Children gathered in our STEAM studio to participate in an experience using scales to identify the difference between light and heavy.
Using our scales and different-sized bears, we went around our table, where everyone picked a bear and placed it on either the blue or green side of the scale.
As each bear was placed down, our group sat back and began discussions surrounding which side seemed to be heavier and how they were able to recognise this, to which our peers could identify that the blue side was currently heavier as it was lower to the table and the green side was raised.
We continued this experience until there were no more bears left to place, which our group then realised that the scales were not quite even as the green side now seemed to be heavier than the blue.
Through discussions with educators, our peers made group decisions about which sized bear they should move over to the blue side in hopes of leveling the scales.
This experience promotes the children to use cause and effect thinking, hypothesising, social development, cognitive skills, fine motor skills, as well as hand-eye coordination.
