If you check back in the elementary schools of the 1800's, you probably won't find much science being taught in the first grade. First grade was for learning to read. If you could read, you could see what the Bible said for yourself (in translation, of course).
But today, things are different. I just came home from the first grade's science fair. My granddaughter Isabelle hypothesized that watering plants would be equally effective whether you used water, soda pop or lemon juice.
As she states in the right corner of her display, her hypothesis was not supported by the results. You can see that the plants on the left did not flourish on lemon juice or soda (the label fell over) while the watered plant on the right did quite well with real water.
As many teachers and parents know, living or working with children who think for themselves and who question and doubt can be challenging. Parents can assert their authority: "Because I say so" but other sources of information, other angles, other perspectives and other positions on issues are possible. As an old person, I fully realize that first graders, high schoolers, college students and recent graduates often work with less knowledge of the world than older people do. I further realize that high hopes that any of us can have may well distort our ability to set up experiments fairly, gather data in an unbiased way and evaluate the results objectively. But don't kid yourself, today's first graders are on their way!
--
Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
