Floating and sinking survey. A sinking realisation.

Today in ICT Year 1 were using a prepared spreadsheet as a floating and sinking survey. They had a range of items on a table and they had to test to see if each item would sink or float in a large container of water in my room. There was of course were some red herring items that would both float and sink depending on how they were put into the water. While the students were enthusiastic about testing their thoughts and recording these on the spreadsheet I made a startling discovery about the behaviour of some of the children.

They were soooo reluctant to put their hands in the water to retrieve the items they were testing. It was a total disaster if their item actually sank. They then had to put their hands  into about 20 centimeters of water. Most students would walk away and leave their item submerged in the container of water. Even the items that  would float, some children found it quite a task to pluck them out of the water. Some really reluctantly used their finger tips as pincers to try and extract the item.


What was it they didn't like? The water was clean and straight from the tap. You could see the bottom of the container, it wasn't deep. Do younger children in Asia not have the opportunity for water play?  This a definite question I am going to ask our early years teachers.Do children not fill their shower trays or bath with numerous toys? Are children not accountable for their actions in their homes, do they not have to pick up after themselves?
Of course being water reluctant applied to about half  the class. The others of course loved the water. The table with the items was awash and so too were the enthusiasm of some of the students.