Cultivating scientific temper
Avneesh shukla
Science is a subject that demands observation, thinking, hypothesizing, designing, experimenting, collecting data, analyzing, getting inferences, replicating, generalizing and exploring. To help young learners understand this process and promote scientific thinking and creativity among them, I planned a demonstration with increasing complexity of scientific work for class 4 and 5 students of a government primary school in Uttarkashi. Here are some activities that we did.
Activity 1
We have a bowl with water. If we drop a matchstick into this water what will happen? How can we change the position of the floating matchstick?
Required materials: plastic bowl, matchstick, water.
To my first question, the students replied that the matchstick would float. We took a matchstick and dropped it in the bowl of water and sure enough the matchstick floated! Then I asked the children to observe where the matchstick was floating. They said that the matchstick was floating towards the sides of the bowl. I asked them how we could move the matchstick towards the centre. The children managed this by blowing air and shifting and tilting the bowl. To increase the complexity of the task I asked them how they could move the matchstick without touching the bowl or blowing air. After some brainstorming, the students began banging their desks and were happy to find that the force they produced by banging their desks caused the matchstick to move. I asked them to find one more method to move the matchstick. Now the students looked confused and began discussing among themselves. Then one student took water in a mug and poured it in the bowl containing the floating matchstick. Instantly the matchstick moved to the center of the bowl. This activity reflects the gradual development of their thought process.
Activity 2
Holding a balloon above a lit candle and yet the balloon does not burst
Required materials: balloon, matchbox, candle.
I asked the students what would happen if they held a balloon above a lit candle. Without losing a second all of them replied that the balloon would burst. I held a balloon over a lit candle and instantly the balloon burst. I asked the students if they could find a way to keep the balloon intact even when holding it above a lit candle. The students discussed this problem for a long time until a couple of them decided that perhaps filling the balloon with water instead of air will stop the balloon from bursting. Not many were convinced with this theory so we decided to try it out. A student filled a balloon with water and held it over the lit candle. To their surprise even after a good 10 minutes the balloon did not burst. Their science teacher explained the reason for this. I added that the heat from the flame is absorbed by the water thereby not affecting the outer surface of the balloon which remains intact. After the activity, one student observed that the bottom of the balloon had become black. Another observed that there were some water droplets on the outside of the balloon. Was the balloon sweating? When none of the students could think of a reason, I pointed out that while we were filling the balloon with water some of the water may have spilled on the outside of the balloon.
By the end of that period I was very happy with what I had achieved. My students for the day had displayed their thinking capacities and come up with alternative solutions to the problems I posed. They learnt a couple of scientific concepts, were keen learners and most importantly appeared to have enjoyed the class.
As a teacher I was happy to have awakened their curiosity and got them to think, discuss, brainstorm, question, and share. These simple activities helped promote scientific thinking and creativity among the learners.
The author is working with the Uttarkashi science team of Azim Premji Foundation promoting science learning. He received his masters degree in chemistry from HNBGU (Central University), Uttarakhand. He can be reached at avneesh.shukla@azimpremjifoundation.org.
