Learn Hands-On with Science Kits!
With the advent of the 21-st century has come the realisation that the traditional methods of learning such as board and chalk are rather insufficient in equipping the children with the knowledge necessary for traversing this complex and competitive world. While classroom teaching is important, real-world knowledge that is gained through practical experiences hold a lot of importance in the growth and development of the child.
Current teaching-learning methods in the classroom are largely restricted to the one-sided flow of information which in many cases becomes boring and even complex for the students to grasp. Such methods of learning often create a disconnect between what the child has learnt and the real-world applications of it. Understanding a theory or a concept is not the same as being able to apply it in one’s daily life. This is something that a lot of teachers forget to put their emphasis on.
What is Science Kit?
A science kit is an educational tool that can act as a supplement to the traditional science classroom. You can think of it as a mini science lab of sorts that would aid in the holistic development of the student through a hands-on approach. These kits come with various materials, lab equipment, manuals etc. that would help the student learn and explore science by themselves.
Advantages of Science Kits
- Allows much better understanding of the concepts for the students
- It is an experimental form of learning, and the students work through trial and error, learning through their mistakes.
- Ensures that learning is not boring and monotonous.
- Ensures better retention of concepts in the student’s mind.
- Creates lifelong learners by sparking the spirit of inquiry in children and making them want to learn more and explore.
- Improves a child’s manual dexterity and helps them develop a keen eye for detail.
- Makes sure that learning is not merely restricted to the classroom, and that students can even perform the activities in the comfort of their homes.
With the recognition that children need to be engaged in the learning process, Next Education has created the Next Explorer Science Kits to foster the innate curiosity of the child. Learning through a hands-on model is a fool-proof method that guarantees the clarity of the concept to the child. What might take a child ten times of revision would be etched in their minds through one single demonstration.
The science experiment kit for each grade has been created keeping in mind the unique needs of the child at every stage of their brain development. Each kit comes along with 10+ activities with at least 4-5 interlinking concepts which would make the real-life connect easier. Such a method, crafted specially to ensure that important skills such as experimentation, observation, problem-solving, language development and risk mitigation are inculcated in the child, also guarantees increased engagement and retention.
In addition, each science kit also comes with a product key that will unlock exclusive activity videos available on the NextCurriculum mobile app (Google Playstore) to help the children further learn through visualisation.
Science Kit (Class 4)
Science Explorer (Grade 4) is a science kit for students (9 years old) in the third grade. It consists of activity materials and an instruction manual detailing step-by-step procedures for executing different activities. Besides, it has a list of exploratory questions, knowledge nuggets, fun zones and look around for each activity.
The activities include:
Digestive System Puzzle:
The activity makes the students create a model of the human digestive system to help them identify the various parts of the human digestive system and learn their positions. The students can make the models of various parts of the digestive system and fix it together on the given layout. The activity also teaches the student the functions of different organs.
Model of Teeth: In this activity, the students will make the models of teeth to understand and classify the various types of teeth. The kit provides the base, clay and metal rods using which the children will construct their models. In the end, the model will resemble an actual set of teeth, and the children will learn the different types of teeth and their functions.
Solar Heater: This activity aims to teach the students about the heating effect of the solar heater. It will help them learn more about renewable and non-renewable sources of energy. It will also help them understand how energy can be converted into various forms. The experiment is conducted mostly with the help of the reflector and the kit also provides a thermometer to help the students measure the temperature at various times of the day.
Hovercraft: A hovercraft is a vehicle that travels over land or water on a cushion of air provided by a downward blast. With this activity, the students will learn how air can be used to reduce friction in a hovercraft. It also teaches the students how friction affects the sliding movement of an object on different surfaces.
Electric Generator: This activity teaches the students that energy can be changed from one form to another. With the help of the DC motor and pulley, the children are made to construct the generator. Once the generator is created, the students have to perform the actions prescribed in the manual and write down their observations.
Through generating enthusiasm and interest in science, the Next Explorer Kits work towards making science fun and enjoyable, rather than scary and difficult. With the help of our detailed manuals, the students can easily build the various models, learning by themselves. In addition, the instruction videos available on the Next Curriculum app also ensures that the students will always have visual aids to always assist them in case of roadblocks.
With the changing times, the methods of learning and teaching also need to change and adapt. The advent of teaching assistance tools such as science experiment kits also makes the life of a teacher and parent easy. With the aid of the equipment in the kit, the teacher can easily demonstrate the concept in class, saving her the time and energy wasted in delivering monotonous lectures that do not guarantee a complete understanding of the concept to the listener.
