A close look

Take a look around you. What do you see? Science involves exploring and examining the world. Try a game tests your observation skills.

Materilas:
A group of small objects (there must be similar objects in the immediate surroundings);
a covering for the objects (e.g. cloth, jacket)
Paper
Pancils

Doing it:
1. Gather together five to fifteen small objects. There should be other examples of the objects in the immediate surroundings. For example, if you're outside, include one leaf from a tree full of leaves. If you're inside, take one pieces of chalk, or take one pencil from a container full of pencil.

2. Don't let anyone see the objects you've collected. Place them on a flat surface and cover them with a cloth or jacket.

3. People should stand in a circle around the objects. pull the covering away for about 30 secondas (for younger observers, you may want to allow a longer period of time). Everyone should take a good look at each object.

4. When the time is up, cover all the objects. People now work indivicually to hunt for objects "exactly" like all the ones they just looked at. Each person makes a secret list of the objects he or she remembers, and notes a place in the immediate surroundings where an "identical" object can be found.

5. When the hunting time is up, everyone gathers to compare secret lists. Take the cover off the initial collection of objects. How many people remebered all the object? What "identical" objects did people find? Was it possible to find obbjects "exactly" the same? For example, there may be a piece of chalk in the initial collection of objects and a piece of chalk on a shelf, but are the two pieces the same length? Do they have the same markings on them? Observe all the differences between apparently "identical" objects.

Story behind the activity:
If you look closely enough, you'll realize that even the most "ordinary" things around you are fascinating. Observation is a cornestone of science. Observation prompts people to ask questions, and it helps to answer questions. Observation involves closely inspecting things. It involves seeing and sensing through careful analytic attendtion. It's all about coming to know and understand something by putting together all the information that you can collect through direct experience.