Anyway, at age 10, textbooks carry lessons on nature - introduce big words 'photosynthesis', burning candle - combustion and carbon dioxide and density - why ice floats - and through all this, something in the child begins to slowly shut down.
To counter this, a couple of home experiments may help.
So here's a homily way to introduce photosynthesis.
As usual I'm looking forward to your comments. It's for the book, remember?
Begin with this 'silly' experiment at home:
Fastest way to empty a bottle - YouTube
Traditional way: Turn it upside down
– takes 20 second for a 2 litre water bottle
Outside air travelling inside the bottle as air bubbles glug into the bottle - resisting smooth outflow
Second method: Shake or rotate the bottle as you turn it upside down
The water flows out in a rotating spiral / vortex creating a thin path in the center for outside air to flow inside!
Time – 7 seconds
Third method: Take a straw longer than bottle; and insert it completely inside the bottle and hold it in position as you turn it upside down (video shows demonstrator bending straw and blowing air through it into the bottle as he turns it sidewise and then upside down – not necessary)
Time – 2 or 3 seconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpjIeBR24AM
At 2nd and 3rd stage of exp., ask the kid to explain the reason?
He may struggle, a good sign - then talk about vacuum created and air pressure. - so far, so good.
Once it's clear, ask him, 'how do trees suck up water from the ground to their leaves?'
If he says 'I don't know.'
Then tell him, 'I don't either. I only know that the sun evaporates water moisture off the leaves and creates a 'straw effect'.
Some day he comes back and says another big word 'osmosis' - and then you know he will find out all about photosynthesis and osmosis - by himself in the higher classes.
Now someone may say this is all 'Round-about'. I think the purpose is to get the kid to find out rather than plying him with useless info. Why care about osmosis anyway?
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My turn: Question is do you recall any such 'seeding moment / questions' in class 3 or 4? Does not have to do with science. My daughter once asked (she was 5 or 6) during some debate during dinner about Hindu and Muslim religions, 'What religion is our cat?'
Read somewhere that Einstein received a compass as a boy and fascinated, he carried it with him always. As boys we all have received toy compasses - why didn't we carry the question in our pockets?
Edited by
jaish
on Mon 05/16/22 08:25 PM