Duration: 45 minutes
SPIRIT Skills:
- Curiosity, sense of wonder and openness
- Critical Thinking
- Flexibility
- Resilience
Brief Description:
Students listen to the story of Mari the Little Scientist, discuss personal experiences with rainbows, and formulate initial hypotheses. The teacher collects key vocabulary and ideas, creating a shared starting point for investigation.
How does this develop particular SPIRIT skills
- Curiosity, sense of wonder and openness: Storytelling and questioning spark curiosity, encouraging students to explore personal experiences.
- Critical thinking: Children analyse observations, challenge assumptions, and develop hypotheses.
- Flexibility: Students consider multiple explanations and remain open to revising their ideas.
- Resilience: Students are encouraged to express ideas, try out hypotheses, and value each contribution in the learning process.
What do we want to achieve regarding SPIRIT skill development (student understanding and/or behaviour)?
What we aim for in terms of student understanding and behaviour:
- Students can formulate questions related to a natural phenomenon.
- They understand that it’s okay not to have immediate answers, solutions can be discovered.
- Their verbal expression improves: narrating experiences and using scientific vocabulary (e.g., light, refraction, reflection).
- They become aware that scientists ask questions and experiment, they are not expected to know everything from the start.
Academic/Curriculum Objective connection
- Environmental Studies: Weather phenomena, the role of light and water in nature
- Language and Literature: Listening comprehension; expressive speaking
- Self-awareness and Identity (cross-curricular): Sharing personal experiences; valuing others’ ideas
- Science: Forming hypotheses; revealing prior conceptions.
Materials and tools needed for implementation
- Projectable or illustrated story of “Mari the Little Scientist” (on A3 paper, digital format, or as a puppet)
- Printed or projected images of rainbows (from books or the internet)
- Blackboard or poster to collect keywords
- Chalk or markers; optional note sheets for children who wish to write.
Preparation notes
- The teacher should rehearse how to tell Mari’s story engagingly (e.g., with role-play, images, or puppets)
- Prepare rainbow images and place them where students can easily see them
- Plan in advance which open-ended questions to use for discussion
- Foster a supportive atmosphere: all answers are valid starting points
- Consider recording students’ initial hypotheses (written or verbal) for future reference during experimentation.
Guided Questions
- Where have you seen a rainbow before? What were you doing then?
- What do you think causes those colours?
- What happens to light when it goes through water or a window?
- How could Mari begin her investigation to discover the rainbow’s secret?
- Can you think of anything that looks like a rainbow but isn’t?
Stage Debriefing Questions (Optional)
- What was the most interesting part of Mari’s story for you?
- Did you think of something you’ve never said out loud before?
- Why might it be helpful to ask questions before we experiment?
- Do you think it’s a good thing when someone doesn’t know the answer right away but decides to go and find it?
Tips and Tricks for dealing with stage challenges
- For shy children: Allow them to draw or just listen, they can join in later
- For overly active students: Use images or storytelling with movement to channel energy
- For quiet classes: Direct questions to individuals (e.g., “Anna, what do you think?”)
- For different ability levels: Accept varied responses; adapt questions from simple to more abstract depending on the student.