Discovery Science Center Seminar 3/4/13

Discovery Science Center’s Educational Seminar: Mouse Paint. 

The theme of the seminar I attended was based on the book titled Mouse Paint, by Ellen Stoll Walsh.  

Many of the science lessons explained were based on scientific reactions that occur with colors.  They provided various California based content standards that apply to the lessons they shared with us.  We shared discussions about the various materials used in these lessons and some veteran teachers shared some material substitutions that could be purchased at a cheaper price.  Some of the veteran teachers also shared some similar lessons they have used in their classes with a few modifications.  It was very useful to hear first hand experiences from in-service teachers.  We were given the opportunity to learn from an entire room of professionals.  The representatives from the Discovery Center did a great job integrating literature into the lesson.  I found this to be a great example of how to relate content across curriculum.  Additionally, we did an activity with different colored skittles in which we related the content to math and graphing.   

 

I learned a variety of ways to teach students about color and the science behind how we see colors.  The experiments provided great experiences to demonstrate how colors can be combined to create a new color.  

I especially enjoyed and experiment we did that required us to use a few dark colored markers (black and purples) and put small dots near the center of a coffee filter.  We had punctured a small hole in the center of the coffee filter and we rolled a small piece of paper towel and put it through the hole.  We stood the paper towel up in a small cup of water so just the bottom of the paper towel got wet.  The water spread up the paper towel until it reached the coffee filter and the dampness spread throughout the coffee filter.  As the dampness spread across the coffee filter, the color of the marker dots began to spread and the colors within began to separate.  We were able to see the different colors that were used to make the black or purple colors.  I think this would be a great way to demonstrate this concept to young children.  

 

 

Many of the experiment ideas they shared during this seminar would be very easy to do with young students while also making the concepts very accessible to students.  I plan to incorporate some of these lessons into my teaching in the future!