What Do Kids Want To Know About Science And Social Studies?
I interviewed Sanai and Evan, two first grade girls.
Me: Evan what do you know about science?
Evan: What do you mean?
Me: What do you know about it?
Evan: I know trees lose their leaves and then they come back.
Me: What else?
Evan: Rain is made by clouds get bigger and rain comes out of clouds cause the clouds get so heavy that they have to drop some stuff. The sun is made out of fire and if you even get a few miles away from it, it can burn you.
Me: What else do you know?
Evan: Inside a coconut, you can break open a coconut and then you will see milk. Snakes shed their skin. Leaves can change colors by the seasons.
Me: Anything else you want to tell me?
Evan: No, you can ask me another question.
Me: What do you know about social studies?
Evan: You mean like the past?
Me: Yes.
Evan: I know about the Native Americans.
Me: What do you know?
Evan: When Native Americans were hungry when mammoths were alive they hunted mammoths and they killed them and then they ate them.
Me: Do you know anything else about them?
Evan: They picked corn for food also. Dinosaurs were here before the Native Americans too.
Me: Really? What do you know about them?
Evan: I know that they ate other dinosaurs that were not their kind and they ate their kind also.
Cool! Okay, Sanai what do you know about science?
Sanai: Birds eat worms. They give their babies some food. Animals like bats eat other kinds of animals. And sun melts the snow a lot.
Me: Oh, how come?
Sanai: Because when the winter is done it melts from the sun.
Me: What do you know about social studies, Sanai?
Sanai: I know about the presidents. There are presidents that want to be presidents. When they're done, they vote and then whoever has the most votes gets to be the president again.
Me: You're both in the same class: Do you learn about science or social studies in your class?
Evan: We did hard and soft the other day. Our teacher handed out plastic bags and she put metal stuff and soft stuff and breakable stuff in there.
Sanai: Yeah she put stuff that could easily break in there.
Me: What do you think the purpose of the activity was that you did?
Evan: I think she wanted us to know how stuff feels.
Me: Have you done any other science?
Evan: Not really.
Me: Have you learned how things grow?
Evan: Sort of like in the garden. You plant seeds. We did last year. You water them a lot. They grow, you water them.
Me: Oh okay, so you did a lot of science last year, but not this year?
Evan: No not really any last year either.
Me: Do you know anything else you want to tell me about?
Sanai: How did God make people? God made us by his hands and he puzzled us he put our heads together and then our shoes and on our body.
Me: So is that like history or like science?
Sanai: History.
This is where the bell rang, so the students needed to move onto their lunch period. As I was walking in, some students were asking what we'd been doing, so I asked...
Me: Have any of you guys learned any science or social studies in your class?
Grace: I have! Lots of social studies. This afternoon is going to be all social studies all afternoon about veterans.
Me: What else have you done?
Grace: We've learned about time in math. Half past three, half past four.
Me: What have you learned about science?
Grace: We haven't done any science yet.
Any talk of science or social studies that I had with the kids during school days was much like this interview. They're all interested in getting involved and they know many interesting facts, but they aren't really learning much of it in school.
I asked Evan and Sanai what they wanted to learn about science and social studies. To my surprise and delight, they spent their entire lunch period coming up with a list of things they were interested in learning in Sanai's diary! They recruited answers from other students and were excited to find more friends' opinions to add to the list the next day! Here's the list that the first graders came up with:
Me: Evan what do you know about science?
Evan: What do you mean?
Me: What do you know about it?
Evan: I know trees lose their leaves and then they come back.
Me: What else?
Evan: Rain is made by clouds get bigger and rain comes out of clouds cause the clouds get so heavy that they have to drop some stuff. The sun is made out of fire and if you even get a few miles away from it, it can burn you.
Me: What else do you know?
Evan: Inside a coconut, you can break open a coconut and then you will see milk. Snakes shed their skin. Leaves can change colors by the seasons.
Me: Anything else you want to tell me?
Evan: No, you can ask me another question.
Me: What do you know about social studies?
Evan: You mean like the past?
Me: Yes.
Evan: I know about the Native Americans.
Me: What do you know?
Evan: When Native Americans were hungry when mammoths were alive they hunted mammoths and they killed them and then they ate them.
Me: Do you know anything else about them?
Evan: They picked corn for food also. Dinosaurs were here before the Native Americans too.
Me: Really? What do you know about them?
Evan: I know that they ate other dinosaurs that were not their kind and they ate their kind also.
Cool! Okay, Sanai what do you know about science?
Sanai: Birds eat worms. They give their babies some food. Animals like bats eat other kinds of animals. And sun melts the snow a lot.
Me: Oh, how come?
Sanai: Because when the winter is done it melts from the sun.
Me: What do you know about social studies, Sanai?
Sanai: I know about the presidents. There are presidents that want to be presidents. When they're done, they vote and then whoever has the most votes gets to be the president again.
Me: You're both in the same class: Do you learn about science or social studies in your class?
Evan: We did hard and soft the other day. Our teacher handed out plastic bags and she put metal stuff and soft stuff and breakable stuff in there.
Sanai: Yeah she put stuff that could easily break in there.
Me: What do you think the purpose of the activity was that you did?
Evan: I think she wanted us to know how stuff feels.
Me: Have you done any other science?
Evan: Not really.
Me: Have you learned how things grow?
Evan: Sort of like in the garden. You plant seeds. We did last year. You water them a lot. They grow, you water them.
Me: Oh okay, so you did a lot of science last year, but not this year?
Evan: No not really any last year either.
Me: Do you know anything else you want to tell me about?
Sanai: How did God make people? God made us by his hands and he puzzled us he put our heads together and then our shoes and on our body.
Me: So is that like history or like science?
Sanai: History.
This is where the bell rang, so the students needed to move onto their lunch period. As I was walking in, some students were asking what we'd been doing, so I asked...
Me: Have any of you guys learned any science or social studies in your class?
Grace: I have! Lots of social studies. This afternoon is going to be all social studies all afternoon about veterans.
Me: What else have you done?
Grace: We've learned about time in math. Half past three, half past four.
Me: What have you learned about science?
Grace: We haven't done any science yet.
Any talk of science or social studies that I had with the kids during school days was much like this interview. They're all interested in getting involved and they know many interesting facts, but they aren't really learning much of it in school.
I asked Evan and Sanai what they wanted to learn about science and social studies. To my surprise and delight, they spent their entire lunch period coming up with a list of things they were interested in learning in Sanai's diary! They recruited answers from other students and were excited to find more friends' opinions to add to the list the next day! Here's the list that the first graders came up with: