Science Detectives M T W Th F Theme: Sight Hearing Smell Touch Solve It!
9:00 Circle Time: How Does It Circle Time: Look Closely Circle Time: Listen Up! Circle Time: Sniff It Out Circle Time: Solve It! Feel?
9:30 Detective Training: Detective Training: Detective Training: Detective Training: Detective Training: Smell Observation Sound Touch Sense-Extending Tools 10:00 Snack Snack Snack Snack Snack
10:30 Observation Logbooks What's That Sound? Match the Smell Mystery Bags Puzzle It Out
11:00 Trash Life What's Missing? Cup Telephones Invisible Scented Ink Potato Police Reconstruction
11:30 Which One Doesn't My Fingerprints Door Alarm Scent Paintings Powder Analysis (touch) Belong? 12:15 Lunch / Recreational Lunch / Recreational Lunch / Recreational Lunch / Recreational Lunch / Recreational Activities Activities Activities Activities Activities
1:30 Daily Mystery: Spot the Daily Mystery: Noisy Daily Mystery: Birthday Daily Mystery: Broken Daily Mystery: Caffeine difference photo hunt hide-and-seek card mess LEGO Caper
2:00 Active Game: Secret Active Game: Night at Active Game: Dinner Active Game: Detectives Active Game: FBI Leader Messenger the Museum Party and Suspects 2:30 Wrap up/ Clean up Wrap up/ Clean up Wrap up/ Clean up Wrap up/ Clean up Wrap up/ Clean up 3:00 Normal Pickup Normal Pickup Normal Pickup Normal Pickup Normal Pickup Table of Contents Science Detectives
Theme Activity Name Sight Circle Time: Look Closely Detective Training: Observations Observation Logbooks What's Missing? My Fingerprints Active Game: FBI Leader Daily Mysteries
Hearing Circle Time: Listen Up! Detective Training: Sound What's That Sound? Cup Telephones Door Alarm Active Game: Secret Messenger
Smell Circle Time: Sniff it Out Detective Training: Smell Match the Smell Invisible Scented Ink Scent Paintings Active Game: Night at the Museum
Touch Circle Time: How Does It Feel? Detective Training: Touch Mystery Bags Potato Police Powder Analysis (touch) Active Game: Dinner Party
Solve It! Circle Time: Solve It! Detective Training: Sense-Extending Tools Puzzle It Out Trash Life Reconstruction Which One Doesn't Belong? Active Game: Detectives & Suspects LOOK CLOSELY
ACTIVITY TYPE: Circle time discussion and storybook AUDIENCE: PreK - 1 TIME FRAME: 20 - 25 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will discuss the different senses detectives can use to gather information and practice using their sense of sight to notice details.
MATERIALS: ● Book: Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage ● 2 - 3 large (1.5” - 3”) decorative jingle bells or cow bells
ENGAGE: Introduce the theme of the week: This week is all about learning to be detectives. What does a detective do?
To solve mysteries, a detective needs to find clues, and that means searching carefully and noticing details--small things that might be easy to miss. Let’s think about some different ways we can notice details.
PROCEDURE: Observing with Senses (10 min.) 1. Hold up one of the jingle bells and introduce it as a “mystery object”. Ask the group what they notice about it. Ask questions to prompt observations about its appearance: ● What shape is it? What color is it? 2. Shake the jingle bell. ● Now what do you notice? What does it sound like? 3. Point out that they have used their eyes to notice what it looks like, and their ears to notice what it sounds like. ● What other senses could you use to notice details about this mystery object? 4. Pass around two or three jingle bells and invite campers to make observations about how they feel and smell. (Point out that scientists and detectives don’t use their sense of taste very often, because it can be dangerous to taste things if you don’t know what
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE they are!) 5. Explain that detectives need to use as many senses as they can to notice details and find clues. This week’s activities will help them train their senses so they can be super detectives! Today they will be practicing noticing with their eyes, because there is a mystery waiting for them to solve that might need them to look closely. Storybook Reading (10 min.) 1. Show the front cover of the book and read the title. ● What do you notice on the cover of the book? ● What do you think this book is going to be about? What makes you think so? 2. Explain that this book has no words, so they will need to use their eyes and notice things about the pictures to figure out what is going on. 3. For each page of the book, show the illustration slowly around the group so everyone can see it clearly. Invite campers to explain what they think is happening in each picture. Encourage them to notice details and make comparisons between the walrus and the object he is imitating. ● What is happening on this page? What do you see that makes you think that? ● How does the walrus look the same as the ______? What is different between them? ● What is another detail you notice on this page? Discussion and Connections (5 min) 1. Pass around the jingle bells again and challenge campers to make new observations about them using their eyes: ● What detail do you see that you didn’t notice before? ● Are the bells all exactly the same, or can you find differences between them? 2. Use the ideas from this discussion to frame the rest of the day’s activities: ● What details can you notice with your eyes about our mystery clues? ● What do you see that is the same between those two things and which details are different?
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? Scientists and detectives both rely on their senses to make observations about the world, whether it’s the subject of an experiment or the scene of a crime. To gather the most information they can, they need to: ● Use as many senses as possible: Different senses provide different kinds of information. ● Make comparisons: Seeing similarities and differences between objects or how one object changes over time helps identify patterns and relationships.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE ● Notice details: Small differences or seemingly unimportant elements can sometimes provide key information.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE DETECTIVE TRAINING: OBSERVATIONS
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on activity stations AUDIENCE: Grades K - 2 TIME FRAME: 20 - 40 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will practice visual observation and comparison skills at three activity stations.
MATERIALS: ● Pencils and observation logbooks or paper (1 per camper) Station 1: Fingerprints ● Copies of hand template (below) ● Fingerprinting inkpads ● Wet wipes or baby wipes for finger cleaning ● Magnifying glasses Station 2: Tiny Details ● Clear petri dishes with covers (12 - 15) *These keep samples neatly contained and separated, but could be substituted with small plates or other shallow containers ● Items to put in dishes, 2 - 3 non-identical examples from a category: Seeds (peppercorns, popcorn, sunflower seeds) Leaves (different plant types) Bark (different tree types) Fabric types (knit, woven, fleece, velvet) Printed paper (newspaper, magazine, cash register receipt, printed document)
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Keys Buttons Nails or screws (different widths, head shapes, etc.) ● Magnifying glasses Station 3: Hidden Pictures ● Copies of 2 - 3 hidden picture puzzles (https://www.allkidsnetwork.com/hidden-pictures/ ) ● Crayons or markers
SAFETY NOTES: For security reasons, any items containing campers’ fingerprints should be sent home with the camper, or else destroyed.
PREPARE AHEAD: ● Hidden picture puzzles may be laminated to make them reusable and used with dry-erase markers ● Prepare samples in petri dishes by putting 2-3 types of one item into a petri dish (different seeds in one, scraps of different papers in another, etc.) To reuse these, glue the samples down and seal the petri dishes closed.
ENGAGE: Can you think of a time when you noticed something that no one else did? Was it a sound? A smell? Something you saw? Good detectives (and good scientists!) need to be good at making observations--using their senses to notice things about the world around them. These activities will help you practice looking at details, finding differences, and recording what you find!
PROCEDURE: 1. Introduce the different stations and what campers will do in each one. 2. Divide campers up between stations; rotate stations after 10 - 15 minutes or as needed. Fingerprinting station will likely need to be supervised/assisted by an adult; the other two stations can be done independently. Station 1: Fingerprints 1. Roll a fingertip back and forth across the inkpad. Then press it firmly on the appropriate finger on the hand template paper. 2. Repeat steps 1 & 2 for each finger. 3. Clean fingers with a sponge or wet wipes.
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4. Encourage campers to use the magnifying glass to look at their prints. ● What shapes or patterns do you see? ● How are the prints from different fingers the same or different? 5. Ask campers to trade papers and look at the fingerprints of others in the group. How do they compare? Station 2: Tiny Details 1. Encourage campers to use the magnifying glasses to look for “tiny details” in each petri dish. ● How are the things in the dish the same? ● How many things can you find that are different about the items in the dish? ● Can you find a detail about one of those things that you think no one else has noticed? 2. Campers may take turns examining different petri dishes. Station 3: Hidden Pictures 1. Encourage campers to choose a picture and use their noticing skills to find the hidden items in the picture. 2. For those having trouble, suggest turning the paper in a different direction, or asking a friend for a hint. Good scientists and detectives sometimes have to try looking at things in a new way, or solve problems by working together! 3. If they find all the hidden items, they may color the picture, or start a different one. Communication 1. Invite the group to share and discuss what they noticed or discovered at each station. 2. Ask each camper to draw or write about one thing they observed, either on a group chart, or on individual papers/logbooks.
TAKE IT FURTHER: If time allows, have campers come up with more things to look at through the magnifying lenses. You can also take these observation skills with you outside the classroom and have a “noticing walk”.
ADAPTATIONS: ● Younger groups may do just one or two of the stations, or rotate through the stations over two separate sessions rather than in one sitting. ● Encourage older groups to record something they noticed or learned for each station, rather than once at the end.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE?
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Observation means noticing things using one of the five senses--sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Scientists make careful observations to help them learn more about the world.
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MY FINGERPRINTS
Name______
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OBSERVATION LOGBOOKS
ACTIVITY TYPE: Make-and-take AUDIENCE: Grades PreK - 2 TIME FRAME: 15 - 20 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will create a logbook for recording their observations.
MATERIALS: ● Copies of logbook pages (1 cover page, 5-10 activity pages per camper; see below) ● (Optional) additional blank copy paper sheets ● Crayons and/or markers ● Stapler
PREPARE AHEAD Assemble a logbook for each camper with one cover page and several inside pages. Staple pages together with 3-4 staples down the left-hand side of the paper.
ENGAGE: Scientists (and detectives) make lots of observations about things they see, hear, or touch, and usually they also record them, or write them down. Why do you think it might be important for scientists to draw or write down their observations?
PROCEDURE: 1. Show campers an example logbook. Point out the pages for recording observations and discuss how students might use them to draw or write their observations. 2. Distribute logbooks and crayons/markers and invite campers to decorate or personalize their logbooks. 3. Create opportunities throughout the week (at least once per day) for campers to record observations from different activities in their logbooks.
TAKE IT FURTHER:
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If campers run out of pages, copy additional observation pages and staple to the back of the book--or add blank pages to the back.
ADAPTATIONS: Campers could design their own covers by substituting a blank sheet of paper for the printed cover page, or adding it in front of the printed cover page.
Younger campers may not have the writing or drawing skills to make observations that you define as observations. This is OK! Let them “take notes” however they prefer or even just color their feelings about the activities.
Older campers could design their own observation page layout as well. Have them think about what things they might want to record (Experiment name? Date? etc.) and draw a sample layout. Make copies of their pages for them to assemble into the book.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? ● Observation means noticing things using one of the five senses--sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. ● Scientists and detectives both make careful observations-- to help them learn more about the world, or to solve a case. ● Recording observations in a logbook helps scientists and detectives remember, compare, and share them.
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Detective Name______
Observation Logbook
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Activity
Observations
Sketches/Notes
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WHAT’S MISSING?
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on activity AUDIENCE: Grades K - 6 TIME FRAME: 10 - 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will explore their sense of sight and how it relates to storing memories.
MATERIALS: ● Tray or plate ● 10 - 20 small items, such as: eraser, pencil, coin, marble, etc. ● Cloth or towel to cover the tray
PREPARE AHEAD: Place the items on the tray and cover with the cloth. Keep items out of campers’ sight until the activity begins.
ENGAGE: What do our five senses help us do? What about our sense of sight? How does it help you remember things?
PROCEDURE: 1. Gather the group in a circle or around a table and place the covered tray where everyone can see it. 2. Ask campers to get ready to make some observations about the things on the tray, using their sense of sight. Uncover the tray and let them observe it for 1 minute. Then cover the tray again. 3. Take the tray out of sight of the group and remove one item from the tray. Uncover the tray and ask them to guess what is missing. What helped them remember the missing object? 4. Take the tray away and remove a second item, but this time rearrange the other objects. Can they find the missing object? Is it easier or harder? 5. Repeat with different objects, and try other variations, such as: Try it with less time to look at the tray. ● Try it with more objects on the tray.
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● Try it again, but this time remove 3-4 objects. ● Allow campers to discuss and describe the items to each other while looking at them.
TAKE IT FURTHER: Classroom Memory: Tell everyone to take a good look around the classroom. Ask them to remember where objects are located in the room. While campers are at recess or lunch, move some of the objects in the room. When the campers return, ask them to figure out which things have changed. How detailed were their observations? You can also have your group divide into two teams and take turns changing the classroom for the other group to inspect.
Who’s missing?: Have one camper (or a counselor) leave the room. While they are out of the room, have another camper hide. Then bring the first person back into the room. Can they guess who is missing?
ADAPTATIONS: For older groups, you might skip the basic version and start with the variations listed in Step 5.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? When we store a memory, we are storing information. But some information is stored only temporarily, while other information is processed for more permanent storage.
Working memory is like a receptionist for the brain. It is responsible for storing information temporarily and helping determine if it will be dismissed or transferred on to long-term memory. For example, it is helping you right now by storing information from the beginning of this sentence, so that you can make sense of the end of it. Working memory has a limited capacity--it can only hold a few pieces of information at a time, so longer lists of things (like the things on the tray) are likely to be forgotten without some other cues or connections to make the memories “stickier.”
Visual cues (things we see) are one way to trigger memories -- you might first remember the shape or color of a missing object, or its location on the tray/in the room, which helps you remember what the object is. Personal feelings or connections also make something easier to remember--for example you might be more likely to remember a missing object if it was your favorite color, or the chair that you always sit in, or it reminded you of an event or person that is important to you.
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MY FINGERPRINTS
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on exploration AUDIENCE: Grades K - 2 TIME FRAME: 20 - 25 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will explore features that make them individuals as they examine their fingerprints and create a piece of artwork illustrating some of their traits.
MATERIALS: ● Paper ● Crayons or markers ● Art materials, such as construction paper, yarn, scissors, glue ● Fingerprinting inkpads (1 per 3–4 campers) ● Magnifying glasses (1 per camper) ● (Optional) wet wipes ● (Optional) butcher or kraft paper
ENGAGE: Thinking about different parts of yourself. What are some traits that are the same for all of us? Which traits make each of us different? Which ones do you think especially make you, you?
We’re going to look at one thing that makes each of us unique: our fingerprints. Then you’ll create a work of art to show what makes you a one-of-a-kind person.
PROCEDURE: 1. Invite campers to carefully examine the pads of their fingers and compare them with a partner. ● What do you notice about your fingerprint pattern? Are all your fingers the same? ● How are yours similar to or different from your partner’s? 2. Distribute the inkpads and demonstrate how to take a fingerprint by gently rolling your finger from one side to the other on the inkpad to cover the whole pad of the finger with ink. Then press your finger onto paper and lift up without rolling or
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE smudging. 3. Invite campers to take a fingerprint from each finger. 4. Encourage campers to use the magnifying glasses to examine their printed fingerprints more closely and compare them with their partner’s. ● How do they compare to the pattern on your fingers? ● Do you see any new details? Are there any parts that are harder to see? 5. Explain the basic types of fingerprint pattern—arch, loop, whorl, and mixed/combination (see table below). Draw simple versions of each shape on chart paper to illustrate. Ask the campers to identify which shapes they see in their fingerprints. 6. Distribute the art materials. Ask campers to think about the question, “What else makes me unique—one of a kind?” 7. Encourage campers to use their fingerprints to make a picture of themselves, then include other shapes or objects that help describe them. ● What’s your favorite kind of food to get energy from? ● What activities do you like to do that get your heart pumping faster? ● What do you like to do that works your brain—read books, play board games? How could you show those on or near your person? 8. If time allows, invite campers to share their artwork with the whole group or with a partner and talk about the features they represented. ● What features on your person do you have in common with someone else in the group? What is different between them?
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? A fingerprint is an image of the whorls formed by the ridges on the palm side of the finger produced by it being pressed against a flat surface. Usually the fingerprint is made by the oils on the surface of the finger being deposited on the surface, but a fingerprint can intentionally be made with ink. Therefore both the oils deposited on glass or plastic by a finger, as well as the ink deposited on the paper are fingerprints.
Fingerprints are only made by the palm-side (the pads) of the fingers. If you look at your fingers, you will see the individual ridges that produce fingerprints, and you will also see that along the side of your finger they end. These ridges form on fetuses between the 10th and 16th weeks of pregnancy, and they are the same pattern that an individual has for the rest of his or her life. The reason these ridges (papillary ridges) are different in every individual is because they form randomly; they not determined by genetics. Therefore even identical twins have different fingerprints, as different as any two people
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE in the world. Although we are all constantly shedding dead skin cells from the top layer of our epidermis (the outer layer of human skin), we retain the same fingerprints throughout our life. As the layers of skin beneath are developing, they take on the form of the layer above them and continue the same pattern.
Scientists are not totally sure why we have ridges on our fingertips. Many hypothesize that the ridges on our fingers give us better grip, allow us to have a better sense of touch, or allow our skin to stretch better.
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Three Types of Fingerprint Patterns
Arches Plain Arch Tented Arch
Arches are least common with ridges that enter from one side and exit the other side of the finger
Loops Plain Loop Double Loop
Loops are most common and can enter from either side of the finger
Whorls Plain Whorl Pocket Loop Whorl
Whorls are the second most common with circles inside each other
Whorls Accidental Whorl Accidental Whorl
Any pattern that doesn’t fit into the above categories is called an accidental whorl
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ACTIVITY TYPE: Active game AUDIENCE: Grades K - 9 TIME FRAME: 15 - 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers play a game that uses their observation and deduction skills to determine who is leading a group’s actions.
PROCEDURE:
1. Gather the group in a circle. Introduce the game by explaining that one person will be the FBI Leader, directing the rest of the group’s actions. Another person will be the Spy and try to figure out who the leader is.
2. Play a practice round with you acting as the FBI Leader. Begin a pattern by tapping hands on knees, clapping hands, etc. and ask the rest of the circle to follow whatever you do.
3. Explain that the goal of the group is not to let the Spy find out which person in the circle is the FBI Leader. Change your pattern or action a few times and point out that the group needs to change too, without giving away who is leading. ● What can the group do to make it harder to tell who is leading?
4. Select one camper to be the Spy and send them somewhere that they can not easily see or hear the rest of the group. (Note: Ensure that the camper is safely supervised, as needed, when out of sight of the group.)
5. Identify someone in the circle to be the FBI Leader and have them begin a pattern. Remind them that they will need to change their pattern every minute or so once the Spy returns.
6. Ask the Spy to rejoin the group and stand in the middle of the circle. Challenge them to observe the movements of the group and figure out who the Leader is.
7. The Spy gets three chances to guess. If they are correct, they may choose the next Spy. If they are not correct, they rejoin the group.
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SCIENCE DETECTIVES: Daily Mysteries
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on exploration AUDIENCE: PreK - 2 TIME FRAME: Five 10 - 20 minute sessions SUMMARY: Campers will solve daily mini-mysteries to practice their detection skills.
MATERIALS: ● Monday - Spot the difference photo hunt ○ Picture frame ○ 2 pet photos (included) ○ Traceless note - Monday (included) ● Tuesday - Noisy hide-and-seek ○ Stuffed animal that makes noise (ie, talking hamster) ○ Batteries for toy above, if needed ○ Traceless note - Tuesday (included) ● Wednesday - Birthday card mess ○ Scraps of construction paper ○ Glue stick ○ Scented markers ○ Confetti/glitter/sequins ○ Stencils of the letters: A, B, D, H, I, P, R, T, Y ○ Traceless note - Wednesday (included) ● Thursday - Broken LEGO ○ LEGO City vehicle ○ 3-4 bird feathers - natural color ● Friday - Caffeine caper ○ Reusable coffee cup or mug with a straw or lid that detaches ○ A few drops of water ○ Chalk ○ Shoes that don’t belong to the instructor ○ A pinch of coffee grounds, tea leaves, or hot cocoa powder ○ Traceless notes - Friday and Conclusion (included)
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PREPARE AHEAD: At the start of the week, familiarize yourself with the storylines and prepare the materials: ● Put batteries in the talking toy and make sure it works. ● Put one of the pet photos in the frame. ● Build the LEGO City vehicle. ● Display the items for the mysteries (toys, photo, LEGO, cup) somewhere the campers will see them repeatedly. Refer to them as some of your favorite things at random moments during the week to build suspense for when something happens to them. Especially point out your beloved pet photo on Monday to set them up for Monday’s mystery. The mug/cup for Friday’s mystery can be replaced with one of your own, if you prefer.
Set up the clues for each day’s mystery before the start of the day, or during the lunch break.
ENGAGE: Traceless is the nickname of one of the ESF staff who loves to pull pranks on campers and other staff. Ask campers to keep an eye out for things that are weird, unusual, or odd throughout the week in case Traceless is pulling another one of her pranks. She got her nickname because she is soooo good at leaving no clues behind, but your campers are getting a lot of practice observing and solving puzzles this week, so maybe they will be the ones to finally catch her in the act!
PROCEDURE: 1. Either in the morning or right after lunch, “discover” a caper and/or note left by Traceless in your classroom (see storylines below). Switch up the time of day, depending on your schedule, to keep campers on their toes. 2. Read the day’s note from Traceless. Allow all campers a few minutes to carefully and thoroughly observe the room for clues, then facilitate discussions about what may have possibly happened. It is OK for them to come up with alternate solutions, so long as they are supported by observations or evidence.
Monday: Spot the difference photo hunt Story: Traceless left a note about pulling a prank on the class, but what it is is not obvious. Campers need to look around the room very, very carefully to find what she did. Preparation:
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● Switch out the pet photo from the frame during lunchtime. Clues: 1. Traceless’ note 2. Photo frame was moved and new photo inserted Solution: Traceless switched out the photo to test campers’ powers of observation.
Tuesday: Noisy hide-and-seek Story: Traceless hid the instructor’s favorite stuffed animal! Can the campers use sound observations to find it? Preparation: ● Make sure the talking toy has batteries in it and is working properly. ● Hide the toy in the room somewhere out of sight and maybe a bit hard to get to (for example, inside a bucket that is inside a bin that is inside a cabinet). ● Turn it on before campers arrive in the room so it is making noise. ● Leave Traceless’ note out for campers to easily find. ● Make a big deal about not seeing your stuffed animal when campers return to the room. Clues: 1. Traceless’ note 2. Follow the sounds Solution: Traceless was checking to make sure campers had learned about hearing today!
Wednesday: Birthday Card Mess Story: A big mess is left on one of the camper’s tables! They will find things like scraps of colored paper, a marker or two with or without caps, a used glue stick, bits of confetti or glitter, and some stencils of “random” letters. If they start to unscramble those letters they should spell out (correct spelling not necessary), Happy Birthday. Preparation: ● Set out the materials above in a random, messy way. ● Color on some materials with the scented markers so scent is evident. Clues: 1. Traceless’ note mentions feline festivities. 2. The letter stencils are just the letters in “Happy Birthday.” 3. The materials could be used in the making of a craft. 4. The markers or caps have scents. Solution: Traceless was making a birthday card for her cat and didn’t clean up her mess.
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Thursday: Broken LEGOs Story: Campers come back from lunch and find your favorite LEGO vehicle broken in pieces on the floor near where you had left it. You are VERY upset and want to blame Traceless but there is no note this time. The window/door is open so you ask campers to look around the room in case the note blew away, but instead they find a few bird feathers scattered about the room. Preparation: ● Break the LEGO vehicle. ● Place a feather or two near the LEGOs, one near the window/door, a few more in other places around the room. Clues: 1. Broken LEGO vehicle near its table 2. Bird feathers Solution: Traceless is innocent...this time. Some poor bird got into your room during lunch and while trying to escape knocked the LEGO vehicle onto the floor.
Friday: Caffeine Caper Story: ACK! Your most treasured coffee mug (teacup, etc.) that keeps you going and makes you the best camp counselor ever, is missing!! Traceless left a note that said she is keeping it safe but you have to follow all the clues to find it. Preparation: ● In the classroom, leave some drops of water that lead to the door. ● Depending on your location, leave the following clues on the way to whatever location you can hide your mug. ○ The lid or straw on the floor ○ Footprints - rub chalk onto the bottom of a shoe or rub the chalk onto paper then smear the chalky paper onto the bottom of the shoe. Stomp the shoe down onto the floor/sidewalk/non-plush carpet to leave the print. You should be able to get 2-3 prints from one good chalking. Bring a shoe from home that is NOT the one you are wearing that day or borrow a friend/fellow staffer who will not interact with your class. ○ Sprinkle some coffee grounds/tea leaves/hot cocoa powder near the final location of your mug. ○ Leave Traceless’ final note with your mug, if using Solution 1. Or leave the mug with your designated prankster, if using Solution 2. Clues: 1. Traceless’ Friday note
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2. Liquid drops 3. Lost straw/lid 4. Footprints 5. Coffee grounds 6. Traceless’ final note, if using Solution 1. Solution: Traceless has sent your class on one final mystery mission. ● Solution 1 - There is one final note from Traceless congratulating the class on being the quickest and most observant campers she has ever seen. She barely escaped detection this time, but campers should be on the lookout for her in the future. ● Solution 2 - Have a site director or other admin be in possession of the mug when it is found. This person was Traceless all along and has enjoyed testing the campers’ newfound skills in observation and detection. Be aware that if these campers are returning for further weeks of camp, this person will likely be teased or “harrassed” by them!
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? Detectives and crime scene analysts have to take many steps to uncover mysteries or understand what happened at a crime scene. They have to be very careful observers, using all their senses to take in as much information as they can. Then they have to talk to people who may have witnessed what happened or were there right before or after the crime. Sometimes they can use science to get more details from the things they observed, like identifying substances or matching fingerprints or handwriting to a person. And finally, they have to put all the pieces together into a story that is simple, clear, and makes sense to most people.
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Text for notes from Traceless
Monday Nice to meet you, Science Detectives! Are you ready to detect my first prank of the week? It won’t be easy to spot the thing I’ve switched in your classroom.
Tuesday Sounds like you’ve been working hard and having fun, but … A certain noisy critter is taking a time-out; with your listening ears on, perhaps its hiding place you’ll scout.
Wednesday To do: - buy tuna - send invites - make a card - plan feline festivities
Friday You didn’t think you could get away without one final prank, did you? Is your teacher getting sleepy?...growing groggy?...feeling dreamy? If you want to end this week with some energy and pep, don’t delay--but be careful, finding clues is your first step.
Finale Whew...I heard you coming so I’m making my escape! You nearly had me in your grasp, your skills are in great shape. I’m impressed with your senses, your teamwork, and your smarts; you are scientists in the making, I am sure with all my heart!
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LISTEN UP!
ACTIVITY TYPE: Circle time discussion and storybook AUDIENCE: PreK - 1 TIME FRAME: 20 - 25 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will explore the idea of gathering information using their sense of hearing.
MATERIALS: ● Book: The Listening Walk by Paul Showers and Aliki ENGAGE: Introduce the day’s theme:
Yesterday we trained our detective eyes to look closely and notice details. Today we have another mystery to solve. For this one, we need to train our detective ears.
What do we do with our ears? What kinds of sounds can we hear? How can sounds be alike or different?
PROCEDURE: Making Sounds (5 min.) 1. Explore variations of sound by inviting the group to make different kinds of sounds with their bodies or voices. ● Everybody make a loud sound. Now make a soft sound. ● Make a high sound. Now make a low sound. ● Make a short sound. Now make a long sound. ● Now make a loud sound using a different part of your body from your first one. 2. Ask campers to demonstrate several different loud sounds they made. ● These sounds are alike because they are all loud. What is different about them? 3. Repeat with their soft sounds. ● How are these sounds alike and different? 4. Challenge the group to make more specific kinds of sounds. Point out similarities and differences in the sounds they make: ● Use your voice to make a squeaky sound.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE ● Use your hands to make a swishing sound. ● Use your feet to make a thumping sound. 5. After demonstrating a few times, invite campers to suggest their own sounds for the group to make. Storybook Reading (10 min.) 1. Show the front cover of the book and read the title. ● What do you notice on the cover of the book? ● What do you think this book is going to be about? What makes you think so? 2. As you read, stop occasionally at the beginning of a page and ask the group to predict what sounds the girl will hear on that page. ● What sounds do you think she is hearing now? What makes you think that? 3. Invite campers to join you in making the sounds as they are described in the book. 4. Help the group to notice similarities and differences in the sounds described the book. ● The girl, her dad, and the lady are all wearing shoes. How did they sound different? ● What are some sounds she hears that are loud? Which sounds are soft? Discussion and Connections (5 min.) 1. Invite the group to train their “detective ears” like the girl in the book by not talking for 10 - 15 seconds (or as long as they can) and listening to the sounds in the room. 2. Ask campers to share the sounds they heard. Make connections to the sounds in the book, or the ones you made together as a group: ● Was it a soft sound? A loud sound? A swishing sound? ● What do you think was making the sound? How can you tell? ● How was that sound like something the girl in the book heard? 3. Use the ideas from this discussion to frame the rest of the day’s activities: ● What kind of sound did the mystery object make? High or low? Loud or soft? Short or long? ● Did the footsteps you heard sound more like the dad in the book or the lady?
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? Sound can vary across several basic characteristics, such as volume (how loud or soft it is), pitch (how high or low it is) and duration (how long or short it is), as well as other more complicated factors that affect the timbre (quality of the sound), making it sound whispery, brassy, warm, metallic, etc. Different combinations of these characteristics produce unique sounds that we can distinguish between and use to identify what is making the sound.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE DETECTIVE TRAINING: SOUND
ACTIVITY TYPE: Outdoor walk AUDIENCE: Grades K - 2 TIME FRAME: 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will use their senses to make scientific observations while outside, and then work on recording their observations on a sound map.
MATERIALS: ● Plain paper or observation logbooks ● Pencils/crayons/markers
SAFETY NOTES: Because you will be going outside, you will need to be aware of your surroundings. Ensure that your activity follows all rules of the facility and does not impose on other classes.
ENGAGE: One way detectives make observations and gather clues is with their sense of hearing. How do you think we could practice using our sense of hearing to make it stronger? What can you hear in this room right now?
PROCEDURE: 1. Take the campers outside of the classroom with paper or journals and a pencil/crayon. Tell them to sit down and get comfortable at their spot. They will spend a minute or two with their eyes closed, observing their surroundings using their sense of hearing. Remind them not to open their eyes, touch anything, or move around. Tell them to try and listen for three to five different sounds. 2. When the campers open their eyes, they should draw a sound map of what they observed. They will place an X in the middle of the paper, to represent themselves sitting down. Then, the campers will draw pictures or write words to represent the location of the sounds around them that they heard while they were listening. 3. Once they are done, lead campers on a listening walk. Take a short, slow walk around your facility, listening for any sounds they can hear. When you ask the
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campers to describe the sounds, encourage them to be as specific and detailed as possible. What different sounds did you hear? Where do you think these sounds came from? People? Animals? Things? Did you only hear things up close, or did you start to hear sounds that were really far away?
TAKE IT FURTHER: While on the walk, note the order of the sounds rather than the location.
ADAPTATIONS: For older campers, challenge them to remember more sounds and remember the order of the sounds. You may also work together on a full group sound map that synthesizes all of their individual maps.
For younger campers, this may function as a group or class activity. Guide the group by having all campers face the same direction during their listening time, so they all hear sound coming from the same direction (behind them, to the left, etc).
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? ● Sound is vibration. When something vibrates, it also vibrates the air around it, creating waves of vibration that travel through the air to our ears. ● Sound can vary across several basic characteristics, such as volume (how loud or soft it is), pitch (how high or low it is) and duration (how long or short it is), as well as other more complicated factors that affect the timbre (quality of the sound), making it sound whispery, brassy, warm, metallic, etc. Different combinations of these characteristics produce unique sounds that we can distinguish between and use to identify what is making the sound. ● Your brain compares the sound information from each ear to give you an idea of where the sound is coming from. If the sound is louder in the left ear than the right, it is coming from your left side, and vice versa for your right side.
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WHAT’S THAT SOUND?
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on activity AUDIENCE: Grades K - 2 TIME FRAME: 15 - 20 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will explore their sense of hearing and practice making observations about things they hear.
MATERIALS: ● A collection of objects (at least 4–6) that make different sounds when shaken or struck (e.g., jingle bells, wooden blocks, small bag of marbles, two spoons, etc.) ● Large box or bin to keep the objects out of sight ● Space for standing up and moving around ● (Optional) popsicle sticks, straws, paperclips, chopsticks, pencils, toothpicks, and/or other objects that could be used to strike something and make a sound.
ENGAGE: Start by reviewing the five senses. What are they? What do they do? Each one gives us different clues about the things around us. In this game we will find out what kinds of clues we can get from our sense of hearing.
PROCEDURE: Part 1 – What’s that Sound? 1. Ask campers to close their eyes and get ready to listen carefully. Use one of the objects from the box to make a noise, then put it back out of sight. What did they hear? Encourage them to describe the sound – was it loud/soft, high/low, jingly, scratchy, rumbling? What do they think made the noise? 2. You may want to make a list on chart paper of the describing words they use, and their guesses. 3. Repeat with 2 –3 more objects. 4. Take all of the objects out of the box, and have campers match the objects with the sounds they heard. What made them think that a particular object made a particular
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE sound? How could they find out if they were right? (Test it!) What kinds of things can we learn about something just by hearing the sound it makes? 5. Invite campers to take turns finding new mystery noises. Have the other campers close their eyes, while one camper finds an object in the room, makes a sound with it, and then puts it back. Can the other campers guess what made the sound? Which sounds were easiest to guess, and which were harder? Part 2 – Where’s that Sound? 1. It may come up during the last part of Part 1 that the group can guess what made the sound because of where in the room it came from, or where the camper’s footsteps went to get it. Sound can tell us not just about what something is, but also where it is. 2. Have campers cover their eyes; move yourself quietly to another location in the room and make a noise (clap or call). Have campers keep their eyes closed, but point in the direction they think the sound is coming from. Then have them open their eyes and see if they were right. Repeat with other locations around the room. Are any of them easier or harder to get right? 3. Let campers take turns being the sound maker. They might also try different types of sounds – soft, loud, high, low. Are any kinds of sounds easier to get right? TAKE IT FURTHER: Sound Safari: Give each camper one of a variety of implements (popsicle sticks, etc.) and ask them to go around the room and see how many different sounds they can make with their implement. What sounds are similar? What sounds are different? What are the different ways they can use their implements to make sounds – and how do the sounds change? Allow them to try with other implements and notice whether the sounds it makes are the same or different. Have each camper pick out their favorite sound from the ones they discovered and demonstrate it for the group. If they are having fun with it, make a Classroom Orchestra: “Everybody make a loud sound! Everybody make a quiet sound! ... a high sound/a low sound etc. … WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? Your brain connects sound information about the world around you with the information it gets from your other senses – for example, when you set a glass down on the counter, your brain connects the sound it makes with the sight of the glass and the counter, the feel of the glass in your hand, etc. When you hear that sound again, your brain remembers the other information connected with it to help you identify the sound.
Your brain also compares the sound information from each ear to give you an idea of where the sound is coming from. If the sound is louder in the left ear than the right, it is
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE coming from your left side, and vice versa for your right side. Sounds that are directly in front of or behind you can sometimes be harder to locate because the same amount of sound is reaching each ear. Echoes can also confuse your brain, because the sound is bouncing off of hard walls or other surfaces and coming into your ears from more than one direction.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE CUP TELEPHONES
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on activity AUDIENCE: Grades K - 2 TIME FRAME: 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will explore sound vibrations as they experiment with different types of cup telephones.
MATERIALS: ● Wire hangers without plastic coating (1 per 2 campers) ● Pencils or pens (1 per 2 campers) ● Cotton string (~4 ft per 2 campers) ● Several varieties of string, twine, ribbon, fishing line, and/or yarn ● Cups of several sizes, thicknesses, materials (paper, plastic, styrofoam) ● Paper clips ● (Optional) tuning forks
PREPARE AHEAD: ● Cut lengths of yarn 18 - 24” and tie a length of yarn to each bottom corner of the hangers. ● Cut 3 - 5 ft. lengths of the various strings. ● Prepare enough cup telephones for each pair of campers. Use a variety of different combinations of string type, string length, and cups. Poke a small hole in the bottom of each cup. Thread one end of the string through the hole. Tie the string to a paper clip to secure. Repeat with the other end of the string and a second cup. ● Hint: The best combinations will involve more rigid materials like paper, fishing line, and twine, not soft yarn or styrofoam that will absorb most of the vibrations. Also, if the string is somewhat loosely knotted around the paperclip, you should be able to slide it off and on the paper clip as needed to experiment with different cup/string combinations.
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ENGAGE: What are some sounds you hear right now? How do you hear things that are close to you? What about things that are far away? Can you think of any tools that help you to hear things better? Let’s try out some homemade telephones and see what we can find out about the best ways to help sound travel to our ears!
PROCEDURE: Part 1: Traveling Sound 1. Divide the group into pairs. Give one person the hanger and another a pen or pencil. 2. Demonstrate how to hold the hanger by wrapping the string ends twice around their finger. 3. Have them hold it away from their body while their partner taps the hanger with a pencil. What do they hear? 4. Now have campers put the fingers with the string in their ears and have their partners tap again. What do they hear now? 5. Ask partners to switch roles and repeat. 6. Discuss as a group. How were the sounds different? What made the sounds different? Part 2: Cup Telephones 7. Give a cup phone to each pair and have them try using the phone. ● Does it matter if the string is tight or loose? ● Is one type of cup better than another? ● Does the length of the string matter? ● Is it louder or softer if you hold the cup by the rim? ● How soft can your partner whisper and still be heard by you? 8. Trade phones between groups, and/or help the group switch out strings and cups for new combinations and try again.
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9. Discuss as a group. What choices made the phone work best?
TAKE IT FURTHER: Make some “super phones” using the combination of materials the class decides is best. Try them out with different types of soft sounds (voices, tuning forks, paper crumpling, etc.) Do some sounds travel better than others?
Play a giant game of “Whisper Down the Lane” using telephones between people instead of whispering directly in ears. (You may need to go outside to have a large enough space for this.)
ADAPTATIONS: Older groups may be able to assemble their own telephones and try different combinations.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? ● Sound is vibration. When something vibrates, it also vibrates the air around it, creating waves of vibration that travel through the air to our ears. ● Sometimes we can see the vibration happening, and sometimes we can’t. But anytime a sound happens, something, somewhere, is vibrating--even if we can’t see it. ● Vibrations travel better through solid things than through air. Sound traveling through a string can be easier to hear than sound traveling through air. Sounds that are too soft or too far away to be heard by themselves may still be heard through a cup telephone! ● In a real telephone, sound vibrations are turned into electrical signals. These might travel through wires (for a landline) or be turned into radio waves and travel through the air (for mobile phones). The phone on the other end receives the radio waves or electrical signals, which make the speaker in the phone vibrate, turning the signals back into sound.
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DOOR ALARM
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on activity AUDIENCE: K - 2 TIME FRAME: 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will explore different materials to create a door alarm that would allow them to know when someone has entered a room.
MATERIALS: ● Hanger (1 per camper) ● Small organza bags (about 6 per camper) ● Clothespins or binder clips (3-4 per camper) ● Pipe cleaners (3-4 per camper) ● Bowls (5-6 per table or small group) ● An assortment of small, noisy objects ○ Washers/nuts ○ Jingle bells ○ Pony beads ○ Wooden beads ○ Dried beans/rice ○ Shells ○ Marbles
ENGAGE: Can you think of a time when you wish you knew someone was coming into a room? Why did you want to know? Were you waiting for them or maybe you wanted to surprise them? Detectives often set alarms so that they can know when someone comes into a room without having to see it. Do you think the detective wants the other person to know they set off an alarm? Today we will explore making our own door alarms and the different kinds of materials we may want to use.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE PROCEDURE: 1. Put out bowls of the small, noisy objects on each table. 2. Give campers a few small bags. Allow them to fill each with different objects, then shake them, rattle them, swing them, wiggle them and observe what sounds they heard. Which were louder or quieter? Which made more noise with a wiggle or with a swing? 3. Have campers think about what kind of door alarm they might want to make. Do they want one that is very noisy and everyone can hear it? Do they want one that is less noisy? Do they want one that makes a strange sound, so only they know that someone is opening the door? 4. Hand out the hangers and attachment devices (clothespins, pipe cleaners, etc). Allow campers to think about how they want to attach their noise-makers to their hangers. Do they want theirs to look a certain way AND make noise? Which types of attachment devices allow for the most or the least amount of noise? 5. Allow campers to build and rebuild until they get the door alarm that suits them best. 6. Campers can now hang their door alarms and test them.
TAKE IT FURTHER: Allow campers to brainstorm other ways that would allow them to know someone has entered the room. Let them draft and draw out these ideas and then share them with the class during a whole group share.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? ● Sound is vibration. When something vibrates, it also vibrates the air around it, creating waves of vibration that travel through the air to our ears. ● Sometimes we can see the vibration happening, and sometimes we can’t. But anytime a sound happens, something, somewhere, is vibrating--even if we can’t see it. ● Vibrations travel better through solid things than through air. So when the chimes bump into each other they cause vibrations that then travel through the chime into the air making the noise we can hear. ● Sound travels through objects at different speeds dependent on what they are made of and how large or small they are. This is why we hear different noises for the different objects.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE SECRET MESSENGER
ACTIVITY TYPE: Active game AUDIENCE: Grades K - 6 TIME FRAME: 10 - 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers practice using their senses of hearing and touch as they pass a message around the group.
PROCEDURE:
1. Ask the group to either stand or sit in a line or a circle.
2. Invite the first camper in line to think of a message and whisper it in the ear of the second person in the line. The second player repeats the message to the third player, and so on. Remind the group to practice listening closely and try to pass on exactly what they heard.
3. When the last player is reached, they announce the message they heard to the entire group. ● How does it compare to the original message? ● What parts, if any, got confused or were hard to hear?
4. Repeat several times, choosing a different camper to think of the message each time. Encourage them to try making the message longer or shorter, or have it be nonsense instead of something familiar. Does that change how well the message gets through?
5. Next, send messages with touch instead of sound. Instead of whispering, have campers trace a simple picture or word with their finger onto the back of the person in front of them. The last person then draws the image they felt onto a piece of paper. Then compare it to the starting image the first person was used. ● How were the touch messages different? Were they easier or harder to pass on correctly?
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE SNIFF IT OUT
ACTIVITY TYPE: Circle time discussion and storybook AUDIENCE: PreK - 1 TIME FRAME: 20 - 25 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will explore how their sense of smell can be used to gather information.
MATERIALS: ● Book: Gladys Goes Out to Lunch by Derek Anderson PREPARE AHEAD: Think up one or two additional “smell mysteries” to use during the role play (see example below). Decide what the smell will be (such as a stinky trash can or your favorite hot chocolate), what word you will use to describe it (stinky, delicious, etc.), where you will find it, and what places you will stop along the way to look for it.
ENGAGE: Introduce the day’s theme: We’ve trained our detective eyes and our detective ears. Now it’s time for our detective … noses! We have a mystery to solve today that is going to need them.What do we use our noses for? What kinds of things can we smell?
What are some smells that you really like to smell? What kinds of smells do you not like?
PROCEDURE: Storybook Reading (10 min.) 1. Show the front cover of the book and read the title. ● What do you notice on the cover of the book? ● What might we find in this book about smell? What makes you think so? 2. As you read, stop occasionally and invite campers to make observations about the pictures or predict what will happen next. ● What do you see on this page that might have a smell? What would it smell like? ● What do you think will happen next? ● Will Gladys find what she is looking for this time? What makes you think that?
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE Role Play (10 min.) 1. Invite the group to stand up and help you solve a “smell mystery” like Gladys in the book. Lead the group in acting out a story like the one below: ● I smell a smell (big sniff). It’s the most wonderful smell! (sniff again) It smells so sweet! I just have to find out what it is. Will you help me? ● Is it here in my bedroom? (look around, sniffing) Nope, not here. ● We’ll have to go out the door (open door) and down the stairs (run in place). ● Now we’re in the living room. Where could that sweet smell be coming from? Is it under the sofa? (crouch, peer, and sniff) Nope, not there. ● Is it behind the curtain? (move curtain and sniff) Nope, not there. ● Wait! (sniff) It’s coming from that open window (point). It must be outside! ● (Put on shoes, go out door) Now we’re outside. Where could that sweet smell be coming from? Is it here on the sidewalk? (look around and sniff) Nope, not here. ● Is it under that rock? (pick up rock and sniff) Nope, not there. ● Wait! (sniff) It’s coming from that way (point). It must be in the backyard! ● (Run in place) Now we’re in the backyard. (sniff) Can you smell it? I can smell it. It smells so sweet! We must be close! ● I think it’s this way (face right, walk in place). Wait, it’s that way (face left and walk). ● (big sniff) We’re almost there (big sniff). Yes! This is it! It smells SO sweet! It’s a...beautiful rosebush! ● Smell these flowers (hold out flower). Aren’t they sweet? I’m going to take one back to my bedroom and put it in a vase. ● Let’s go...back through the backyard (walk in place), around to the front yard (walk in semicircle), past that rock (point), in through the front door (open door), around the sofa (walk around something), up the stairs (run in place), into my bedroom (open door)...and put this flower right next to my bed (put flower in vase). Mmmm! (big sniff) It smells so sweet! 2. Act out a second story, this time with an unpleasant smell: ● I smell a smell (big sniff). It’s the most... terrible smell! (hold nose) Yuck! It smells so stinky! I need to find out what’s making it...and get rid of it! Will you help me? ...etc. 3. As time allows, act out additional stories. Invite campers to suggest smells and make up stories about them together.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE?
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE Smells are caused by chemicals that are released by an object or substance. We can’t see the chemicals with our eyes, but they travel through the air to our noses. By smelling, we can use the chemicals in the air as clues to determine where the scent is coming from.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE DETECTIVE TRAINING: SMELL
ACTIVITY TYPE: Outdoor walk AUDIENCE: K - 2 TIME FRAME: 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will use their sense of smell to make observations about their surroundings.
MATERIALS: ● Plain paper or observation logbooks ● Pencils/crayons/markers
SAFETY NOTES: Because you will be going outside, you will need to be aware of your surroundings. Ensure that your activity follows all rules of the facility and does not impose on other classes.
ENGAGE: One way detectives make observations and gather clues is with their sense of smell. How do you think we could practice using our sense of smell? What can you smell in this room right now?
PROCEDURE: 1. Invite campers to hunt around the classroom for smells. When they find one, encourage them to describe what they smell, even if they can’t identify it. ● What does it smell like? Is it sweet? Stinky? Chemical-y? ● What does it remind you of? ● Where do you think it is coming from? ● What do you think could be causing the smell? What makes you think that? 2. Invite campers to write or draw something to record the smells they found in the classroom. 3. Take the campers outside the classroom for a smell walk, taking their logbooks and writing utensils with them. Take a careful walk around your facility, hunting for any smells that are around. (If you know of locations that are likely to have interesting smells, such as a kitchen, swimming pool, or flower garden, be sure to include them
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on your walk!) 4. Stop occasionally and ask the group to see if they can smell anything. Encourage them to smell close to the ground as well as up high, and in different directions. 5. When campers identify a smell, invite them to draw or write about it in their logbooks. 6. When you return to the classroom, ask the group to look back at their logbooks and discuss the different smells they encountered. ● How many different smells did we find on our walk? ● Did we smell any of them more than once? Which one did we smell the most? ● Which smell did you think was the most interesting? Was there anything that you have never smelled before? ● What did we figure out about our classroom or our facility because of the smell clues we found?
TAKE IT FURTHER: Make a class graph or table showing the different types of smells you encountered, and how often you smelled them.
ADAPTATIONS: For older campers, challenge them to remember all the smells the group finds, in order. You might also work together on a class smell map that sketches the path of your walk and indicates where each smell was located.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? While many animals rely heavily on the sense of smell for identifying and locating things in their environment, humans are less likely to think of smell as a valuable source of information. However, our noses are highly developed molecular detectors that can notice and distinguish up to a trillion separate smells!
Most smells are made up of combinations of many different odor-causing compounds. The smell of chocolate, for example, contains hundreds of different odor molecules.
Learning to identify and distinguish between similar smells takes practice, but it can be very useful to someone investigating the scene of a crime-- a whiff of perfume, gasoline, or rotting fruit might indicate who was there, how they got away, or what they were eating when they did.
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MATCH THE SMELL
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on activity AUDIENCE: K - 4 TIME FRAME: 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will discuss the importance of making observations using the sense of smell and put theirs to the test through matching and identifying scents.
MATERIALS: ● Set of 12 ‘smell containers’ (2-3 sets per class) ○ 6 different essential oils, extracts, or spices, such as peppermint, lavender, citrus, sandalwood, cinnamon, ginger ○ 12 cotton balls ○ 12 small containers with lids (plastic eggs, film canisters, etc.) labelled 1-12. ○ Optional: skunk spray smell, vinegar, or other unpleasant smells ● Pencils & paper or observation logbooks
PREPARE AHEAD: Prepare smell containers by covering or infusing cotton balls with the scents. Make two cotton balls for each scent (two cinnamon, two lemon, etc.) and place each cotton ball in a separate small container. (Note: Put the cotton balls in the numbered containers randomly so there is no obvious pattern to how the numbers and scents match up.) Record an answer key with the numbers and scents for your own use. Group the containers in sets of three matching scent pairs.
SAFETY NOTES: Be aware of any allergies related to the scents used.
ENGAGE: How good is your sense of smell? Do you think it is as good as a dog’s or pig’s sense of smell? What do you think our sense of smell is important for?
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PROCEDURE: 1. Divide your group into smaller groups of 6 or less campers, so that each group gets 6 smell containers. 2. Challenge campers to match the 3 sets of smells that they have by opening the containers briefly to smell them, and then closing them again. Challenge them to identify each scent. Have them record their guesses. 3. Once each group has matched and identified their smells, have them trade with another group and complete the activity again. 4. Reveal the answers and have each group check if they guessed correctly. 5. Lead a discussion about how they used their sense of smell during the activity. How did they figure out which containers had the same scent? What helped them identify what the scents were? Were there any that were hard to guess?
TAKE IT FURTHER: Add in unpleasant smells and see if they can identify those smells as well. Or change the essential oils list to make it harder (e.g. several types of mint, or lemon versus lime).
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? Most of the flavors you taste actually comes from your sense of smell. Without the sense of smell we vastly limit ourselves only to true taste sensations- sweet, salty, sour & bitter. But our very discriminating nose can differentiate between many thousands of different scents and flavors! Human noses can detect anywhere from 10,000 up to almost a trillion different odors.
Being able to identify different smells is also important for any animal or human survival. Imagine if you couldn’t smell smoke! It could be very dangerous to not be able to tell that a fire is nearby. Compared to many animals, humans are not great scenters. Dogs and pigs can both identify scents that we cannot. This is why bloodhounds are often used to track people that the police can’t find, and pigs are used to find particular mushrooms in the forest.
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INVISIBLE SCENTED INK
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on exploration AUDIENCE: K - 2 TIME FRAME: 20 - 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will explore chemical reactions using invisible ink to reveal hidden messages.
MATERIALS: ● White paper (2-3 pieces per camper) ● Kraft paper sheet, 4-6’ ● Small cups, 3-5 oz. (4 per group) ● Baking soda (1 Tbsp per group) ● Water (1 Tbsp per group) ● Paintbrushes (1 per camper) ● Cotton swabs (3-4 per camper) ● Flavored drink mix packets (0.13 oz size), 3 different flavors
PREPARE AHEAD: Prepare the inks: ● Invisible ink: mix equal parts water and baking soda (around 1 tablespoon of each is enough for each group) ● Revealing ink: 1 drink mix packet with ½ cup water. Note: Adding more water will dilute the ink, causing the message to disappear again when it dries. To keep the message revealed, use less water. Prepare hidden messages or pictures with the invisible ink on the large sheet of kraft paper.
ENGAGE: Invisible inks have been used throughout history by ancient Romans and Byzantines, as well as by George Washington during the American Revolution. More recently, invisible inks have been used by secret agents and criminals alike, and it became increasingly important that investigators know methods of making invisible messages visible once again.
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PROCEDURE: 1. Divide the class into groups. Each group should have paper, cup of invisible ink, cup of revealer ink, one paintbrush per camper, and a few cotton swabs. 2. Have campers write a message using invisible ink with a paintbrush. Be aware that it will take a few minutes to dry before you can continue to the next step. Encourage them to use just a little bit of invisible ink to start. 3. While waiting have students waft the smell of the revealer ink by moving their hands across the ink containers towards their noses. Point out that this is how detectives and scientists safely observe the smell of something--sticking your nose directly over something to smell it is risky if you don’t know what it is or how strong it is. 4. Invite each group to make predictions of what smells they think may be in their ink. 5. Have campers paint over the paper using the revealer ink with a cotton swab to uncover their hidden message. 6. Allow campers to repeat these steps using different flavors of revealing ink. Do some work better than others? Do some smell better than others? 7. Allow the class to come together with their revealer ink to uncover the hidden message you left on the kraft paper. 8. Clean up: be aware that if you start mixing cups of invisible and revealer ink you will get more evidence of a chemical reaction: good science, but messy!
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? Most instant drink mixes are mildly acidic due to a compound called citric acid. The acid in the drink mix reacts with the basic baking soda leaving a residue behind on the paper. Additionally, the reaction between them is an exothermic reaction, a reaction where energy is released. The heat generated also weakens the paper slightly, allowing you to see the message when the paper is wet.
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SCENT PAINTING
ACTIVITY TYPE: Make-and-take AUDIENCE: Grades K - 2 TIME FRAME: 20 - 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will paint pictures using scented paint to explore sensory modalities and mismatched sensory input.
MATERIALS: ● Paper ● Paint brushes ● Cups of water (for rinsing brushes) ● Craft paint, several colors ● Small (2-3 oz) cups (3-4 per group of 4 campers) ● Scent or baking extracts, 1 for each color of paint, such as: mint, orange, coconut, almond, vanilla
PREPARE AHEAD: ● Mix 5-10 drops of scent extract with about 1” of paint in each cup. The goal is to put scents that we don't typically associate with the color (for example, blue with orange scent, orange with mint scent, green with vanilla scent). ● If needed, make note of which scent is which so that you can reveal the answers to the students.
SAFETY NOTES: Be careful with allergies to any of the scent extracts.
Check the paint for allergens, as some may contain eggs or wheat as a thickener.
ENGAGE: Have you ever looked at something, maybe a food or something else, and thought you knew what it would smell like--but then when you smelled it, it smelled completely different? That's because our brains are very smart and keep a folder of stored information about how things should smell. So for example, if you always smell a sweet
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE fruity scent when you see an apple your brain remembers that. Then if you see an apple, but smell something bitter or sour your brain is surprised.
PROCEDURE: 1. Divide the class up into groups of 3-4. Distribute cups of paint to each group and have campers test the scent of each color by wafting their hands over the cups to bring the scent to their noses. Point out that this is how scientists and detectives safely test for scents--putting your nose directly over something can be dangerous if you don’t know what it is! 2. Ask campers to share their observations and predict what the scents are. Record their predictions for the class. 3. Once all of the scents have been predicted, reveal what they actually are. Explain that what we see influences how our brains process information. So if we see the color orange, we are more likely to make predictions related to citrus fruit rather than say clean laundry. ● Were any of the scents hard to guess? What do you think made them difficult? 4. Allow students to paint pictures with the scented paint. Invite them to notice how the smells interact on the paper--can they smell the individual scents, or do they combine to make a new scent?
TAKE IT FURTHER: Have students close their eyes and guess the scent first, or guess what the color of the paint may be based on the smell. This helps illustrate the idea that our brains rely strongly on visual information to identify what something is.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? The olfactory region, the section of the brain that processes smell, is connected to many brain regions including emotion (amygdala), memory (hippocampus), and multisensory regions (orbitofrontal cortex). When we smell something, the odor is interpreted by all of these regions, which will evoke a response from the brain that includes thoughts, feelings, and memories.
Research shows that our brains’ visual processing is doing almost twice as much work as olfaction during a smell-based task. This means that our sense of smell is strongly affected by what we see. So when a visual stimulus we receive does not match our memory of the scent stimulus, our brains have a difficult time interpreting the smell.
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NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
ACTIVITY TYPE: Active game AUDIENCE: Grades K - 9 TIME FRAME: 10 - 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers practice close observation of sight and sound through a movement activity.
SAFETY NOTES: Remind campers that they must walk to play.
PROCEDURE:
1. Explain the game: One person is a night security guard whose job it is to make sure the museum stays safe all night. All the other individuals are statues/dinosaurs/dioramas/etc. Their job is to try and move around the museum without getting caught. ● What kinds of observations could the guard make to notice if something is moving?
2. Select a night guard and have them turn around so they can’t see the group.
3. The other campers all find a space in the room, freezing into a position that resembles a statue, animal, dinosaur, or other museum exhibit. The night guard then turns around and begins to walk around trying to “catch” the exhibits moving. If someone is caught moving they sit down until the next round.
4. Campers may not touch each other or talk. This game should take place silently.
5. When the guard has their back to someone or part of the group, they should switch positions or try to move around without getting caught. Campers must make some movement every minute or two, or they may be ruled “out”.
6. The last camper who is not caught moving gets to be the night guard in the next round.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE HOW DOES IT FEEL?
ACTIVITY TYPE: Circle time discussion and storybook AUDIENCE: PreK - 1 TIME FRAME: 20 - 25 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will explore how their sense of touch can be used to gather information.
MATERIALS: ● Book: Goldilocks and the Three Bears by James Marshall ● 8 - 10 small items of various textures, such as: Wooden block Golf ball Rubber eraser Large pompom Plush toy Paper clip Metal spoon Tennis ball Rock Emery board nail file
PREPARE AHEAD: Collect an assortment of objects with different textures and put them in a bag or box.
ENGAGE: Introduce the day’s theme:
We’ve trained our detective eyes, our detective ears, and our detective noses. Now we have one more sense to practice--our sense of touch! What part of our body do we use for touching things?
Let’s see what we can find out about something by touching it--we’re going to need this to help us solve a mystery today.
PROCEDURE: Describing Textures (10 min.) 1. Hold up one of the objects from the bag or box and invite the group to predict what they think it will feel like. Prompt them with suggestions of texture words as needed: ● What do you think this will feel like if you touch it? ● Will it feel soft? Hard? Smooth? Rough? Squishy? Cold? Hot? 2. Pass the object around and encourage campers to describe how it feels.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE 3. Leave the object visible in the center of the circle. Repeat with additional objects. (If your group is large, you could ask a few different volunteers to touch each object instead of the whole group, or break the group into smaller teams and give each an object to touch.) 4. After all the objects are out, put them together in the center of the circle. Discuss similarities and differences between the textures of the objects. Invite the group to help you put objects that feel alike together. ● Which of these things did we say felt cold? ● This one was hard and smooth. Where do you think we should put it? Storybook Reading (10 min.) 1. Show the front cover of the book and read the title. ● What do you notice on the cover of the book? ● What might we find about touch in this book? What makes you think so? 2. As you read, stop occasionally and encourage campers to notice occasions where Goldilocks holds something or uses her sense of touch. Invite them to predict what she would feel. ● What is she touching in this picture? What do you think it feels like? ● How did Goldilocks know the chair was hard? What parts of her body do you think she felt it with? 3. Discuss the different words or categories the group has discovered about how things feel to the touch. Make connections between the story and the objects they touched at the beginning. ● Goldilocks felt chairs that were hard and soft. What things did we touch that were hard? Soft? ● Do you think she felt anything that was fuzzy, like this pompom? What makes you think so? ● What are some other different ways we found that things can feel?
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? Our skin contains receptors that give us information about pressure and temperature, which we interpret as our sense of touch. We can experience touch with any part of our body that has skin, including our lips, tongue, and mouth. Our fingers and hands have more touch receptors than many other parts of our bodies, so they are especially good for noticing small differences in shape, texture, and temperature. (Our lips and tongues are also quite sensitive to touch, which is partly why babies put so many things in their mouths--but for scientists and detectives, hands are a better choice!)
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE DETECTIVE TRAINING: TOUCH
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on activity stations AUDIENCE: K - 2 TIME FRAME: 20 - 40 minutes SUMMARY: Students train their sense of touch as they observe, describe, and sort objects based on shape and texture.
MATERIALS: Depending on how many of the stations you choose to set up and how many students are in the group, you may need multiple sets of materials. (If you are only using 3 of the stations and have 15 students, you will need 5 sets of materials at each station.)
Choice of materials will help scale this activity for older or younger groups. See the “Adaptations” section for suggestions.
● 1 pair of disposable gloves for each camper Find Your Rock: ● A variety of small rocks, e.g. landscaping rocks ● An opaque bag or container to hold the rocks ● Paper and writing utensil Shape Sorting: ● Two or three similar shapes of uncooked pasta, such as fusilli and rotini ● Bowls or containers (3) ● Opaque box or container, large enough to hold the 3 bowls side-by-side ● Fabric, large enough to cover the top of the box ● Duct tape (as needed to attach the fabric to the box) Touch Matching: ● Several pairs of small, identical objects (small toys, office supplies, etc.) ● Two opaque bags or containers to hold the objects Buried Treasure: ● Large bucket or bin, at least 6” deep ● Rice, beans, small pebbles, or similar material to fill the container
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● A variety of small objects to hide in the container Texture Sort: ● A variety of objects of different textures ● Container to hold the objects ● Two trays for sorting
PREPARE AHEAD: Set up Shape Sorting stations: ● Set the box on its side and tape or secure the fabric across the open side of the box like a curtain. Students should be able to reach in and manipulate things in the box without being able to see inside it. ● Mix the two kinds of pasta together in one bowl. Put this bowl in the center of the box, with an empty bowl to either side. Set up the Touch Matching stations: ● Place one of each pair of objects into each of the two bags. Set up the Buried Treasure stations: ● Add some rice to the bottom of the container. ● Place one or two of the small objects in the rice. ● Add another layer of rice, and then place a few more objects. ● Continue until all the objects are buried and the container is full.
SAFETY NOTES: Be aware of any food allergies, as campers may have allergies to the rice or pasta used in this activity.
ENGAGE: What part of our bodies do we use to touch things? When is it hard to use our sense of touch? What kinds of things can we tell about an object by touching it? Texture: Whether it is smooth, rough, fuzzy, bumpy, pointy, etc. Shape: Whether it has curves, sides, edges, etc. Temperature: Whether it is hot or cold Size and weight (if we can hold it in our hands) What kinds of things can’t we tell about an object just by touching it? Color, shininess, letters or markings, etc. Sound, smell, or taste How do detectives use their sense of touch when they are working a case? How do they make sure that they don’t contaminate evidence while using their sense of touch?
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PROCEDURE: 1. Invite campers to put on their gloves for the activity. Remind them that detectives usually have to wear gloves when touching things at a crime scene, so they can only touch things through the gloves. 2. Introduce the stations and what campers will do at each one. 3. Divide the class into groups and assign a group to each station. Rotate stations after 5 - 10 minutes. Station 1 - Find Your Rock Note: This activity could also be done in covered boxes like the Pasta Sort. 1. Campers pick a rock from the bag, but don’t take it out of the bag. Invite them to use their sense of touch to see how much they can observe about it. ● What shape is it? Does it have bumps, points, or angles? How many? ● What texture is it? Smooth? Scratchy? Bumpy? ● How big is it in your hand? 2. Campers take the rock out of the bag and trace or draw a picture of the rock to help them remember it. Then they put the rock back in the bag and mix it up. 3. Challenge them to use their sense of touch to try to find their rock again (without looking!), then take it out and look. ● Were you correct? How can you tell? ● What parts or features of the rock helped you identify it by touch? Station 2 - Shape Sorting 1. Campers reach under the cloth and use their sense of touch to find the three bowls inside the box. 2. Challenge them to sort all the things from the full bowl into the two empty bowls, putting all the same-shaped things together. ● What do you think the things in the bowl are? What makes you think so? 3. Invite them to open the curtain or take the bowls out and look at them. ● Did you get all the same-shaped pieces together? ● Were you right about what the things are? Station 3 - Touch Matching 1. Campers reach into one of the bags and find an object with one hand-- but don’t take it out. Invite them to use their sense of touch to observe it. ● What shape is it? What parts, corners, or edges does it have? What texture is it? 2. Campers reach into the second bag with their other hand and try to find the object that matches their first one. ● What do you think these objects are? How can you tell?
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3. Invite them to pull both objects out of the bags. ● Are they the same? Were you right about what the objects are? Station 4 - Buried Treasure 1. Campers touch the the material in the bucket and describe how it feels. 2. Invite them to reach further down into the bucket. ● Can you find anything that feels different? What does it feel like? ● What do you think it could be? 3. Challenge campers to use their sense of touch to find as many hidden objects in the bucket as you can. 4. Once they are done, campers should bury the objects back in the bucket for the next person to find. Station 5 - Texture Sort 1. Campers use their sense of touch to observe the different objects. ● What different textures do you notice? What different shapes do you notice? 2. Invite campers to sort the objects into groups by texture. ● How many groups did you make? What textures are each group? ● Do objects in the same group still feel different? How? 3. Challenge them to find a different way to sort by texture. ● What other groups could you choose?
TAKE IT FURTHER: Texture hunt: Choose a texture (smooth, bumpy, soft, hard, rough, slippery, pointy etc.) Challenge the group to hunt around the classroom for things that have that texture.
ADAPTATIONS: Find Your Rock ● Younger: Use rocks of a wide variety of types and shapes to make identification easier ● Older: Use rocks of all the same type, so students must observe details of shape and texture (ridges or crevices, etc.) to identify them. Shape Sorting: ● Younger: Use two pasta shapes that are easily distinguishable (elbows vs. shells) ● Older: Use two (or more) similar pasta shapes (elbows vs. straight tubes, or two different spirals) Touch Matching: ● Older: Use all objects of similar shape or category (e.g. all plastic animal figures) or use items that are similar between bags but not identical (small vs. large paperclip) Buried Treasure
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● Older: Use objects that are more similar in size and shape to the filler material (e.g. small marbles in a bin of kidney beans). Tell students how many are in the bin and challenge them to find them all. Texture Sort ● Older: Collect objects that are in the same general texture category (e.g. all “soft”) and have them sort by more detailed characteristics (fuzzy, squishable, etc.)
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? Our sense of touch helps us observe things like an object’s shape, texture, and temperature. Nerves in our skin help us sense these properties. Our fingers have more of these nerves than most other parts of our skin, which is one reason why we usually use our hands for sensing touch.
Careful observation is an important science skill. Noticing details helps scientists tell the difference between similar things or decide whether or not something has changed.
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MYSTERY BAGS
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on activity AUDIENCE: Grades K - 2 TIME FRAME: 15 - 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will explore the uses and limitations of their sense of touch.
MATERIALS: ● 10 mystery objects (shell, paper clip, button, plastic figure, pom-pom, spiral pasta, die, small pencil, packing peanut) ● 10 small opaque cloth bags (big enough for each mystery item) ● 5 mystery eggs (preassembled with mystery items inside) ● (Optional) Plastic eggs (1 per child) ● (Optional) Assorted items for children to put inside (cotton balls, beans, pasta, etc.) *Note: For larger groups, use two kits or add extra mystery bags so there are enough for each child to have one.
PREPARE AHEAD: Put a mystery item in each small bag.
ENGAGE: What observations can you make about something using your sense of touch? What things do you need other senses for?
PROCEDURE: 1. Pass around the mystery eggs. - What senses can they use to observe the object in the egg? - What senses can’t they use? - What guesses can they make about the objects inside? 2. Collect the eggs. Hand out a mystery bag to each camper. Invite them to explore the object inside without opening the bag. How are the bags different from the mystery eggs?
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3. Ask them to describe their mystery object to a partner. Encourage them to focus on using describing words (not just saying what they think the object is). What shape is it? Is it soft or hard? Etc. 4. Have them switch bags with their partner. Do they agree with their partner’s description? Do they notice anything else about the object? 5. Ask them to share guesses with their partner about what the objects might be. 6. Discuss as a group: ● What kinds of things did you notice about your object (shape, hard/soft, etc.)? ● What things can’t you tell about your object (color, texture, etc.)? ● What guesses did you make about what the object is? What did you observe that made you think that? 7. Demonstrate how to open the bags just wide enough to fit one finger inside. Encourage them to explore their mystery objects this way, but without removing them from the bags. 8. Ask them to switch bags with their partner and compare ideas as before. 9. Discuss as a group: ● What new things did they observe about their objects this way? ● What things do they still not know? ● Do they have any new predictions about what the objects are? 10. Allow them to take the items out of the bags. What did they guess correctly? What did they guess incorrectly? 11. Collect the bags and objects.
TAKE IT FURTHER: ● Have each child draw what they felt before they saw the object - does their drawing match what was in the bag? ● Revisit the mystery eggs. Explain that you will not be opening them to find out what’s inside-- scientists often have to use observations and make guesses without being able to see the “right” answer. What else could they do or test to get more information about the objects inside the eggs (without opening or breaking them)? Challenge campers to gather as much information about the objects as they can. ● Invite campers to make their own mystery eggs to take home for their families to observe.
ADAPTATIONS: For older groups (1-2): ● Talk about the difference between fact and opinion. Encourage children to use
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facts rather than opinions in their observations. ● Introduce the terms evidence and inference. Discuss some examples of inferences before beginning the activity. For example: an object is small, round, and hard (evidence) therefore it is a marble (inference). Can children think of any times when they made a wrong conclusion based on the evidence? (For example, thinking a brown crayon was a tootsie roll.) As they do the activity, discuss how they use the evidence they observe (shape, etc.) to make inferences about what the object is.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? ● Our sense of touch can help us learn things like shape, texture, and temperature. ● Using multiple senses helps us gather more evidence about something. ● A fact is a statement of observable evidence--something that can be directly seen, felt, touched, etc. ● An inference is a judgement or interpretation based on facts. It is more than just a “wild guess.” ● Gathering information and knowing whether it is evidence or inference is a critical skill in science. ● Using evidence to make inferences is how we develop ideas about things. Inferences are very valuable because they can lead to ideas that can be further tested. ● Incomplete evidence can lead to incorrect inferences!
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POTATO POLICE
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on exploration AUDIENCE: Grades K - 2 TIME FRAME: 20-30 minutes
SUMMARY: Campers will make observations using their senses of sight and touch in order to identify their potato in a line-up of other potatoes.
MATERIALS: ● Potatoes (one per camper, or one per group of 2-3 campers)
ENGAGE: Discuss the different senses and types of observations campers have used throughout the week in order to solve various science mysteries. Pose these questions:
Suppose you and a friend have the same toy or game. How could you tell them apart from one another? What about if you saw two animals or plants of the same species while exploring the outdoors?
In a scenario like this, it would be very important to make precise observations about the individual objects in order to notice and remember the differences between them:
What kinds of differences might you notice between two objects that are very similar?
PROCEDURE: 1. Introduce the activity to campers by informing them that they are now potato police officers! Their mission will be to improve their skills as vegetable detectives by finding their potato in a lineup of potatoes of similar size and shape. 2. Distribute a potato to each camper (or group of campers) and encourage them to use their senses of touch and sight to become as familiar with their unique potato as possible. 3. After a few minutes of observation, have the campers line their potatoes up somewhere in the classroom. Reorder the potatoes outside of the sight of the
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campers, making sure to keep track of where each camper’s potato ended up. (You may want to make a diagram or a list.) 4. Give each camper a chance to select their potato from the line-up, making sure to have them take guesses in turns until all the potatoes have been successfully identified. 5. Discuss the results with campers. Was it easy or hard to identify their potatoes in the line-up? Why or why not? What could be done to make it easier to differentiate between the potatoes? How could making observations be useful to a scientist or detective in the field? 6. Repeat the activity but ask campers to be even more descriptive than they were the first round. Is it easier this time?
TAKE IT FURTHER: Try playing the game of potato identification again with various modifications: ● Give campers a chance to record information they have gathered from their observations on a piece of paper. Did recording sketches or writing descriptions help in their investigation? ● Have campers pass their observations (either written or verbal) to another group and see if their descriptions are precise enough to allow someone else to select their potato correctly. ● Have campers use only their sense of sight (no touching the potatoes!) or only their sense of touch (use a blindfold or turn off the lights in the classroom) to observe a new potato. Make comparisons with previous activities. Was it easier or harder to find or describe the potato when using just one of our senses for observation?
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? ● Scientific observations (especially those involving the natural sciences) often are dependent upon multiple senses working in tandem. For instance, in order to gather more information about a particular object or phenomenon, observations might involve both touch and sight, or both hearing and smell. ● Science (and forensics in particular) often involves noticing minute differences between similar objects or situations in order to isolate changes, answer questions, or solve mysteries. Observations may even prompt us to pose new questions or lead us to future investigations!
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POWDER ANALYSIS
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on activity AUDIENCE: Grades K - 4 TIME FRAME: 30 - 40 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will describe unknown powders based on how it looks, how it feels, and one simple chemical reaction.
MATERIALS: ● Trays (1 per person) ● Powder scoops--wooden craft sticks, or straws cut at an angle (4 per pair) ● Eyedroppers or pipettes (3 per person) ● Medicine/condiment/art cups for sample testing (15 per person) ● Larger cups or containers for holding powders and liquids (8 per 4-6 people) ● Toothpicks for stirring (15 per person) ● Vinegar ● Water ● Baking soda ● Baking powder ● Corn starch ● Salt ● Sugar ● Paper or lab books and pencils
PREPARE AHEAD Prepare labeled containers of the five known powders and the two test solutions with scoops or pipettes for each (1 set for every 4-6 people).
Prepare “unknown” samples of a few of the powders, labeled A, B, C, D, etc. Make one “unknown” for each group of campers.
ENGAGE:
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE Now that you have practiced feeling objects with different textures and using lots of words to describe them, we are going to put those skills to the test by describing some different white powders. They are all pretty similar but still different in small ways. Are you up to the challenge of being careful detectives who look, feel, and use good science words to help describe some evidence?! And remember, we do not EAT our science...today.
SAFETY NOTES: Be aware of camper allergies to any of the powders, remove those that may pose a concern.
PROCEDURE: 1. Hand out the five known powders to each group. Give each camper a tray. 2. Ask campers to make observations about the five known powders. Are there any differences they notice between them by sight? ● What color are they? ● Can you see one smaller piece? ● What does that smaller piece look like? Square, round, jagged edges? 3. Ask campers to make observations about the powders using their sense of touch. Go through one powder at a time as a class. Have them reach in the cup and take out a pinch of powder. Sprinkle it into their other hand, keeping both hands over their tray. Now what differences do they notice? ● Is the powder soft or rough? ● When you rub it between your fingers does it stick together, fall apart, squeak? ● What does just a little bit or one piece feel like? ● When you brush your hands off (keeping the mess on the tray), how do your hands feel? Smooth, slippery, dusty, gritty? 4. Record campers’ observations on chart paper or a whiteboard. 5. Introduce the two test solutions. How do campers think the different powders might react with each of them? Ask campers to make predictions. 6. To test the powders with the solutions: ● Place a scoop of each powder in two separate medicine cups, using the end of a wooden coffee stirrer or straw. Be sure to label them, either by writing on the cup or putting them on a piece of paper and writing on that.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE ● Using a pipette, add 60 drops of water to the first cup of each powder and stir each with a separate stirrer. Observe carefully and record any reactions. ● Add 20 drops of vinegar to the second cup of each substance and stir. Record any reactions or changes. ● Have the class repeat this for each of the powders, testing one at a time. 7. Discuss the group’s results. Do they agree on the results of each reaction? If there are differences, what might explain them? How could they use this information to identify an unknown powder? 8. Distribute an unknown sample to each group. Challenge them to determine the identity of the substance, using the class’s observations. 9. Reflection: ● What does your test say about the identity of their unknown sample? Do the results agree with others who had the same unknown? ● What are the limitations of this test? Does this test definitely identify the unknown substance? Why or why not? (Hint: What about substances other than the four they tested?)
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? Chemical compounds that look very similar can have very different chemical properties. Chemists and forensic scientists can take advantage of this by using chemical tests to identify unknown substances that might otherwise look similar. In this experiment, the four powders are reacted with three separate liquids. None of the liquids will distinguish between the substances by itself; using all three produces a different pattern of reaction from each powder, which makes it possible to tell them apart.
● Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) reacts with acids (such as vinegar) to release carbon dioxide gas. ● Baking powder contains both baking soda and a powdered acid (usually tartaric acid). They will react as soon as they are dissolved in water to produce bubbles of carbon dioxide. ● Expected results:
Water (60 Vinegar (20 drops) drops)
Baking powder Bubbling Bubbling
Baking soda NR Bubbling
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE Cornstarch NR NR
Sugar NR (dissolves) NR (dissolves)
● One limitation of chemical tests like these is that they are not necessarily specific-- more than one substance, or whole groups of related substances, might react in the same way. If we know that the unknown substance is one of the four we tested, these tests help to distinguish between them, but if the sample were completely unknown, these tests would not be enough to identify it. ● Chemical tests are still used to quickly test for (or rule out) the presence of certain types of substances such as lead, starch, or blood; to identify more complex compounds, or mixtures of different substances, modern forensic scientists use other techniques such as mass spectroscopy, which provide a more specific “fingerprint” for individual substances.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE DINNER PARTY
ACTIVITY TYPE: Active game AUDIENCE: Grades K - 9 TIME FRAME: 10 - 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers attempt to identify a “murderer” in their midst.
PROCEDURE:
1. Ask the group to close their eyes. Select one of the campers to be the “murderer” by tapping them on the shoulder so their identity remains a secret.
2. Have the group begin going around and shaking hands.
3. The murderer should try to tickle the inside of others’ hands during the handshake without being noticed by others.
4. Players who have their hands tickled should count for 10 seconds and then act out a dramatic death scene ending with themselves sitting on the ground.
5. The game is over when either: 1. A guest correctly guesses who the murderer is by whispering it to the instructor or 2. The murderer kills all the other guests.
6. If playing with more than 1 murderer it is possible for a third way to win. If the murderers kill each other thus making the party safe for everyone again.
ADAPTATIONS: For younger campers, instead of a murderer, the suspect could be a magician who puts people to sleep.
For older campers, identify two or three “murderers” for each round to make the game more challenging.
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE SOLVE IT!
ACTIVITY TYPE: Circle time discussion and storybook AUDIENCE: PreK - 1 TIME FRAME: 20 - 25 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will explore how piecing together different pieces of information can help solve a mystery.
MATERIALS: ● Book: Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young ● 12 - 15 piece jigsaw floor puzzle
PREPARE AHEAD: Put the puzzle pieces in a container other than the original box, so the puzzle’s picture isn’t visible anywhere.
ENGAGE: Introduce the day’s theme:
All week we’ve been training our senses to be better at finding clues. Now it’s time to think about what happens next. Once we have the clues, what do we do with them? How do we use them to figure out the answer to the mystery?
PROCEDURE: Puzzle Pieces (10 min.) 1. Choose a piece of the puzzle with a non-obvious part of the picture on it. Hold it up or place it in the center of the circle for the group to see. ● What do you think this is? ● What do you think this puzzle is a picture of? What makes you think that? 2. Use campers’ answers or your own ideas to suggest different objects or images the single puzzle piece could be part of (a green piece could be grass, a green tractor, a giant frog, etc.). Point out that it is hard to know what the picture is with only one piece. ● What else could this piece of the puzzle be?
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE ● What could help us find out more about what this picture is? 3. Take out a second piece. Invite the group to make observations and predictions about that piece. ● What do you think this piece could be showing? ● What do you think the whole picture of the puzzle is now? What makes you think that? ● Are we sure about the picture, or do we need another clue? 4. Repeat with two or three more puzzle pieces. Pull them out one at a time, asking campers to make new predictions about what the puzzle’s picture is, based on the new piece. 5. Put out all the remaining pieces at once, placing them face-up, but not attached or in order. ● Do you have any more ideas about what this picture could be? What makes you think that? ● What could we do to solve the mystery of this puzzle picture? 6. Invite the group to work together to assemble the puzzle. 7. Discuss how the finished puzzle relates to their predictions at different times. ● What was it like to guess the picture with only one piece? ● What was it like to guess with three or four pieces? ● What about when we had all the pieces? Storybook Reading (10 min.) 1. Show the front cover of the book and read the title. ● What do you notice on the cover of the book? ● If the mice are blind, which of their senses can’t they use? Which ones can they use? ● What do you think this book might have to do with clues and solving mysteries? What makes you think so? 2. As you read, stop occasionally and invite the group to make observations about the illustrations or predict what will happen next. ● What do you think the strange Something could be? What makes you think so? ● What clue did the mice get about the Something on this page? Discussion and Connections (5 min.) 1. Make connections between the mice in the book and the previous puzzle exercise. Encourage the group to think about how putting many pieces or clues together makes it easier to get the right idea about what something is. ● What guesses did the mice make when they had only one clue about the Something? ● How did they figure out what the Something really was? How was that like what we did with the puzzle pieces?
created by THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE 2. Use the ideas from this discussion to frame the rest of the day’s activities. Highlight times when campers put together different pieces of information or use multiple senses to figure something out. ● Which different senses did you use to help you figure out what the mystery powder was? ● What different clues did you put together to help you find the right potato?
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? Whether solving a mystery or discovering something new about the universe, detectives and scientists both work on gathering information about something that is unknown. This means collecting many small pieces of information and putting them together to create a larger picture of what is going on. Each piece of information by itself may not be enough to tell the whole story, but the more pieces of information there are, the easier it is to put the puzzle together.
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ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on activity AUDIENCE: Grades K - 2 TIME FRAME: 20 - 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will practice using tools to extend their senses to make observations about things they can’t see or touch.
MATERIALS: ● Pre-made Mystery Boxes (1 per 2 - 4 students), OR shoeboxes, each with a recognizable object (bar of soap, plastic figure, apple, rock, sock, etc.) inside, and prepared as follows: ○ One (or more) completely sealed and no hole ○ One (or more) sealed, with a small hole in the top, large enough for a chopstick to fit through (but not a finger) ○ One (or more) sealed, with a 2” hole covered by a magnifying lens and a small hole (<1”) on one side to allow light in ● Chopstick or small dowel (to fit through small hole in box) ● Paper and writing utensils for drawing/ writing observations
PREPARE AHEAD If necessary, make the boxes according to the material list directions.
ENGAGE: Start by asking what the campers know about their senses. (How many are there? What are they? Which parts of their bodies do they use for each?) Each of those body parts can help with only one (or maybe two) senses, so the brain works together with all of them to help you understand everything around you.
Sometimes scientists and detectives come across things that they can’t directly sense. The object may be too far away or too small or too hard to predict the movement of - this is when tools come into play! What kinds of tools do detectives and scientists use to extend their senses?
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PROCEDURE: 1. Introduce the boxes. Explain that campers are going to challenge their brains by observing things without using their senses directly. Each has a mystery object inside – their job is to see what they can figure out about what’s inside without opening the box. 2. Put one box on each table and pass out paper and writing utensils. Encourage campers to share and work together to find out what they can about what’s inside. Have them make notes or draw pictures about what they observe. As they work, ask guiding questions like: ○ What other tools or techniques could you use to find out more? ○ What tells you that it is a _____? (Is it the sound? The weight? The smell?) 3. Don’t initially hand out the chopstick for the small-hole box. Let the group work on the problem first; if they don’t come up with the idea after a few minutes, you might ask questions like: ○ If it’s too small for your finger and too dark to see into, is there anything else you could try? ○ Are there any tools you can think of that might help you? 4. After students have had time to make their observations, rotate the boxes to new tables and repeat with the new boxes. Ideally each group would have a chance to observe all of the boxes, but if time is short, you could stop after 2 or 3. (However, you may want to make the boxes available for the students during free time, so they can try the ones they missed.) 5. Discussion: What characteristics were they able to figure out about the object in each box? What senses did they use, and what senses couldn’t they use? (You may want to list their observations for each box on a separate piece of chart paper). Which objects were the hardest to figure out? Which senses make it easiest to figure out what something is? Did they use any other tools (like the chopstick, the table, other things) to get more information? Optionally, have everyone make a final guess about what they think is in each box.
NOTE: The students will, of course, want to open the boxes and find out what the objects are. If at all possible, don’t do this right away! Leave the boxes accessible, and challenge them to think of other creative ways to get more information about what’s inside. Reveal what’s inside at the end of the day, or the next morning – or not at all, if they continue to find new ideas for learning about them!
ADAPTATIONS:
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Pre-K/ K: This may work better as a circle time activity than a small group activity. Depending on time and attention, you might just use the sealed box and the hand-hole box, or those two plus the bag. Talk about each box individually, and pass it around the circle so each student can make observations. You could have a piece of chart paper for each box and have each student draw a picture on it of what they think is in that box.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? We use our senses every day to get information about the world around us. Sight gives us information about the size, shape, and color of objects, as well as distance and movement. Touch tells us about texture, temperature, and weight. Hearing tells us about sound—but also that sound’s location in relation to us. The senses of smell and taste give us information about an object’s smell and taste (which are actually related to what an object is made of – its chemical makeup).
The brain’s job is to collect all the information from our senses and compare it to things we already know or remember to help us figure out what the object (or place or situation) is. For example, when you hold a wooden block, your brain remembers what it looks like, but also what the sides and edges and corners feel like, and how heavy it is, and what it sounds like when you drop it on the floor – so that the next time you feel those sides and edges and corners or hear that sound, your brain recognizes it as a block, even if you can’t see it.
Humans rely very heavily on their sense of sight, which is why it is so much harder to know what an object is when you can’t see it! However, our brains can change. With practice, they can get better at recognizing things by touch or smell or sound, or interpreting the information that a tool might give us.
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PUZZLE IT OUT
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on activity; make-and-take AUDIENCE: Grades K - 5 TIME FRAME: 15 - 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers consider what clues and strategies are used in solving jigsaw puzzles and create their own puzzle to take home.
MATERIALS: ● Blank postcard puzzles (1 per person) http://www.staples.com/Instructional-Fair-Rectangle-Blank-Puzzle-12-pack-Puzzle/product_824798 https://www.amazon.com/Jigsaw2order-Activity-Puzzles-Individual-Envelope/dp/B075JPMT87/ref=sr_1_4 ?ie=UTF8&qid=1547133149&sr=8-4&keywords=blank+puzzles+12+piece ● Crayons and/or markers ● (Optional) White paper and/or construction paper ● (Optional) Scissors
ENGAGE: Detectives gather clues and evidence, but they also have to look for connections between the clues to put the whole story together--kind of like putting together a puzzle! Have you ever solved a jigsaw puzzle? How can you tell which pieces go together? What clues do you look for? What things make a puzzle easier to solve? What things make it harder?
PROCEDURE: 1. Pass out blank puzzles. Encourage campers to think about what kind of puzzle they want to make. They may want to sketch their design on paper first. ● Will it be a hard puzzle or an easy one? ● What kind of design or picture will be on it? ● What mystery will be revealed when the puzzle is put together? 2. Provide crayons or markers and allow campers to create their puzzle designs. 3. When campers are satisfied with their designs, encourage them to break the puzzle apart and give it to a partner to solve.
TAKE IT FURTHER:
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● Make additional puzzles completely from scratch by drawing a design on a piece of paper and cutting it into pieces. How many pieces will it have? What shape(s) will they be? How could you make it easier or harder to solve? ● Mix everyone’s puzzle pieces together and try to sort them back into individual puzzles.
ADAPTATIONS: For older groups: Create an extra challenge by making a two-sided puzzle. Draw designs on both sides of the paper before cutting the pieces (thicker papers work better for this than copy paper). How does this make the puzzle more challenging?
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? ● Doing science is a lot like putting together a puzzle! Forensic scientists, archaeologists, paleontologists, and even chemists, biologists, and physicists rely on gathering small pieces of information and putting them together to understand the bigger picture of something they can’t see or study by itself. ● To put puzzles together, you look for clues on the individual pieces and try to see how it relates to the other pieces. You might look for things like: ○ Shape--Are the knobs and holes small? Large? Round? Oblong? ○ Color--Are there other pieces that have the same color or colors? ○ Lines or patterns--Are there lines or patterns that might continue across other pieces? ○ Letters or shapes--Are there parts of words or shapes that might be completed on another piece?
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TRASH LIFE RECONSTRUCTION
ACTIVITY TYPE: Hands-on activity AUDIENCE: Grades K - 6 TIME FRAME: 15 - 30 minutes SUMMARY: Students practice making inferences about an unknown person’s life and movements based on observation of their discarded items.
MATERIALS: Bags of 6 - 8 “trash” objects (1 per group of 2 - 4 people) that tell a story. Include random other trash items that do not fit the story (scraps of paper, receipts, wrappers, etc).
Scenario #1: Party ● Napkins ● Wrapping paper ● Plastic utensils ● Party hat, plate, or napkin ● Crumbs or loose flour ● Plastic spoons ● A slotted spoon ● Ribbon ● A rag ● Birthday candles Scenario #5: Sports game ● Empty juice box or water bottle ● Grass Scenario #2: School ● Paper hot dog boat ● Broken pencil or pencil shavings ● Ticket stub ● Notebook paper ● Water or sports drink bottle ● Chalk and/or Expo marker ● Empty sunscreen tube or bottle ● Highlighter ● Hat/visor/sunglasses ● Scrap of construction paper Scenario #5: Preschool classroom ● Empty glue stick or bottle ● Broken crayons ● Novelty eraser ● Bits of clay or play dough ● Something that looks like a test ● Broken toy or puzzle piece Scenario #3: Restaurant ● Bits of yarn ● Empty food containers ● Snack wrapper ● Condiment packets ● Glitter
PREPARE AHEAD:
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Prepare bags of “trash” with items and clues appropriate to the age of the group:
● Younger groups’ bags may have fewer items and a very simple concept (party hats, wrapping paper, and a birthday card = an 8-year-old had a birthday party).
● Older groups’ bags may include evidence indicating multiple people, as well as items that aren’t helpful or don’t fit.
ENGAGE: What does your trash say about you? What kinds of things do you throw away? What kinds of things do other members of your family throw away? If someone looked through your trash can right now, what would they find?
Both crime scene investigators and archaeologists use the things that people leave behind to make inferences about what those people did and how they lived. What is an inference? How is it different from an observation? What are some examples of inferences you could make from a piece of someone’s trash?
PROCEDURE: 1. Divide the class into groups of 2 - 4 students and give one bag of “trash” to each group. 2. Encourage groups to start by making careful observations of the items in the bag. ● What things are there? How many of each? ● What details can they notice about each one? 3. Next invite the groups to begin making inferences about the items: ● Where might the item have come from? ● How could it have been used? ● Could there be more than one answer to these questions? 4. Ask groups to start drawing connections between the items to make inferences about the people who created the trash: ● How many people live in this house? How can you tell? ● What kind of job might they have? ● What do they like to eat? ● What do they do in their free time? ● What can you tell about when this trash was created, or specific times when events or activities took place? ● What else can you tell about the people? 5. Discussion: Invite groups to give a profile of the people whose trash they analyzed:
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● How does the evidence support their inferences? ● Were there any pieces of evidence that were hard to explain or didn’t fit? ● Are there any alternative ways to explain the same evidence? Which one do they think is most likely? Why?
TAKE IT FURTHER: Ask groups to imagine they are the people who made the “trash” in their bag. Have them make up and act out a story that explains the evidence--it can include things not indicated by the trash, and can be as silly or wacky as they’d like! Have the rest of the class play the role of investigators and discuss: ● How much of the story do they think is true? Why? ● What part(s) of the story are supported by the evidence? ● Are there any alternative explanations that fit the evidence? ● What other evidence should they look for to prove or disprove the group’s story?
ADAPTATIONS: ● As noted in the “Prepare Ahead” section, scale the activity by increasing or decreasing the complexity of the items in the bags. ● For youngest groups: This could also be done as a large-group/circle time activity instead of individually. You may also want to simplify the definitions of observation and inference: observation is what we notice about something (using our senses), and inference is what we decide about it. (E.g., we notice a party hat in the trash; we decide that means the person had a birthday party.) Encourage them to first notice the things in their bags and then decide what they say about the mystery person who made the trash. ● For older groups: Challenge students to think carefully about when they are making inferences. (Is that thing actually a party hat? Could it have been used for something else?) Encourage them to think of alternative explanations--even crazy ones!--and evaluate how the evidence might support one more than another. (Does an empty candy wrapper mean the person ate the candy? How many other ways could it have gotten there? What other evidence might you need to support each explanation?)
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? ● An observation is something detected directly by using one of the five senses--things like color, shape, texture, temperature, sound, movement, etc. ● An inference is an explanation or conclusion about the observation based on previous experience or other information. For example, you might observe that
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an object is cone-shaped, has brightly colored circles on it, and has a piece of stretchy material attached at the wide end; you infer that it is a party hat, based on your previous experience that things with those particular characteristics are worn on people’s heads at parties. ● It is important to recognize what things are observations and what are inferences, because inferences can be incorrect, or there may be more than one possible inference drawn from the same observations. Further observations or evidence might be needed to support a particular conclusion. ● Inferences are still very important in science because many things cannot be observed directly. Archaeologists and forensic scientists rely on inference because they are studying things that happened in the past, so they can’t observe them directly. They have to carefully examine clues and things left behind and use them to draw conclusions about what happened. ● Many artifacts that archaeologists study are, in fact, trash. People in ancient times threw away the things they didn’t need anymore, just like we do, and those things were protected by being piled up or buried. Sometimes the best archaeological finds come from ancient toilets! People would toss their trash into the latrine, and those remains provide us with lots of clues to what they ate, made, and did.
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WHICH ONE DOESN’T BELONG?
ACTIVITY TYPE: Game/Discussion AUDIENCE: Grades K - 9 TIME FRAME: 5 - 30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers will propose, discuss, and evaluate similarities and differences in sets of images.
MATERIALS: ● Which One Doesn’t Belong cards (1 set per 2-3 campers) ● Which One Doesn’t Belong blank template (1 per camper) ● Pencils/crayons/markers
PREPARE AHEAD: Print copies of the WODB cards in color. Print one copy for every 2-3 people.
ENGAGE: People are good at noticing differences. Can you use your puzzle-solving skills to find the image that doesn’t belong? This game has NO wrong answers! As long as you can justify your answer, you are correct.
PROCEDURE: 1. Show one puzzle at a time for the class. Ask the following questions for each card. ○ How is one picture different from the others? ○ What kinds of things makes the other pictures similar? ○ Does anyone see other differences or similarities? ○ Can we come up with a reason why each of the four pictures might not belong? 2. Remember, with this activity, it is the observation that matters, not the answers! 3. There are many possible solutions and observations about these puzzles. Here are a few to start off.
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Colors & Shapes of Letters
All words but this begin All words but this word with a consonant. contain the letters “o” and “n”. All words but this are in a No words but this are in square with a single color background. italics.
All words but this word are All letters but these are on a blue background. All black. All words but this words but this have letters contain letters that do not without serifs (like the feet descend below the line. of the letter “n”).
Colors & Counting
All dice but this one are All dice but this one are on light colored with dark a white background. spots or numbers.
All dice but this one All dice but this one have represent the number two. dots. All dice but this have six sides.
Shapes
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All shapes but this one have All shapes but this one have an even number of sides. equal angles..
All shapes but this one have All shapes but this one have white interiors. sides with equal lengths.
Odds and evens
Only this domino is a All dominoes but this one double. have an even numbers of dots on each half.
Only this domino has a All dominoes but this have blank. a total of four dots.
Letters
P is the only letter with All letters but S are on a both curved and straight colored background. lines. Also, all letters but P are symmetric: S and O stay o the same if rotated 180 , T if flipped left to right.
All letters but T have All letters but O are curved lines (and can be consonants. drawn without lifting a pencil off the paper or retracing a line).
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Solids
All objects but the rubber The pretzel is the only band are rigid. Only the object that is edible. It is rubber band is flexible. also the only one that will snap when bent.
All objects but the bottle All objects but the saw have a hole that goes all the blade are brown. The saw way through. No other blade is the only object with sharp edges. object holds water.
TAKE IT FURTHER: Use as many or as few of these puzzles as you think are best suited to your class.
ADAPTATIONS: If campers are enjoying these puzzles, challenge them to create their own on a piece of paper. Some topics for puzzles might be: ● Additional shapes, such as spirals that vary in length, direction, width, or number of turns. ● Artwork that varies in the treatment of color, line, light, and space. ● Pictures of plants or animals. Remember that each picture in turn must differ in some way from the other three. Start with one picture, for example of a lion. Identify four attributes of that lion: it is wild, furry, standing on four legs, and facing left. Then change a single attribute at a time and identify an animal with this single changed attribute. For example, (1) a domesticated cow standing on four legs facing left, (2) an alligator with reptilian skin standing on four legs facing left, (3) a kangaroo standing on two legs facing left, and (4) a lion standing on four legs facing right.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE? Patterns are regularities we see in nature or in man-made objects. Scientists both observe and explain patterns, and they use patterns to make predictions.
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For example, ancient astrologers observed patterns in the phases of the moon, the motions of planets through the sky, and the occurrences of lunar and solar eclipses, and they used these observations to predict when events would occur in the future. Later, astronomers sought to explain the observed patterns by constructing successively more accurate models of the solar system and the universe. Likewise, biologists first observed inherited traits in plants and animals; later they developed the science of genetics to explain and predict inherited traits.
Computer scientists, in the field of image processing, are developing computerized ways to recognize faces reliably. Others are trying to improve automotive safety by having computers recognize obstacles in the way of moving vehicles.
Many of the puzzles have interesting connections to mathematics. If you are comfortable with the mathematics, you might highlight some of these connections.
More puzzles can be found at www.wodb.ca/.
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DETECTIVES AND SUSPECTS
ACTIVITY TYPE: Active game AUDIENCE: Grades K-9 TIME FRAME: 15-30 minutes SUMMARY: Campers play an active game to reinforce detective-themed concepts and vocabulary.
MATERIALS: Open area large enough for the group to stand and move around easily
SAFETY NOTES: Ensure the play area is free of tripping hazards.
PREPARE AHEAD: This activity is a variation on the children’s game “Ships and Sailors” (also called “Captain’s Orders”). If you are not familiar with the game, you may want to look up instructions or videos online to become comfortable with how to lead it.
PROCEDURE: 1. Explain the basic rules of the game: You (the leader) are the Chief Detective and will call out different commands for them to follow. Introduce the commands below and have children practice them until they are comfortable. For younger groups, start with just the first few commands, adding others in later: ● Detectives: Line up against one wall/side of the space ● Suspects: Line up against the opposite wall/side of the space ● Find a Clue: Crouch and examine ground with imaginary magnifying glass ● Footprint: Balance on one foot ● Coffee Break: Lie on the ground as if napping. Don’t move until the command “Back to work!” ● Collect Evidence: Three people; two people face each other and join arms, trapping the third “evidence” person inside ● Dust for Prints: Turn around in a circle, making dusting motions with one hand
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● Lab Test: Two people; one person kneels on hands and knees to make a “lab bench”; second person kneels beside them and strikes a “science-y” pose of their choice--pouring into a test tube, looking into a microscope, etc. ● Question the Witness: Two people face each other; one poses as if writing in a notebook, the other poses with hands out in an “I-don’t-know” shrug ● Solve the Case: Point to the nearest person and say dramatically “Aha! It’s you!” 2. Anyone who makes a mistake gets “sent off the case.” Their job is to sit out and be on the lookout for others’ mistakes. 3. Start by giving commands slowly and gradually speed up to make it more challenging to follow. 4. After a few rounds, invite children to take turns being Chief Detective. 5. Challenge the group to come up with new commands of their own: ● What other objects or actions are part of detective work? ● How could you show them with your body, or with two or three people?
ADAPTATIONS: ● Depending on the age and size of your group, you could play the game until everyone is eliminated but one; that person is declared the winner and becomes Chief Detective for the next round. ● If youngest campers have difficulty being “out,” consider having them sit out for just one or two commands before coming back in; or leave it out altogether--just point out mistakes but allow them to continue playing.
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Detective Name______
Observation Logbook
Activity
Observations
Sketches/Notes
Activity
Observations
Sketches/Notes
MY FINGERPRINTS
Name______
Three Types of Fingerprint Patterns
Arches Plain Arch Tented Arch
Arches are least common with ridges that enter from one side and exit the other side of the finger
Loops Plain Loop Double Loop
Loops are most common and can enter from either side of the finger
Whorls Plain Whorl Pocket Loop Whorl
Whorls are the second most common with circles inside each other
Whorls Accidental Whorl Accidental Whorl
Any pattern that doesn’t fit into the above categories is called an accidental whorl
Which One S P
Doesn’t Belong? O T
Nice to meet you, Science Detectives! Sounds like you’ve been working hard and having fun, but… Are you ready to detect my first prank A certain noisy critter is taking a of the week? It won’t be easy to spot time-out; with your listening ears on, the thing I’ve switched in your perhaps its hiding place you’ll scout. classroom.
You didn’t think you could get away To do: without one final prank, did you? - buy tuna Is your teacher getting sleepy?...growing - send invites groggy?...feeling dreamy? - make a card If you want to end this week with some - plan feline festivities energy and pep, don’t delay--but be careful, finding clues is your first step.
Whew...I heard you coming so I’m making my escape! You nearly had me in your grasp, your skills are in great shape. I’m impressed with your senses, your teamwork, and your smarts; you are scientists in the making, I am sure with all my heart!