Janice VanCleave Talks Science
Hi,
Welcome to "Janice VanCleave Talks Science." I have been honored by the Homeschool Editor of Blissfully Domestic with an invitation to create this new science column. Like everything that I do, I experimented with ideas and think I have discovered a forum that will present science in ways that will be fun, exciting, and educational. While the inquiry method is touted as the way to learn science, I am a firm believer that inquiry doesn't generally start with experimenting. Instead, it begins with learning as much as possible about a topic. Then with a basic understanding about a topic, one has a foundation to build on and tools to use to ask questions and explore experimentally for their answers.
I look forward to exchanging science ideas with you. I do encourage you to contact me and let me know what you like and don't like, and let me know what topics and ideas that you wish me to provide information and clues for further investigations.
Sincerely,
Janice VanCleaveP.S. The format for this weekly column is not set in stone. With your input, I hope to tweak and polish it so that it provides information and ideas applicable for home science studies.
GETTING STARTED
Let's start by making Study Cards. These cards can be easily stored, added to, and thumbed through when one needs to review information about a particular topic.
Following are instructions for making your first set of Study Cards. These instructions can be used to make study cards for any type of study, be it a foreign language or learning colors and shapes for preschool children. The basic instructions are given for kids of all ages, with separate ideas for young learners.
Making Study Cards:
Materials: paperhole punch, 3 in x 5 in (7.5 cm x 12.5 cm) unlined index cards, binder-ring at least 1-inch (2.5-cm) in diameter
1. Cut a hole: Use the paper hole-punch to cut one hole in the corner of each index card that will be used.
2. Remember: To write on the front of a card, lay the card on a flat surface so that the hole is in the upper left corner. To write on the back of a card, turn the card over so that the hole is in the upper right corner.
3. Make a topic card: This will be a card with the topic boldly printed on the front side of the card. You can also draw designs on the front and back of the card to represent the topic being studied.
4. Make definition cards: Make one card per term. Write each science term on the front of a card. Starting at the top on the back-side of the card, write the science term again and its definition or description. (By starting at the top of the card, you have room to add more information as you learn more about the term.)
6. Stack the cards: Place the cards one on top of the other in alphabetical order from top to bottom.
7. Top of the Stack: Place the Topic Card on top of the stack and then connect the cards by looping the ring through the holes in each card. Close the ring.
Note: By using a large ring, you can add more cards as you learn more about the topic.
Making Study Cards for Young Learners
Use larger index cards, such as 5 in x 8 in (12.5 cm x 20 cm) cards, with one side lined and the opposite side unlined. A larger binder ring will allow young learners to better separate the cards. Write the word digestion on one of the cards. Ask the child to draw a picture on the card about eating. On other cards, print these words, one on each card: mouth, teeth, throat, stomach, blood. Add other words about digestion that you think your child can understand. Children can draw pictures representing each word. They can also learn where the body parts are and can point to their location. The location of blood could be shown by looking under their tongue or around their ankles or wrists. Note that the vessels seen through the skin are blue. This is because they are looking at veins which carry blood with little or no oxygen. When injured, this bluish colored blood immediately picks up oxygen as it leaves the wound and has a red color.
Topic: Digestion
Science Terms
anus: The opening at the end of the rectum through which feces exits the body.
blood: Liquid that carries nutrients to body part and carries waste materials away from body parts.
bloodstream: Blood flowing through special tubes in the body.
bolus: Mushy ball of food that the tongue rolls together and pushes into the throat where it starts it journey through the digestive system.
chime: Mixture of partially digestive food and digestive juices that leaves the stomach and enters the small intestine.
colon: The part of the digestive track from the end of the small intestine to the rectum.
digest: To change food into a form that can be used by the body.
digestive system: The group of body parts that break food into nutrients.
esophagus: Tube leading from the throat to the stomach, commonly called the food-tube.
feces: Semi-solid waste left after nutrients have been removed from food traveling through the digestive system.
large intestines: Also called the colon – responsible for the formation and storage of feces and the absorption of water.
nutrients: Substances in food that are needed for growth, repair, and energy.
pharynx: Another name for the throat.
rectum: Roughly the last 7 inches (17.5 cm) of the large intestine.
saliva : Liquid in the mouth that is commonly called spit.
small intestine: Part of the digestive system where food is digested and absorbed after it leaves the stomach.
For more informtion about the digestive system, see these Janice VanCleave books:
Food and Nutrition for Every Kid
Big Book of Play and Find Out Science Projects
Have a science question you need answered? Submit your question below and our new science expert, Janice VanCleave, will come to the rescue!
Janice VanCleave is the author of fifty-two science experiment books for kids with fifteen foreign translations. Children and educators around the world use her books to explore the world of science. And now Homeschool Bliss readers can too!
Check back each Thursday for more science fun from Janice. But if you just can’t wait, visit her website Science Project Ideas for Kids (http://scienceprojectideasforkids.com/).
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