Science research » Chemicals

Kids Science Projects Can Warm Your Heart

admin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 07:07:54 +0000

Everyone talks about the greenhouse effect and how our Earth and its climate are having greenhouse type of effects. What does that mean? You can do a science project that will show this effect and what is happening to our Earth.

Go to your pantry and look for these items. If you do not have them you can go to your local store and get these items:

2 glass containers that need to be the same size and shape A 1 gallon plastic storage bag 4 cups very cold water Ice cubes

Fill each glass container with 2 cups of the cold water. Add ice cubes to each jar. You will want to put the exact same amount of ice cubes in each jar. I would suggest 6 ice cubes in each jar.

Put one of the jars in the plastic bag and seal it shut.

Put both containers in the sun together and let sit for at least an hour.

You are trying to create the greenhouse effect with the container in the plastic bag.

At the end of 1 hour or a little longer remove the jar from the plastic bag and immediately insert a thermometer to measure the temperature of the water.

After you record this temperature measure the degrees in the water that was not covered.

When you placed the jars in the direct sunlight the air inside the bag became very warm. When you have a greenhouse it lets light inside which allows the sun’s energy and also heat. Since the heat filters in but cannot escape because you have made a plastic barrier it stays in the enclosed area and increases the temperature. When you demonstrated the science project above you created your own greenhouse and showed how warm you could get the water. What if you left that for two, three or four hours?

Think about what is happening to the Earth. There are chemicals that are creating a type of plastic bag around the Earth and it causes our air to get warmer because of the energy of the sun creating heat and it being retained in this enclosed area.

Even though you did not heat the water to boiling think about your car in the hot summer. This is what happens when you go in to work and leave your car outside all closed up all day. When you return at 3pm the car is scorching hot. This greenhouse effect has caused your car to be so hot you sometimes cannot even touch the steering wheel.

This science project is a great idea about what we are doing to our planet.

By: Lesa Bolt

Science Lessons for Grade 1 on the Five Senses

admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 17:48:30 +0000

Many teachers agonize about planning science lessons for Grade 1. They think that the students are too young to take part in science experiments. This is because they associate science experiments with using chemicals and Bunsen Burners. At this grade level, there are many experiments you can do in class with the students that are perfectly safe and do not put the students in any danger.

For example, it is easy to plan a lesson related to using the five senses. A taste test, or an experiment where the children are blindfolded and have to identify certain foods by the way they taste, smell and feel, is perfectly acceptable. The only precaution you would have to take in this type of lesson is to make sure that none of the children have any allergies to the foods you plan to bring into the classroom.

To teach the concept of using the sense of hearing, it is quite easy to make a tape recording of certain noises and see whether the students can identify them. In order to evaluate the lesson to see whether or not the students have achieved the objective, you can have them draw a picture to tell what they learned, retell it to you or have them write a sentences in their journal or learning log.

If you wish you can also have the students create noises of their own using materials that you bring in, such as scraping a comb over glass or the sound of chalk on the chalkboard. Many of the activities that you use with science lesson plans dealing with sound will also achieve the objectives for your music curriculum as well, so you might want to work with the music teacher on this section.

Some of the outcomes that you need to address in Science lessons for Grade 1 are:

1. Students will be able to identify the five senses

2. Students will be able to demonstrate ways that materials can be used to alter their smell and taste

3. Students will demonstrate ways we can use materials to make different sounds

4. Students will describe ways in which materials can be changed to alter their appearance and texture

5. Students will demonstrate how each of the senses helps us to recognize, describe and safely use a variety of materials.

You can teach all of these objectives using fun activities to keep the students interested. You have to think of the age of the students and realize that these activities are very simple, yet relevant to students in Grade 1.

What kind of activity could I use to teach Objective 3 – Students will describe ways in which materials can be changed to alter their appearance and texture? You have to keep in mind that you don’t have to get the students to do all the experiments. You can do some with them watching and then ask them questions about what happened. For this objective, you can take a piece of paper towel. Pass it around to all the students so that they know what it looks and feels like. Soak it in water and then show the result. Students can immediately see how the appearance and the texture of the material have changed.

When you are teaching Science lessons in Grade 1, you should always look for appropriate children’s literature so that you start the lesson off with a story to peak their interest.

“How Paper is Made” by Arthur Lockwood is a good book to use for this lesson because it describes the changes in the appearance of a tree from the time it is cut down until it is made into paper.

By: Frances Stanford

Great Science Fair Projects

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:40:45 +0000

The degree of complication for a science fair project depends on the grade level your child is in. During the lower grades, simple projects are usually accepted because younger students are not expected to have extremely complicated projects and procedures. This does not mean, however that there are no available projects for the lower grades, and if there are that these projects do not stand a chance to win at the fair. Simple projects, because they are simple stand a chance to win because this means anyone can do it, and that means the science behind it can be easily learned.

Great science projects for younger students involve incorporating what they learned in class and practicing the theory or concept in a real life situation. So a study of the weather can lead to a project that creates weather instruments out of materials found around the home. Home made weather instruments that can accumulate data and can be compared to actual weather data taken from the Internet will be a sure contender at the science fair. If the project can come with a demonstration (as what is usually required of such fair projects) then it is even better!

For mid-elementary students, great science fair projects are also projects that they can have fun with. So powering a light bulb by harnessing electric power from lemons is one way to get a child both interested in science, and contend for a prize. Though the lemon light bulb, potato clock, or potato light bulb, and lemon clock have all been done, try tweaking the experiment to see if you can harness enough electricity to power something else. The study of electricity is always a winner at any science fair, for as long as the child comes up with a more original twist to the old favorites.

Older and more serious students joining the fair can get great science projects from the Internet. Creating their own solar oven, or photographing the inside of an insect’s head through materials and chemicals easily found in anyone’s home are both great projects to include in the fair. Your child can photograph an insect on the spot or bake brownies for the fair judges. Whatever you do, just be sure that the project you choose has something original to it. If you can introduce something new to a project that is also relevant to what you learned in school, then you are very likely to place in the science fair.

By: Ethan Jeremy