If you were to teach a science lesson

I'm going on a humanitarian trip to Kenya this summer. I'm going with a big group. I have been put on the education committee and am in charge of teaching a 45 minute lesson on science to a class of fourth graders.

I need something simple and fun. Very simple, as they won't speak english and there will be a translator. A cool experiment would definitely be good; we want to make this as cool as possible, obviously, but they still need to get something out of it. (ex. I'm not sure how much they'd get out of a coke-and-mentos explosion, however cool it may be) Suggestions, please? :puppydogeyes:

I was just googling, can't find a thing that would be good =/
i'll check back, I'm going to ask my sister tomorrow(she's in 4th grade)

I think this is pretty fun.

Don't know what to connect it with... perhaps helium and sulfur hexafluoride comparison or something. I don't really know what you have to present or from what area, having no experience about such stuff. But there you go.

haha that's awesome bonsay! I'm not exactly sure how I'd pull that off though...

A group from my school is going to Kenya, within the next month I believe. Interesting coincidence.


EDIT: Just checked the date, May 22nd until June 8th.

The old bicarb-soda-volcano-lava experiment is usually a winner with kids. Depending on how good your translator is, segue into plate tectonics, how the continents move at 1cm/year. From there you can talk about how the planet used to look a few hundred millions of years ago. From there you can talk about dinosaurs. Easy step from dinosaurs in either one of two directions: space (from the meteor impact) or evolution (dumbed down for 9-10 year olds) might be a good one considering the ancestors of all humankind came from Africa, and Kenya has some of the oldest hominid fossils in the world. I'm sure even kids in Kenya would know we walked on the moon in '69. Everyone loves space :)

http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/le...coursesci4.htm

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Originally Posted by Alextanium

The old bicarb-soda-volcano-lava experiment is usually a winner with kids. Depending on how good your translator is, segue into plate tectonics, how the continents move at 1cm/year. From there you can talk about how the planet used to look a few hundred millions of years ago. From there you can talk about dinosaurs. Easy step from dinosaurs in either one of two directions: space (from the meteor impact) or evolution (dumbed down for 9-10 year olds) might be a good one considering the ancestors of all humankind came from Africa, and Kenya has some of the oldest hominid fossils in the world. I'm sure even kids in Kenya would know we walked on the moon in '69. Everyone loves space :)

http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/le...coursesci4.htm

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thanks for this! It sounds like a really good idea

Very simple, maybe too much so, but what about non-Newtonian liquids? Good old corn starch and water? That stuff is just awesome, I never get tired of playing with it.

Basin of water. Little paper boat. Some olive oil on the surface of the water, boat goes weee!

I know this thread has been buried for a while, but just incase anyone will read this: this is what I've decided I might do. It's just an idea, but my partner for the assignment thinks it will work. This is how electricity works as simplified as humanly possible. This is my lesson outline:

So the lesson is pretty much teaching three basic ideas. It’s all about atoms/electricity, but the main ideas are
1) When electrons move, they create heat, and when they create enough heat, they create light
2) Electrons can only make electricity if they are able to move all the way through; if their pathway is cut off, nothing happens
3) Electrons are attracted to protons – we won’t go into details about what actually happens when they get attracted, we’ll just tell them this fact so they know why the electrical currents in the plasma ball all go toward your hand when you put your hand on the ball.


[to begin, we'll have a picture of the basic idea of an atom, so they have a visual of what we're explaining.]http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/o...m0ns/atoms.gif

Everything in the whole universe is made up of atoms. They are so tiny that you could fit millions in the tip of your pencil. They make up the stars, trees, water, and even you.

The little balls floating around the outside of the center are called Electrons. The electrons are able to move easily through metal. When the electrons move, they create heat, and when they create enough heat, they will eventually create light.

[here I was thinking i'd do the potato-lightbulb thing but I've tried it and it didn't quite work, and I don't want to take my chances and have it not work once I get there, so I'm going on the safe side and using a battery instead]

In the battery, there are chemicals that have a lot of electrons. When you attach the wire to both sides, the electrons move through the metal easily. [at this point, it's not actually attached to the lightbulb yet] They pass through the metal, but nothing happens because they have nowhere to go. When you put the wire to the lightbulb, the electrons move and create enough heat that it lights up. The wire outside the light bulb doesn’t heat up fast enough, so it will not create light, but the metal inside the light bulb heats up fast enough to light up.

The reason you need to attach them to both sides is because it can’t be cut off anywhere. Electrons only create electricity if they can move all the way through something. If it’s cut off, they’ll stop and nothing will happen.

[at this point, I have one of those energy balls, where you can have everyone in the room holding hands or touching shoulders or something, when everyone is connected the ball lights up, but when one person lets go, nothing happens. It demonstrates how in order for electrons to move, they can't be cut off, they need a full circuit to move through]

Electrons move through humans too. The electrons in the energy ball don’t have anywhere to go because they’re just sitting there. If you hold onto the ball, it creates a pathway, which makes them move so they can create electricity. They only light up the ball when everyone is connected.

Plasma Ballhttp://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...lasma_ball.gif

In the picture, we showed what Electrons are. But atoms are made up of something else also. Some of the little balls floating around the center aren’t electrons, but something called protons.

(ok, I know this example sounds really stupid, but it’s like a perfect metaphor that would help the kids understand)
Boys and Girls are opposites, they’re different from each other. But they are both attracted to each other. (in most cases :lol: please note I'm not trying to be prejudice, it's only an example I'm giving to fourth grade kenyan kids) It’s the same idea with electrons and protons. They’re two different things that are completely opposite, but they’re attracted to each other.

Since humans are made up of atoms, this means we have protons inside of us. The electrons in the ball are attracted to the protons in your hand. When you put your hand on the plastic, they all follow because they’re attracted to your hand.


so I left out a ton of crap, but this is just the basic ideas, not the "why"s or "how"s, just the basics. This is probably going to be something pretty new to them, and it would be bad if they had no clue what in the world I was talking about :P So, does this sound decent? I thought it would be fun, because I could do the battery thing, the energy ball, and then even leave the plasma ball for them to have in their classroom.

This is probably really late, but if I were teach a science lesson, I'd teach some MacGyver stuff instead of crap about plants or animals.

Give something kids can actually use in the future!

i would have went for a bit of astronomy, my young cousin loves it, and she remembers what i told her well.

and by the way, you missed neutrons. you only said there was protons in the middle