Using picture books to open the
door to investigating in science
Tauranga Moana Cluster Conference
Friday 1st June 2012
Mary Loveless
Science Facilitator
The University of Waikato
Private Bag 3105
Hamilton, New Zealand
0800 WAIKATO
www.waikato.ac.nz
What are the opportunities for:
Science learning?
Modelling a Blended e-Learning
approach?
It’s all about:
partnerships, collaboration, balance,
making science learning meaningful,
having fun and engaging learners
What is the Nature of
Science?
The nature of science strand is the overarching, unifying
strand. Through it, students learn what science is and how
scientists work. They develop the skills, attitudes, and
values to build a foundation for understanding the world.
They come to appreciate that while scientific knowledge is
durable, it is also constantly re-evaluated in the light of
new evidence. They learn how scientists carry out
investigations, and they come to see science as a socially
valuable knowledge system. They learn how science ideas
are communicated and to make links between scientific
knowledge and everyday decisions and actions.
NZC page 28
What is the Nature of
Science?
A body of
knowledge
A set of
methods/processes
Reference: Teaching the Nature of Science:
Three Critical Questions
Randy L. Bell, Ph.D.
A way of
knowing
What is Science?
Curly Question
• You have been given three pieces of paper, which are the
same size. Fill three shallow containers with water and place
each of the pieces of paper carefully onto the surface of the
water, one per container. Each piece should sit flat, not
touching the sides of the saucer
•
Observe closely for 30 seconds
• What is happening to each piece of paper?
What is Science?
Frisky Fish
Place the cellophane fish on the palm of your hand
Observe what happens
Now place the cellophane fish on a hard surface
Observe what happens
Dampen a paper towel by dipping it in water and squeezing
out as much water as you can. Flatten the towel on the table
and place the fish shape on top
Observe what happens
What questions do you have about what you
have just observed?
What is the Nature of Science?
Mystery boxes
• Leave your box on the table and use your sense of sight to begin
making their observations, not inferences.
“It is red” is a valid visual observation.
“It is pretty” or “It would make a nice box for a gift of fudge” are
inferences.
• Once you have shared your visual observations, make as many
observations as you can with all your senses without opening the
box. For example, feel the box, smell it and shake it to listen to it.
• Share and record your observations. Now use these observations
to make a prediction about what the object(s) inside the box is.
What is the Nature of Science in this activity?
Reference: Science Learning Hub: http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/Nature-ofScience/Teaching-and-Learning-Approaches/Student-activity-Mystery-boxes
What is the Nature of Science?
Scrambled Sentences
• The words you have been given form one long sentence that also tells a
story. The goal is to figure out the story from the words as you turn them
over.
• Turn over five cards at random what do you think the story is about?
(Hypothesis 1).
• Turn over five more cards. What do you think the story is about now?
(Hypothesis 2). Has your idea of the sentence changed with more
information?
• Turn over five more cards. What do you think the story is about now?
(Hypothesis 3).
• Turn over all the cards; do you need to revise your hypotheses?
(Hypothesis 4). Why don’t you all have exactly the same sentences?
What is the Nature of Science in this activity?
Reference: Science Learning Hub: http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/Nature-ofScience/Teaching-and-Learning-Approaches/Student-activity-Scrambledsentence
Investigating in science is one of the
methods or processes of the Nature of
Science that focuses on students:
Carrying out science investigations using a
variety of approaches: classifying and
identifying, pattern seeking, exploring,
investigating models, fair testing, making things,
or developing systems.
Achievement Aim, Nature of Science NZC
How?
Picture books are one way of engaging students
with science, and introducing the key aspects of
investigating in science (see The National Science
Exemplars progress indicators)
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/assessment/exemplars/
sci/matrices/matrix_investigating_e.php
So what does:
Exploring a situation
Asking questions
Making predictions
Processing and interpreting
Reporting
look like in a classroom
using the picture book,
The Man Who Walked
Between The Twin Towers?
The Man Who Walked Between The Twin
Towers
Author: Mordicai Gerstein
Publisher Roaring Brook Press
ISBN 0-7613-1791-0
Google:
The Man Who Walked
Between The Twin
Towers for more
information, images
and videos
The book tells the story of Philippe Petit, a young French
aerialist who threw a tightrope between the two towers
in 1974, and then spent almost an hour walking, dancing,
and performing tricks over 402 meters up in the sky.
•Twin Towers Tightrope Walk - Phillipe Petit.flv
What questions do you have about
Philippe’s escapades?
Possible questions about Philippe’s
escapades?
•How can people walk along a narrow wire or rope?
•What do they use to help them?
•Could I balance on a rope? What would I need to help me
balance?
•Does the type and thickness of the wire or rope matter?
•What are the forces acting on the wire walker?
•How can we explore these forces?
•What is this thing called, ‘Centre of Mass”?
(This term would need to be introduced and explored as part of investigating
the physics of wire rope walking)
How can we find out more?
Balancing Rocket;
Centre of gravity / balance
Using only four skewers and plasticene, make a space
rocket that can balance on your finger.
Can you use the long piece of wood to extend the
rocket?
Add another skewer to make a giraffe, or a spider!
What questions do you have about your balancing
object?
How can we find out more?
Balancing Bonanza
•
•
•
•
•
Using the following items:
Skewers
Plasticene
Polystrene blocks
A long piece of string stretched across the room
Make a balance object that uses a skewer to
balance on the tightrope stretched across the
room
Hint: placing a small blob of plasticene on the bottom
of a central skewer will increase the contact area and
make balancing your creation easier
A Balance Object could be like this:
• Insert a skewer vertically through a block of
polystyrene with a short length protruding from the
bottom
• Insert two more skewers at an angle of about 45
degrees into the bottom of the block
• Attach blobs of plasticene to these two skewers
• Place your creation with the central skewer
balanced on the string
• Adjust the angle and length of the skewers and the
size of the plasticene so that the block balances on
the tightrope strung across the room
Hint: placing a small blob of plasticene on the bottom
of the central skewer will increase the contact area
and make balancing your creation easier
Balancing Bonanza – Defying Gravity
The Science Ideas: What’s Going On Here?
Centre of mass: The point at which the whole mass of a
body may be considered to be concentrated. This is the
same as the centre of gravity, the point at which the
whole mass of a body may be considered to act
What questions do you have about your balance
object?
Think about:
Changing masses and distances, altering angles, length
of legs, and the direction of legs
Now What?
What have we found out?
What other questions do we have?
How could we find out more?
Could we change
position or the length
of the skewers on our
polystyrene block, to
more resemble
Philippe Petit’s
balancing pole?
Could we make a model of the towers
and the tightrope?
What other examples can we think of where the
Centre of Mass is important?
For example: on
the balance beam,
gymnasts have to
keep their centre
of mass right in
the middle of their
bodies, otherwise
they will fall off
the beam.
Your Task:
For each of the following headings:
•Exploring a situation
•Asking questions
•Making predictions
•Processing and interpreting
•Reporting
List the e-learning tools, processes and strategies that would
support each particular stage of the science investigation process
Think about:
The process having a blended e-learning approach
By blending science content knowledge and e-learning
understandings together, we can engage and motivate
students to explore and make sense of their World
Science subject
content
knowledge
It’s all about
partnerships,
collaboration
and balance!
E-learning tools,
processes,
strategies
Other picture book ideas
Cat and Canary: Michael Foreman (Kites)
My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes: Eve Sutton (Light)
The Slimy Book: Babette Cole (Properties of Materials)
The Tunnel: Anthony Brown (Light)
Pop’s Bridge: Eve Bunting (Bridges, Structures)
How the Birds got their Colours: How The Birds Got Their Colours (Colour)
Who Sank the Boat? Pamela Allen (Floating and Sinking, Buoyancy)
The Paperbag Prince: Colin Thompson (Recycling)
The Violin Man: Colin Thompson (Shadows)
The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley: Colin Thompson and Amy Lissiat
(Properties of Materials)
Mr Gumpy’s Outing: John Burningham (Floating and Sinking)
The Mixed-Up Chameleon: Eric Carle (Colour)
The House that Grew: Jean Strathdee and Jessica Wallace (Structures)
Other picture book ideas
The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch: Ronda and David Armitage (Balance, light,
pulleys, wheels)
The Legend of the Seven Whales: Mere Whaanga-Schollum (Water, Buoyancy)
The Hidden Forest: Jeannie Baker (Underwater Seascapes)
Cork on the Ocean: Mark Somerset (Density)
The King’s Bubbles: Ruth Paul (Surface Tension)
George Saves the World by Lunchtime: Jo Readman (Looking after the
environment)
The Three Fishing Brothers Gruff: Ben Galbraith (Management of resources)
The Secret Birthday Message: Eric Carle (Secret messages, invisible ink)
The Smelly Book: Babette Cole (Senses, smell)
Tangaroa’s Gift: Mere Whaanga-Schollum (Sea, currents)
The Man who Walked Between the Twin Towers: Mordicai Gerstein (Balance,
forces)
Related Resources:
Figure It Out – Mathematics in science contexts – Forces
High Wire pages 14 - 15
NZMaths http://nzmaths.co.nz/resource/high-wire
Building Science Concepts: Book 51, Standing Up, especially activity 3: Testing Our
Balance, p. 15
NZ Physics Teachers’ Resource Bank: www.vuw.ac.nz/scps-demos/
Man on Wire: Philippe Petit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_on_Wire and
www.imdb.com/title/tt1155592/
Pictures of tightrope walkers: www.timboucher.com/journal/wpcontent/uploads/2008/04/chinese-tight-rope...
http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2007/11/large_petit.jpg
How to find the centre of mass: www.sciencefair-projects.org/physics-projects/fi ndcentre-of-gravity.html or
http:/teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/judi/forces/activities/gravity.html
Balancing and centre of mass activity:
www.csiro.au/helix/sciencemail/activities/balancingglass.html
Balancing spoon and fork on a glass: www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-tobalance-a-spoon-and-fork-on-amatch-on-a-glass-162897/
CAST Science Writer, Making writing a science report easier:
http://sciencewriter.cast.org/welcome;jsessionid=507A2BCD7F2F8A0ADD6E4A3FC534
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