Have you ever been on a walk in the park or a forest and found something really cool? That’s what happened to me! I found a pine cone that looked different from any I’d seen before. It made me super curious, so I went home and grabbed some books about trees to learn more. These books were written by scientists who study things like pine trees.
Sometimes, when I have questions, I find out that nobody knows the answer yet, and that’s exciting! But often, scientists have already figured out the answers. Someone named Barina asked me, “How do scientists know so much?” That’s a great question! Let’s think about what scientists do when they work.
Meet Galileo, a scientist who changed how we see the world. He used a telescope, which is like a special tool for looking at the night sky. Before Galileo, people mostly used telescopes to watch for ships far away. But Galileo was curious and pointed his telescope at the moon. He looked at it night after night, drawing what he saw.
People used to think the moon was a smooth, round ball. But Galileo noticed bumps and shadows, like mountains and valleys. He realized the moon was a place with hills and mountains, just like Earth. Galileo’s curiosity gave us new ideas about the moon!
Now, let’s meet Mary Anning, one of the greatest fossil hunters ever. She loved searching for fossils on the beach. One day, after a landslide, she found a giant skull with sharp teeth. It was a fossil of a huge reptile that lived in the ocean long ago. Mary kept finding more fossils, showing us what animals were like in the past.
Both Galileo and Mary Anning were super curious. When they saw something interesting, they didn’t just say, “Oh, neat!” and move on. They paid close attention and asked lots of questions. Galileo wondered about the moon’s surface, and Mary wondered about the animals that left the fossils.
You can think like a scientist, too! A girl named Fiona drew leaves and noticed all sorts of details. By paying close attention, she started asking questions. Drawing and observing carefully helps your brain discover new things and ask questions.
This week, try noticing something and asking questions like a scientist. See how many questions you can come up with. It’s fun, even if you don’t find all the answers right away. Scientists sometimes spend years figuring things out. And when you find an answer, it often leads to more questions!
That’s why I always say, “Stay curious.” There are so many interesting things to notice and wonder about. Scientists know so much because they pay attention and ask lots of questions. By doing this, they discover things no one has noticed before.
Thanks for the great question, Barina! For the next episode, you can vote on a new question: “How do hot air balloons rise?” “How do trees give us oxygen?” or “How close could an astronaut get to the sun?” Stay curious, and see you next time!
Nature Walk Observation: Go on a short walk in your backyard, a park, or a garden. Bring a notebook and pencil with you. Look for something interesting, like a unique leaf, a colorful rock, or an unusual insect. Draw what you see and write down three questions about it. For example, “Why is this leaf shaped like this?” or “What kind of insect is this?” Share your drawings and questions with your family or friends and see if they can help you find some answers.
Build Your Own Telescope: Create a simple telescope using two cardboard tubes of different sizes (like a paper towel roll and a toilet paper roll). Slide one tube inside the other and tape them together. Decorate your telescope with stickers or drawings. Use your telescope to look at the moon or stars at night. What do you notice? Can you see any details like Galileo did? Draw what you observe and think about what questions you might have about the night sky.
Fossil Hunt at Home: Pretend you are a fossil hunter like Mary Anning. Ask an adult to hide some small objects (like toy dinosaurs or shells) in a sandbox or a designated area in your yard. Use a small brush or spoon to carefully uncover the “fossils.” Once you find them, try to imagine what kind of creature or plant they might have come from. Write a short story about your fossil discovery and share it with your class or family.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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(phone ringing) – Hi, it’s Doug. Have you ever been walking, like in a park or a forest, and found something that really caught your attention? Well, that happened to me recently. I was in a forest, and I found this. It’s a pine cone, but I’d never seen a pine cone like this before. I was so curious and had all kinds of questions. So, I came home and got out some of my books about trees. These books were written by scientists who study things like pine trees.
Now, sometimes when I have a question, I find out that nobody knows the answer, and that’s always exciting, too. But a lot of times, there are answers to things that I’m curious about, and it’s scientists who figured them out. Someone named Barina has a question about scientists. Let’s give her a call now.
(phone ringing) – Hi, Doug. – Hi, Barina. – I have a question for you. How do scientists know so much? – That’s a great question. To answer this question, it might be helpful to think about what scientists do when they work. Let me tell you a story about two scientists whose discoveries changed the way people think about the world.
You see this thing right here? You might know what it is. It’s a telescope. And you know what a telescope is used for, to look up at the night sky. But it wasn’t always used for that. In fact, when the telescope was first invented, one of the main ways people would use it was to watch for enemy ships coming from far away. No one had thought to point a telescope up at the sky until this person. This was Galileo. He was a scientist. Galileo was curious and wondered what he might see if he pointed the telescope up at the sky.
One of the first things he decided to look at was the moon. Night after night, he looked at the moon through his telescope. He wrote notes and made drawings of what he saw. He was amazed by all the details that he noticed. Before Galileo, most people thought that the moon was a round, perfectly smooth ball, more like a beautiful nightlight than an actual place. But by carefully looking at the moon, Galileo noticed lots of pointy bumps and shadows. He compared his drawings to things he noticed here on Earth and realized that what he was seeing on the moon were mountains, valleys, and hills. The moon wasn’t some perfectly smooth light; it was an actual place with mountains and hills, just like the Earth. Galileo gave us new ideas about what the moon was really like.
Now, here’s another famous scientist. Her name was Mary Anning. She’s known for being one of the greatest fossil hunters in history. Mary spent almost every day of her life, ever since she was a young girl, searching along the beach for interesting fossils. One day, there was a landslide. A huge piece of the cliff near the seashore had fallen down. Mary wondered, “What if I go look over there? If I look carefully, will I find anything new?” Digging through the rubble, Mary noticed some strange markings in the rock. It was the fossil of a large skull with lots of sharp teeth. As she unearthed the entire fossil and put its bones together, Mary realized that it was the fossil of a giant reptile that had once lived in the ocean. This was unlike any creature alive today; it was an animal that had gone extinct. All her life, Mary kept looking carefully, finding more and more fossils of extinct animals. Mary Anning gave us new ideas about what animals on Earth had been like a long time ago.
Mary Anning and Galileo were looking at very different things, but take a moment to think about what their stories have in common. What did both of these scientists do that was similar? Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss.
Okay, you ready? One thing you might’ve noticed is that both Galileo and Mary Anning started out being really curious about things around them. When they noticed something interesting or surprising, they didn’t just say, “Oh, that’s neat,” and then move on. They noticed things and paid close attention. And here’s the thing: when you start paying close attention to something, you start wondering a lot more questions. Galileo started wondering things like, “What are those little bumps and shadows? What is the surface of the moon like?” Mary wondered, “What kind of animals did these fossils belong to? What does that mean about life a long time ago?”
You don’t have to be a scientist to think like this. This is a drawing made by a young girl named Fiona, who decided to take something plain and ordinary, these leaves, and look really carefully at them. As soon as she started paying close attention, she realized she had all these interesting questions. Drawing and paying careful attention to something is kind of like training your brain to discover interesting new things and ask questions. You should try it yourself. You can train your brain, too.
For this week’s episode, we have a special activity where you’ll practice noticing something and asking questions like a scientist. See how many questions you come up with. I think you’ll find it’s a lot of fun, even if you don’t figure out the answers to the questions right away. That’s totally okay. Scientists sometimes spend years figuring out the answers to the questions they come up with. Even when you do figure out the answer to a question, you’ll find it always leads to new questions. That’s actually one of the fun things about noticing something interesting and asking questions; it just gets more and more interesting, and you start having more and more questions.
That’s why at the end of each video, I always say, “Stay curious.” There are so many interesting things out there to notice and wonder about. There are so many questions worth asking. So, in summary, the reason scientists know so much is because they pay close attention to lots of things and ask lots of questions. By doing this, sometimes they discover things no one has noticed before.
That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Barina, for asking it. Now, for the next episode, I reached into my question jar and found three questions submitted to me that I’m thinking about answering. When this video’s done playing, you’ll get to vote on one. You can choose from: “How do hot air balloons rise?” “How do trees give us oxygen?” or “How close could an astronaut get to the sun?” So, submit your vote when the video’s over. I want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week.
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