G. participated in the school's science fair by doing none but his favorite topic, the Solar Systems. Astronomy is a subject that he has immersed himself since he was just 2 years old. At first, he liked the planets simply because they are spheres. Both of my boys are fascinated with circular shapes: one likes planets, the other likes wheels - cars. Then G. was mesmerized by the sheer size of them. He was equally amazed by how God has single-handedly created all these wonders up above.
I helped him with making the big bright sun with melted crayons and dyed cotton balls. He dictated the descriptions of each planets and the sun to me while I typed it up for him. We searched together for the planet names in English, Chinese, and Spanish.
At the science fair, as we later discovered, quite a few students also did Solar Systems. G. made rounds to visit each one. As we go through each different ones, I asked him to tell me what he liked best about it and what he thinks he could incorporate into his own. Interestingly, he started his own critique about the boards.
According to G., the sizes of the planets are all off on this one. The Earth should be smaller; the gas giants should be much larger; the rings of Saturn should look like this. He liked the chart with the pictures and the names.
This one, G. liked the model because it could be played with hands. But he pointed out that the distance between the planets are erroneous.
According to G., this one is so wrong it's beyond belief! The Sun should not be next to Pluto, which was not labeled like the rest of the planets. Jupiter was placed upside down. And the model showed incorrectly how the planets revolve around the Sun.
Finally, here is one that actually wrote about the planets, and the facts are correct. The Sun should be quite large though.
Here he is presenting his science project to his friend.
G. is holding up the Planet Trivia cards to test his little friend.
At the science fair, as we later discovered, quite a few students also did Solar Systems. G. made rounds to visit each one. As we go through each different ones, I asked him to tell me what he liked best about it and what he thinks he could incorporate into his own. Interestingly, he started his own critique about the boards.
According to G., the sizes of the planets are all off on this one. The Earth should be smaller; the gas giants should be much larger; the rings of Saturn should look like this. He liked the chart with the pictures and the names.
G. liked the sparkles that was on this board, but he realized that the making it with glitters might make a huge mess, so it's not preferred!
Gabriel like how this one was drawn very "life-like," but the placement of Venus and Mars need to be switched.
Good experience with organizing what he knows and wants to share. Good experience on presentation of his research. Good experience with giving constructive criticism and praises to other people's projects. All in all, I think this science project has accomplished more than it has set out to do.
Comments
Post a Comment