In Pukeko this week, we have been learning to make observations and encourage scientific thinking. They were asked to use their prior knowledge, gather information, look for patterns and prove their ideas in order to develop their best answer in a range of fun science based tasks.

The students had the opportunity to explore a couple of different science based activities to investigate these ideas. They observed Newton’s Cradle and found out how the energy of one metal ball could move through the other balls and move the last one on the line.

The sealed Mystery Pots were great at developing their describing skills, as they had to figure out what was in the pottle by just using our sense of touch and hearing. Dillon made some observations about her pottle. She said, “There are lots of small things in here that sound hard. When I shake it, it sounds like a maraca. I think it might be some tiny beads.”

They really loved the Mystery Box activity, as they had to figure out what the item was in the box just by their sense of touch. It was great seeing the children discuss and describe parts of their object and the other children confirming their suspicions about what was in there. Kazuma described his item and was able to figure out what it was from the information he had gathered. He said, “I can feel lots of little dots at one end on some long things. I can feel a handle at one end, too. I think it’s a hair brush!”