EDUCATION REPORT - Ideas for Teaching Young Children

EDUCATION REPORT - Ideas for Teaching¹ Young Children
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Thursday, January 29, 2004

This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education Report.

Experts say students are never too young to think creatively about science. Educator Karen Meador says early education can help children become creative science students later in life. Mizz Meador offers some suggestions for activities. She recently shared her ideas with Gifted Child Today Magazine.

For example, she describes how students between the ages of about four and eight can explore the movement of liquid on wax² paper. The wax keeps the water from disappearing into the paper.

In addition to the wax paper, students need small tubes called eye droppers for the experiment. The students also need water containing red, yellow and blue food coloring. Using the eye droppers, they place the colored water onto the wax paper. Then they blow softly³ into the water. Or they can blow through a straw, a thin hollow⁴ tube, to move the water drops.

The students observe the tension⁵ on the surface. They see how it affects the way the water moves and shapes itself. Even when students blow the drops of water across the paper, the liquid keeps its round shape. Mizz Meador says the children like to see how the colors mix when one colored drop slides into another.

The shape and movement of the water is similar to that of mercury⁶. But mercury is dangerous to handle.Mizz Meador also says children can study how water acts on aluminum⁷ foil⁸. They can find out if the water will act the same on a metal surface as it did on wax paper. Before doing the new experiment, they can write their ideas about what they think will happen. Or they can record their ideas on tape. Mizz Meador says this activity prepares them for more difficult experiments.

The children again move the colored water around by blowing directly onto it or through or a straw. But this time they move it on the foil. Then they test their theories about how the water would act against what really took place. Similar experiments can be carried out with other kinds of paper or glass.

Karen Meador is writer of the book "Creative Thinking and Problem Solving for Young Learners," published by Teacher Ideas Press.

This Special English Education Report was written by Jerilyn Watson. This is Steve Ember.

1 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

2 wax   

n.蜡，蜡状物，震怒；vi.变大，增大，月亮满；vt.用蜡涂

参考例句：

• I wax my boots chiefly to waterproof them.我给靴子打蜡主要是为了防水。
• I wax the floor once a month.我每月给地板打一次蜡。

3 softly   

adv.柔和地，静静地，温柔地

参考例句：

• He speaks too softly for her to hear.他讲话声音太轻，她听不见。
• She breathed her advice softly.她低声劝告。

4 hollow   

adj.空的，中空的，空心的；空洞的，无价值的

参考例句：

• The boys scraped out a hollow place for planting trees.那些孩子挖了个坑准备栽树。
• Bamboo is a sort of hollow plant.竹子是一种中空的植物。

5 tension   

n.(紧张)状态；拉(绷)紧；张力，拉力

参考例句：

• I could feel the tension in the room. 我可以感觉到房间里的紧张气氛。
• Relaxaion is better than tension. 缓和比紧张好。

6 mercury   

n.汞，水银，水银柱

参考例句：

• The liquid we can see in thermometers is mercury.我们看到的温度计里的液体是水银。
• Mercury has a much greater density than water.水银的密度比水大得多。

7 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

8 foil   

n.箔，金属薄片，陪衬；vt.挫败，使受挫折

参考例句：

• Milk bottle tops are made of tin foil.牛奶瓶盖是用锡箔做的。
• An ugly woman serves as a foil to a pretty girl.一个丑女人可以将美丽的姑娘反衬得更加漂亮。