26 Things #16 - Discovery

I am very fortunate to be able to spend a good amount of time volunteering in Erin's school and class. One of my favorite activities to oversee is Science Lab. This is a unique and incredibly well-run program for 4th and 5th grade students where they get to conduct hands-on experiments and projects directly related to what they're learning in their science lessons. The science teacher, Mrs. Stocksdale, puts a huge amount of effort and time into planning each session, and the kids obviously have a blast while they're learning. This week's lab was focused on photosynthesis, and the students' job was to create a model of how it works using colored marshmallows (representing atoms of oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen) and toothpicks (representing the bonds between the atoms).

The kids first had to create molecules of carbon dioxide and water, and then convert them to a molecule of glucose (with some left over oxygen molecules as well), placing them all around a drawing of a leaf.

When the project was completely finished, the students glued down their creations.

I cannot rave enough about these kinds of sessions! They really help the kids visualize what they've been learning about and it aides in their being able to retain the information for longer than until their next test. And it's great fun to see them going from not "getting" it at all to practically seeing the light bulbs go off as it all starts to make sense. Ah, the joys of learning!