(upbeat music)
- Hello and welcome
to Room Nine,
our region's largest classroom.
My name is Mrs. Stobbs
and I teach kindergarten
in the Maplewood Richmond
Heights school district
right here in st. Louis.
Today, I will be
teaching a science lesson
to preschool and kindergarteners
but learners of all ages
are welcome to join us.
So, let's get ready.
Are you guys ready to have
some fun with science?
It's one of my
favorite subjects.
All right, then let's get going.
Okay, so today, we're just
going to talk about scientists.
Who are scientists?
What did they do?
Can you close your eyes?
Close your eyes.
I can see you, don't peek.
Okay, close your eyes.
And I want you to picture
a scientist in your brain.
What does a scientist look like?
Is the scientist of boy?
Is the scientist a girl?
What is the scientist wearing?
What is the scientist doing?
Okay, keep your eyes closed
until you have a good picture
of a scientist in your brain.
Whenever you have a good
picture of a scientist
in your brain, open up your eyes
and give me a thumbs up.
All right, let's see.
Oh, I see lots of
thumbs up, all right.
So, I think we're
ready to move on.
So, what did you picture
whenever you pictured your
scientist in your brain?
I know what I pictured
but I wanna know
what you pictured.
Did you happen to picture
somebody that looks like this?
Woohoo!
That is a mad scientist.
You can tell with his
crazy hair, his crazy eyes.
He's holding a test
tube with chemicals.
Sometimes I know
kindergartners and preschoolers
call them potions
but in science we call them
either chemicals or lab samples.
And he looks like he's going
to maybe think of a big plan,
maybe to destroy the world.
And that's what a lot
of people think of
whenever they think
of a scientist.
Is that true?
No, this is not a true picture.
There are some true things
because there are scientists
who wear lab coats and they
wear their gloves and goggles
and they do work with chemicals.
But usually they're
not mad scientists.
I have another cartoon
and this one shows
a little bit more
of maybe what you
might have pictured
or what a lot of people picture
when they think of a scientist.
They think of against
someone, a man in a lab coat,
mixing chemicals together
and maybe they
have some equations
on the chalkboard behind them.
But you know what?
Neither of these pictures
are true, really.
There are true parts about them
but scientists can look
very different than that.
So, do you want to
see some pictures
of some real
scientists in action?
And we're going to look
at what they look like,
what their clothes are like
and what they're doing, okay?
So, let's get ready.
So, I'm going to show
you a few together first.
I'm gonna show you this one
and then this one.
And how are these like the
cartoon pictures we just saw?
These are scientists
who are in a laboratory
and they're wearing lab coats.
They are wearing gloves.
They are wearing goggles.
They are mixing chemicals
or they're working
with lab samples.
So, it's true that sometimes
scientists do do that.
They sometimes do
work in a laboratory.
So, I'm going to put
these two pictures
and all the rest of the
pictures on our chart paper
that says scientist, scientists.
And then we'll look at
all of them at the end.
So, I'm gonna see if I
can fit them all up here.
So, we'll put these two up first
And let's keep on going.
Okay, I have two more scientists
working in a laboratory.
What do you notice?
I see that this one, this man,
he is working again
with chemicals.
He is wearing gloves.
He is wearing a lab coat.
He is wearing glasses.
But this woman, she's
wearing a lab coat.
She's wearing gloves.
She's not wearing goggles
but it's because she's
looking at something.
What is this tool
that she's using?
Do you know what that's called?
It's called them microscope.
And a microscope takes teeny
teeny teeny teeny tiny things
and makes them look much
bigger so we can see them.
So, maybe we can look at germs.
We could look at
cells in our body
and scientists can look
at them more closely
so they can actually
see what's going on
which is kind of cool.
So, these two scientists
are doing different jobs
but they're both scientists
and they all are wearing lab
coats, they're wearing gloves
and a lot of that, the
ones up here and this
and this man right
here, the scientist,
they wearing goggles.
So, I'm gonna put
these up here too.
All right, let's keep on going.
You ready?
Okay, so I'm going to
show you another one.
Do you think that's a scientist?
I don't see a lab coat.
I don't see goggles.
I don't see, well, I
do see gloves, I guess
but there are different
types of gloves
and that she's not
in a laboratory.
This is a type of scientist.
And I think one of our
papers just fell off.
I'll stick it back
up in a minute.
This is a type of scientist.
This is called a biologist.
She's a biologist
and biologists study
plants and animals.
And it looks like she's studying
a snapping turtle, snap.
And these scientists,
do you think it would be a
good idea for her to wear
a lab coat as she's
walking the woods
and walking through swamps
to try to find turtles?
No, her pockets would
get full of water.
It would get dragged
through the water.
It gets so dirty.
So, she doesn't wear that.
That's not a special
thing that she needs.
Instead, she wears
waders that help her
from getting too wet.
So, scientists
sometimes wear waders.
Sometimes they don't
wear lab coats.
So, let's put this
biologist, this scientist
on our board too
and I'll pick up
the other one too.
All right.
Put it back there.
Okay, let's keep on going.
What do you notice
about these scientists?
There are three
scientists together.
Are they wearing any
special type of clothing?
No, it looks like
they're wearing clothing,
just like I am or maybe like
you are, your parents are.
And so, they don't have to wear
a special type of clothing.
These scientists
are called engineers
and engineers design and build
things to solve problems.
And it looks like these
three are using a computer
to help them design
some sort of vehicle.
And because it's not a
dangerous thing right now,
what they're doing,
they don't have to
wear special clothing.
Now, if they were really
working on this car
or this vehicle, they
might wear gloves
or some protective eyewear but
right now they don't need it
because they're
working on a computer
but that is important
science work too
is working on a computer.
So, scientists
don't have to wear
any sort of special clothing.
They can just wear
their regular clothing.
So, let's put these guys
on our scientist board too.
All right, let's keep on going.
Oh, this is a scientist
that a lot of you
probably know about.
And if you love dinosaurs,
this might be a job
that you would love to
have whenever you grow up.
Do you know what this is?
This is a paleontologist.
And a paleontologist
uncovers dinosaur bones.
So, they dig through the dirt,
they crack through rocks
and they find fossils.
It might be dinosaur bones
or it might be
another type of fossil
but you can see he's not wearing
a special type of
lab coat either.
Sometimes he might but
right now, whenever he's out
in the rocks, in the sand,
he has a hat to protect
himself from getting sunburned.
He has clothing that
he can get dirty.
You can even see his
shirts kind of dirty
but he is using special tools.
So scientists sometimes
need special tools
but they don't need
the special clothing.
But you can see just
like our biologist,
who was out in the woods,
catching snapping turtles,
this scientist, this
paleontologist is
out in the world
and he's digging up fossils
because that's
where you find them.
You don't find them
in a laboratory.
You find them out in the world.
So, let's stick this
guy on our chart too.
Okay.
Oh, this one's really neat too.
This type of scientist often
works with a paleontologist.
This is a geologist
and a geologist studies rocks.
And sometimes they
have to, like I said,
they have to work
with paleontologists
because whenever they're
learning about rocks
or digging through rocks,
they might find some fossils
but geologists, they
study big rocks,
they study small rocks and
they learn all about the world
because our world, our earth
has a lot of rock on it.
And so, they have to study them.
So, that's something
that you have to do.
That's something that you
could do if you love rocks.
And I see that she's wearing
a hard hat to protect her
just in case any
rocks fall on her
but I don't see a lab coat.
Again, she's out in the world.
She's out in the field.
That's what they call it
to find really cool rocks.
So, let's keep on going.
So, look at these
scientists that we have.
Some are in lab coats, some
are in different clothing
and they all are different.
We have men, we have women.
We have people of
different races
and different colored skin.
Anyone can be a scientist.
All right.
This is a scientist too.
And this scientist is
called a meteorologist
and meteorologists
study the weather,
they study maps and they try
to predict the type of weather
that we're going to have.
So, if you've ever
asked your mom or dad
or grandma or grandpa, your
grownup that you live with,
if you can go to the park,
maybe they might say,
let me check the weather
to see if it's a good day
to go outside and play outside.
And they might check
it on their phone,
they might listen to a
weather report on the radio
or on the TV and then they
hear from the weather people,
what the weather is
going to be like.
And a meteorologist
studied the weather
and figured out what the
weather was going to be.
Now, they're not always right
because weather's
really tricky to solve
but they try their best
and they've learned all
they can about whether
to make good decisions,
to try to help you
know how to get
dressed for the day.
If you should wear a sweater,
if you should wear rain boots,
if you should wear shorts,
whatever you should
wear for the weather.
So, let's put her, this
scientist, this meteorologist
on our chart too.
All right, we have another one
who has a very special
type of outfit.
And this is a very cool,
I mean, all of these
are really cool,
this one's really, really
cool too type of scientist.
What is her job?
What type of scientists
do you think she is?
This is an astronaut.
And an astronaut goes where
into space and they study space.
Or sometimes they study
people that are in space
or maybe they try to
grow plants in the space.
They try to study
different things,
how life is affected by space
because out in outer space is
very different than on earth.
So, this is a type of scientist.
And do you think she has
to have very special tools
for her job?
Oh my goodness, yes.
She even has to
bring her own air,
just like scientists,
marine biologists.
They study the ocean.
They have to bring
their own air too
because they're
going underwater.
So, scientists have a
lot of really cool tools
that help them do their job.
And it's not always something
that's in a laboratory.
So, let's put our
scientist or our astronaut
on our scientist chart.
All right, I have one more
and that doesn't mean, this
is not all of the scientists
that there are.
There are so many
of scientists jobs
but I just have one more
to talk about today.
And I bet it's one that
you see all the time.
I bet you go to see the
scientist a few times a year.
Do you have any guesses?
A scientist that works
with human bodies
and they help
humans feel better?
Who is it?
It's a doctor.
Doctors are scientists.
Did you know that?
They have to learn a lot
about how our bodies work
to figure out how to help us.
And so, if you want
to become a doctor,
whenever you grow up,
you have to take a
lot of science classes
so that you're ready to
help people feel better.
So, a doctor is a scientist too.
I'll add her to our chart.
All right, so we saw
and you can kind of see,
I'll move this
over a little bit,
we saw that scientists
come in all types,
all types of people
can be scientists.
Boys can be scientists.
Girls can be scientists.
People of all races and
colors can be scientists.
Anyone can be a scientist
but all of these jobs,
all of these scientists have
to do some of the same things.
Their jobs can be very different
but all scientists do
a few certain things.
Are you ready to learn
what scientists do?
What all scientists?
You ready?
I can't hear you.
Are you ready?
Okay, let's see.
So, scientists have
very important jobs
and their main job,
what they wanna do
is to learn about something,
to help the world.
That's what most
scientists want to do.
They want to figure out
how to make the world
a safer, a cleaner,
a better place.
And to do that,
they do four things.
And we're going to learn
about those four things.
So, the first thing
that scientists do
they ask questions.
They ask questions.
They might say, I
wonder why that tree,
why the leaves are turning
yellow on that tree.
That's a question that
a scientist might ask.
Okay, so that's number one.
They ask questions.
Number two, after they
ask that question,
they learn all they
can through reading,
through observing,
through testing,
Maybe they're mixing
chemicals together
but they might do a
different type of test
or talking to other experts.
They might talk to
other scientists
that are already
studying it, okay.
So scientists,
they ask questions.
They learn all they can through
reading, through observing,
through testing and
through talking to experts.
Then after that, after they
learn or while there they learn,
they record their information.
That means they write it down.
They might write down words,
they might draw pictures,
they might do math problems
but they record
what they've learned
through their observations,
through their tests,
through their reading
or if you're talking to experts.
After they've
learned all they can
and they've written it down,
then you know what they do?
They share with the world
what they've learned.
Now, they might
not seem like that.
I wish everything was a musical.
And I wish scientists
would come out and say,
I found a new word
in South America
but they don't
usually, the way that they
share what they learned
with other people is they type
it and they write a report
and then they send it to a
magazine or something like that.
But sometimes they do, they
might stand up and give a speech
and say, this is what we've
learned about this topic,
but they usually don't add a
little song and dance to it.
That's just, that's
Mrs. Stobbs adding it.
If I was a scientist like that,
I would come out to the
world and sing my report.
All right, so can you guys
help me do that again?
Can you do the motions with me?
So scientists,
what they do, they,
remember the first one?
They ask questions.
Can you make a question?
Shrug your shoulders?
Or maybe you won't
scratch your head?
They ask a question,
then they learn all they
can through reading,
through observing, through
testing or experimenting
or by talking to experts, okay.
After they've done that,
what did they do
after they've learned?
They record their information.
So, pretend you have a notebook
and you're recording
your information.
You might draw a picture,
draw a flower if you're
learning about flowers, okay.
And then they share what
they learned with the world.
All right, good job.
Okay, but wait a minute.
You know what I
was just thinking,
as we were doing
those fun motions?
I was thinking,
I think that kids
do all of those things too.
Do you think you
do those things?
Well, let's go back.
The first thing that scientists
do, they ask questions.
Do you ask questions?
I bet you do.
I teach kindergarten and
I know kindergarteners
have so many questions.
Have you ever asked
so many questions
that you're grown up,
that you live with says,
no more questions.
I don't know the
answers to them.
Sometimes grownups
feel that way.
Sometimes they say, Oh my
goodness, so many questions.
Maybe you asked a question,
like, why is the sky blue?
Why don't dogs talk like we do?
Why do volcanoes explode?
Those are all great questions
that could lead you to find
out more about the world.
So, scientists ask
questions, just like you do.
So, you are a scientist
because you ask questions.
So cool, huh?
All right, well,
let's keep on going
because we said that kids are
great at asking questions.
But the next thing, number two,
scientists learn all
they can through reading,
through observing,
through testing
and by talking to experts.
Do kids do those things?
I think you probably do.
If you love something,
like maybe you're really
interested in dinosaurs,
do you read lots of
books about dinosaurs
or maybe you watch a
movie about dinosaurs
or you look up information on
the internet about dinosaurs?
Give me a thumbs up, if you do,
or about whatever you're
interested in, okay.
So, you are learning
through reading.
Do you, if you're
interested in flowers,
have you ever gone on a walk
and looked at all the flowers
and maybe picked some
flowers and brought them home
and compared them and said,
this one's purple
and this one's blue,
this one has five petals,
this one has seven petals.
That's observing,
that's observing.
So, if you've done
that in any way,
if you've ever looked
closely at something,
you're being like
a good scientist.
Okay, the next one.
Scientists test things
out, they learn by testing.
Have you ever done an
experiment at home?
Or maybe if you haven't
done an experiment,
have you ever had
a toy that's broken
and you had to figure out how
to put it back together again?
That's being a scientist too.
That's running a
test is whenever you
try to get something
to work and maybe it
doesn't work right away
and you have to keep
on having to go back
and trying to fix it again.
So, if you've done that
you are like a scientist.
And then the last one
I said that scientists
learn from reading,
from observing,
from testing or by
talking to experts.
If you love animals, have
you ever gone to the zoo?
And either you've just
observed the animals.
That could be
something that you do
but maybe you've talked
to a zookeeper before
or you've gone to
a class at the zoo
or you've talked to someone else
who knows a lot about animals.
That is being like a scientist.
Scientists learn from
other scientists.
So, oh my goodness.
So, you ask questions
like a scientist
and then you learn all you
can, just like a scientist.
Okay, number three, this one,
they record their information.
Do you do that?
Have you ever,
maybe gone on a walk
or sat in your backyard
or your front yard
and you've just drawn
what you've seen?
Or maybe even in your house,
you've looked at
different things
and you've drawn
pictures of them?
Maybe you've looked
at your pet puppy dog
and you've drawn a picture
of your pet puppy dog?
That is like being a scientist.
Oh my goodness, three
out of four, you've done.
You ask questions,
you learn all you can
and you record your information.
And the last one, number
four, this is that fun one.
They share what they learned.
Have you, after you found
out something really cool
about something that you love,
do you go to someone
and you tell them,
wait, let me tell you
something that I learned,
I learned really cool today?
And then you share
what you learned.
Have you done that?
I bet you have.
So, oh my goodness.
Let's stop!
You ask questions
like a scientist,
you learn everything that you
can just like a scientist,
you record information
like a scientist
and then you share what you
learned just like a scientist.
So, you know what, my friends?
My friends, you are scientists.
Let me pull this off.
It's ripping a little
bit but that's okay.
Oh no, they're all falling down.
That's okay, I'll just put
it to the side right now.
You are a scientist.
Can you read this with me?
It says, I am a scientist.
Can you say that again?
I ama scientist.
Let's cheer it out.
Can you cheer with me?
Ready?
'Cause it's exciting
to be a scientist.
I'm gonna move that over to
the side so you can see it.
I am a scientist!
I am a scientist!
You are, you are a scientist
and don't let anyone
tell you that you're not
because kids make
great scientists.
You guys are better
at asking questions
and learning all you can
and trying new things.
You're better than
even grownups are.
So, kids can be
amazing scientists.
And I am so excited to work
with you over the next few weeks
to become even better scientists
because scientists
still have to learn
and they learn new
tricks and new tools
and they learn new things
about the science world
to help them become
a better scientist.
So, my friends, I am so excited.
And I want you to remember
that you are a scientist,
just like all those
pictures that we saw.
You can be a scientist too.
Okay, so let's look
at some other things.
We are going to
become a scientist today.
I mean, you already
are a scientist
but we're going to become a
very specific type of scientist.
Let me get it off the paper.
Thought my people
would stick up there
but it didn't, that's okay.
We're going to become
a geologist today.
Do you remember what
geologists study?
They study rocks.
So, are you ready to
put on your hard hat
and become a geologist with me?
If you are, give me maybe
you can do a rock and roll
because they're about rocks.
That's kind of a corny joke,
but can you go, geologist.
Can you say, I'm a geologist
and do your rock and roll?
I'm a geologist.
All right, well let
me get my rocks out
and we will work together
through our rock study.
So, hold on tight.
All right, so friends,
we're going to take
what we learned about
being a scientist
and we're going to
put it in practice.
And today we're going to
learn about geologists.
You are going to become a
geologist and study rocks.
So, put on your hard
hat and let's get ready
to be a scientist that learns
about rocks, a geologist.
So, we said that
scientists ask questions.
I want you to look
at these rocks
and I want you to
think about questions
that you might have
about these rocks.
Tell your question to someone
that you're sitting by
or if you need to
shove it down the hall.
The questions I have are
what are these rocks?
What are their names?
I also am wondering where
did these rocks come from?
Also, I'm just
wondering, why are rocks,
why do rocks come in so many
different colors and textures?
Some are shiny.
Some are bumpy.
Some are sparkly.
Some are smooth.
I wonder why.
Well, to learn about them,
we're going to observe, okay?
So, we're just going
to observe today.
And that means that we're
going to look closely.
Observe does not mean that
you just go like this.
That's called a glance and
that is not what scientists do.
They observe, they look very,
very closely at the rocks.
So, can you observe
these rocks with me
and think about what you notice?
I notice different colors.
I notice that some are
shiny, some are sparkly.
So, to help me observe
even more closely,
I'm going to sort the
rocks and sort means
I'm just going to
look at a property,
something about the
rock that describes it
and I'm going to put them in
groups based on that property.
So, I could sort by color, I
could sort by bumpy or smooth
but what I'm going to do
because I really like
these shiny rocks,
I'm going to sort
by shiny or dull
and dull just means
the opposite of shiny.
It just means it's not shiny.
So, let's sort these
rocks by shiny and dull.
Can you help me?
Right, so I definitely
see that the black rocks
are super shiny so I'm going
to put them over on this side.
I also see that these
flat rocks right here,
they are very shiny too.
I see some doll rocks over here.
These are all very dull,
they are not shiny.
Do you see how
they are not shiny?
And let's see, that
is a dull rock.
Oh, this one's very shiny,
very shiny, more shiny rocks.
Oh, these white rocks.
At first they
looked kind of dull
but whenever I see it
closer in the light,
they are pretty shiny so I'm
going to put them over here.
Well, this rock is dull.
Now, these rocks right
here, you know what?
I don't think I can put
them in the shiny pile
or the dull pile because there
are some parts that are shiny
and some that are dull.
So, I see that they have
some sparkles in them
though, sparkles.
So, I'm going to make a
third category right here
and just say sparkly.
So, I changed my plan and
that's what scientists do.
They can sometimes
change their plan.
So, I have shiny, I have
dull and now I have sparkly.
Okay, so we've
asked the question,
we've learned what we
could through observation.
and now we're going to record
the data that we learned
from our observation.
So, I want you to take this rock
'cause I really like this rock
and I'm going to draw a
picture of it in my notebook.
You could do this with
anything that you have at home.
I just have a
notebook and a pencil.
So, I'm just going
to use that today
but if you have markers or
crayons you can use those too.
So, I'm going to trace around it
so I can get the
right shape and size.
And then I see this rock
has a lot of really cool
speckles on it.
So, I'm just going to
kind of make the speckles,
I'm gonna try to make
them the right type.
I see lots of little
polka dots too,
lots of little speckles.
And again, if I had
colored crayons or markers,
I could make this
look even better
but I'm going to go ahead
and color this in like that.
And then, you know what?
Scientists write words too.
I know that you guys are
still learning your letters
and letter sounds bad
that you can help me
sound out some letters.
So, this is a sparkly rock.
How do we spell sparkly?
Let's just think of the first
letter, sparkly, sparkly.
Oh, I hear an S, sparkly.
This rock has also
bumpy, b-b-b-b-bumpy.
So, I'm gonna write
a B for bumpy.
And then what is this?
Is this a bird?
No, it's a rock.
So, I need to write
rock on this somewhere.
So, rock, r-o-c-k,
okay, so rock.
Now, this is not how
you really spell rock
but is that okay for right now?
It is because kindegarteners
and preschoolers
are still learning their
letters and letter sounds.
So, that is a great way.
And I bet a grownup could
read that writing too.
So, we have rock.
I have my rock here and I
wrote sparkly and bumpy.
All right, so now my last
thing that I need to do
is to share this with someone.
Now, I'm sharing it with you
but I also have someone
else I wanna share it with.
I want to share it
with my dog, Oliver,
who you are going
to get to see a lot
this in the next few weeks.
He is right here
and isn't he the cutest little
thing that you've ever seen?
I think so.
So, I'm going to show him
my paper and I'm gonna say,
Oliver, I studied rocks today
and I think, look
over here buddy.
I drew a picture of a rock
and it's sparkly and bumpy.
And this is the
rock that I drew.
Do you wanna sniff it?
He says, oh, that
smells pretty good.
So, Oliver as a
scientist would probably
do something different
than we would pay.
Okay, so my friends, we did it.
We were scientists today.
So, this week I want you to
see if you can be a scientist
in another way too.
Have a great week.
See you later, bye.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] Teaching in
room nine is made possible
with support of Bank of America,
Dana Brown Charitable
Trust, Emerson
and viewers like you.
