In my last blog, I discussed how I incorporate science into my kindergarten classroom by doing rotations with my whole team. And a few blogs before that, I discussed my experiences being a content reviewer for the 2018 Science Adoption for the State of California (link here). This lead me to pilot the new science materials for the district.For the first round, I piloted the National Geographic materials. I chose the unit on physical science (force and motion) since this is a new standard for kindergarten. The students explored pushes and pulls, starting and stopping, changing direction, changing speed, and collisions.
The final task was for students to combine those concepts to complete a challenge: start the ball rolling, make it change direction, and knock over some cups (the students could only touch the ball to put it in motion from the start). Each group was given the same set of materials: a marble, a block, a tube, a big board, two narrow boards, and three cups.
According to the Engineering Design Process, students are to plan solutions by way of drawing. However, I feel in kindergarten, students exploring with the materials is part of the planning stage. We push young learners to use concrete objects first, then move into pictorial in math, so it makes sense to use that same concept in this process. I had my students draw their designs afterward. See way below...
The students got the idea down quickly about knocking over the cups, but the added challenge of making the ball change direction first caused much struggle. It took 2 rounds of rotations, but most groups succeeded completing the task.
The students and I enjoyed this unit very much. These activities were new to me, as this was my first time teaching any sort of physical science.
I look forward to the second round of the pilot process (McGraw Hill up next!). I'll be teaching the life science unit, one that is very familiar to me.
Happy (Science) Teaching!
Erin Grebel
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