Kindergartners Explore in Middle School Science Lab
It is typical to see science lessons taking place in kindergarten classrooms. However, how often do you walk into an 8th grade science lab and see it filled with kindergarteners working hand in hand with their older counterparts? Pardes kindergartners are given this special opportunity to conduct experiments with their 8th grade science buddies several times during the school year.
Mr. Rivas’s 8th grade science class most recently welcomed the kindergartners for an experiment that involved combining different mixtures of water and food coloring and observing the results as the colors changed. The kindergartners donned goggles as they worked with their 8th grade buddy to conduct the experiment with beakers and test tubes. It also directly correlated with what both grades were learning: accuracy and precision for the older students, and sensory and observation for the younger ones.
“Not only is this giving them responsibilities, but it’s empowering them as well. It’s not just about the connections and the whole ‘buddy’ idea, but their engagement is off the charts. They’re practically begging to go back into the lab,” Morah Addi, one of our kindergarten teachers, reflects on watching her students become budding scientists.
At the end, the students were able to clearly see what their hard work had created: “a beautiful rainbow,” one of the kindergartners exclaimed with a smile on her face. She is also excited about future science experiments in the middle school science lab with her 8th grade buddy.