Experiments from Scientific American

At The Yellin Center, we often encourage students who are having difficulty understanding or recalling complicated processes to experience them in a variety of different ways. Instead of just reading about a concept, students can visualize it, write about it, represent it on a graphic organizer, or employ one of a myriad other methods to internalize and remember it.

One of the best ways to learn science, for example, is to pair reading or hearing about concepts with hands-on experiences. For parents interested in helping their kids interact with scientific principles, Scientific American provides a great resource. Their Bring Science Home page contains a series of experiments that are simple and fun, yet also highly instructive. Each is introduced with a "key concept" section which provides important background information on the phenomenon the student will observe during the experiment. The student who is less than captivated by learning about pressure in physics should gain much more enjoyment, and understanding, from the balloon rocket activity!

Science experiments not only make scientific concepts both visual and tactile for kids, they can also be tremendously motivating. Visit the Education page at Scientific American's site for great experiment ideas and other educational resources.