Ouch! Hi, I was just being an observational scientist by observing this marshmallow skewer,
but I think I got my finger too close because it poked me. Do you want to be an observational
scientist with me today? Good, because in this video, we are going to observe things from far
away, and that's good because observing this stick from up close kind of got me in trouble.
Are you ready?
I was observing that marshmallow skewer because later today, we are having a campfire, and you
can't have a campfire without marshmallows. Have you ever roasted marshmallows on a campfire? What
did you notice about the fire? Well, the fire was probably warm, the fire probably looked orange,
and the fire probably looked very bright. Yeah, we use our senses of
sight and touch to know that it's orange, bright, and warm. We can also use our sense of smell
to smell the fire. It probably smells a little bit smoky. Ooh, we can also use our sense of hearing
to hear a fire. It sounds like some cracking and popping. Yeah, fires usually crackle and pop.
Looks like we are great observational scientists already!
Now, I have a question. Do you think you need to be super close to a fire in order to observe
it? Probably not. Let's think. You could be 10 steps away from a fire,
and you can still see that it was bright, you can still smell the smoky smell,
and you can probably still hear the crackling and popping of the fire. Actually, if you were even
50 steps away from the fire, I bet you could still see the bright fire, and you could still smell
that smoky smell. What does this tell us about using our senses? Well,
our senses work pretty good, even if we're up close to something or far away from something.
It's true that our eyes give us the sense of sight, but what do our eyes need in order to see?
Well, we can't see in the dark. That's right, our eyes need light in order to see, and light can
travel long distances to reach our eyes so that we can see. So light can help us observe things
that are far away. Have you ever been on a hike at night? We have to walk very carefully because it's
dark, but there is a special tool that can help us see further. Do you know what that tool is? Yep, a
flashlight. When we shine the flashlight in front of us, the light beam shines into the distance
and helps us observe things that are far away. Our sense of sight helps us see the traveling light.
But what if I told you that sound travels too? Have you ever been invited to a birthday party,
and before you even see any of your friends, you can hear them laughing and playing? Yep,
sound travels just like light. When children laugh and play, well, that sound makes vibrations in the
air, and the vibrations in the air travel to your ears so you can hear that sound. Crazy, but true.
I really enjoyed observing things from far away today,
but my favorite way to observe things is usually from up close.
I hope you enjoyed being an observational scientist with me today, when we observed
things from up close and from far away. Keep practicing using your five senses
when you are observing things, and remember to always be clever!