The Magic of Science

For young students, science experiments are captivating, like "magic." However, STEAM is not just about fancy experiments. "It's important to foster cognitive exploration, knowledge transfer, and nurture students' abilities to predict, observe critically, record information, and share their findings," said Ms. Emma Tan, a BBSG Primary School Science teacher. Today, let's take a look at Ms. Tan's "tornado" lesson in Grade 1.

Before class, Ms. Emma Tan prepared weather-related storybooks and the children's favourite science animation, 'Screw Nut.' She encouraged her students to first read the books and then to watch the animation together inside the classroom. This routine helps students prepare themselves to learn and gain new knowledge in science.

Drawing on her extensive cross-disciplinary background in English teaching, Ms. Tan initiated an engaging review session. She prompted students to recall words used to describe weather conditions.

She asked, “What happens if there's 'too little' or 'too much' of certain weather?” This question sparked creativity and introduced new vocabulary related to extreme weather phenomena.

"Too much rain will cause a flood, while too little rain will cause a drought."

Students then started to ask, "What will happen if there's too much rain plus too much wind?"

"Too much wind will form a tornado, and that's called severe weather, just like in this picture," Ms. Tan presented a picture of a tornado for students to observe and describe.

"It's blowing away houses."

"It has a vortex."

"It looks like a black hole."

To help visualise how tornadoes form under specific conditions, Ms. Tan conducted an experiment with two sets of props and invited two students to try and create miniature tornadoes based on their observations and hypotheses.

The two students skillfully shook their bottles. One succeeded quickly in creating a 'tornado,' while the other could not, no matter how hard he tried. It turned out that this was a deliberate "control trap." Ms. Tan repeated the experiment and asked them to find out the differences between the two experiments.

“This bottle has less water than that one.”

“Try rotating in the same direction.”

It turned out that when the bottle was filled with water, it could not generate enough "pressure." With Ms. Tan's guidance, students finally revealed the "secret" of a tornado.

Although tornadoes are not common in our daily lives here, there are other unpredictable weather conditions in the summer of Guangdong, such as rainstorms and typhoons. Exploring how to protect ourselves and others in extreme weather conditions is another topic for the students.

After watching a few videos about tornadoes, students created emergency evacuation posters based on their own understanding and creativity, informing parents how to respond to bad weather during pick-up or drop-off at school. Some even incorporated content from previous semesters, where they successfully connected their knowledge with real-life scenarios.

"For younger students, we are trying to expand their knowledge pool and enhance their understanding in science class while fostering their observation and critical thinking skills. We want students to connect knowledge with real-life applications and help them understand that scientific knowledge is fascinating, enjoyable, and beneficial for improving our lives and the lives of others," shared Ms. Tan.

After talking with some of our Junior Secondary science teachers, Ms. Tan also found out that a major challenge for older students is producing high-quality presentations. This inspired her to focus on both input and output in her classes by using various media to expand students' knowledge while developing their inquiry and presentation skills. "This will establish a strong foundation for their future studies," said Ms. Tan.