Jumpstart! Science

Games and Activities for Ages 5-11

Rosemary Feasey

• Publisher: David Fulton Publishers
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9781138170452
• eBook ISBN: 9781134016976
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Jumpstart! Science provides teachers with a range of lively, short, fun activities and games to support teaching and learning in different aspects of the science curriculum. It encourages teachers to develop creative approaches to motivating and engaging children in science. The activities are aimed at a number of areas of science from learning scientific words to recalling information and problem solving.

This fun book helps to 'jumpstart':

• lessons
• plenary sessions
• children moving from one aspect of science or type of learning in science to another.

There are more than 55 engaging science games and activities in this book to 'jumpstart' science lessons in every Key Stage 1 and 2 classroom. Practical, easy-to-do and highly motivating, the science 'jumpstarts' will appeal to busy primary teachers who wish to enliven their practice and add creativity to their science teaching.

CHAPTER 1
Jumpstarting science questioning

The activities in this chapter focus on developing children’s ability to ask and answer questions. Effective questioning is central to science and being able to ask and answer a range of questions is an aspect of science that the teacher needs to plan into science sessions on a regular basis. This chapter begins with an activity in which children are introduced to the use of question stem cards. These are then used in a range of different activities throughout this book.

QUESTIONS

Questioning

Resources

Question stem cards or Question fans

Figure 1 Question stem cards

This activity has been chosen to be the first in the book because the set of question cards or (if you prefer a question fan) that is required can be used in a range of other games and activities throughout this book. It is worth making this set of cards or the fan for your class; they will be used again and again.

• The teacher could create the question stems for the interactive whiteboard and introduce this activity as a whole-class session.
• To make the cards use Word to create call-out shapes with different question stems in each one. Print them out, laminate and cut out the shapes. Include question stems such as:

Why? Which? Where? Did? Could?

Can? How? How does? What if?

Should? When? Will? Who? Does?

• It is useful to make a set of cards for each group in the class. Make sure you print the call-outs on a different-colour paper so that if the cards get mixed up they can be sorted easily, and place in small plastic wallets to keep them together.

• Each group keeps its set of cards on their table ensuring that the question stem cards are always available for science lessons and other subject areas across the curriculum. If you prefer to make the science fan, it is quite simple and is similar to a numeracy number fan but with question stems printed or written on each segment.
• To use the question stem cards, children place all of the question stems face up on the table and use them to ask different questions about a topic – for example, space – or an object such as an animal skull.
• When they have used a question stem they should turn the card over so that it cannot be used again. This challenges the children to use different questions stems.
• Some question stems might be more problematic than others and require the teacher to intervene and model examples of questions – for example, Could it…? and Would it…? questions.
• The number of question stem cards that the children are given could be varied according to the ability of the children.
• When children are asking questions relating to a specific topic – for example, plant growth – give them key scientific vocabulary that they need to use when asking their questions.
• One member of the group scribes the questions that the children ask so that they have a record of them. Where children have limited written skills the teacher or teaching assistant could scribe for them.
• Once they have finished asking their questions children should find ways of answering them.
• If using the question fans, children use the questions working from one end of the fan to the other.

WHAT’S IN HERE?

Skills development

Questioning

Use and apply knowledge and understanding

Analysis

Resources

Surprise box or a surprise bag

Science items for the box or bag

Science question stem cards

Children really enjoy the challenge of this activity where they have to work out what is in the surprise box or surprise bag. Teachers who use this activity find that children get very excited if the surprise box is made to look special – for example, by covering it with sparkly wrapping paper or using pictures on each face of the box. Once used, children delight in using it again and again, as well as taking charge of the activity and creating their own surprise boxes or bags to use in their own class or with younger children.

• To start, show the children the surprise box or bag and tell them that there is something very special or interesting in the box – for example, a prism, animal skull, slimy substance or clockwork toy. Explain that if they want to find out what it is they must ask really good questions. You might, for example, say that they can only ask ten questions and they must listen to the other questions and the answers to help them solve the mystery of what is in the box.
• Use the question stem cards from the first activity on page 2, which could be stuck on to the faces of the box as cues for the children, or the children could use their question stem card sets.
• There are many things that could be placed in the box or bag, from a feather to a fossil. This activity could be used in many different ways – for example:

• – as a regular activity to develop children’s questioning skills;
• – as a starting point for science discussion; or
• – as a starting point for a topic.

• Alternatively, the surprise box could be used as a starting point for a fair test investigation. For example, with young children, place a teddy bear in the box with a pair of broken sunglasses and a sun hat. If children work out that teddy is in the box, then ask children where they think teddy is going and what is his problem, and ask them to suggest how they might solve it. The aim would be for children to design and test a new pair of sunglasses for teddy.
• For older children you could put a broken torch inside that would lead to children designing and making a working torch.

PREDATORS AND PREY

Questioning

Use and apply knowledge and understanding

Resources

List of questions

Team mascot, e.g. predators – soft toy owl; prey – soft toy mouse

This is a great activity for reinforcing and revising vocabulary and subject knowledge from the current or previous topics. It could also be used to introduce new vocabulary at the beginning of a lesson. Before starting this activity the teacher needs to have created a bank of questions relating to the areas the teacher wants to revise.

• Divide the class into two groups. They could be given any name that they wish, but here the suggestion is ‘predators’ and ‘prey’. Children really like it if they can have a team mascot – for example, a soft toy owl (predator) and a mouse (prey).
• The teacher asks the children questions, each team taking it in turns to answer, and points are awarded for correct responses. If one team is unable to answer a question it can be ‘thrown open’ to the other team, and if they provide a correct answer they win half the original points.
• This activity works even better if children create their own question bank, or a question bank for a younger class to use. Developing their own questions and checking the answers is an excellent revision exercise and younger year groups will enjoy playing the game using the questions children from another class have produced.

SINK THE BOAT

Questioning

Scientific vocabulary

Resources

Question stem cards

Scientific objects

Masses, washers or stones

Plastic container, e.g. margarine or ice-cream container

Plastic aquarium

Children really enjoy the excitement of this game, which challenges them to think carefully about the questions they are asking and the clues in the answers that are given.

• A familiar scientific object is placed in a box or bag and children are challenged to find out what the object is using their question stems .
• Use objects that the children need to become familiar with, e.g. pipette, Newton meter, crocodile clip.
• To provide an added challenge and a fun element to this activity, every time a question is asked, place a plastic mass, washer or stone in a plastic container in a plastic aquarium of water. The children have to work out what is in the box or bag before the container sinks. Children love this challenge and the suspense is tangible as the container gradually sinks lower into the water.
• Do allow the children to organize this activity so that someone chooses the object, another child is in charge of the boat and a different child chooses someone to ask a question.
• Children find this activity challenging and the teacher might need to intervene to remind children to pay attention if they repeat questions that have already been asked or to remind them of the clues in answers that have been given.
• This game can be played with word cards. One child picks a science word card and the children have to work out, through their questions, what word is on the card. This can be used as a science revision activity at the end of topics or to develop children’s scientific language during a topic.

HOT SEATING

Questioning

Speaking and listening

Use and apply knowledge and understanding

Resources

None required

This activity is great as a starter activity or as an end to a lesson.

• Prepare a list of five to nine words your class has recently learned.
• Divide the class into two teams. One person from each team moves to a ‘special chair’ at the front of the room and faces the class. This person is now in the hot seat. The chairs could be decorated with science words or symbols to make them more special.
• Write a scientific word on the board, making sure the players in the ‘hot seats’ can’t see it. After you say ‘Go!’ the members of each team give clues to their person in the ‘hot seat’ but they must not say the word itself and they cannot give spelling clues. They can, however, provide clues such as the following for the word ‘Friction’: ‘Cars need this so that they do not skid.’ The team whose ‘hot seat’ player first says the word wins a point.
• After the first round the two players in the ‘hot seats’ then swap seats with another member of their respective teams. The game continues and the team with the most points at the end is the winner.
• This does not have to be set up as a competitive game; it could be arranged so...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Jumpstarting science questioning
• 2 Jumpstarting science vocabulary
• 3 Jumpstarting science observation
• 4 Jumpstarting science analysis
• 5 Jumpstarting researching science information
• 6 Jumpstarting science communication
• 7 Jumpstarting science revision
• References