We are reading Galileo’s Journal – treating it much like a FIAR book, but I’m not putting in a lot of prep – I want to see what rabbit trails we take.  But with thinking along the lines of asking the 5 W and H questions – Who, what, where, when, why and how, I have come up with a bit of a sketch which gives me something to fall back on.

Who – Galileo

What – he improved the telescope and saw amazing things in the sky

Where – Italy, Venice, Padua, Florence

When – 1564-1642

Why – He showed perseverance, curiosity, asked a lot of questions

How – how the telescope works, planets and their moons, rotation of the earth around the sun

Today we pursued the idea that Galileo asked a lot of questions and tested his ideas.  This is, in essence, the scientific method.  We revisited that.  Then we did a few experiments with water to learn about lenses.  This quickly moved on to experimenting with liquids for Nomi and chemical reactions for Daniel.  Daniel dearly wanted to create an explosion but his ideas never quite made it (phew!!)  This kept them occupied, without my supervision for a good hour.

Nomi the Scientist

Daniel the Scientist

We didn’t notebook like I wanted to but the kids each wrote up what they learnt through their experiments.  Tomorrow we will record about lenses.  I have printed off a poster showing the Scientific Method which I found through a google search and they have filed that in their notebooks.  I am going to laminate a copy of this poster and put it up on the wall – to help us work through problems with thinking, testing, and coming to conclusions.