Curiosity · Chapter 1 — The Wonderful World of Science

Think about the last time you asked “Why?” Maybe you wondered why the sky turns orange in the evening, why ice melts in your hand, or why your shadow is long in the morning and short at noon. Every one of these questions is the start of science.

Science is a way of finding out. It is not only a subject in your timetable or a thick book of facts. Science is a way of thinking, observing and doing things so that we can understand the world around us. A scientist looks carefully, asks questions, makes a guess, checks the guess and then thinks about what the result means.

Curiosity comes first. The most important thing a learner of science needs is curiosity, the wish to know more. That is why the new science book for Grade 6 is called Curiosity. A curious person notices small things that others walk past: a line of ants carrying food, a bubble forming in boiling water, or a plant leaning towards a window.

Three parts of science.

• Thinking: wondering about something and asking a clear question about it.
• Observing: using our senses (and tools such as a hand lens or a ruler) to notice details carefully.
• Doing: trying things out, such as an activity or an experiment, and recording what happens.

Science is an adventure. Imagine exploring a forest with a map that is only half drawn. Each time you walk a new path, you add a little more to the map. Science works in the same way. We explore, we find out a little, and we add it to what people already know.

Example. Riya sees that the curd her mother set in winter takes much longer than in summer. She asks, “Does warmth help curd to set?” This simple question from the kitchen is a real science question. She can test it by keeping two bowls of milk with a little curd, one in a warm place and one in a cool place, and checking them after some hours.

Remember. You do not need a laboratory or a white coat to begin. You need open eyes, a question and the patience to find out.

Where can you find science? The surprising answer is: everywhere you look. Science is not shut inside a laboratory. It is in the sky, in the soil, in your kitchen and on your playground.

From very small to very large. Scientists study tiny things such as a grain of sand, a drop of pond water or a single leaf of grass. They also study huge things such as mountains, forests, oceans and the stars. A grain of sand can tell us about rocks that broke down long ago, and the light from a star can tell us about places far beyond the Earth.

Different places, different wonders. Our country alone has snowy mountains, hot deserts, long coasts, thick forests and green plains. Each place raises its own questions:

• Mountains: Why is it colder as we climb higher?
• Deserts: How do plants survive with so little water?
• Coasts and oceans: Why is sea water salty? What lives deep under the waves?
• Outer space: Why do stars twinkle? What is a galaxy?

Science at home. You do not need to travel far. In the kitchen, rice swells when cooked, milk boils over if left on the flame, and sugar seems to disappear in water. On the playground, a ball rolls further on smooth ground than on grass, and a swing goes back and forth in a regular rhythm. Each of these is a small science puzzle.

Discoveries from unexpected places. Many important discoveries came from people who noticed something ordinary and asked a good question about it. A mould growing on a dish, a falling object or the way a kettle lid rattles have all led people to big ideas. So an everyday event can be the start of something important.

Try this. For one day, write down five things you see at home or at school that make you wonder. For each, write one “why” or “how” question. You will be surprised how quickly the list fills up.

Have you ever put together a jigsaw puzzle? You find one piece that fits, then another, and slowly a picture appears. Science can be imagined as a giant jigsaw puzzle that never ends.

Each discovery is a new piece. When someone finds out something new, it adds another piece to the picture of how the world works. For example, people once only knew that some things are hot and some are cold. Later they learnt to measure how hot something is with a thermometer. That was a new piece of the puzzle.

The puzzle has no edge. A real jigsaw has a fixed number of pieces. The science puzzle has no limit. Every new piece of knowledge raises fresh questions, and these questions lead to more discoveries. When people learnt that there are other planets, they started asking whether any of them could have water or life.

Sometimes a piece is in the wrong place. Science is honest about its mistakes. Sometimes we discover that an idea we believed was not quite right. Then the piece has to be moved. For a long time many people thought that the Sun moves around the Earth, because that is how it looks to us. Careful observations later showed that the Earth moves around the Sun. The old idea was replaced by a better one.

What this teaches us.

• Scientific knowledge grows all the time.
• Scientific ideas can change when new evidence is found.
• Changing an idea because of new evidence is a strength of science, not a weakness.
• The pieces connect: what we learn about water helps us understand weather, plants and even our own bodies.

For you as a learner. When you learn something new, try to connect it with what you already know. If a new observation does not match your old idea, do not ignore it. Ask why. That is how the puzzle grows.

A journey is more exciting when you know a little about the places you will visit. Here is a quick tour of the big questions that this year of science will help you explore. As you go along, you will see that these ideas are all connected.

Our home, the Earth. The Earth is the only planet we know that supports life. It has air, water and a suitable temperature. Because it is so special, we must protect its environment.

Living things. The Earth has a huge variety of plants and animals living in deserts, mountains, forests and oceans. You may have watched a seed grow into a plant or a caterpillar turn into a butterfly. How do living things grow and change? How can we group them?

Food. To grow and stay healthy we need food. India has so many cuisines and dishes. What are they made of, and how can we test what a food contains?

Water, hot and cold. We need water to live. Why does it rain? Why does water turn into ice when cooled and into steam when heated? How do we measure how hot something is, for example when someone has a fever?

Materials. A paper notebook, a metal key, a plastic ruler, a rubber eraser, cotton clothes and a steel cup are made of different materials. How are materials different, and how can we separate a mixture of them?

Magnets, length and motion. Why does a magnet hold a pencil box shut? How do we measure lengths correctly, and how do things move?

Beyond the Earth. Our questions need not stop at the Earth. What about the Sun, the Moon and the countless stars?

How the ideas link up.

Keep a small notebook of your own questions on each of these themes. By the end of the year you will be able to answer many of them yourself.

Suppose your pen suddenly stops writing in the middle of a test. What do you do? Without even thinking about it, you start working like a scientist.

Solving the pen problem.

• You observe a problem: the pen is not writing.
• You ask a question: why has it stopped?
• You make a guess: perhaps the ink is finished.
• You test the guess: you open the pen and look at the refill.
• You analyse the result: if the refill is empty, your guess was right. If there is still ink, your guess was wrong, so you make a new guess, such as ‘the ink at the tip has dried’, and test that by scribbling on rough paper or warming the tip gently in your hand.

This careful, step-by-step way of finding answers is called the scientific method. In short, the steps are:

A wrong guess is not a failure. When a test shows that a guess is wrong, we have still learnt something: one possible answer is ruled out. We then make a new guess and test again. Real scientists do this many times.

Another example. A plant in your classroom is drooping. Observe: the leaves are hanging down. Question: why? Guess: it has not been watered. Test: water it and check after a few hours. Analyse: if it stands up again, the guess was right; if not, guess again (perhaps it needs more sunlight) and test that.

Why follow steps? The steps stop us from jumping to conclusions. A test gives us evidence, and evidence is what makes an answer trustworthy.

Who is a scientist? We often picture someone in a laboratory with test tubes. Scientists are people who use the scientific method to solve problems or discover new things. But here is the good news: anyone who follows the scientific method is working like a scientist.

Scientists in everyday jobs.

• A cook finds that the dal has bubbled over and spilled out of the pressure cooker. She wonders: was there too much water or too much dal? Next time she changes one thing and watches what happens.
• A cycle repair person needs to find where the air is leaking from a flat tyre. He pumps up the tube and dips it, part by part, in a tub of water. Where bubbles come out, there is the hole.
• An electrician finds that a light bulb is not glowing. Is the bulb fused or is the switch faulty? He fits the bulb in another holder that works. If it glows, the problem is in the switch or wiring.
• A farmer notices that one part of the field gives a poorer crop. Is it the soil, the water or the seeds? Trying one change at a time gives the answer.

What is common? Each person notices a problem, asks a question, makes a guess and tests it. They also change only one thing at a time, so they know which change made the difference. This is a very important habit in science.

Why learn science then? If we already use the scientific method, why study it? Because learning science sharpens these habits. It helps us solve bigger problems, such as finding cures for diseases, saving water or predicting the weather, and it helps us unlock the mysteries of the universe.

Your turn. Think of a problem you solved recently: a stuck zip, a mobile phone that would not charge, or a bicycle chain that kept slipping. Write down what you noticed, what you guessed and how you checked. You were being a scientist!

How does a good science learner behave? Two habits matter more than any others: being curious and being a careful observer. When we are curious, questions come naturally. We start asking “How?” and “Why?” about everything around us.

Asking good questions. Some questions can be tested; others are hard to test. Compare these:

A testable question tells you what to change and what to look for. With practice, you will learn to turn a general wonder into a question you can actually investigate.

Science is teamwork. Science is rarely done by one person alone. Scientists across the world share their results and often work in large teams. Some build instruments, some collect data, some check the work of others. In class, too, if you cannot find an answer by yourself, ask your friends. Different people notice different things, and discovering together is more fun.

Be patient. You will not find answers to all your questions this year. That is perfectly fine. Grade 6 is only the start of a science journey that continues through the coming years of school and even beyond. Some questions you ask today may be answered only after you learn more, and some have not yet been answered by anyone.

Good habits of a young scientist.

• Observe closely and write down what you see, not what you expect.
• Ask ‘why’ and ‘how’, and turn them into testable questions.
• Be honest about results, even when they surprise you.
• Share ideas and listen to others.
• Take care of living things and stay safe during activities.

To be wise, you must be a person who keeps asking ‘why’. Enjoy the journey!