Linking science to real life will allow children to ask scientific questions based on their own experiences, says class teacher Corrina Burge. Try out these wintry investigations into melting, insulation and keeping warm.
If you’re lucky and have plenty of snow, tell the children that you are going outside to make your own snow dragons. Let the children work in pairs or small groups and give them a set amount of time to build their creations. Then ask the question: How could you make your snow dragon last longer without melting? Posing open-ended questions is an excellent way to develop children’s critical thinking in science, and the activity should stimulate lots of ideas. Children can see if adding layers of different types of material, such as cardboard, silver foil or polystyrene will prolong the life of their sculptures. Discuss how to record results, evaluate findings and then link this learning back to real life – how people can best keep warm in the cold.
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