LEGO Education Simple Machines Set is designed for elementary teachers to introduce the concept of Simple Machines to their students in the first through third grade levels. Not only does this activity help to encourage skills needed in the workplace such as communication and teamwork. I remember how fun it was to play with LEGOs when I was a child. So, I was very excited to review this product. The set came with an activity pack with binder, a cd with all of the blackline masters, a plastic storage container, and all the materials to build every model. But, if you were using this in a class, you would need to purchase an activity set for each pair of students. In addition, you would probably want to purchase extra pieces as well. There is a lot of technical jargon that needs to be introduced to the students, but you can rest assure that once you have introduced this particular concept from the Physical Science category, you will most definitely provide an environment that challenges their prior knowledge and introduces them to the use of the creative problem-solving techniques. In addition, the students will have numerous opportunities to communicate new ideas with one another as well. Scientific inquiry skills of the students will be enhanced through the use of the scientific method by the use of the 4C approach: Connect, Construct, Contemplate, and Continue.

            Once the package was received, I opened up the 4 sets of materials and counted each piece according to the element inventory. There were no materials missing at all, with the exception of a few extra pieces. A survey was taken of all materials with the use of the Element Survey. I would recommend the teacher buy additional pieces, if at all possible, in order to have each model made for the students to use as a reference point when completing the Principle Models activity. The activity pack with the binder allows the teacher to obtain background information for each type of simple machine, such as, gears, wheels and axles, levers and pulleys. Each activity contained an overview for the teacher and images for classroom use. The images are great to use, especially if you have additional technology within your classroom for presentation of a new lesson. Principle models provided the students with an opportunity to build each model and compare and contrast the materials and how each functions. Observation skills of each student can be increased with the additional concepts that followed gears. There were Main Activities which helped to connect and/or bridge that gap from the classroom to the student to the real world relevancy.

            The Problem-Solving Activity was progressively more challenging than all the previous activities due to the fact that it allowed the students to reach farther than just was written on the student handout, but it allows you the opportunity to critically think and work within a group to solve problem. I can see students relating to this very well and becoming more and more engaged in the concept of simple machines. It is fun, challenging, exciting and it also leaves you with the feeling of wanting to do more with the LEGOs and find more opportunities to incorporate them in your classroom. This is most definitely a product that I would recommend because of the challenging environment that is full of activities that are fun and can bridge that gap of concepts learned in class and how they relate to their everyday lives. It also influences students and exposes them to career paths in the sciences. This product creates a common ground for all students to learn and have fun doing it.

Did I meet you at the NAEYC 2012 conference in Atlanta this month? I met many early childhood educators who are interested in some of the same questions I find most interesting, such as “What science topics are appropriate to teach about in early childhood and at which age?” and “How can I move a class from making beginning observations to collecting data and thinking about it again and again as we do activities that focus on one concept?”
The sessions did a lot to answer my questions. Here is information about just a few of them. Feel free to add information about your session or those you attended as a comment below.
Betty Zan and Sonia Yoshizawa of the University of Northern Iowa presented “More Ramps and Pathways: An approach to teaching physical science and engineering in early childhood.” The session was described on the NAEYC 2012 annual conference itinerary planner as:
Ramps and Pathways is a physical science activity involving inclined planes and the movement of objects that is both developmentally appropriate and intellectually rigorous. An integration of physical science and design, engineering, and technology, it appeals to the children’s interests and desires to figure out how the physical world works and to modify the physical world to make something interesting happen…..Participants will use marbles, objects that roll and do not roll, and lengths of cove moldings to build ramp structures and investigate the movement of marbles and other objects on inclined planes. They will have an opportunity to explore force and motion, by using the ramps materials to investigate the movement of objects on inclines…. Participants will learn how to use Ramps and Pathways activities to promote children’s development of practical understanding of force and motion, design, and engineering habits of mind. Videos of children using the materials in the classrooms and teachers interacting with children will illustrate principles of teaching that will guide teachers in setting up the environment, intervening in ways that promote the higher-order thinking, and supporting children’s active investigation.
As I walked around the room I saw participating teachers making modifications to their ramp structures again and again as they learned through experience AND discussion with others in their group what changes were needed to make the ramp “work” (carry a marble or other object to the end, around a corner, or into a cup). We were learning how to use productive questions to guide our students to persist and discover the changes that would help them achieve their plan.
Some resources for learning more about this investigation:

• ¨Ramps & Pathways:  a constructivist approach to physics with young children” by Rheta DeVries, and C. Sales, (2011). Washington, DC:  National Association for the Education of Young Children.
• Q&A with the authors of Ramps & Pathways book“, Rheta DeVries and Christina Sales
• “The Right Question At The Right Time” by J. Elstgeest, in Primary Science: Taking the Plunge (second edition). (2001). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
• “Ramps and Pathways: Developmentally Appropriate, Intellectually Rigorous, and Fun Physical Science” by Betty Zan and Rosemary Geiken NAEYC journal, Young Children, January 2010.
• “Problem Solving and Physics in Preschool” by Julie Stoll, Ashley Ann Hamilton, Emilie Oxley, Angela Mitroff Eastmand, and Rachel Brent. 2012. Young Children 67 (2): 20-26
• “Revealing the Work of Young Engineers in Early Childhood Education” by Beth Van Meeteren and Betty Zan, SEED Papers: Published Fall 2010, University of Northern Iowa
• “The Early Years: Drawing Movement” by Peggy Ashbrook. November 2012. Science and Children 50 (3): 30-31. (I wrote about how children use and develop their visual literacy skills when they try to represent their ramp structures in drawings. Describing the motion of an object is tricky on paper but the children found ways to represent it with symbols and writing.)

Some related lesson plans and video:

• ¨Peep and the Big Wide World, Unit 6 Explore Ramps, http://www.peepandthebigwideworld.com/guide/pdf/peep-guide-ramps.pdf
• ¨Annenberg Foundation, Eight free professional development videos for K-8 teachers, (or parents!) presenting science concepts in force and motion. http://www.learner.org/workshops/force/ (Note that the links may not work but the videos are still available.) 1. Making an Impact, 2. Drag Races, 3. When Rubber Meets the Road, 4. On a Roll, 5. Keep on Rolling, 6. Force Against Force, 7. The Lure of Magnetism, 8. Bend and Stretch

Children learn best when they feel safe to explore and question. The CEASE/LGBT Interest Forum collaborative session, ” ‘That’s so gay’: Reviewing language and teaching tolerance” presented by Steven Shuman, Sharon Davisson and Brian Silviera gave us time for discussion as we learned about tools for supporting children in resolving conflicts, and tools to educate ourselves about using gender neutral language. Their handouts will help us share information on how saying “girls and boys” or lining up by gender “draws children’s attention to gender — rather than other more important characteristics of individuals within classroom settings, such as their personalities or skills,” and how to create peaceable classrooms with our programs.

How could I pass up a session titled “Lunar picnic with preschoolers and their families: Exploring the moon and related classroom activities” by pre-k teacher Judy Brown from Dyer County Tennessee? We learned how she arranged for her students to journal with their families about their nighttime moon observations, and to have a telescope night. The journaling activity became a ritual for some families, much like a routine emotional connection. The well-thought out system of providing materials weekly and keeping a page for parent comments and feedback next to the sign-in sheet led to all families participating to some degree. Classroom discussion included emphasizing that the moon appears to change but does not actually change shape, respecting children’s ideas while helping them consider alternative explanations. Read her article with Satomi Izumi-Taylor in the Spring/Summer 2009 issue of Dimensions of Early Childhood, “Sciencing with Young Children: Moon Journals!” While the moon is not something that children can experience hands-on or change in any way, it is a source of wonder and a subject for rich imaginative play.
“Finding the trees in the forest: Support todders’ developing problem-solving skills” addressed an age group that isn’t often considered in science education. Through discussion and viewing video vignettes, Rosemary Geiken took us into her study of how toddlers problem solve with “containers and contents.” We saw how children ages 12-24 months figure out how to navigate through space, how objects fit together, and begin to develop spatial reasoning and geometrical thinking. Dr. Geiken encouraged us to recognize that sometimes the best support a teacher can offer is to let children work on their own and avoid putting our goals on the child’s play. By planning what materials to add or take away, we can help children solve a problem, reach a goal, and get new challenges.
The Early Childhood Science Interest Forum (ECSIF) held the second annual meeting for all interested people. We all introduced ourselves and then viewed and discussed video of a 2nd grade classroom where the students met to talk and investigate butterfly lifecycle, with the teacher exemplifying best practice as she got the children to ask questions and talk about their ideas.
The National Science Teachers Association has appointed a committee to draft a position statement for that organization on teaching science in early childhood. We had hoped that NAEYC would participate and make it a joint position statement but the two organizations are on different schedules.
The ECSIF is planning to develop criteria to review books about the broad topic of teaching science inquiry in early childhood. We hope to publish the reviews of books that we feel will best support early childhood educators in developing science inquiry and science practices in their programs.
The meeting wasn’t long enough to do a year’s worth of talk so we’ll continue the conversations on social media. Join us even if you didn’t get to the meeting.

• NAEYC Interest Forum pages– www.naeyc.org/IF
• ECSIF Blog – http://ecsif.blogspot.com/
• ECSIF Facebook page – Early Childhood Science Interest Forum (naeyc)
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/Early-Childhood-Science-Interest-Forum-naeyc/140431919391071
• ECSIF Pinterest page – http://pinterest.com/ecsif/
• ECSIF Twitter page – https://twitter.com/ECSIF
• ECSIF email: naeyc.ecsif@gmail.com

Thanks to NAEYC for bringing the expertise of early childhood educators together so we could have these conversations and learning experiences. And thank you to those who participated in the session I presented with Science and Children Editor Linda Froschauer. Look at how engaged they were as they took part in a science inquiry about gumballs and recorded their predictions and data,  and practiced how to “whiff and waft” the smells of unknown materials towards them as they used their sense of smell to guess what the materials were (lemon, cinnamon sticks, onion and cof
fee beans).


 

“Why do we have to learn this?” I’m sure we’ve all heard this in our classes, and most students aren’t satisfied by answers such as You might need this information later in life or It’s an important part of science or It will be on the test (and rightfully so). Some students see the connections between the real world and what happens in class, but most will need some guidance to make these connections. By engaging in authentic activities, students have a chance to apply what they are learning to new situations, they can experience what scientists actually do, and many of their experiences could evolve into lifelong interests or career choices.
As an advocate for citizen science projects, I’m excited about NSTA’s partnership with SciStarters—you may have seen the promotion on the Science Scope site. SciStarters is a searchable collection of community-based and citizen-science projects–regional, national, and international. There are projects appropriate for all grade levels and on a variety of topics.
This issue features descriptions of several classroom-tested projects:

• Even if you don’t live in Boston, the site of the project described in Across the City and Across the Grades: Investigating Energy Flow in the Boston Harbor Ecosystem, the project can be an example of how local ecosystems (including urban ones) can become a learning environment. [SciLinks: Ecosystems]

• I spend a lot of time on the Delaware coast, and I often find bits of sea glass on the beach. These bits of glass from bottles get polished by the waves, although with the prevalence of plastic bottles, we’re finding less glass on the beach. So I was intrigued by Citizen Science: International Pellet Watch, a project based in Japan in which students collected resin pellets that wash ashore and send them to a lab for analysis as an indication of the presence of “persistent organic pollutants.” [SciLinks: Ocean Currents] This project exemplifies the type of collaborations described in Speaking of Science and the value of inviting speakers from the community to work with your students. This article has suggestions for working with community members, including brainstorming questions with students ahead of time, working with your administrators, and connecting the visit with the curriculum. The author also suggests taping the presentations to use with other classes. I’d add a suggestion about Skyping with these folks to take advantage of expertise beyond the community or to coordinate your schedules.

• Our students have a hard time disconnecting from electronic devices. The title Empowering Students to Investigate Their Energy Use with a Safe, Easy-to-Use, Low-Cost Electrical Energy Meter has three descriptors that teachers like to hear, and the author is true to his word. The real research that students do with a lost-cost meter could help the school and their families to save money. (And you’ll have to read the article to see what vampires have to do with the project.) The authors of Energy Monitoring: Powerful Connections Between Math, Science, and Community describe an activity in which students monitor electricity use in the home and analyze the data to find trends or patterns. They provide several graphs of electrical use—even if you can’t do the activity, the graphs tell a story that can spark class discussions. [SciLinks: Current Electricity]

• Connecting to Your Community Through Birds and Citizen Science updates us on the pioneering projects from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, such as e-Bird and Bird Sleuth, with examples from middle school classrooms. The author of Turtle Conservation and Citizen Science shows how students can connect with local efforts in studying populations of living things and their reactions to invasive species. [SciLinks: Bird Characteristics, Bird Adaptations, Herpetology, Reptiles]

• Environmental Decision Making in Our Backyard has a variation of a simulation on predator-prey relationships and the impact of habitat change and invasive (or nonnative) species. [SciLinks: Food Chains and Food Webs, Invasive Species, Predator/Prey]

“Community-Based Science” was also the theme of the March 2010 issue of Science Scope. Find more ideas here.

Share Your Expertise: Be Part of the National Conversation on STEM! Don’t miss a chance to participate in the NSTA 2013 STEM Forum & Expo, in St. Louis, MO, May 15-18. The deadline to submit a proposal to share your STEM expertise is quickly approaching on November 30.
NSTA is looking for workshop presenters (teachers and administrators) to address STEM in the context of the following topics and corresponding strands:
PreK–2 (Early Childhood)
Grades 3–5
Grades 6–9
Grades 10–12
Effective STEM Partnerships
Administration/ Implementation
NSTA calls for proposals go out to all, including classroom teachers who have never yet presented but want to share an interesting science inquiry and their principals who want to support their presenting teachers. All presenters were once a teacher who had never presented at a conference. NSTA participants are engaged and welcoming!
The Forum kicks off on May 15 with keynote speaker, Dr. Ainissa Ramirez, Ph.D., scholar, inventor, host of Science Saturdays, and science evangelist, followed by an exclusive evening exhibit preview and reception. The next three days offer in-depth panel discussions with over 30 experts, hands-on workshops, and demonstrations of the latest technology, products, and methodologies related to STEM instruction.
Proposals to present at the 2013 NSTA STEM Forum & Expo will be accepted online until November 30.
Early childhood educators–get your science professional development at a National Science Teachers Association conference–click here to see a list of future conferences.
Hope to see you, and attend your session, at one of them!

In my sixth grade science class, I try to involve the students in fun activities. But they don’t take them seriously unless I require something in writing or give a quiz. And then the students don’t seem to be able to connect the activity with the content. What can I do?
—Nina from Idaho
I once worked with a teacher who used his own action research to investigate a similar situation. He surveyed his students to find out what class activities they enjoyed the most. He was not surprised when the students mentioned hands-on investigations, games, small group discussions, and simulations. He then asked what activities they thought were most important in learning science. Expecting to see the same activities, he was surprised (and puzzled) when the students identified worksheets as the most important.
He followed up on this response with the students. They noted that worksheets (often assigned as homework) are graded and if they were not completed the students were kept in at recess to finish them. To a fifth-grader, this consequence meant the task was very important. The worksheet grade was then factored into the course grade, which the students saw as the teacher’s evaluation of their learning. They considered the “fun” activities to be a diversion or a reward for doing the worksheets.
This finding troubled the teacher. He had chosen investigations and other activities related to the learning goals and assumed students would see the connection. His research showed this was not happening, so he began to introduce each activity with an explicit reference to the learning goals (which he kept posted on the board during the unit). For example: In this lab, we will investigate the relationship between…. The purpose of this word game is to check your understanding of the key vocabulary for this unit. As you use this online simulation, pay attention to….
I shared his research with another teacher, who added a short discussion at the end of an activity to debrief with the students on how it helped them achieve the learning goal(s).  She also used an exit slip or a notebook entry in which students summarized what they learned.
If in previous years, your students were used to science as seatwork, they will need some extra help, guidance, and modeling to understand how learning can occur in a variety of situations.
 
Photo: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/2942099404_1a7248a39a.jpg