who opened Jimmy Sweet's lollipop.
- Ask your students to consider advances in technology over the years and discuss how we've benefited or been harmed. Examples include the printing press, electricity, the telephone, the automobile and the computer.
- Science fiction often reveals our attitudes toward science. Ask students to brainstorm movies or TV programs that deal with scientific issues. Have students prepare a two-minute synopsis of a program they watch.
- What do astronauts experience on a space shuttle mission?
Have students work in small groups to design an experiment they would like to do on a space shuttle mission. - Have students "build" their own planet. Decide on things like atmosphere, gravity and oceans. Does the planet have moons? Life forms? Ask students to draw their planet using pen and paper or with a graphic software program on a computer.
- Explore animals and habitats with Nature searchable streaming video at www.pbs.org/nature Afterwards, make a classroom alphabet book describing creatures and their habitats.
- Curious to learn where litter lands? Go to EekoWorld at www.pbskids.org/eekoworld to learn about trash and recycling, then research how your own community disposes its solid waste.
- Ready for a virtual big dig? Check out the American Museum of Natural History's "OLogy" site at www.amnh.org for dozens of great games in archaeology and paleontology.
- Play up this year's penguin popularity with South Pole games, facts and photos at www.nationalgeographic.com/kids/creature_feature/0101/penguins.html and www.pbs.org/nature/antarctica
- This year, launch a science fair with flair! Explore the Dragonfly TV website for inspiring
experiment ideas and support, at www.pbskids.org/dragonflytv - Plan for pet ownership by exploring www.avma.org/careforanimals/kidscorner and www.pbs.org/nature/puppies Have students prepare a quiz for other kids considering an animal adoption.
- Curious how everyday technology will evolve in the future? Check out predictions from past decades and share your own ideas about what's coming, with "The Future" at www.pbskids.org/wayback/future
February, 2006, Vol.36, No.5
