ELC News

Jo Laughlin, Daintree Group Teacher 

Science discoveries with Marine and Daintree Children

Young children are naturally curious, full of questions, asking how things work, trying to make sense of their world. Science is one way that inspires our children to discover, question why and how things happen and what can be learnt from these experiences.

Some of the science experiments the Marine and Daintree children have participated in have included the 'rain cloud in a jar', 'melting ice with salt' and 'blow up a balloon' with vinegar and bicarbonate-soda.

Our 'rain cloud in a jar' experiment began with the question – Where does rain come from?

• Lachlan and Ivan said, 'Rain comes from the clouds'.
• What are clouds made of?
• Isabel said, 'Snow.'
• Lachlan said, 'Rain'.
• Benji said, 'Water'.

To conduct the experiment, water was poured into a jar. The children then took it in turns to squirt the shaving foam onto the water. Ink was then added using an eye dropper. 

The children said – 'The rain is heavy', as they observed the ink drop through the shaving foam. It dropped quite fast. We repeated the experiment using black ink to represent the dark clouds in the sky.  

The children noticed the different shapes and  colours the ink made as it moved through the water. This experiment allowed the children to talk about heavy and light, colour mixing and about the patterns the ink made in the water. 

During these experiments, the children had to apply a wide variety of thinking strategies to engage with the experiments and solve problems. They made predictions and generalisations about the experiments. 

There were opportunities during and after the experiments to use reflective thinking, to consider why things happen and what can be learnt. 

We look forward to conducting more science experiments in our program.