Insects As Your Winning Science Topic
All of us have had to complete a science project or experiment at one time or another. Oftentimes, these experiments involve simple dissection of small animals or insects or the mixing of chemical elements. In fact, different fields of scientific inquiry—biology and chemistry—rely almost entirely on experiments with animals, insects and chemicals. In this article we are going to take a look at simple experiments for students of all ages.
Why do science teachers ask their students to perform experiments? Well, the first and most obvious reason is to ensure that they can follow instructions and that they can get the work done, either on their own or in a team. Of course, teachers also want to see that students can draw their own original conclusions, even if they don’t get the answer right.
Another reason that teachers support experimentation is that it is active learning, i.e., the kids learn from firsthand experiments. It is a sad fact of modern pedagogy that more and more of the curriculum is based on passive learning, i.e., students recording whatever the teacher says without really thinking.
But science projects and experiments require more than just copying down information. They actually let the kids participate by getting their hands dirty and figuring things out on their own. In the next few paragraphs we are going to discuss science fairs.
Now, most of us have participated in science fairs sometime during our academic career. In fact, most teachers require that students enter either school wide or class wide science competitions. Why do they do this?
The first and most obvious reason is to encourage competition. As we know, competition often brings out the best in people and history tells us that science is no different. Some of the most important science project competitions in history include the atom bomb, the space race and the cure for polio.
Of course, the global implications and ramifications are not quite as high for a simple science fair. However, teachers are quick to point out that science fairs can be a powerful learning as well as social tool for most students. Why a social tool?
Well, since children are forced to present, explain and sometimes even defend their projects, they will inevitably learn to react to others under very different circumstances. For example, their teacher might praise them while their schoolmates ridicule them for choosing a project or experiment that they do not understand. It is up to the young scientist then to defend his work.
What else can students learn from simple experiments? When students are asked to work in pair or teams, they will obviously learn about teamwork and the importance of time management and of respecting other people’s opinions.
And when students are expected to work on their own they will learn about the importance of independence and individual achievement. As we mentioned, it is also extremely important that a student learns to articulate his own intentions and ideas to those who do not understand them
