Angela's (1st grade) "States of Matter and How Molecules Move"

Celina's (2nd grade) "The Book of Solids"

Nadia's (3rd grade) "Clouds"

Pablo's (2nd grade) "Matter"

Roberto's (3rd grade) "Changes of States of Matter" 

Children’s Drawings (and Conversations About Them) of Two Times They Have Been Scientists After the Two ISLE Units

Ada (3^rd grade)

Inter:        Can you tell me how you thought of yourself as a scientist in this first picture?

Ada:          Um I thought of myself as a scientist cause I was like examining the earthworms that also scientists do. They always check to see if there’s something new about earthworms. And this is my partner Sylvia.

Inter:        Umhmm.

Ada:          And this is like a little notepad so that I could write down what they’re doing, how they’re moving and this is my little magnifying glass so I could see how they act and this is a pencil.

Arturo (3^rd grade)

Inter:        Um, so now I’d like you to tell me about your pictures one at a time, okay? Can you explain this // in this picture on the left, can you explain to me how you thought of yourself as a scientist?

Arturo:     Well, that was <when I was a scientist> (***) like which seed was lighter and which ones were heavier. Like which seed would float and which one wouldn’t float.

Inter:        Okay. And so it // is this you? Okay, and is this a seed?

Arturo:      Yeah, I’m about to put it in.

Inter:        In what?

Arturo:      In the water to see if it will float or not.

Inter:        Okay. Alright and then uh what’s in the right hand #picture#?

Arturo:      Well, #this# one is like (***) one of those like cups like you measure with water and you see which one will evaporate.

Inter:        Yeah. A cylinder?

Arturo:      Yeah, graduated cylinder.

Inter:        Graduated cylinder, there you go. Okay. And so what // what do you // how // how did you think of yourself as a scientist in this picture?

Arturo:      Like I was still seeing which // how much it would evaporate more.

Inter:        Seeing how much it evaporated?

Arturo:      Yeah.

Inter:       Okay. Alright. And, are there things that scientists do that you didn’t put in your picture?

Arturo:     Well, sometimes scientists never try to see which water would evaporate with the graduated cylinder because it’s like a trick you learn in school that your teacher tells you to do. So that sometimes if you grow up to be a scientist you can like <spread it out> and people will know about what you // well, the idea.

Inter:       Okay. Um…so in one sense you’re saying, um, scientists might not do the same experiment you did, right?

Arturo:     Yes.

Inter:       But, on the other hand they might tell other people about the experiments that they do do.

Arturo:     Yeah, like, when they get older and older then they grow up to be scientists, they // they learn // they learn about um doing // well they // what the person did a long time ago.