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These past few weeks have seen the Blue Whales learning all about the layers of the earth, gravity, earthquakes, and tsunamis. This stemmed from a child’s interest as he used recycled materials to make an object to measure gravity. Observing the child’s interest enabled us to extend their interests in the topic. The children have engaged in group time discussions and science experiments to encourage the children to engage with trial and error and hypothesis (I wonder what will happen if….).
These are scientific and mathematical concepts which then lead to questioning and analysing skills as the children learn to understand our earth. The children love sharing their knowledge about what they know about their earth and engaging in science experiments.
Here is a snapshot of the Blue Whales learning journey…
Learning about Earthquakes and Tsunamis
We made our own Tsunamis using water and everyday objects. The children all took turns at dropping small, medium, and large objects into the water after guessing what type of wave they would create. The children hypothesize their answers before observing what happens. The children cheered and laughed in joy as the water splashed on them. Next, in pairs we created earthquakes by shaking the container of water and observing other ways of making Tsunamis.
Learning about Gravity
The children engaged in a science experiment using a balloon, sticky tape, and ball to drop from a height to explore how gravity helps ground our objects. Beforehand we brainstormed our ideas of what they thought gravity meant. Bevis showed curiosity by asking what it means. Emma said “air”, Claire said “the sky is high”, Everly said “the air is breathing”, Amelia said “the ground is low”, Alayna said” it has some air”, Ashton “super door high”. The children loved seeing if their answers were correct according to their analysis, as they take turns dropping items to the floor.
Learning about the layers of the Earth
When making the layers of the earth out of playdough, the children shared their thoughts and ideas about what was inside the earth. Emma, Evie and Flynn said “lava”, Annika said “Earth can carry itself because it has a big magnet inside”, Everly said “everywhere inside it has magnets”, Bevis said “Earth can make lava and lava can make earth because earth is heavy”, Grayson said “if there is lava in there it’s going to be all red”, Jayden said “lava turns red”, Flynn said “lava is when the volcano erupts and lava comes out” and Annika said “ my mum and dad told me about those plates and I have a earth book at home”. Making the layers of the earth out of different colours shows the children how the earth has many layers. The children took their earth home to continue their learning.
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