What is it?

During our first couple of days of class we have been discussing that science is about opening your mind to the unknown. Science is an art form, it is allowing your mind to be creative and not shutting yourself off from different possibilities. When allowed, children excel at science because they allow their minds to freely flow with ideas. As we get older, we tend to be opinionated before we even begin looking at something with an open mind thus shutting ourselves off from new perspectives.

Last summer, I studied abroad in Greece underneath a very talented anthropologist, Dr. Whitney. Dr. Whitney, used science as a method to teach us leadership skills, greek mythology and history, and about the nature surrounding us. Many of her lessons were very similar to the paleontology lesson we had the other day in class. The point of the lessons were to get us to work as a team, learn to solve conflicts, and learn how to professionally word our ideas. Just like the dinosaur bones exercise, Dr. Whitney would allow us to draw our own conclusions and discuss ideas before giving us the answer. When teaching children, it is so important, especially as a science teacher to be patient. The conversations children have during an experiment are just as important as the experiment itself. 

As someone who is highly considering teaching science in a departmentalized program one day, I think these type of inquiry lessons are extremely important for the development of elementary children in every subject. 

Over the course of the next two weeks, I will be sharing "what is it?" posts. These posts are designed to get you thinking and to help you expand your curiosity. I encourage you to really think about the post and share comments with other classmates below. Once everyone has had time to study the post, I will post the answer describing what the object is. This should be a fun little activity just to get us all thinking and expanding our ideas. Plus, hopefully you will learn something cool that you can share with your students one day.

Soo, here goes the first one...What is it?

Take a couple of minutes and study the picture above. I will give you a hint: the picture was taken on the island of Santorini.

What is it? 

Where do you think it is located? 

How old is it? 

Why are there holes?

Does the color mean anything?

Remember, the point of this post is to get you thinking and sharing ideas. It is absolutely okay to come up with something that is 100% false, the point is that you are being creative and opening your eyes. Ready, set, GO!