Mar29

Mixing colors combines art and science in one activity

Colored acetate sheets make new colors as they overlap. Give children just the primary colors--a dark pink, a blue, and a yellow-- and they can create orange, green, purple, and deep grays and browns without any instruction. Like scientists they can share their results with others and repeat the process to see if the results are the same.

From NSTA The Early Years Blog
(The acetate is often sold at this time of year in craft and party stores as wrapping paper.)

 

Young children will spend more time than one would expect mixing colored water in a clear container using droppers (pipettes). Highly diluted liquid watercolors create jewel-like colors. The children focus their attention and carefully move small amounts of colored water from one compartment in a clear egg carton to another, creating new colors.

From NSTA The Early Years Blog
They get just as excited about the grey as they do the greens and purples. They did it and they are so proud! For those schools where snow falls, applying small amounts of colored water to snowballs is another way to mix colors.
From NSTA The Early Years Blog
Colors can be recorded by dropping onto a paper towel, although they will be much lighter when dry.
From NSTA The Early Years Blog
Color mixing results can be part of an on-going science notebook kept all year.
From NSTA The Early Years Blog

 

Young scientist-artists enjoy learning that artists used to mix their own pigments and that some recipes do not last well with time (read about Leonardo da Vinci's paint medium choices for “The Last Supper”). Ask the children to share their “recipe” and explain how you can get that color too.

Peggy

Published: Mar-29-09 | 1 Comment | 44 Links to this post

Feb19

Must haves—flashlights, mirrors, and sunshine.

Sometimes as a teacher leads an activity, a student verbalizes all the observations and new questions that were hoped for, making one think, “Was this child coached to say these things, or am I really eliciting all this learning!?” I like to believe that the other children are also thinking what this one child is saying, but they are across the circle, or shyer, or faster to move on to the next thing, so I don’t get to hear their thoughts.

What I heard:   

“When you shine it [the flashlight beam] over the light it disappears.” (The larger ceiling light is brighter than the flashlight beam and obscures it.)

 “Move it close and it gets smaller, and then up and it gets bigger.” (Noticing the change in size of the circle of light as she moved the flashlight closer and farther away from the floor.)

“My hand got in the way.”

In one classroom the sun was conveniently shining in a window providing a very bright light to reflect around the classroom using mirrors.

From NSTA The Early Years Blog

 

 “The light comes here [to the mirror’s surface] and then goes [gestures to the wall].”

 

How can I know what impact my teaching has on the students? I look to see if children are trying the materials one way and then another way, asking questions, speculating on what some new item can be used for, and telling me or the classroom teacher about their discoveries.

 

Children who are not engaged these ways often respond when a teacher sits near them and asks an open-ended question, such as, “What do you see?” or “Show me what you can do with the flashlight.” See the list of “Question Frames for Teachers” as well as the comments and questions by children in the comprehensive lesson plan on exploring shadows from a South Dakota teacher.

 

In the days following the activity the children asked to use the flashlight again during the morning circle time. Because it was not a new experience, the flashlight could be passed around the circle without disrupting the proceedings. As classroom teachers extend the exploration of the concept in the days following the activity with the science teacher, they make sure to hear the thoughts of all the children.

 

What are your students’ discoveries?

Peggy

Published: Feb-19-09 | 4 Comments | 123 Links to this post

Dec27

Light and Mirrors

Give children tools for exploring a concept and they almost always show me a new way to teach it. In a session of flashlight and mirror exploration, Walter began building by putting a flashlight on top of a single-eyepiece, single-mirror periscope. “Look!” he said, pointing to a beam of light exiting the periscope. He was able to see that mirrors can change the direction of a beam of light. (Click on photos to see details.)

From NSTA The Early Years Blog

 

We were using flat plexiglas mirrors, a variety of flashlights, two kinds of periscopes, and some “half” pictures drawn on paper. Before handing out the flashlights, I always caution the children that they may not shine the lights into their own eyes or anyone else’s because bright lights can damage eyesight. Usually a few children test this rule and I take the flashlights away for a few minutes. LED, or light-emitting diode flashlights, have particularly bright, narrow beam.

 

The “half” pictures idea comes from Make a Bigger Puddle, Make a Smaller Worm, also called The Magic Mirror Book (Scholastic 1979) and the Mirror Puzzle Book (Tarquin 1986), both by Marion Walter. Showing the children a drawing of one shoe, I tell them, “I was going to wear this pair of shoes today but I couldn’t find the other one. Can you help me find it with a mirror?” Then we hold a mirror perpendicular to the page and move it close to the shoe—ta dah! the other shoe appears (and I pretend to put them on). Other favorite images are a pizza missing a slice (make it whole or “eat” it bit by bit), 

From NSTA The Early Years Blog
an apple missing a bite, half a heart, half a moon, a soccer ball half deflated, and a broken plate. As the mirror is moved across the page, the other half is revealed (the "whole" section is reflected) completing the image and removing the bite or deflated area or broken edge from sight. As they manipulate the images the children are learning that mirrors reflect images (which are light but they don’t realize this) and the angle you hold them changes what is viewed.

Peggy

Published: Dec-27-08 | 1 Comment | 169 Links to this post

Sep19

Sky Observations By The Book

Sept coverThe S&C astronomy issue article Sky Observations by the Book (NSTA membership required) presents lessons specifically for teaching young children astronomy concepts with picture books. Authors Kathy Cabe Trundle and Mesut Sackes describe ways to prompt children to notice differences in day and night in pictures to foster understanding about objects in the sky. An important reminder is to evaluate the books first to make sure they do not introduce misconceptions, but keep in mind that flawed books provide the opportunity to help students analyze content.
What surprising comments or questions have your students had about the sky or day and night? Has this led to any enlightening classroom experiences? Share your thoughts in comments below.
Published: Sep-19-08 | 1 Comment | 401 Links to this post