JoinVolume 2, Issue 1
Why Collaborate? This issue of Connected Science Learning focuses on Effective Collaboration.
Volume 2, Issue 1
Why Collaborate? This issue of Connected Science Learning focuses on Effective Collaboration.
Volume 2, Issue 1
Why Collaborate? This issue of Connected Science Learning focuses on Effective Collaboration.
Ask a Mentor
Reading a Class
By Gabe Kraljevic
Posted on 2020-01-17
A quarter of my grade 7 students are at a beginning reading level. None are on grade level for reading. Can you help me help them?
— K., Alaska
Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. To answer your question, I consulted with a colleague, Rita MacDonald, co-leader of the NSTA-WIDA program. Making Science Multilingual. She says:
“Students who are not yet able to read and who will take a long time before they can read still have a need and a right to learn science. So, we need to:
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- Reduce the reliance on text as a way of conveying important information… [by sharing it] through a variety of ways—not just [text].
- Immerse them in hands-on activit[ies] to experience science concepts.
- Surround activity with oral language, supported by writing key words and phrases on the board. Most meaning comes from immersion in an activity, to which we later attach language (spoken or written), so shared activity and conversation about it is a powerful way of conveying information.
- Set up student working groups to talk about ideas, so your non-readers hear the ideas without textbooks.
- Use video to convey info, and later use a short, simplified reading to reinforce the idea
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A test that depends on reading will never give an accurate portrayal of what non-reading or non-English-fluent students know.”
Talk with these students’ English Language Arts teachers or school resource teachers and perhaps check out their school records for insights and ideas to help you. Don’t be dismayed. Just do your best to improve their reading; you won’t likely get them to grade level in one year but any improvement is great.
Hope this helps!
Image by Luisella Planeta Leoni from Pixabay
A quarter of my grade 7 students are at a beginning reading level. None are on grade level for reading. Can you help me help them?
— K., Alaska
Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. To answer your question, I consulted with a colleague, Rita MacDonald, co-leader of the NSTA-WIDA program. Making Science Multilingual. She says:
Editorial
Why Collaborate?
As a Connected Science Learning reader, you already know that collaboration is what this journal is all about. We strive to publish articles that highlight ways different organizations come together to connect in-school STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) learning to the world outside the classroom.
How many of you, at some point in your professional experience, have been involved in an effort referred to as a “collaboration” that in reality, well, just wasn’t? I know I have. More often, though, I’ve been part of collective work that was more impactful than anything the collaborating parties could have done on their own. Collaboration done well opens the doors for new possibilities and amplified impact. This is what is meant by the concept of emergence—the idea that parts of a system working together in a unified way take on properties that the parts don’t have on their own. Maybe there are some things that can only be accomplished if we work together.
In today’s world, though, collaboration has become a term both overused and used out of context—it’s a buzzword. Thankfully, there are lots of tools out there to stimulate deeper thinking about collaborative work. For starters, check out the surveys below from Build Initiative and the Wilder Foundation.
So, what does collaboration really mean, and what does effective collaboration actually look like?
Whether a simple partnership or a complex collective impact effort, collaboration done well takes time and no small amount of effort. Because of this, making the effort had better be worthwhile. Shared vision—meaning a common understanding of the problem to be solved and what constitutes success—is essential. There must be a reason for the parties involved to come together. Often, this reason is that combining expertise and resources makes a project more feasible and success more likely. Effective collaboration has purpose.
Arriving at a shared vision is much easier if the partnership cultivates a culture of honesty, trust, flexibility, and respect. This is apparent when all involved parties are willing to ask and answer questions (especially the tough ones), say what they think and hear what others have to say, change their minds in light of new information or alternate perspectives, and together use what is learned to guide the work. Effective collaboration requires communication and compromise.
Participating in collaborative work can be messy and confusing—and, frankly, sometimes even frustrating. It also can be fun and satisfying. It helps when there’s little ambiguity regarding the roles played by each organization and every individual involved, and when there’s a process for making decisions, taking action, and measuring success. Effective collaboration requires clarity about how power, responsibility, and accountability are distributed and shared.
Here are my two cents: Collaboration isn’t easy, and it’s not something to be done just for the sake of doing it. Under the right circumstances, though, it is surely the way to go. To paraphrase Aristotle (or perhaps some other philosopher): The whole truly can be greater than the sum of its parts.
Beth Murphy, PhD (bmurphy@nsta.org) is field editor for Connected Science Learning and an independent STEM education consultant with expertise in fostering collaboration between organizations and schools, providing professional learning experiences for educators, and implementing program evaluation that supports practitioners to do their best work.
As a Connected Science Learning reader, you already know that collaboration is what this journal is all about. We strive to publish articles that highlight ways different organizations come together to connect in-school STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) learning to the world outside the classroom.
As a Connected Science Learning reader, you already know that collaboration is what this journal is all about. We strive to publish articles that highlight ways different organizations come together to connect in-school STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) learning to the world outside the classroom.
Research to Practice, Practice to Research
Partnering to Develop a Coordinated Engineering Education Program Across Schools, Museum Field Trips, and Afterschool Programs
Connected Science Learning January–March 2020 (Volume 2, Issue 1)
By Danielle B. Harlow, Ron Skinner, Tarah Connolly, and Alexandria Muller
Engineering Explorations are curriculum modules that engage children across contexts in learning about science and engineering. We used them to leverage multiple education sectors (K–12 schools, museums, higher education, and afterschool programs) across a community to provide engineering learning experiences for youth, while increasing local teachers’ capacity to deliver high-quality engineering learning opportunities that align with school standards. Focusing on multiple partners that serve youth in the same community provides opportunities for long-term collaborations and programs developed in response to local needs.
In a significant shift from earlier sets of standards, the Next Generation Science Standards include engineering design, with the goal of providing students with a foundation “to better engage in and aspire to solve the major societal and environmental challenges they will face in decades ahead” (NGSS Lead States 2013, Appendix I). Including engineering in K–12 standards is a positive step forward in introducing students to engineering; however, K–12 teachers are not prepared to facilitate high-quality engineering activities. Research has consistently shown that elementary teachers are not confident in teaching science, especially physical science, and generally have little knowledge of engineering (Trygstad 2013). K–12 teachers, therefore, will need support.
Our goal was to create a program that took advantage of the varied resources across a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education ecosystem to support engineering instruction for youth across multiple contexts, while building the capacity of educators and meeting the needs of each organization. Specifically, we developed mutually reinforcing classroom and field trip activities to improve student learning and a curriculum to improve teacher learning. This challenging task required expertise in school-based standards, engineering education, informal education, teacher professional development, and classroom and museum contexts.
Partners
Interactive science museums have materials, tools, and expertise that differ from schools and can provide educational and compelling engineering experiences that complement what students are learning in formal school curricula (Bell et al. 2009). Coordinated school-based and museum-based engineering education programs allow children to engage in rich instruction, but this curricular cohesion is just the first step. Teachers must also develop the expertise and confidence to facilitate classroom activities that align with new standards and expectations around teaching engineering in the classroom. The Engineering Explorations modules involve four types of institutions: higher education (University of California, Santa Barbara [UCSB]), an interactive science center (MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation), an afterschool program (Girls Inc.), and two elementary schools (grades K–6). These institutions are all located within a 15-mile radius of each other and serve the same local population of schoolchildren. The institutions were already familiar with each other through previously established partnerships and collaborative projects that had emerged through local connections and mutual interests.
The primary partnership is between the practice-based institution, MOXI, and researchers at UCSB. MOXI and UCSB have formed a research practice partnership (RPP) (Coburn, Penuel, and Geil 2013) that has produced multiple interacting programs and related research. The RPP has focused on the array of learning experiences across schools and informal institutions, as well as research to inform facilitation techniques and training methods that support learning in the STEM disciplines. See Harlow and Skinner (2019) for an overview of the RPP’s multiple interacting programs and research directions, as well as Table 1 for more information about the partners.
Table 1
Resources of the four institutions and benefits to them by participating in Engineering Explorations
Program motivation and development
During the 2017–2018 academic year, MOXI implemented field trip programs in which students engaged in an engineering design problem. Although students and teachers responded positively to the program, we recognized the limitation of having only 50 minutes with students. Also, teachers often requested resources for their classroom instruction. This motivated the development of the Engineering Explorations modules. Each Engineering Explorations module is composed of a set of four activities: The first two activities are done in classrooms prior to attending a MOXI field trip, the third activity is the field trip, and the fourth activity is completed in the classroom after the field trip (see Figure 1). Currently these pre- and postactivities are run as outreach programs facilitated by MOXI and UCSB staff in students’ regular classroom. However, our goal is to develop resources and activity plans for teachers so that they can implement the engineering activities in their classrooms before and after their field trip to the museum.
Figure 1
Framework that each module follows
Our work follows a design-based research model (e.g., Anderson and Shattuck 2012; Barab and Squire 2004). Design-based research is “a systematic but flexible methodology aimed to improve educational practices through iterative analysis, design, development, and implementation, based on collaboration among researchers and practitioners in real-world settings” (Wang and Hannafin 2005, p. 6). Consistent with recommendations for design-based research (Anderson and Shattuck 2012), our project is situated in a real educational context, is focused on designing and testing a significant intervention, uses mixed methods, involves multiple iterations, and involves a collaborative partnership.
We began designing each Engineering Exploration module by developing the field trip activity. Because not all students who participate in the field trip activity do the pre- and postclassroom activities, the field trip programs must be designed as stand-alone activities. Classrooms that attend the MOXI field trip without having completed the previsit activities still participate in a design challenge based on a real-world problem that engages them in the process of engineering design.
After developing the field trip lesson, we considered the engineering and science activities that would benefit students in developing a deeper understanding of science and engineering ideas during the field trip program. Figure 1 depicts the framework that guides our module development. The first activity (done at school) engages students in a science investigation, through which they collect data and make observations. During this activity, students also draw their initial conceptual models of the phenomena being investigated. In the second in-class activity, students complete an engineering task. Their designs are informed by the data and observations made during the earlier activity. During these two preactivities, students also become familiar with some of the materials they will use during the field trip and develop skills related to manipulating these materials. At MOXI students engage in a more complex engineering task. After the field trip, they return to their classrooms and extend their learning through reflection on the activities, the engineering process, and additional data analysis, which includes revising their conceptual models of the phenomena being investigated.
Thus far, two modules have been developed and tested. One module is designed around the engineering task of designing a craft that will hover in a column of upward-moving air while supporting a small weight (Muller et al. 2019); the second module is based on combining layers of materials that will allow for the transmission of optimal amounts of visible light and infrared radiation (Connolly, Skinner, and Harlow 2019). Both modules are differentiated for grade level bands. Following, we describe the activities in the module that focuses on the transmission of visible light and infrared radiation through various materials.
Example Engineering Explorations module: Greenhouse on the Moon
The “Greenhouse on the Moon” module was designed around a MOXI field trip activity in which students design a “patch” for a lunar greenhouse by layering materials and testing the transmission of light and infrared radiation. Through piloting this activity, we determined that students would be more prepared to develop deeper understanding during the field trip program if they had prior experiences to help them develop a conceptual model of a filter as a material that absorbs and transmits light and infrared radiation. Thus the module begins with two preactivities that help students develop an understanding of filters through both science and engineering activities. All four activities (the three classroom activities and the field trip activity) are designed to take 50 minutes each (an entire module would require 200 minutes).
Preactivity 1
To help students build their knowledge of these concepts before the field trip, we designed a previsit activity that focused on a data-collection task in which students recorded what color they observed when they looked at different colors through a red or blue filter. They first make observations while looking through colored filters to see how each filter changes the appearance of various color images and other colors and patterns around the classroom (similar to the activity in DeVita and Ruppert 2007). Students then conduct a scientific investigation in which they use the filters as tools to make observations. Next, students use those observations to construct a table of colors with notes and documentation on how those colors appear when viewed through a red or blue filter. Students are told that the data table they create in this lesson, which maps visible colors to their filtered appearances, will be a resource for solving an engineering design challenge in the subsequent lesson (see Figure 2).
Figure 2
Students completing preactivity 1
Preactivity 2
The second previsit activity introduces the idea that light travels as waves and that there are some types of light we cannot see with our eyes. The second part of the lesson involves an engineering design challenge: Deduce the original colors of a Rubik’s Cube. Students are given matching images of a Rubik’s Cube, but one is obscured by a red filter and the other is obscured by a blue filter (see Figure 3). Using the data they collected in the first lesson, students engage in a comparative analysis process to “reverse-engineer” the original image using filters, their color charts, and their understanding of the effects filters have on colored images. They then use colored markers to design a secret message that is revealed only when observed through a colored filter.
Figure 3
Preactivity 2
At the end of the activity, students reflect on their findings and “Draw a diagram or describe with words what they think will happen when a red or blue filter is placed over an image.” Together, these prelessons prime students with the ideas that the colors we see are a type of light, and there are types of light we cannot see. The activities also give students hands-on experience with filters that reduce or block different types of light, which supports the task in the field trip program. By introducing students to these ideas and materials, students’ participation and intentional iteration in the engineering design challenge during the field trip are subsequently enhanced.
Field trip activity
This activity was inspired by exhibits and resources unique to the interactive science museum, such as infrared cameras. Students are welcomed into the museum’s classroom space, the Exploration Lab, and are immediately engaged in a live demonstration using an adapted version of visual thinking strategies (Yenawine 2013). In our case, the strategies consist of a discussion about a demonstrated phenomenon structured around three questions (“What do you think is going on? How do you know? What more can you see?”) to elicit their ideas about light and heat, the electromagnetic spectrum, and the effects that different materials have on the transmission of light and heat (see Connolly, Skinner, and Harlow 2019). Students are then presented with the design challenge of identifying the best materials for repairing a greenhouse on the Moon, which has specific criteria for the levels of visible light and infrared heat that are allowed to enter. Students iteratively test and measure different combinations of materials against a model of the Sun—a heat lamp—using infrared thermometers and lux meters to determine which materials they would recommend to repair the greenhouse, while meeting the given criteria (Figure 4).
Figure 4
Measuring radiant heat due to infrared radiation during prototyping of field trip activity
Postactivity
The postvisit lesson extends the field trip by integrating additional elements of the engineering design process and connecting the field trip to the classroom curriculum. In this case, the postvisit activity involves an optimization task (NGSS disciplinary core idea ETS-1C) in which students are prompted to select a solution from a set of fabricated options while optimizing for the added variable of cost. Solution A is ineffective at meeting the light and temperature criteria but is very affordable. Solution B meets both criteria perfectly but is exceptionally expensive. Solution C is moderately priced but does not meet the criteria as closely as Solution B. Students are required to consider the pros and cons of each option and make an argument in favor of one. As a grade-level differentiation, the lesson can be adapted to require students to calculate the percentage of light or heat allowed by the provided solutions to inform their recommendations.
Together, the activities in this four-part module engage students in the NGSS performance expectation 4-PS3-2 (“Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents”), as well as the three disciplinary core ideas related to engineering (Defining Problems, Designing Solutions, and Optimizing Solutions) (NGSS Lead States 2013).
Adding the afterschool (Girls Inc.) component
We partnered with Girls Inc. to adapt and combine the modules for a 10-week afterschool program, which took place at MOXI. For the afterschool participants, we increased the time spent on hands-on activities. Additional time to explore the museum was also included in their program.
Evaluation
We continuously evaluate and conduct research on the program with the goals of
- designing an effective program to engage children in engineering design, and
- understanding the needs of teachers who will ultimately implement the program.
We collect a variety of data, including student work, pre- and postassessments, observations, and interviews and surveys of teachers.
The Engineering Explorations field trip program was implemented at MOXI with over 100 classrooms of students ranging from grades K–6. We tested the full modules, which include pre- and postactivities and the field trip program, with 18 classrooms located at two schools. School A identified 40% of its students as English language learners, with 62% of students qualifying for free and reduced-price lunches. School B identified 9% of its students as English language learners, with approximately 11% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches. We also worked with an afterschool program that served girls in the local area. In the test classrooms, we collected video of all four activities with 15 of the 18 classrooms, interviewed participating teachers, and collected student work. Facilitators of the activities wrote reflective field notes. Table 2 shows the number of classes from the two test schools. The hovercraft module is appropriate across elementary grade levels and the Greenhouse on the Moon module is appropriate for upper elementary school students.
Table 2
Test classrooms
The teacher interviews indicate a positive response across grade levels. One said, “Kids were engaged; they got exposure to things that they may not have before, especially as far as trying to improve upon something that they previously had started working on or their ideas that they had. That’s not something that they do too much of.” Another reported that the program was “the first time that I’ve had a chance to see engineering lessons being taught to kids this young so I was very curious how it was going to go. Was it going to be too high level for them or how it was going to be presented to them on a level that they were going to be able to understand? I thought it was fabulous. They loved it.” However, the teacher interviews also point to difficulties that children encountered. A fourth-grade teacher mentioned how the concept of infrared radiation (which is not visible) was hard for students to comprehend based on the activities that were done in the classroom, which focused on visible light. She encouraged more guided discussions about radiation that is not visible.
The student work demonstrates both developing understanding of the engineering process and students’ thinking about the science ideas. When asked in the final activity how the work they did at MOXI was like the work of an engineer, one student stated, “I think engineers have to plan things before time and collaborate with their team like we did. I also think that they must fix their mistakes and use trial and error.” One science idea that was used across multiple activities in the greenhouse module was that of materials acting as filters, allowing some wavelengths of light to travel through while blocking others. In the classroom activities, students used filters that transmitted some colors and not others. In the MOXI activity, students used materials that transmitted or blocked infrared and visible light to varying degrees. During the first round of testing, we asked students to write and draw their ideas about how the materials at MOXI worked to block and transmit light and heat at the end of the module. Students’ ideas ranged from the filters changing the light, giving the light a color, or filtering out some colors and allowing some to pass through (see Figure 5 for three examples of sixth graders’ work). Through this research, we were able to better understand the range of student ideas during and after participating in the module. This helped us adjust our facilitator training materials for the field trip to better address common misconceptions that students were showing and revisit the structure of the lessons to include additional practice and experience with colored filters in the preactivities. In this way, the classroom activities allowed us to improve the field trip activities, benefiting all students who attended field trips, not just those who participated in the full module with the classroom activities.
Figure 5
Student work from the final activity of the module.
Challenges
In our work to develop a program that resulted in learning across contexts—classrooms, museum trips, and afterschool programs—we identified multiple challenges.
Challenge 1: Developing activities that work as stand-alone activities and can be embedded in a larger module
Classrooms that attended MOXI field trips were not required to complete the preactivities. Thus, the field trips had to work as a stand-alone activity. However, we also wanted the field trip activity to be designed in a way that could build on knowledge developed in the previsit activities for the classes that participated in them. As described above, we addressed this by first developing the field trip activity and then identifying the key concepts to develop in the classroom activities. During the testing phase, we knew which classes had participated in the full module and which had only participated in the field trip. However, this would not always be the case. So, during the testing phase, we ran the same program with students who had participated in the modules as those who had not. Through our interviews with teachers and observations of classrooms, we identified that this resulted in students (and teachers) not fully understanding the goal of the preactivities until they were presented with the design challenge during the field trip, making the initial activities potentially feel disconnected. In the coming year, we will develop initial activities that outline the design challenge of the entire module during the first preactivity to provide a more explicit story line for students.
Challenge 2: Developing age-appropriate activities
Unlike classrooms, which typically include students of one grade level, students attending museum field trips considerably vary. First graders may visit one day and sixth graders the next, and each group requires different implementations. To reduce the training and development burden for the museum, we developed activities that could be implemented across a wide range of grades. However, as students acquire key math and literacy skills during their K–12 years, they become more capable of complex work. Although we did develop different versions of data collection worksheets for different grade levels, the largest adjustments needed to be made in the classroom activities. We developed multiple versions of the pre- and postactivities (grades 3 and 4, grades 5 and 6) and relied upon collaboration with K–12 teachers to help inform this process (see Muller et al., forthcoming).
Challenge 3: Scheduling
The goal of Engineering Explorations was to have the classroom extensions be supplemental to the field trip, which required them to be scheduled close enough together that students did not forget the material. Also, teachers needed to make sure that there was enough time blocked off for the 50-minute activity, and MOXI needed to ensure that there were staff available to run the outreach activities. These requirements made scheduling a significant challenge to the implementation of Engineering Explorations.
Conclusion
Developing modules that include some activities designed for classroom environments and other activities designed for a field trip to an interactive science museum enables a richer learning experience for students that takes advantage of the unique resources of both schools and museums. Museums have specialized resources and materials (e.g., exhibits) that differ from the materials available in typical school settings. They are also not accountable to state and district standards. Together, this means that museums can provide STEM opportunities that are not possible in typical classrooms. However, the time that any one group of students is in a museum for a field trip is limited. In contrast, because students are in the same classroom each day, schools can provide extended opportunities for learning over several days. The series of activities in Engineering Explorations takes advantage of schools’ and museums’ structures and resources. Students who participate in the full modules have opportunities to develop ideas at a level that would be impossible in a single 50-minute lesson typical of a museum field trip program, while using the museum environment for experiences they could not have in their classroom. Combining school and field trip activities into coherent learning experiences addresses the challenge of bringing high-quality engineering education into K–12 classrooms and allows for rich learning experiences across multiple contexts.
Acknowledgments
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (grant EEC-1824858; EEC-1824859).
Danielle B. Harlow (danielle.harlow@ucsb.edu) is professor of science education at the University of California, Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, California. Ron Skinner (Ron.Skinner@moxi.org) is the director of education at MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, in Santa Barbara, California. Tarah Connolly (Tarah.Connolly@moxi.org) is the curriculum specialist at MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, in Santa Barbara, California. Alexandria Muller (Almuller@ucsb.edu) is a graduate student researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, California.
Engineering Explorations are curriculum modules that engage children across contexts in learning about science and engineering. We used them to leverage multiple education sectors (K–12 schools, museums, higher education, and afterschool programs) across a community to provide engineering learning experiences for youth, while increasing local teachers’ capacity to deliver high-quality engineering learning opportunities that align with school standards.
Engineering Explorations are curriculum modules that engage children across contexts in learning about science and engineering. We used them to leverage multiple education sectors (K–12 schools, museums, higher education, and afterschool programs) across a community to provide engineering learning experiences for youth, while increasing local teachers’ capacity to deliver high-quality engineering learning opportunities that align with school standards.
NSTA Press
Making Sense of Science and Religion
By Carole Hayward
Posted on 2020-01-15
In the science classroom, the rigorous discussion of certain scientific concepts may challenge the religious beliefs of students as well as educators. Navigating these discussions in ways that respect diverse viewpoints, backgrounds, and experiences can be difficult, but a new NSTA resource can help.
Making Sense of Science and Religion: Strategies for the Classroom and Beyond by Joseph W. Shane, Lee Meadows, Ronald S. Hermann, and Ian C. Binns (NSTA Press), is designed for teachers at all grade levels. The book will help educators to anticipate and respond to students’ questions, as well as help students reconcile their religious beliefs even as the class delves into topics such as evolution, geochronology, genetics, the origin of the universe, and climate change.
Addressing science and religion is, the authors write, part of the educators’ collective job, and it is an inevitable part of teaching science in 21st-century America.
“Like many people, our students will sometimes come to us with religiously based understandings of the natural world and their roles in it. Other students may be antagonistic toward these perspectives. Others still will wonder what all the fuss is about and would just as soon stick to science. As usual, our job is to convey and model science in the midst of all of our students’ complex preconceptions, misconceptions, beliefs, values, joys, and social anxieties,” the authors state in the opening chapter.
Making Sense of Science and Religion explains the historical and cultural context of the intersections of science and religion in the classroom, plus it gives a framework for addressing science-religion issues in a legal, constitutional manner. It offers practical suggestions to help teachers develop lessons that align with the Next Generation Science Standards, and provides strategies for implementing effective questioning and designing assessments. For college faculty, Making Sense of Science and Religion gives an analysis of recent research findings and anecdotes related to navigating religion in the college science classroom.
To assist with carrying the discussion beyond the classroom, Making Sense of Science and Religion provides insight from professionals engaged in facilitating these types of complex and thoughtful dialogues with the general public in spaces that include churches, school board meetings, community events, or town halls, for example.
The authors themselves represent K–12 teachers, college professors, and experts from organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, who bring a mix of different backgrounds and beliefs and share the goal of creating respectful, insightful educational experiences that will inspire students to grapple with challenging and important scientific topics.
Learn more about Making Sense of Science and Religion and check out the free chapter “Science and Religion in Middle School and High School Classrooms.”
In the science classroom, the rigorous discussion of certain scientific concepts may challenge the religious beliefs of students as well as educators.
NGSS Blog
History and Social Studies Integration with STEM
By Judy Boyle
Posted on 2020-01-14
NGSS, STEM, STEAM, and Common Core all speak of the importance of the integration of science with ELA, math, and art. However, we are missing one more layer needed to achieve the goal of total integration. We should also look at the integration of social studies and history with science.
Let’s step back for a moment and take a look at science and our world. We’ll begin this perspective at the altitude of 10,000 feet above sea level. Our world and our lives are controlled by science. Take away astronomy, chemistry, biology, botany, meteorology, geology, physics, and others, and there is no planet Earth. Take away engineering and technology, and we have no advancement. Looking through the lens of history, we can see the planet’s natural history is driven by science and humanity’s history is driven by science, technology, engineering, and math.
This idea is clearly reflected in our performing and visual arts, and documented through the writing of playwrights, poets, authors, and scientists of our various time periods. Examples of this are exposed in the art and oral stories of our indigenous people, the evolution of technology and architecture of the Egyptians, the advancement of medicine during the Renaissance period, and links science application and engineering which catapulted countries into the Industrial Revolution. We see it in the notebooks of our scientists and engineers in which they have documented their thoughts and ideas, and we can demonstrate to our students the impact these scientists, engineers, and pioneers have had on our history and our lives. One of my favorite books to share with my students is Notable Notebooks: Scientists and Their Writings by Jessica Fries-Gaithersburg. The book highlights scientists and their notebooks with actual photographs of pages from these notebooks. Through the integration of history with science, students can learn how our tools and technology have evolved, how our understanding of the human body has advanced medicine, how our quest for the moon has brought us beyond what we thought possible. Most importantly, our students can gain a clear understanding that success is achieved through mistakes and perseverance. To teach STEM in conjunction with history allows our students to understand the webbing of science, technology, engineering, and math at a much higher level. For, through the integration of STEM, our students will be able to visualize the application of science, and gain the understandings needed to solve a problem or meet a need through engineering. Let’s look at the topic of plastics. We found a need and solved it. However, we now realize the ramifications of this invention. Through this lens, students have the ability to reflect on the future human impact of engineering design.
Integrating history and social studies with STEM is very impactful when it is presented on a local level. My students perform water quality testing on our local river. Teaching them the local history of our area, allows them to see the impact of mining gold, forestry, and agriculture on the river, and we discuss the future of the river and its needs in preserving it from future impact. Our river supplies a city twenty-three miles from our small, rural town with about sixty-five percent of its water. The diversion dam is located in our town. Its was built in 1899 and needed to be reconstructed. My students performed a human impact study on the reconstruction of the dam. We studied the history of the town and the dam including a major flooding incident. We were given a tour of the pump house which was also built in 1899 and was in its original state. The pump house still housed all of the pumps from 1899 to the present. The students were amazed at the advancement of the mechanics and the decrease in the sizes of the pumps.
Through social studies, we are able to study people by looking at the natural resources they use. We study their climate and weather, vegetation, renewable and non-renewable resources, customs and traditions, and their stories. In other words, we are studying the geology, meteorology, biology, hydrology, agriculture, and numerous other sciences to obtain a better understanding of our world and theirs.
Many elementary students have a love for dinosaurs and this history can link your students to a career path as a paleontologist or as an archaeologist studying the peoples of the past linking engineering, technology, and science. Studying space and space travel can also link your students to STEM and many inventions and discoveries.
Below are just a few of the NGSS that can be used for integrating history and social studies with STEM. Whenever you look at the Disciplinary Core Ideas, reflect on how you can integrate history and social studies with them. There are many other standards that can be used opening many possibilities!
How have you the integrated history and social studies with science in your classroom? I’d love for you to share!
K-2-ETS1-1 Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
K-ESS3-1 Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live.
K-ESS3-3 Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air and/or other living things in the local environment.
3-3ESS3-1 Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of weather-related hazard.
4-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.
4-ESS3-2 Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.
5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
Judy Boyle is the K-8 teacher at Divide School in Divide, Montana. She is the president of the Montana Science Teachers Association and serves on the NSTA Board of Directors as the Preschool/Elementary Division DIrector. She is an MPRES/NESSP Teacher Trainer providing professional learning on the NGSS and its Framework to teachers in Montana. She is Montana’s 2016 Presidential Awards of Excellence in Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST) awardee for science, and a 2018 Montana Teacher of the Year finalist. Find her on Twitter @sagemountaintr2
NGSS, STEM, STEAM, and Common Core all speak of the importance of the integration of science with ELA, math, and art. However, we are missing one more layer needed to achieve the goal of total integration. We should also look at the integration of social studies and history with science.
Early Childhood / Preschool Blog
Play—outdoor, in-door recess, and science
By Peggy Ashbrook
Posted on 2020-01-13
Children move eagerly to get their winter wear gear, stream out the door, across the street and onto the playground. This 45 minute period, the second of the day, is a time for children’s gross motor activity on a new complex playground but also when their play, unscripted by adults, erupts. While children climb and slide, become “dragons” and chase each other, whisper in spaces under the playground equipment, take turns pushing groups of children on the large “saucer” swing, and jump off the low wall, all five essential elements to play can be seen (Nell and Drew).
This playground is not a space for teacher led games. Children are intrinsically motivated and spontaneously engage in pleasurable physical and imaginative play. Teachers ask, “Are you okay with that?” if they think a child might not be enjoying being pushed on the swing so high or the rough-and-tumble play with several classmates, stating “It is my job to keep you safe,” but otherwise do not direct the play. This practice is not unique to this school or time (Davies). Teachers also check in with children who seem unengaged in play, and support children in taking risks to help them succeed in a challenge, assisting where needed. Although teacher engagement and teacher-child interactions are fewer on the playground than in the classroom, children’s play is freely chosen and imaginative. If I notice an interesting insect or phenomena I will draw children’s attention to it only when it doesn’t interrupt their play.
Play “is fundamentally important for learning 21st century skills, such as problem solving, collaboration, and creativity, which require the executive functioning skills that are critical for adult success” (AAP Yogman and all). In nature preschools, where class takes place outdoors for most of the day, opportunities for problem solving, collaboration, creativity, and communication frequently involve interacting with natural phenomena, including as part of science inquiry. There is time for both children’s self-directed play, and teacher-led discussions about natural phenomena such as weather and living organisms. Outdoor time provides first-hand experiences in full body involvement with nature, although it isn’t the environment alone that teaches the children. Hoisington writes about how a “teacher’s ability to create a classroom culture of inquiry—an environment in which students feel consistently encouraged to share their experiences, observations, and thinking—is a key factor in fueling high-quality science teaching.” Indoors the experiences are usually much smaller in scope and can be second-hand, such as reading about weather.
Indoor “recess” does not provide the same freedom to move and play but is sometimes necessary. How can the essential elements of play be supported during indoor recess? Consider using open-ended materials, often called “loose parts,” as a resource for indoor recess where children build understandings of shape, stability, texture, quantity, patterns, measurement, and design through play experiences with materials that can be played with in many ways, almost all of them “the right way.” In loose parts play, children are more free to choose how they play with materials provided by teachers (Daly and Beloglovsky), make more of their own decisions, and are more spontaneous than when making crafts or doing an art project. Supporting children’s critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity promotes a smoothly running classroom during indoor recess (Hoisington).
In this video, see how teachers too become immersed in the moment, enjoying play with materials during a solo self active play experience at a professional conference (Drew).
In their discussion of schema in a webinar and their book, Children’s Lively Minds, Deb Curtis and Nadia Jaboneta shared many photos of children playing outside and inside, some using loose parts in their creative play, some in centers or teacher-planned activities, as children build understandings of abstract ideas, patterns, and concepts. The children were using schemas of Transporting, Transforming, Trajectory, Rotation and Circularity, Enclosing and Enveloping, Connecting and Disconnecting, Positioning and Ordering, and Orientation and Perspective.
Their webinar resources included a summary of schema explorations and a tool of questions for educators in observing and reflecting on schema play and brain development. I love what they say in the beginning of Chapter 1: “…we will search for many possibilities for understanding what we see unfolding with the children so we an make choices about the role we want to play in enhancing experiences for all of us.”
I want all children to have extended time in outdoor gross motor play, and outdoor nature exploration, and opportunities to talk with their teachers and classmates about what they experienced, what they thought about it, what they want to learn more about, and how they might go about learning more. Thank you to educators, families, administrators, and policy makers who are making this possible.
Resources
Play
Davies, Margaret. 1997. Journal of Australian Research in Early Childhood Education. Vol 1. Pgs 10-20. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED408059.pdf
Drew, Walter. 2017. Idaho -AEYC 2017 Professional Development Institute. Power to the Profession Keynote: Solo Self Active Play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-tM-cGSTc4
From the National Association for the Education of Young Children
Five Essentials to Meaningful Play by Marcia L. Nell and Walter F. Drew. https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/five-essentials-meaningful-play
10 Things Every Parent Should Know About Play by Laurel Bongiorno. https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/10-things-every-parent-play
10 cosas que los padres deberían saber sobre el juego por Laurel Bongiorno. https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/10-cosas-sobre-el-juego
Daly, Lisa and Beloglovsky, Miriam. 2015. Introducing loose parts to preschoolers. Teaching Young Children. 9(1): 18-20.
From the American Academy of Pediatrics
The Power of Play – How Fun and Games Help Children Thrive. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/fitness/Pages/Caution-Children-at-Play.aspx
Michael Yogman, Michael, and Andrew Garner, Jeffrey Hutchinson, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health and Council on Communications and Media. The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children. Pediatrics September 2018, 142 (3) https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/142/3/e20182058
Loose parts; and schema
Curtis, Deb and Nadia Jaboneta. 2019. Children’s Lively Minds: Schema Theory made Visible. Redleaf Press. https://www.redleafpress.org/Childrens-Lively-Minds-Schema-Theory-Made-Visible-P2306.aspx
Children’s Lively Minds: Deb Curtis & Nadia Jaboneta Share Insights About Schema Theory. 01/08/2020. 2:00-3:30 PM. https://www.earlychildhoodwebinars.com/webinar-resources/ (resources include a Summary of Schema Explorations and Meeting Up with Children’s’ Lively Minds: A Tool for Observation and Reflections of Schema Play and Brain Development.
Thornhill, Michelle. 2017. Loose Parts and Intelligent Playthings Categorized By Schema. https://brucecounty.on.ca/sites/default/files/Loose%20Parts%20By%20Schema_0.pdf
Behavior management and the 4 C’s
Hoisington, Cindy. 2019. Don’t Be a Robot! Manage Your Classroom with the Four Cs. ASCD Express. June 13, 2019 V. 14:(29) http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol14/num29/dont-be-a-robot-manage-your-classroom-with-the-four-cs.aspx
Cold weather clothing advice from a few resources
Cool Antarctica https://www.coolantarctica.com/fezkids/kids-cold-weather-clothing.php
Wilder Child https://wilderchild.com/how-to-dress-your-kids-for-outdoor-winter-activities/
Four Seasons Nature Preschool http://www.fourseasonsnaturepreschool.com/clothing.html
Children move eagerly to get their winter wear gear, stream out the door, across the street and onto the playground.
What Makes a Good STEM Trade Book?
By Carrie Launius and Christine Anne Royce
Posted on 2020-01-13
This is a question a lot of people are asking.
Since 2016 NSTA has published the Best STEM Books a companion piece to the Outstanding Science Trade Books list.
While many groups have recommended STEM trade books for children, there has been no real consensus of the criteria necessary in a STEM trade book. Many STEM books are comprised of good science or math or engineering or technology books and are billed as “STEM.” But is it really STEM?
To truly define the criteria needed for a STEM book, we need to first agree loosely on a definition of STEM. One of the most repeated definitions of STEM is “STEM education is an interdisciplinary approach to learning where rigorous academic concepts are coupled with real-world lessons as students apply science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in contexts that make connections between school, community, work, and the global enterprise enabling the development of STEM literacy and with it the ability to compete in the new economy.” [1].
Generating a List of Characteristics
Determining what IS a STEM book might require us to begin with defining what a STEM book IS NOT. STEM Books do not:
- simply present facts or information;
- focus only on a single subject;
- present topics that exist in a vacuum; and
- fail to create connections to the real world.
Therefore, if we know what a STEM book is not, we can draw conclusions about what they are. STEM Books should:
- engage students in thinking about and using problem solving;
- integrate two or more of the STEM fields;
- present relevant and interconnected topics;
- make connections to the real world; and
- help students connect both content and practices or habits of mind used by STEM fields.
If we begin to generate a list of habits of mind and practices, we begin to see that many books identified as STEM books ask students to engage in creating knowledge from their experiences ranging from asking questions and gathering information to analyzing data.
We also begin to see that STEM books incorporate the habits of mind that emerge when engaging in a STEM field; teach resilience, grit, and determination; and assist students in understanding that failure may be part of the real-world STEM process. (For examples of books that meet these criteria, please see the table below.)
Ruzzi and Eckhoff incorporate two focus questions to evaluate children’s literature for STEM which relate to content that is technically sound and appropriate and can help to determine if the book effectively assists students in the development of both inquiry and content [2]. Recommendations and narrative descriptions of books that Ruzzi and Eckhoff use– most of which align with the science and engineering practices in the Next Generation Science Standards—include phrases such as “hypothesizing through close inspection;” “experimenting with;” “a true story about ingenuity, creativity, and persistence in the face of severe adversity;” and “design their own tools to measure height and distance;” The criteria utilized by the National Science Teaching Association Committee for Best STEM Books includes “modeling real-world innovation, illustrating teamwork, diverse skills, creativity, and cooperation, inviting divergent thinking and doing” (p. 93) among others. [3]
Ramirez asserts that “[c]reativity is the secret sauce to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). It is a STEM virtue” (para 3). [4] Therefore, one could argue that STEM trade books need to describe creativity or develop creativity in students. According to the guidelines presented by the Children’s Book Council and the National Science Teaching Association, “STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is an integrated and creative approach to discovering and applying knowledge about our world to solve problems that utilizes one or more of the content areas. Trade books that deliver background and model the practices of STEM provide context and inspiration to readers.” (Science & Children, 2018, p. 93).[3]
| Criteria for Books | Example Book |
|
Doll-3 1.0 |
|
Cao Chong Weighs an Elephant |
|
Spring After Spring |
|
Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover |
|
Doctor with an Eye for an Eye |
|
Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor |
|
The Most Magnificent Thing |
|
Instructions Not Included: How a Team of Women Coded the Future |
|
Tick Toc Banneker’s Clock |
|
The Crayon Man |
References
[1]. Tsupros, N., Kohler, R., & Hallinen, J. (2009). STEM education: A project to identify the missing components, Intermediate Unit 1 and Carnegie Mellon, Pennsylvania.
[2]. Ruzzi,B. L., & Eckhoff, A. (2017). Growing in STEM: STEM resources and materials for engaging learning experiences. Young Children 72(1). Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/mar2017/stem-materials-experiences.
[3]. National Science Teachers Association. (2018). Best STEM books. Science and Children, 55(7), 87-94.
[4]. Ramirez, A. (2013). Creativity is the secret sauce in STEM. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/creativity-secret-sauce-in-stem-ainissa-ramirez.
Carrie Launius is Science Curriculum Specialist for St. Louis Public Schools in St. Louis, Missouri. She previously was the NSTA District XI Director and president of Science Teachers of Missouri (STOM). She believes using trade books to support science learning is essential for students. She was instrumental in developing and implementing the Best STEM Book Award for NSTA-Children’s Book Council. Her passion is supporting teachers and helping them grow professionally. She resides in St. Louis near her two grown children and with her son and four dogs.
Christine Anne Royce is the author of the Teaching Through Trade Books column in Science and Children which integrates children’s literature and science content lessons for grades K-5. She is also the coauthor of Teaching Science Through Trade Books and the Investigate and Connect Series. She is a professor of science/STEM education at Shippensburg University (PA) where she teaches both undergrad and graduate level methods classes. She is currently the retiring president for the National Science Teaching Association. Follow her @caroyce.
The mission of NSTA is to transform science education to benefit all through professional learning, partnerships, and advocacy.
This is a question a lot of people are asking.
Since 2016 NSTA has published the Best STEM Books a companion piece to the Outstanding Science Trade Books list.
Tackling Tall Tales
By Gabe Kraljevic
Posted on 2020-01-10
I am looking for some opinions how handle situations where there are misconceptions on the material. I was wondering how to know the amount of time that is needed to clear up a misconception and when to move on to other material?
— R., New Jersey
My answer is, “It depends!”
As you progress in your career you will likely amass a library of common and not-so-common misconceptions. My biggest advice is to always address them or they may spread among your students. There are many ways to handle misconceptions as you teach science. I caution against scoffing or ridiculing some outlandish claims. It might be better to say, “I haven’t heard of that. Shall we find out more?”
Addressing misconceptions can and should become an integral part of teaching and offers excellent learning opportunities! One way is to pre-empt them by discussing the more common ones in your general instruction. A better way is to gauge your class’s prior knowledge when you introduce a topic or ask them to supply you with three questions on an exit slip. In your follow-up discussions you can directly address common misconceptions that arise or turn them back to the students as small research activities.
The most powerful way to handle misconceptions, particularly egregious ones, is to build entire lessons as “Fact or Fiction” or in the Mythbusters style. Have the students research, explain, demonstrate, and set the record straight for themselves. Students also learn about the nature of science and how we handle discrepancies in our knowledge.
Hope this helps!
Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay
I am looking for some opinions how handle situations where there are misconceptions on the material. I was wondering how to know the amount of time that is needed to clear up a misconception and when to move on to other material?
— R., New Jersey
My answer is, “It depends!”
Teach about science in the news in 2020
By Claire Reinburg
Posted on 2020-01-09
What do wildfires, drought, and extreme weather have in common? All these events in the news can be doorways to exploring weather, climate, and more with your students. NSTA’s Book Beat issue this month features lessons by NSTA Press authors that will help you teach timely topics your students may have on their minds at the start of this new year.
Wildfires and drought
News coverage of the bushfires in Australia raises questions about why and how wildfires spread and what might be done to combat them. Download the lesson “Wildfires” from Big Data, Small Devices: Investigating the Natural World Using Real-Time Data to help grade 3-12 students determine whether there is a correlation between drought and wildfires using data from online databases. Along the way, students explore the role of water in Earth’s surface processes and natural hazards while analyzing and interpreting data. For additional lessons related to climate change and data analysis, check out Understanding Climate Change, Grades 7–12.
Climate and location
Elementary students can learn about weather patterns and climate as well as how latitude affects climate during the lesson “Climate and Location: How Does the Climate Change as One Moves From the Equator Toward the Poles?” from Argument-Driven Inquiry in Third-Grade Science: Three-Dimensional Investigations.This lesson gives students the opportunity to describe and predict the patterns in the seasons of the year and then use their developing understanding of patterns to help them figure out how latitude affects climate. For more lessons like this related to Earth science, biology, and physical science, visit the Argument-Driven Inquiry series page to download sample lessons.
Understanding environmental impacts on species
Climate change threatens the survival of many species, especially those that overheat in higher temperatures. Help your students explore this current issue through “Triumph of the Pika: Understanding Environmental Impacts on Species,” a lesson about pikas (an animal related to rabbits) from the newly released book Discovery Engineering in Biology: Case Studies for Grades 6–12. This case-study lesson begins with a surprise discovery by scientists that a pika population survived a wildfire that destroyed an entire forest. Through examining this case, students will learn how we obtained valuable information about the pika’s survival, information that may help us protect wildlife in the face of climate change. Be sure to also check out the other book in this series, Discovery Engineering in Physical Science: Case Studies for Grades 6–12.
Celebrate the new year with 20 percent off these 20 new NSTA Press books
NSTA Press is offering 20% off our 20 newest books and e-books through January 31, 2020. Use promotion code NEW20 when ordering and visit our page that lists the eligible books you can choose from. Offer is valid on purchases made through the online Science Store and shipped to U.S. addresses and may not be combined with other offers. Find your next science-teaching resource and save.
What do wildfires, drought, and extreme weather have in common? All these events in the news can be doorways to exploring weather, climate, and more with your students. NSTA’s Book Beat issue this month features lessons by NSTA Press authors that will help you teach timely topics your students may have on their minds at the start of this new year.
Wildfires and drought