Last weekend we visited the Chabot Space and Science Center where the kids were given task to design and build a wind turbine. While we were testing out our iterations my little one said "Mommy can we test this with 1 blade?". This made me ponder on how we adults, from experience, have made up constraints. We would never try this turbine with 1 blade simply because it is not balanced! But a child's mind is not polluted and they get the best ideas. We did try the turbine with 1 blade and found that the performance was not that best, however it did not do worse than our other multi-blade iterations!
I will be using this as my journal to note down what changes I observe in my kids.
Day 17
While driving we discussed about the Reptiles and Amphibians.We identified animals in each category and played a game about each of us telling 5 things about a snake. "A" worked on her Rube-Goldberg challenge for Mission Possible - Science Olympiad.
Observation: "I" mentioned that when a frog is rainbow colored (what she meant was colorful), it is poisonous. She actively participated in the reptile/amphibian discussion.
Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16
With bunch of make-up lessons and school homework, did not find much time for talking or doing science. I did talk to them about "cells" and how they are the smallest part of a living organism. We compared it to non living where atoms and molecules are the smallest part.
Observation: "I" mentioned that tall trees also act like mountains and stop rain clouds. Ocassionally she does point out when she sees the mountains stopping the clouds. When one of the mornings was dull and cloudy, she said it looked like evening and on the same night asked "Is the morning like evening in India today?" Well that was some thought on her part! I need to talk to her about seasons.
Day 12
This was a funfilled day with lots of hands-on science for "A", learning about gravity, matter, dry ice, electric circuits and simple machines at the Discovery Day. She learnt few new words: Sublimation, center of gravity etc. Since she recently learned about simple machines in school, the session during the Discovery day was really helpful.
Observation: "A" noticed that pulley is used at home for the blinds.
Day 11
Dad took some time today to go over the day and night explanation with "I" using a globe. However she seemed to know about it already, duh!
Observation: -
Day 10
"A" wanted to demonstrate to "I" the day and night principle and so they took turns being earth and sun respectively. We also talked about north and south poles and how it is 6 months day and six months night there.
We did an experiment to see if water and oil can be mixed together. We found that it did not, the reason being that oil is lighter and so it floats. There is one more reason, however I thought of explaining it in a different way. Oil is hydrophobic and sort of "scared" of water. (I did not use the polar and non-polar reason since that makes it very complicated for the kids). An emulsifier like soap is like a friend that makes the oil and water befriend each other.
For the experiment we took a test-tube and added colored water and equal amount of oil. We shaked it a lot and let it stand. The oil separated. Then we added few drops of dish washing soap, shaked it and let it stand. It did not separate. We tried this experiment with 2% milk, but found that milk was not an emulsifier. There is good explanation and experiment here
Observation: "I" seems to be getting seemed more interested in learning about the day and night concept since it answered so many of her questions!
"I"'s interest in the experiment was only for shaking the bottles and playing with it. "A" was interested and learnt new concept of emulsion. I probably will need to repeat the experiment to tell the real scientific reason.
Day 9
Today we decided to make a parachute using household material. Here is the link. The goal is to make parachutes using different types of plastics : grocery bag, ziplock, plastic wrap as well as may be cloth and see which one lands gradually.We made one from ziplock today and probably will do the others on Day 10.
Today "I" asked why don't we see sun in the night (She always has questions about is it night or day in India now and so on). I took the opportunity to demonstrate it so her questions are answere once and for all. I used a candle, a coconut(since the globe was not handy) to demonstrate it.
Observations:
"I" and "A" enjoyed playing with the parachute. "I" loved the demonstration and wanted to do it herself.
Day 6, Day 7 and Day 8
As we had to complete "A"'s Science Fair board, we did not talk anyting apart from her topic " What causes Earthquakes?" I will be blogging about that separately.
Observations: As I was busy with "A"'s project, "I" took time to make some art and I was amazed to see her come up with a water cycle diagram on her own. This is the diagram that she made
Day 5
While driving south for the kid's class we actually saw the dense clouds blocked by the mountain and without hesitation I pointed it out to the kids. We also saw some snow on the peaks of the mountain so I continued the discussion from the previous day about the atmosphere being cooler at high altitude.
The same day we had an afternoon event about Raptors at the Don Edwards wildlife refuge. While driving to the event we talked about what are raptors and some of their characteristics. We named a few that we knew.
Observation: "I" was not much interested in the raptor presentation as it was above her level. "A" enjoyed the discussions and event. However "I" did mention "Mommy, we did not do experiment 2 days, can we do one?".
Day 4
It was raining and so I took the opportunity of talking about water cycle with the kids. We talked about what happens to puddles and why they dissappear. How the clouds are formed and at high altitudes it is much cooler. We also talked about the importance of mountains and how they block the rain clouds. We did not do any experiment this day.
Observation: "A" participated as well as "I". "I" liked the discussion about water cycle, probably she might have recollected one of the "Water" session by Math Science Nucleus we attended last summer!
Day 3
We repeated the candle experiment, however this time with colored, soap water, so we could see the water level rise clearly. The soap water was to see if the air gets actually pushed out of water due to the heat of the candle. We did not observe this however. I also told the kids correct reason for the rise in water level. This time we covered the candle with 2 bottles of different sizes. For fun, we also timed how long the candle flame survived inside the bottles.
To stress on the behavior of gas in under temperature changes, we also did an experiment, where I held one of the bottles under hot water (so the air inside it becomes warm). Then we placed it upside down in the dish with colored water, this time without the candle. We did observe that the water near the mouth of the bottle was pushed out (as we could see the bottom of the dish). As the air cooled the water rose up in to the bottle.
Observations: As usual "A" was enthusiastic and was trying to cool the bottle by blowing on to it and placing ice pack. She is now looking forward for an experiment each day! "I" got the concept that in a larger bottle there is more oxygen so candle burns longer.
Day 2
While driving back I reminded the kids about heart, its uses and the parts of heart. "A" could answer most of the questions while "I" answered 1 of them. Where is blood made? bones
After coming home we did the classic experiment of oxygen is required for burning. I lighted the candle and placed it in water. We then covered it with a glass bottle. The candle burnt for a while and then it went off. We then saw the water level rising in the bottle. I went over what was happening. I did explain to them that the water rises in the bottle because the oxygen gets consumed, however if you carefully watch the experiment, the water starts rising only when the candle light starts diminishing and not when candle is burning. Also carbon dioxide is also formed. This made me think that it might be due to pressure since the air cools when the flame goes away! So I gave them 2 reasons for the water rising in the bottle. While browsing on the internet I came across the oxygen misconception in the candle experiment http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/pdf/lesson_plan10.pdf. My 2nd reason was correct! I am learning too with my kids! I think I will need to repeat the same experiment on Day 3 wit a little improvement from the link.
Observations: "A" seemed very interested in experimentation and she immediately tried another experiment of how things float in dense solutions. She took 2 containers and added salt to one. She then put blueberry in each of the containers and showed "I" the magic! "A" wants to do a parachute experiment. May be we will try on Day 3. "I" was excited with the candle experiment and wanted to try it out herself. We repeated the experiment multiple times so we could observe.
"I" also got the concept that blood is made in bones!
Day 1
While driving back home from school, this was our conversation
Me : "What is all around us and we cannot see?".
A: air.
Me: what were the components of air
A thought and answered: dust, smoke.
Me: I want to know what are the gases in air
A paused, thought and answered each: Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Helium, water vapor, Carbon dioxide.
Me: What does the air contains more of?
On this A started making guesses, and I had to give out the answer. We discussed on the amounts of gasses in air.
Me: What is oxygen used for?
A : breathing by plants and animals.
Me: What else?
A though for few minutes : burning. At this she recollected an experiment I had done with her of burning candle covered with glass.
Then we moved on to Nitrogen, however A did not know much. Since we had recently been to berkeley where we had seen liquid nitrogen and how it can cool things pretty quick, I discussed with them about Nitrogen form at room temperature and high pressure. Of course, I had to explain the term room temperature first.
On the same day we were going for an event on heart, so I asked my kids: What happens if you do not have a heart?
A: Your body parts will not get blood and oxygen and you would not live
I: If you don't have a heart you cannot love anyone!
On the same day we went for the MS Nucleus event on "heart" at Fremont Library. So the kids heard more about oxygen and carbon dioxide. I reiterated the terms atrium, ventricle, aorta, valves etc.
Observations : "I" was quite during the drive home, speaking only a few words here and there. I was amazed at how "A" remembered the experiment and the results. I found "A" interestingly participating in the conversation. "I" loved the art work(coloring/cutting of the heart puzzle pieces), book making and I insisted she should share this book with her class and talk a little bit about heart. Lets see if she does it! That was a lot of science in one day.
