The Racing Rock

In 2nd grade, Jaden completed his first Science Project.  There were a bunch of experiments he had seen and wanted to try out, mostly involving electricity, but when it came down to choosing a project we realized that we needed to go basic so he could understand exactly how an experiment worked, and have it make sense to him.  Not just an awesome trick to show his friends.

So we asked him to think about things he was already familiar with, and see if there was anything he could make a guess about what would happen under certain conditions, and if he could think of a way to test it to see if his guess was right.

He thought about certain objects sinking or floating.  Then he broke it down to just sinking.  He chose to test the speed of different size rocks sinking to the bottom.  He hypothesized that the bigger rocks were sink faster because they were heavier. 

He decided he should collect 10 rocks of different sizes, race them all and record the winners so he could see if the bigger rocks always won. He pretty much did the whole thing on his own, which is always hard for me, because I am such a "helicopter" mom... I tend to hover.  But Charles was great.  He was his patient assistant.  He helped Jaden type what he wanted on his board, and gave a few helpful suggestions here and there.  But for the most part, it was all Jaden.

He called his experiment The Racing Rock.

Jaden just loves to get his picture taken.  Can't you tell?

Especially at school.

I like this girl.  She forced his hands down so I could get a picture of his face, haha!

Jaden chose not to present his project in front of the class.  This is him saying, "Pass!" When his name was called.  So glad I was there to capture the moment.  :)