Applied Science - Technology (KB)
Pre Lab 

   
OBJECTIVES:
  • Exploring inventions.
  • Comparing Benjamin Franklin Bunny to Benjamin Franklin.

VOCABULARY:

  • creative
  • experiment
  • invention
  • science
MATERIALS:
  • Icky, Sticky Gloop by Morgan Matthes (Troll)

Students are to read a book and discuss inventions.

BACKGROUND:

Science and inventions are similar but different. Inventions find ways to use scientific principles in our everyday life. Today, most scientists require college degrees and laboratories to work in; but inventors just need a creative mind and an ambition to create or make an object more efficient. Emphasize that our society progresses technologically by INVENTIONS not by scientific discoveries. An inventor is able to take science and make it usable. Many scientists are also inventors; and many inventors are also scientists. In human history many scientific breakthroughs were made long before someone found a use for it. Students in kindergarten should begin to distinguish between science and inventions.

Benjamin Franklin is a good example of a famous person who was an inventor. He was a person who always thought of ways to make life better for people. He invented a stove, electricity, binoculars, and many other useful items. Mr. Franklin had very little scientific training, but he was curious about how to make things work better, or saw a need and invented something that filled that need. Explain that Benjamin Franklin was also a key figure in obtaining our freedom from England during the Revolutionary War.

PROCEDURE:

  1. Students will probably relate more to the experiments of Benjamin Franklin Bunny. Tell students that the bunnies' name comes from Benjamin Franklin, not the other way around.
      
  2. Mr. Bunny is trying to find a new glue. As you read the book, go over Ben Franklin Bunny's reasoning. He won't stop until he finds the right glue. You can use this book to show that experiments don't always work; but that doesn't mean that you have to give up.
      
  3. Inventions are usually created because there is a need. Ben Franklin Bunny is an inventor because he is very creative and he likes to experiment. Tell students they can invent also, but ask their parents first!
      
  4. This book or a similar story will help students think about the hands-on lab, which have the students develop their own glue.
      
  5. As an added treat for students, have them look at the "magic" substance at your desk. Make this mixture prior to class. Mix corn starch (200 ml) and water (50 ml) and stir. If you have never worked with corn starch before, experiment prior to class. The mixture that you make is very mysterious. It looks like a liquid yet you can pick it up. If you keep rolling it, the substance will stay solid. Once you stop, it acts like a liquid. Have the students look at it and play with it. This substance looks like glue, but does not work as a glue....just a mess that Benjamin Franklin Bunny would think up!

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