Specifically, this is a specific goal of "being able to perceive and discover the soft, hard, slippery and rough characteristics of objects and materials and experience different forces" in the Guide to Learning and Development for Children Aged 3-6.
During children's growth, exploring and discovering the world around them is an important part of their cognitive development. For the stage of scientific exploration (usually children aged 3-6), they begin to have a strong interest in the surrounding environment and try to understand the world through observation, experiment and operation. Among them, the formation of shadows is an interesting phenomenon they may encounter.
When a beam of light shines on an object, some light will be absorbed and some light will be reflected. When these reflected rays form light spots on the screen, we call them "shadows". Children often see shadows in their daily lives, such as playing in the light or shadow play. However, they may not realize that the distance between the object and the light source will affect the size of the shadow.
In order to explore this phenomenon, children can do some simple experiments. For example, they can change the distance between a light source (such as a desk lamp) and an object, and observe the change of the shadow size. Through this direct experience, let children understand that the closer the light source is to the object, the greater the shadow; The farther the light source is from the object, the smaller the shadow.
This process of exploration and discovery is very important for children's development.
First of all, it cultivates their spirit of observation and experiment, which is a very important quality in scientific research. Through observation and experiment, children learn how to collect information, analyze data and draw conclusions from it. This laid the foundation for their future study.
Secondly, exploring how the distance between the object and the light source affects the size of the shadow is also helpful to cultivate children's logical thinking and problem-solving ability. They need to think about how to design and conduct experiments, and how to analyze and interpret the results. This process not only exercises their thinking ability, but also improves their problem-solving ability.