Why can custard be a solid or a liquid? Does peanut butter make good glue? What happens when you fill a balloon with fizzy drink? Can you make an unsupported structure out of spaghetti and mini marshmallows?
These are just some of the many experiments and challenges that children can attempt during National Science and Engineering Week 2008, or throughout the year as practitioners themselves rise to the challenge of incorporating fun and meaningful science into their EYFS planning.
Formerly known as Science Week, this year's event focuses on both science and engineering. It runs from 7 to 16 March, when thousands of events will take place around the country in schools, museums, shopping centres - even pubs.
The Week, co-ordinated by the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science), is seen as an opportunity for people of all ages, areas and organisations to take part in science, engineering and technology activities.
Challenge Packs, which can be downloaded from the BA website, are a way of involving all children in the week's events and ensuring that science remains a lively part of the curriculum long after the week has ended. The packs, which have been written with primary school children in mind, include 'Just Add Water', 'Food for Thought', 'Colour Chaos' and 'Domestic Science'.
The pleasant surprise for many practitioners will be that some of the suggested investigations are popular early years activities - cornflour gloop, blowing bubbles, marble runs and music shakers. Other activities may be modified and incorporated into a nursery's planning. The big advantage of the packs is that the science behind most of the suggested investigations is set out in background notes (see box).
Hard and scary
Science is the most daunting part of the EYFS for many practitioners, yet its place in the curriculum is essential. 'Imagine how difficult it would be to understand the science of atmospheric pressures if you had never gained confidence in conceiving of air as a substance in the first place. To support children in this respect, we can encourage "air play" in the nursery, pouring air upside down in water, playing with bubbles and balloons and bicycle inner tubes, by watching the wind and by catching it in kites and sails' (John Siraj-Blatchford, 2001).
Early years consultant and microbiologist Pat Brunton says, 'A lot of people see science as hard and steer away from it, but it's about exploring and investigating, and that's the foundation of good early years practice.
'It's also about seeing the opportunities for science and not being frightened by the sort of questions that the children will ask. If you don't know the answer yourself, it doesn't matter, just go and find out together.'
This is the approach taken by staff at Brucehill Education and Childcare Centre, West Dunbartonshire. When staff couldn't explain why a block of ice had stuck to the table, they telephoned the local secondary school in search of an answer.
Centre head Lynn McCafferty says, 'How we approach science is to make it about discovering, investigating, problem-solving and experimenting through hands-on, meaningful and relevant activities.'
Over the past three years, she has been encouraging staff to:
- 'see' the science in children's play indoors and out and in everyday occurrences such as baking, painting, sand and water play and construction
- use science resource boxes as a springboard for more adult-directed investigations of, for example, air, circuits and space.
John Siraj-Blatchford believes instruction is a necessary part of such investigations. 'Free access to sand and water play are very popular in the UK. They can undoubtedly be influential, but all the evidence suggests that the play involved is, as often as not, repetitive, irrelevant and unproductive. For this sort of play to be educational in terms of science, some form of instruction (eg demonstration, modelling, etc) is usually needed and clear objectives need to be defined' (Siraj-Blatchford 2001).
And with such interventions, says Ms McCafferty, 'staff have to understand that science is all around them, otherwise so many opportunities for investigation will be lost. But they also need to understand the science if they are to take the learning forward.'
Science activities
Light entertainment
You will need
- two torches
- red square of cellophane
- green square of cellophane
- two elastic bands
- white wall
Note for practitioners
For this to work the cellophane needs to be in exactly the right shades, and you might like to try out a few pieces before exploring this with young children. The white wall should be very white, so you might want to hang up some sheeting. Cover the first torch with the red square of cellophane and fix with an elastic band. Cover the second torch with the square of green cellophane and also secure with an elastic band. Shine the torches at the same point on the white wall.
What's happening?
You have just mixed two different coloured lights, red and green. When you shine the torches at the same point on the white wall, you will notice that the spot of light is yellow. This proves that yellow light is made up of green and red light.
Light's primary colours are red, blue and green! By mixing different combinations of the primary colours you get yellow, cyan (a turquoise colour) and magenta (a fuchsia pink colour).
You could extend this activity by adding a torch covered in a sheet of blue cellophane. This theoretically should make white light - but it has to be very pure and in practice does not often work. But you can have fun playing around.
The colours you make when you mix paints are different to those that result from mixing light.
This is an edited version of an experiment that appears in the 'Colour Chaos' challenge pack
Floating fruit
You will need:
- a tall, clear glass
- some raisins
- some clear, fizzy drink that has a lot of bubbles (this won't work if it's not very fizzy)
What to do
First, pour the fizzy drink into the glass. Now drop in a raisin and wait for 20 to 30 seconds to see what happens.
What's happening?
You should have seen the raisin float to the top of the glass after 20 to 30 seconds. This is because the bubbles of carbon dioxide that are being released by the fizzy drink stick to the sides of the raisin to make it more buoyant - just like a mini life jacket.
What happens if you wait a bit longer? You should find that the raisin will start to sink after a while. This is because the gas in the bubbles escapes once they reach the surface of the glass.
Once the raisin has sunk, the process can start all over gain.
Now that you've tried a raisin, how about experimenting with other things? You could try anything ... How about some of these to get you started: a brazil nut; a dried pasta shape; a dried chickpea or a safety pin.
In further experiments, think about how you can get more of the carbon dioxide gas bubbles to stick to the objects and make them float more easily.
This activity appears in the 'Just Add Water' challenge pack
More Information:
National Science and Engineering Week 2008 is co-ordinated by the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science). To find out what is on in your area and to download the challenge packs, visit www.the-ba.net.
Nursery World's science series, by Pat Brunton and Linda Thornton of alc associates, is at www.nurseryworld.co.uk. For alc associates, www.alcassociates.co.uk.
Siraj-Blatchford, J (2001) 'Emergent Science and Technology in the Early Years' can be viewed at www.ioe.ac.uk.
EYFS science information is at www.azteachscience.co.uk and www.bigeyedowl.co.uk/science.
Let's Explore resources and booklets of starter ideas on electricity, forces, light, colour, reflection and magnification, are available from www.reflectionsonlearning.co.uk.
LINKS TO EYFS GUIDANCE
- PR 2.3 Supporting Learning
- EE 3.3 The Learning Environment
- L&D 4.3 Creativity and Critical Thinking.
