7. SKILLS WE NEED TO DEVELOP IN OUR CHILDREN
• Asking questions.
• Observation Skills; notice change, describe.
• Measuring, using appropriate instruments/ apparatus.
• Recording measurements in a neat manner.
• Estimation
• Calculation, representing results graphically, interpret data
• Making correlations, logical thinking
• Think of ways to improve methods
8. ASKING QUESTIONS
• Built-in feature of our children, encourage
them to ask and if you don’t know the answer,
its ok, say lets think about it together, lets
research that topic in a book or using the
internet.
• Children are scientists at heart, they want to
know why, how, when. These are questions
that scientists ask!!
9. OBSERVATION
• Encourage your child to become more observant.
• Let him hold an object and describe it
e.g. long, smooth, heavy, red colour, bouncy, flexible … etc.
• Look closer at objects using magnifying glass, draw it.
• Play with magnets see which objects are attracted which are not.
• Watch fish in a fish tank and note how they behave.
• Note how bread dough rises.
• Candle experiment.
10. MEASURING & RECORDING DATA
• Use measuring tape to find heights/ Balance for mass of family members,
repeat after a couple of months, put data in a table.
• Sort out toys by material/ colour then put data into a table.
• Ask family members about favourite food.
• Use kitchen measuring cups to find how much water in a cup or drinking
bottle, then decide how many should we drink to get our 2 litres/day.
• Older students can draw bar charts (Year 2 can do that!)
11. ESTIMATION
• Fill a jar with anything; coins, sweets, popcorn, marshmallows,
marbles. Let your child guess how many are inside the jar then count
them and see how close you were to the right answer.
• Let your child help you estimate which container is best to store the
left over food!
• Estimate how much time will you need to finish your Homework!
May work as a tool to help them focus and stay on task to meet the
estimation they made!
12. CALCULATION
• Calculate how much money needed to buy groceries, how much change
(compete to calculate 1st before the cashier!). Pretend play supermarket
with your kids.
• Count how many steps it takes to cross the corridor, then measure the
corridor with a measuring tape, calculate how long is each of your strides.
• Measure mass of objects on a scale and decide how much more is an
object in comparison to another.
• Count how many times you breathe/ min, repeat after exercising for one
minute, count again, calculate the difference.
13. MAKING CORRELATIONS,
LOGICAL THINKING
• After developing all the previous skills, our
brain should start connecting the dots. Plants
that got more sunlight grew faster. My fish
moves faster in summer than in winter it
must be affected by temperature/ number of
hours of daylight…etc.
• Applying what they have learnt to life
situations.
• Example: car tyres need refilling in winter
because air contracts in cold weather. Or I
am more hungry in winter because my body
needs more energy to stay warm.
14. CREATING & IMPROVING
METHODS
• The final point we want to reach is where a
child wants to create something that involves
science or improve something using science.
• E.g. a simple sundial using a foam plate and
a pencil.
• A model using modelling clay / plasticine /
cardboard.
• A toy using household items.
• Fix a broken item using the correct tools.