Column • Kids’ Corner
What Is Science?
By Loreena Thiessen
There are laws that control how the universe works, “the laws of heaven and earth” (Jeremiah 33:25).
36 The Messenger • March/April 2022
Activity: plant a seed Need: four bean seeds, glass jar, five sheets paper towel, water, camera, potting soil, plastic pot. Do: Take three sheets of paper towel together and fold them in half. Holding them together place them around the inside of the glass jar so the glass is covered with paper. Crumple up the remaining two sheets one at a time and fill the center of the jar. Push the four seeds in at different spots between the glass and the paper towel. The seeds should be visible from the outside of the glass. Pour water into the jar so that it’s one-quarter full. Place the jar with bean seeds on a windowsill. Watch every day to see what happens. Add a bit of water each day to keep the paper towel moist. With your camera record the changes you observe as the seeds sprout. You can measure the growth of the plant with a ruler. Once the plant is taller than the glass and has a few leaves you can plant it with its roots in potting soil. Water the soil but not too much. If you take good care of it, it may grow a new bean pod. ISTOCK
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cience is all around you, everywhere you look. What is science? Science is the study of the world. Scientists watch what happens, listen, observe, and record what they find. Sometimes after carefully observing, when they discover something they thought was true turns out to be different, they change their minds. For example, Johannes Kepler used a telescope to observe that the planets travel around the sun in an ellipse (an oval path), not in a perfect circle. He also discovered that planets farther away from the sun have a longer orbit and take longer to make that journey. Another ancient discovery showed that the earth is round. A man called Anaxagoras saw the round shape of the earth during an eclipse as it blotted out the sun. By observing the changing position of the stars, Aristotle declared that the earth was a sphere and not a flat disc. There are laws that control how the universe works. The law of gravity controls how the planets travel. Gravity is a natural force that pulls the planets toward the sun. Other laws of nature show there is regularity; the same thing happens in the same way over time. For example, a law of biology, biogenesis, says life comes from life. So, a living tree produces a seed from which a new tree grows. Water, too, is controlled by the laws of nature. Water evaporates, condenses, and falls, replenishing lakes and streams. The movement of water is controlled by gravity. It is a cycle; it has no beginning and no end. It waters the farmer’s crops and provides you and your family with water for drinking, cleaning and cooking. The universe obeys these laws. They were put in place by our Creator God because he is a God of order. In Jeremiah 33:25 these are called “the laws of heaven and earth.” It is because of this order that the universe continues to function; it keeps on going as God created it. Read Genesis 1:11, 12, 14, 24, 25.
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