Science Experiments at Peopleplace Cooperative Preschool

by

Ashley Goff

EDU/HUS 329 Science and the Project Approach for the Young Child

Professor Erin Zaremba

April 16th, 2016

The school I chose to carry out the Sink or Float science experiment was Peopleplace

Cooperative Preschool in Camden, Maine. I chose this preschool because I am the lead afternoon

program teacher for the preschool classroom five days a week. I decided to do this science

experiment in the morning during the small group time since there would be more children in

attendance and I could really think about who is interested in water, experimenting, and making

predictions.

Also, during the morning, I would have access to the toddler classroom downstairs,

where they have a permanent water table/tub which I thought would be perfect for this

experiment. Making sure that 7 or 8 students would be able to reach and see the objects when

they were placed in the water instead of crowding over a small bin.

The group of 7 preschoolers included (fake names used): 3 three-year-old boys (Rocky,

Fernando, Charlie), 1 4-year-old boy (Ricardo), 1 three-year-old girl (Penny), and two four-year-

old girls (Meredith and Olivia).

The group of children and I met together in the upstairs classroom at a table. I sat down

with them and had all of the objects we were going to bring downstairs in a bin. I told the group

of children that they were to become scientists and to do some experimenting with water. They

became very excited. I asked them if any of them had been swimming before, they all raised

their hands. I asked if they remembered when they jumped in the water if they floated or sunk
after landing in the water. Ricardo said, My dad always catches me! and Olivia mentioned that

she always wears water wings. I asked her if she thought those helped her to float?

She replied, Yeah! My mom tells me that they keep me safe! I explained to my group

of scientists that we had a bunch of objects that we were going to test to see if they sink or float

when placed in water. I hung up the first data chart titled, Do you think it will float or sink?.

We passed around the different objects, first the rock. I asked them to think about the way it feels

in their hands, if it weighs a lot or a little, and ultimately if they thought it would float or sink

when placed in water and why. After observing each object and making predictions these are the

tallies/votes that we had.

Rock 2 5

Blown Balloon 5 2

Sponge 3 4

Empty Yogurt Container 6 1

After making our predictions, we headed downstairs to the toddler room. We filled up the

tub and put on our water shields. We also became a little distracted with the new environment,

something that I will talk about when reflecting on what I will do differently next time. I am glad

that I asked the students to make predictions before we came downstairs, I dont know for sure if

we would have been able to focus on doing that in a new room and environment (a completely

brand new space with new toys for some children in my group who were not in the toddler room

last year, which can be very exciting).

I asked each student to drop the objects into the water once it was filled up. They were

quite excited that they had been correct or really surprised when, for instance, the rock sunk to

the bottom.

When Meredith placed the blown up balloon in the water, and it gently floated on top of

the water, I asked the two students who thought it would sink (Ricardo and Rocky), why they

think it floats. Rocky said, Because its so big? Ricardo wasnt sure why it did. I asked out

loud to the group, What did we put in the balloon? Olivia shouted, Air! Do you think that

helps to make it float? Penny said, Probably! It makes it really bouncy and light!

I asked, Do you think theres air in water? A few children replied with nos and the

others looked confused. I asked if they had ever had a drink with a straw in it, and blown into the
straw. What happens? Meredith said, It makes a funny noise! I said, It sure does! Why dont

we see what happens when we blow into our big tub of water? I handed out straws and

recommended not breathing in, otherwise youll get a mouth full of water!

This was definitely the most fun part of the experiment to participate in. They loved

watching the bubbles being made in the water. Olivia said, They disappear real quick! I asked

her why she thought that happened, Maybe they are just really shy? I suggested that maybe air

doesnt like to be in water? When we jump in the pool, can we breath underwater? Ricardo said,

No! I opened my mouth once and I got a mouthful of salty yucky water! Fernando and Charlie
were really excited about playing with the different objects trying to make them sink when they

would float. The yogurt container was, Just like a boat! to Charlie and Fernando. They kept on

pushing it down to fill up with water and watched it sink down to the bottom.

This is what our second data table titled, Float or Sink Results (I decided to change it

so that the students could see the words Float and Sink written out again.)

Float or Sink Results

Blown Up Balloon Rock

I decided during the experiment that since the children were so engaged with testing out

the objects in the water that I would just record what floated or sank in the water. I did not want

to have to dry off their hands and stop playing just to record evidence. I made sure to have

everyone agree that it either floated or sank in the water, assessing that everyone understood the

definition of float and sink.

After we had finished our initial science experiment the students really wanted to play

with the water toys that the toddlers use such as little windmills and cups and little toy boats.

They explored with those toys and were using the words sink or float when excitedly

experimenting with them. Having to tell them to stop experimenting was hard, but we had to

head back upstairs for the Goodbye Song since it was almost noon.
 Reflection - After Thoughts

Next time I would maybe fill the tub up ahead of time, and maybe talk more about how

when we go down to the toddler room, we are there just to use the tub and not play with the toys

down there, we are on a mission to do this science experiment. We became initially a little

distracted with all of the new exciting things (there is a pretty cool slide the toddlers get to use).

Other than that, I really enjoyed doing this experiment with my students. I thought that

the questions I asked were really thought provoking and they responded and really tried to

answer them to the best of their ability. They really loved to experiment with the straws, making

lots and lots of bubbles. Only one three-year-old struggled with not drinking the water and

spitting it back into the bin! If I were to do this experiment again I would do maybe try to find a
text on water and things that sink or float, to make more of an impression of exactly what we

were headed downstairs to do.

I wish I had taken pictures of my group having the discussion, examining the objects, and

making predictions. As one would imagine, it is hard to record quotes, write down predictions,

and take photographs at the same time!

I feel the same with during the experiment, I only captured a few photos after we were

placing the objects in the water. I felt that I was losing their focus a bit when we entered the new

exciting environment. I felt hurried to get their water shields on and give them the objects to

place in since it took a bit for the water to fill the tub. Next time, if I use the toddler room I

would definitely fill it up beforehand. I love the water tub downstairs, but I think I almost would

almost rather use the water table that we have upstairs next time if its available. When I did the

experiment with my small group, it was filled with dirt and seeds, sitting by the sun. Hopefully it

will be empty next time I go to try to do this experiment again.

Science Experiment 2 - Salamanders and Other Bugs Exploration

This last experiment I had done with our students only a few days ago since the weather

had not really warmed up/had not been raining in Camden, Maine since I first wrote the lesson

plan for project 1. I had originally hoped that spring would have come in full force by now, this

winter has been lingering longer than anticipated! Taking that into consideration, I had to adapt

this science exploration to more of signs of spring and possibly bug hunting. I did not know what
to expect to find outside, but my group of students were extremely determined to find those little

critters.

I did this science exploration on the playground of Peopleplace Cooperative Preschool

with a group of 8 friends. (Fake names used) Samantha, Chloe, Devon, Annemarie (all girls age

5), Veronica, Emily, (both girls age 4), and James and Marshall, two boys age 3.

I took great inspiration from Ms. Howards life science exploration of their playground

from Worms, Shadows, and Whirlpools by Karen Worth and Sharon Grollman.

Before I took the children out for their naturalist expeditions, I wanted to make sure they

had opportunities to interact with the tools. I gave them magazines so they could practice using

the hand lenses to look at pictures that dont move (Worth and Grollman 32).

Before heading outside to the playground I introduced the children to the tools that they

would need to learn to use before heading outside. I laid out some books about bugs on the tables

and had magnifying glasses to use to see how to make the pictures bigger or more close up.

Marshall excitedly exclaimed, It makes it bigger! That was worth the whole setting up right

there! While they were looking at the bug books I explained that they would all be given some

black pens and their own scientific journals to record what they saw out on the playground.

I told them that with these scientific journals in hand that they would become naturalists

as soon as we step outside. We are on a journey to explore the playground that we love so much.

We want to draw only what we see outside in our journals, I said, So are we going to draw

rainbows and princesses and tigers and lions in our books? and resounding, Noooo was said.

One five-year-old girl, Devon, has some trouble with being told what and what not to draw so

she said she didnt want a journal. I asked her why not, and she said I just dont want to draw.
Coincidentally enough, she actually had brought a centipede to school today that she found at

home in this little bug container. It was a perfect way to get the children excited to find their own

bugs to observe. We ended up piling a lot of different worms and creatures into her container so

that we could look at them more carefully when drawing them.

We headed outside, understand that running and jumping on the swings was not the plan,

half of the group ran into the wooded area of the playground and the other half went to this

mossy area where we have movable tree cookies (stumps) that the students know bugs love to

live under. We began to flip them over and to my surprise there were a lot of worms and this

interestingly huge beetle that was definitely still hibernating.

The group of students loved looking at the worms and holding them gently and placing

them in the container Devon had brought from home.

grey beetles. I ended up not bringing out any books about bugs because I did not want to

overwhelm the students with finding, drawing, and researching.

Below are some of the drawings our naturalists did, including the worms we found, the

beetle, and a small sprig of a tree seed that had found enough moisture under neath a stump to

start growing.
 Our friends wanted to keep searching and searching until they parents arrived, it was

really fun to watch them become so immersed with a different aspect of their familiar

playground. I wonder if after April vacation this week if they will want to continue their

exploration! I told them that I would keep their journals and then we can come back after break

and add more, and document the new things that we find! They were excited to hear that.

Reflection - After Thoughts

What went really well was mainly the pure joy that the students had to really explore and

maneuver their playground in a way they hadnt done so since early fall. The young girl, Devon,

was the true inspiration for this exploration. She was so excited to find Salamanders everyday in

the fall and sad when it was time to let them find their little homes to hibernate in the winter. I

was hoping by now that it would be warm enough outside, but they are still hibernating. Thus, I

was really happy to see that there were little worms, small beetles, and signs of spring for the

children to record. Not every child was into drawing and recording. Remember how Devon

refused to even take a book with her outside? After a while she wanted to do some drawing too.

It just took watching her friends drawing and observing to get her to change her mind. She really

liked being in charge of her bug container, and she offered to let other friends hold it too which

was really nice.

What I would do differently the next time we go outside after April break, I might give

the students some classroom cameras to use outside, ones that are durable to bumps and drops.

That might encourage our not so drawing/artsy minded students to still record what they find on

the playground. I will ask the students before we head outside what they think they will see or
find. Maybe we can reflect from our journals and the pictures I took about what happened, since

it will be a while before we will be back to our playground. I think that I will find some books

specifically on worms and beetles since those are the creatures that we found in our playground

for the children to look through, and maybe some salamander books too to get them excited

about them potentially being out there on the playground.

Works Cited

Helm, Judy Harris, and Lilian Katz. Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early

Years. New York: Teachers College, 2011. Print.

Worth, Karen, and Sharon Grollman. Worms, Shadows, and Whirlpools: Science in the

Early Childhood Classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003. Print.