I teach science by getting students to explore and experience the world around them. Science is wonderful because it can be explored in many different ways. I don’t believe that any one teaching method is the best, so I focus on giving my students the tools to explore and come up with their own conclusions.

Teaching science online is challenging. I miss all the curious eyes, excited voices, and laughter that are so common in a traditional classroom. Trying harder to keep all the excitement going in online classes as well.

Here are the few things that I did when teaching Year 1 pupils about 5 senses. I cracked my head to keep it simple and utilize simple things that can be found at home because I don’t want to burden the parents.

Teaching about taste.

Ask the kids to prepare salt, sugar, coffee powder, and tamarind (asam jawa). Pupils taste the item and told how it tastes. I prepared more items and showed them to guess the taste.

Teaching about touch.

Asked pupils to prepare comb and powder. Kept getting messages saying “what are we going to do Teacher?”, “Are we going to put some makeup on tomorrow?” I could see that I arose their curiosity.

During the lesson, I asked students to rub the powder and comb on their palms. They feel and express it to me. They experience smooth and rough surfaces. Next, I ask them to go to the fridge and grab something from the fridge. They touch the items and express how they feel.