Genesis Apologetics K8 Student Zone Fun with Science (K-2 Grade)

Well, hello and welcome to The Zone. I'm your host, Big Wave Dave. Well, we're back with a brand new look and an exciting new season. So today, we're going to talk about science. So I looked up the definition of science and here's what I found.

What Science Is and Why It Matters

Science is knowing or to have knowledge. That's not so helpful. Personally, I like this definition a lot better. Science is the search for truth, the effort to understand the world. And did you know that there are two types of science?

The first type is observational or operational science. So have you ever done an experiment? That is observational science. It's where you come up with ideas and then you test them in the here and now.

Observational science is responsible for so many cool inventions. Things like medicine and health and growing food and getting energy from the sun. Cars, planes, trains, all these cool inventions are from observational science.

Now, scientists use something called the scientific method. Let's take a closer look at that. So step one is to come up with what they call a hypothesis, which is really just a fancy word for idea. So the puppy dog here wants to make a rocket.

That's his idea, that he wants to test. Step two is to build the rocket and then test it to see if it works. Safety first. Let's see how this goes.

Oh boy.

You know what? That happens a lot with observational science. Seldom do our first ideas work out, so we have to go back and try again. So the puppy dog says, OK, I'm going to try a different design. So then we go back and we repeat the test.

Will this one work? Let's find out. Looks like it worked this time. Good job, puppy dog. All right, so we have confirmed that this particular type of rocket works. Let's do our own experiment. So the Bible tells us that God created the atmosphere on day two.

Testing Air Pressure with the Egg in the Bottle Experiment

So that means that there should be air in this room. But how can we test it? Well, I think that even though we can't see air, we should be able to see the effect that air movement has upon objects. So here's what we're going to do.

We're going to do the egg in the bottle experiment. So what we do is we use a Gatorade bottle, and then we light something on fire and we throw it into the bottle. We place the egg on top. Now what's going to happen is that as that fire burns, it's going to warm up the air.

That warm air will rise up and go past the egg. This results in a low-pressure situation inside the bottle. So the air on the outside of the bottle is at a greater pressure, so it's going to push its way into the bottle and take the egg with it.

All right?

So that's the idea that we want to test.

Are you ready?

Let's see if this works. Okay, first of all, if you're going to try this at home, make sure that you have your parent or guardian help you, okay?

All right.

I'm going to light this on fire. I'm sure it's going pretty good here.

I'm going to place the egg on top.

Okay, it looks like it's trying pretty hard here. Come on, get in there.

It can go.

Not quite there yet.

Is it going to go?

Let's see. I see it moving. It's still going, folks. Still moving.

Almost there. There it is.

All right. Wow.

Well, that's the thing about observational science. Sometimes you get results that you're not quite ready for. Okay. So I think it's safe to say that we confirmed that there's air in this room because that's what pushed that egg down into the bottle.

Historical Science and Interpreting Fossils

All right.

So the first type of science is observational science. The second type is historical science. So historical science is where we dig up old things like this dinosaur fossil and we come up with theories about these.

Now what's interesting is we can weigh this or measure this fossil and things like that, but you know what I can't tell you? Where this fossil came from because we weren't there when it was created. That's why people can look at fossils like this and come up with completely different ideas about what the creature was.

Let's play a game. This is called Who Am I?

Are you ready?

So what animal does this skull belong to? Is it an alien, an armadillo, a dog, a wombat, or something else?

You ready?

Shout out your answer.

It's a wombat.

Isn't he cute?

All right.

What about this one?

Is that a rhinoceros, a buffalo, a warthog, a bulldog, or none of the above? If you said bulldog, you're right.

Wow, she is so cute.

How about this one?

Is that a gorilla, a chihuahua, a panda bear, or a monkey? Shout out your answer. That is a panda bear. This is one of my favorites. What animal does this skull belong to? Is it a saber-toothed tiger, a woolly mammoth, a bison, or a Chinese water deer?

You ready?

Yell it out. Believe it or not, that skull belongs to a Chinese water deer. Here's a closer look at that creature.

So cool.

All right.

Last one. What does this skeleton belong to? Is that an alligator, a platypus, a weasel, or something else? Believe it or not, that is a platypus. Now, the platypus is such an amazing animal. It's got so many different types of features.

It's got a soft bill and webbed feet like a duck.

It's got claws.

The females lay eggs like a snake, but they feed their young milk. And the males have poison spikes on the back of their leg. Now, some people might think, oh, this is the mother of all creatures or something like that.

Nah.

This is just a really cool creature that God made. But if we didn't have the platypus today, we wouldn't know much about it. Here's the point. You know, because we have these creatures, we know a lot about them.

But if we were looking at the remains of something that no longer exists, we may make a lot of incorrect guesses about them.

You get it?

Great.

Let's move on.

The important thing to remember is that observational science and historical science are not the same thing.

Should We Always Trust Scientists?

So, question.

Should we always trust scientists? Well, frankly, no. And here's why. Scientists are people. And people make mistakes. I know I make a lot of mistakes. How about you? Do you make mistakes? So, you see, we can't always trust what they're saying.

And here's another important thing. Some scientists don't believe in God. So when they're dealing with historical science, they come up with some pretty interesting ideas. For example, when they look at this old fossil, somebody who doesn't believe in God will think that that's an ape man.

Or somebody who trusts God and believes God's word will look at the same bones and say, Nope, that's just an extinct ape. So, it's interesting that the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

So, when we try to look into the past and figure things out, and we discount God, we go down the wrong path. Ape men were not real. And just in case you missed it, I hope you check out our video on ape men, fact or fiction.

Remember, we should always use God's word to test what people are telling us to see if it's true. By the way, I found some really cool books on science that are sold by ICR. I really hope you check them out.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading these. So, the conclusion to wrap things up. First of all, there are two types of science. Observational science and historical science. Secondly, scientists are people and they make mistakes.

So, we should always use God's word to test to see what is true and what is not. Well, I'm Big Wave Dave and that's all the time we have together today. God bless you. See you next time.