I’ve been asked to conduct a science workshop for elementary teachers. Can you suggest fun activities for us?  —D., Illinois

I’m concerned about science professional development (PD) that consists of gee-whiz, dazzling “experiments” done by a presenter in front of an audience of teachers. I witnessed such a presentation once. The K-3 teachers all replicated the activity in their classrooms (whether or not it aligned with their grade-level curriculum or was appropriate for the age of the students). I wondered, ““And then what?”“

I hope you’ll do something different to support the teachers. Your workshop should enhance teachers’ knowledge and contribute to their ability to provide interesting and relevant science experiences in a planned and purposeful manner.

It would be helpful to ask about the status of elementary science in the school or district. Is science a “special” subject that meets briefly and infrequently? Is science an integral part of the curriculum? Do teachers have access to basic materials? Does the school library have a collection of science-related books? Is there a way for teachers to collaborate about science, either in person or online? Can you build on the teachers’ previous PD experiences.

Here are a few recent observations and suggestions from a similar question on an NSTA e-mail list:

• Base the activities on one of the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) performance expectations. If you’re an NSTA member, you have access to journal articles and other resources that can provide learning experiences and teacher supports.

• It’s been my experience that some teachers are generally and genuinely terrified of approaching science education. I would come up with a list of resources and show them how to access and utilize sources that they may already be comfortable with, such as social media.

• I think teaching teachers to let their students derive their own answers will also take the stress off the teacher[s] and allow them to foster a science community. Show them how to pose a question to their classes and let students go back and forth with their answers and reasoning. They need to know how to be OK with a “wrong” answer, or even no answer.

• You want to make sure you are portraying the type of learning the NGSS encourages in elementary school science. The goal of elementary school science is not to teach a bunch of unrelated activities when there’s time left over from math and reading.

• Keep things simple and relaxed. Use your sense of humor.

• I would suggest focusing on only one activity per grade level. I also like the idea of combining the activity or the discussion with the use of a book.

Based on the last suggestion, you could take advantage of resources in NSTA’s Science and Children journal. The monthly column Teaching with Trade Books suggests two books on a theme (you could substitute similar titles from the school library). For example, the February 2015 column, “Understanding Matter and Energy,” includes a brief discussion of the topic, followed by two lessons (for grades K–2 and 3–5). These 1-2 page lessons are written using the 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) instructional model. They use simple, readily available materials. There is also a description of how the lessons align with the NGSS and Common Core State Standards.

You could assemble a collection of these columns for the participants, either as printouts or an online list (NSTA members can access the articles online and several years worth are archived). Active participation is essential. Take one or two of them and guide teachers through how you would implement them by having them pretend to be the students. Ask them to share their experiences with similar activities. If you have enough time, teams of teachers could review the activities on their own and present them to the rest of the group. If you have opportunities for follow-up, teachers could share how they implemented them.

A few other suggestions: Ask the school administrator to attend the workshop so that he or she can support and encourage the teachers. Use the appropriate terminology for your activity—not every activity in science is a true “experiment.” And include information on any safety issues related to the activities (the column Safety First appears in every S&C issue, too).