Introduction
Magic is real. It exists all around us. My Kinderscholars have proudly informed me of this every year that I have taught. They inform me of the reality of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny. After providing me with their facts, they always seek confirmation from me. I used to smile at their enthusiasm and advise them to have this discussion with their family. Then, it occurred to me that this is a missed opportunity; a teachable moment lost. Why not engage their sense of wonder and fascination with magic to teach them the science of every day magic?
Modern day scientists are what I imagine history saw as sorcerers or wizards. Scientists can understand the world around them down to the atoms. Knowledge is their magic and with it they can produce results that dazzle the mind. A form of modern day magic that this unit focuses on is cooking. Cooking is a commonality of which all of my scholars can relate. Magic occurs every day when a chef produces a culinary delight out of ingredients that boggle the mind. They take a list of ingredients that seem questionable to the palate and make it extraordinary. Bakers create magic when they manipulate molecules into intricate desserts that are as much a pleasure aesthetically as they are orally. Desserts such as Marjolaine, Baked Alaska, Croquembouche, and chocolate soufflé are exquisite in appearance and taste. Yet all it takes is one small misstep and the dessert is destroyed.
This unit engages their sense of wonder and thirst for knowledge. It takes a topic that intrigues them, magic, and makes it an attainable skill through science. How does the magic of science function? How can this be explained to kinderscholars? This unit seemed like a lofty goal when I first began the research. My education in science was a minimal broad overview instead of an in-depth investigation. This has been a weakness I have been seeking to strengthen since I have begun teaching. Thus, each area of content for this unit begins with the basics and builds up to a higher level for those teachers out there that have similar educational backgrounds. The scholars will use their five senses to explore states of matter, heat, heat transfers, chemical reactions and ultimately what happens when heat is applied to states of matter. The scholars will become the scientist who can produce magic. This unit gives them the power of knowledge so that they can attain the ability to understand and create that which fascinates them.
The Kinderscholars at my school arrive armed with curiosity and little else. The majority of these scholars have never been to school and several are new to speaking English and living in the United States. Their families are highly mobile, moving within the historical yet crumbling and neglected neighborhoods of North Tulsa. The demographics for my school state that these scholars are mostly African American with single digit percentages of Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Native American, Mixed, and Caucasian. My school relies on local donations and programs to provide the basic supplies needed in the classroom. The teachers provide the rest of the materials which is a phenomenon that is becoming the norm. These scholars do not have the advantages that many children are given around the nation. I consider these factors and embed their needs into the curriculum but the scholars have ample amounts of what I need from them…curiosity.
Comments: