I have been thinking much more about science the past month than I usually do. Actually this whole school year. I love science, don't get me wrong. I can't help but love it with my Bungalow Boys and their constant questions and love of discovery. Science is life, right? And Bill Nye, Wild Kratts, and Magic School Bus are three of our all time favorite shows. So science is right up there on my top ten favorite things to think about. But being in charge of the science club and the science fair has made me think a lot more about questions that could lead to science projects, or at least science club experiments that would not be too messy or crazy, but keep elementary school kids interested for a good hour.
Today my boys worked on all of their science fair projects. William was planning for weeks on doing a project about orcas-- a research style project answering a question about their speed, or age, or predatory skills. Peter was planning for weeks on doing a slime-based project. He was going to answer a question about the best recipe for slime, or how to make glow-in-the-dark slime or something. And James wasn't sure, but thought it would have to do with paper airplanes. Well today all of that changed. Wild Kratts came out with two amazing new episodes this week. One about narwhals and one about electric eels. So this afternoon Peter decided to do his project on electric eels, and William chose the narwhals. James decided after a major nerf gun battle this morning to do his on nerf gun darts-- which ones go the farthest.
They worked hard. We all worked hard today. We did research, and drew pictures. We tweaked our questions a bit, and we did lots of cutting and taping and writing. And James and Ryan did lots of nerf gun-shooting, and photo-taking, and measuring. And at the end of the day Peter and William not only have amazing project boards completed and beautiful and ready three days before they're due, they also both learned some amazing things too. They actually discovered things through their research. And that makes me really happy.
William found out that narwhals tusks may actually be used for communication, not aggression! How cool is that?! They may convey information about the ocean water and habitat to the other narwhal by rubbing tusks. They have rarely been seen using their tusks in aggressive behavior.
And Peter found out that electric eels have three organs in their bodies that allow them to create low and high voltage shocks, and that they can actually create 860 volts of electricity! A defibrillator usually has about 700 volts. And he discovered his new favorite animal too.
I love how excited they were doing the work of science. And they really did a lot of it themselves.
And James had a blast shooting nerf guns with his dad. Not really surprised about that, but really happy that they made some great memories and measurements today.
And James has his first loose tooth!!!! I am so excited for him, and kind of in denial at the same time!
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