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Turn your science student into a student scientist (lab)

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Picture of experiment lab tools

Like most subjects (including reading, spelling, and math) science is a subject that is best learned by actually practicing it. For Science this is through labs where children can experiment. Being able to memorize and recite encyclopedic knowledge isn’t enough because it doesn’t build true understanding. For that, you need to turn your student into a scientist who knows how to use the scientific process as a road map that leads to making discoveries on his own.

You might be wondering how to guide your children through re-creating a nuclear reaction at home. Of course, that’s not the best approach for a number of reasons—the least of which is that it would get you in trouble with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Your child doesn’t have to reenact every major scientific experiment ever conducted to learn how to use and apply science. The secret is mastering science process skills. Exercises and experiments should be geared toward not only understanding certain concepts but also learning the scientific process.

What does a student scientist lesson look like?

Chapter 4 of the BJU Press Science 5 Student Text is hot! It’s all about heat and energy. The chapter starts out by introducing some concepts such as conduction, convection, and radiation. It then goes on to explain how insulation works. Next, it presents the following fun, easy-to-do experiment that is designed to build science process skills:

Lab: Keeping Warm

What you’ll need

  • 5 plastic cups
  • cotton batting
  • rubber bands
  • craft foam
  • bubble wrap
  • aluminum foil
  • hot water
  • thermometer
  • plastic wrap

Problem

Which kind of insulation will keep hot water warm the best?

04-01-a-cup

Experiment Procedure

  1. Wrap cotton batting around one of the cups. Be sure to cover the bottom and the sides of the cup. Use a rubber band to keep the batting in place.
  2. Prepare three more cups: one wrapped with craft foam, one with bubble wrap, and one with a double thickness of aluminum foil. Use rubber bands to secure each material. Do not wrap anything around the fifth cup.
  3. Predict which cup will best keep the hot water warm. Write down your hypothesis.
  4. Fill the cups with hot water and put a thermometer in each.
  5. Cover the top of each cup with plastic wrap, leaving the top of the thermometer sticking out.
  6. Measure and record the starting temperature for each cup.
  7. Leave the cups undisturbed for five minutes. Then measure and record the water temperature in each cup. Measure and record the temperatures again after another five minutes.
  8. Calculate the difference between the starting and ending temperatures for each cup.

Conclusions

  • Did your results support your hypothesis?
  • Which cup had the greatest change in temperature? Why?
  • Which type of insulated cup would you choose to hold hot chocolate? Why?

Follow-up

  • Use ice cubes instead of hot water to determine which insulation is best for keeping ice cubes from melting.

Labs like this one help build the skills that can turn your science student into a student scientist. Check out this lab and many other great skill-building ones in BJU Press Science 5.

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Breaking Out the Lab Coat

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I’m a chemist, and I’ve got a white lab coat to prove it. I love chemistry, and I have loved working with the team at BJU Press to produce Chemistry (4th ed.) I delved into the latest research on education and cutting-edge chemistry and worked with artists, designers, authors, high school chemistry teachers, and university chemistry professors. I investigated new educational strategies, explored new technologies, and broke out my lab coat and dorky goggles to bring my love for chemistry to your home and classroom.

Chemistry is valuable, because it’s all about living—the air we breathe, the clothes we wear, the food we eat, and the materials we use to make our lives safer and better. As students around the world break open this textbook in the fall of 2015, they will see that chemistry is a powerful tool to glorify God and help people by working to solve real-world problems like car accidents, allergies, and the lack of clean drinking water.

My work on Chemistry (4th ed.) began about two years ago. The marketing research department at BJU Press surveyed hundreds of homeschool parents, teachers, and administrators to guide our progress. Our survey research showed that the previous edition was in good shape, both from an educational and scientific perspective, so this revision was a light one.

But you wouldn’t know that from looking at this new textbook. The pages sparkle with fresh design, new photos, and up-to-date topics. Chapter 1 engages students where they live to interact about how chemistry affects people and how we can view it from a scriptural perspective (e.g., using chemistry to develop pesticides and vaccines to fight malaria). New and engaging sidebars, on topics such as search and rescue after 9/11 and substance abuse, are sprinkled throughout the text. Worldview Sleuthing features on subjects such as the Fukushima nuclear accident are modeled after the popular WebQuest activities used by many science teachers, but these are specially designed with worldview-building in mind. They deal with the conflicts between a naturalistic worldview and a biblical worldview—teaching students how to think through common debates among scientists such as the discovery of the god particle, the theory of chemical evolution, and the secular view of the uses of chemistry.

Chemistry Student Lab Manual (4th ed.) gives students a fresh take on classic chemistry labs. Students get hands-on experience with what God has made by using the tools of chemistry in ways that make it applicable to their daily lives. Guided inquiry labs point students into new territory in chemistry with the freedom and support to discover chemistry for themselves. I hope your students will share my joy as they break out the lab coats and goggles and get their hands on God’s creation.

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Rachel is passionate about helping students engage, learn, create, and experience the joy of learning. And she wants this enthusiasm to be contagious. The same sense of wonder that sparked her curiosity in childhood spurred her to pursue a degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in education. She wants to share her passion as she draws from her teaching and writing experience to provide academic oversight for writing teams at BJU Press.

What excites you most about chemistry?