I had fun this summer spending 4 days over 2 weeks “enriching” preschool teachers and children in their program by collaboratively exploring ephemeral art projects. Good discussion about when children’s making becomes art was part of our work together. Does mixing up a colorful mud-grass-flower-water “stew” or chopping (sculpting?) a rotting log with plastic trowels count as art? What do you think?

While experiences and subsequent discoveries are important, I don’t call it art unless the children are intentional about designing the look, smell, feel, or sound of it. Or if they identify some intentions afterwards (“It looks like a…”). I can see the science learning in children’s random and open exploration actions but I wouldn’t call these art. The open-ended work builds understanding as they make connections between prior experiences and accidental discoveries. In the stew the stones sink, flowers float, and the water gets more opaque as soil is added. Petals are easier to tear apart than stems, each contributing a different color and texture to the mix. As the rotting log comes apart, the inner color is lighter than the outside…”Why?” “I think it’s because the rain.”

The ephemeral art work included painting with water, temporary structures of rock, sticks set into sand and their shadows, painted leaves and burlap, and a clay structure embellished with shells and sticks. Discussion with the children as they worked let them know that some art work we make doesn’t get saved to take home. Our photographs can “save” the work for us before “unbuilders” disrupt it or time and natural weather events make changes.

The children built “bridges” using different shapes and types of rock, exploring the properties of rock and how shape affects how a rock can be part of a structure. The rocks provided a different kind of experience but required close supervision as this new-to-the-school material was heavier than most others usually available (I asked children to use two hands to lift the rocks). My hope is that with experience, some classes at the school will be able to incorporate the stones into the sandbox play.

Children and teachers were surprised that we could paint on leaves picked from trees. The smooth Redbud tree leaves made mini canvases. We pinned them up on a wall and the images changed with time, sunlight, and rain. I was relieved when the children did not get upset at the changes—they accepted the idea of ephemeral more easily than I expected.

Burlap bags, donated by a local coffee roaster, worked well for two purposes: a painting canvas and base for a structure/sculpture. I thought a group experience painting with tempera might make children less concerned about having their work changed by leaving the canvas hung up outside over a week of rainstorms and sunshine. Adding more paint was the main point for many but a few children focused on where they added paint. Changes to the work will be easy to notice when comparing photos of newly-created work with photographs taken weeks later.

Three, four, and five-year-olds contributed their ideas and effort to creating a structure using a stump and sticks covered with burlap as the base. Children and teachers pressed gray potters clay into the burlap, wetting it to make it stick. On a nearby stump they used play kitchen knives to cut up slabs of clay, switching to a spatula action, pressing and rubbing when adding the clay to the structure. Once all available clay became part of the structure (I still hesitate to call it a sculpture), children began embellishing it with sticks and stones from the play area and shells from someone’s beach vacation.

Teachers talked with children about observed changes in the paintings due to leaves drying and curling, and rain streaking the paint as it soaked the burlap canvas. “Oh, okay,” was the reaction of most children. Perhaps because they were more intimately involved with the structure through their hands-on manipulation of clay, they earnestly called teachers’ attention to cracks forming as the clay dried, and discussed whether or not to pick it apart. (Opinions were divided so teachers said the plan was to keep it intact.) After a heavy rain re-softening and drooping the clay covering the burlap, children added more shells and sticks, making the structure more of a sculpture in my eyes.

With more clay, sand, straw, and more time, children could make a larger, more permanent sculpture using a “cob” process.  “Always Becoming,” by artist Nora Naranjo-Morse (Santa Clara Pueblo) is an example of sculptures that change over time as they stand in the elements outside the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D. C. 

The play area is open to the public after school hours so it is unlikely the sculpture structure will survive very long. The children will retain their experiences of the absorption of paint into burlap, texture of leaves, blocking light to create shadows, clay becoming slippery with water, pushing clay between the burlap fibers, sticks and shells sticking into clay, and rain altering clay. These experiences help them build their understanding of the properties of matter, structure of leaves, shadows, effects of weather events, and the idea that they can manipulate matter to create artwork, or something.

 This week in education news, new study finds that students are blowing off international exams; San Francisco Unified School District begins rolling out new science standards and lessons across all elementary schools; districts and schools around the country are struggling to fill empty teaching positions with qualified staff; Carnegie Science Center debuts first-ever classroom for preschoolers; and female, black and Latino students took Advanced Placement computer science courses in record numbers, and rural student participation surged this year; and professional learning needs to be available to all administrators and educators interested in implementing makerspace classes that break the traditional teaching mold.

If Students Aren’t Trying On International Tests, Can We Still Compare Countries’ Results

Many students seem to be blowing off a major international exam, leading some researchers to argue that the results paint a distorted picture of where countries stand in education rankings. Worldwide, a high percentage of students either skip questions, spend insufficient time answering them, or quit the Program for International Student Assessment test early. As a result, a handful of countries fall lower in overall PISA rankings than they might if their students applied themselves, according to the provocative new study. Read the article featured in Education Week.

Science Refreshed In Elementary Schools This Year

In today’s world of information overload, it can be difficult to determine fact from fiction. That’s why we’re teaching critical thinking skills and scientific literacy–to prepare students to think like scientists and engineers, from kindergarten on. This year, we’re rolling out new science standards — and the lessons that helps students learn those standards — across all of our elementary schools. Read the article featured in the San Francisco Examiner.

Schools Again Start Year With Teacher Shortages

Loan forgiveness and service scholarships, teacher residency programs and strong induction programs are a few of the ways states are trying to solve their teacher shortage problems, according to a report released today by the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Learning Policy Institute (LPI). Read the article featured in Education DIVE.

Opening A Computer Science Charter: Advice From A Pioneering Educator

Computer science remains a topic of increasing interest in K-12, with states introducing new standards on computer science and the College Board touting the popularity of its new Advanced Placement course on computer science principles—even as districts struggle with the realities of the “computer science for all” call to action. But what does it take to begin a school with a computer science focus? Education Week chatted with Mashea Ashton, the founder and CEO of Digital Pioneers Academy, a newly opened charter school in the District of Columbia, who shared what she’s learned from others who have begun schools with a computer science curriculum. Read the article featured in Education Week.

A Study Finds Promise In Project-Based Learning For Young Low-Income Children

When a classroom of second graders in Waterford, Mich., studied civics in the fall of 2016, they began by exploring a nearby park in Pontiac. Arriving with their notebooks, the seven-year-olds jotted down safety problems. Back in the classroom, they discussed their ideas for improvement. They created multicolored posters to explain what different departments of local government do, from sanitation to human resources. The kids drafted proposals to clean up messy areas and put soft woodchips under the swings. The 20-lesson unit culminated in a presentation before a Pontiac City Council member named Randy Carter, who listened to the kids make their case at a podium with a microphone and PowerPoint slides. Carter promised to act upon their proposals immediately. It was an effective demonstration of project-based learning, a trend whose roots date back to John Dewey’s educational philosophies and has been spreading through schools across the country over the past five years. Read the article featured in The Hechinger Report.

A New Way To Engage Kids? Science Museum Opens Classroom For Preschoolers

The 20 preschool children who came to the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, last week weren’t simply on a field trip. Instead, they were there to participate in a new early childhood class at the science museum. Read the article featured in Science.

STEAM Spreads To Subjects From Spanish To Business

Forgetting the notion that STEAM projects need pricey tools or tech know-how helps incorporate those skills across the curriculum. Read the article featured in Education DIVE.

Female, Minority Students Took AP Computer Science In Record Numbers

Female, black and Latino students took Advanced Placement computer science courses in record numbers, and rural student participation surged this year, as the College Board attracted more students to an introductory course designed to expand who has access to sought-after tech skills. Read the article featured in USA Today.

Makerspace Educators Need Professional Development, Too

During my tenure as technology director at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School in Miami, the idea of makerspaces — collaborative workspaces that are growing more and more popular across the country — intrigued me, from both a pedagogical and a technological perspective. I decided to base my doctoral thesis on them: “Tinkering in K–12: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study of Makerspaces in Schools as an Application of Constructivist Learning.” What I found during my research was that more professional development on makerspaces is desperately needed. In fact, an astounding 40 percent of makerspace teachers reported that they had received no PD on makerspaces at all. That’s 40 percent too many. PD needs to be available to all administrators and educators interested in implementing these classes that break the traditional teaching mold. Read the article featured in EdTech Magazine.

Stay tuned for next week’s top education news stories.

The Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs (CLPA) team strives to keep NSTA members, teachers, science education leaders, and the general public informed about NSTA programs, products, and services and key science education issues and legislation. In the association’s role as the national voice for science education, its CLPA team actively promotes NSTA’s positions on science education issues and communicates key NSTA messages to essential audiences.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

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I love to ask teachers, “Who are our best scientists?” You can see them shuffling through the list of outstanding scientists in their minds. But, quickly their faces light up and they enthusiastically respond with “Kids are!” And, they are right! Children are great at asking questions, designing investigations with “What if…?” questions, collecting data usually in their pockets, and the other Science and Engineering Practices. Where are they the best scientists? Out in nature.

Whether in the schoolyard, backyard, or through a field study trip, place-based education is the key. To enhance these experiences to a deeper level, project-based units allow students to establish a personal connection and ownership in their learning which is so empowering.

Fall is a wonderful time to observe migration, deciduous trees losing their leaves, and to begin long-term observations such as decrease of daylight hours and the position of the sun in relation to the horizon. Winter is perfect for snowflake study, animal tracking, and animal behavior during winter months. Spring allows students to see insect lifecycles, spring migration, and plant growth.

Some examples of such projects include school yard gardens, clean-up the playground projects, plant identification books, insect study, and watershed study. My favorite is watershed study. We have been performing water quality testing on our local river for eight years. The students feel ownership of their data, and their river. Watershed study also allows students to see how all of the science work together to for this system.

Outdoors can also mean bringing your class to your local children’s museum, visit to a national park, state park, and other agencies. These professionals love to visit classrooms, as well. This is a great way to bring the outdoors indoors! These people have a wealth of information and some agencies also have educational trunks.

You can bring the outdoors indoors with many classroom activities. An indoor project we are involved is with the Ennis Fish Hatchery and the Trout in the Classroom program. The students observe them throughout the school year, and at the end of the school year, we release them in the Bozeman Fishing Pond. Another project is our indoor garden where the students design their investigations. Students have investigated whether or not a yucca seed with germinate in a hydroponics table, can I pollinate a hibiscus bloom, and  does seed tape work.

Bringing the outdoors indoors allows your students to explore their own yard or park. Motivate your students to bring specimens into the classroom. For safety, require adult supervision, protective eyewear and gloves, and no live animals. You will want to review NSTA’s safety position statement for recommendations and restrictions. You will want to make sure your classroom is equipped with a document camera for whole-group observations.

Whether you take your students outdoors or bring the outdoors in, equip your students with a notebook to record observations, draw diagrams or specimens they observe.

Here is a list of supplies to have in your classroom:

I adore watching and listening to students as they use their five senses to discover the outdoors and the science of nature where all the sciences work to form our world. What are some of the ways you bring nature to your students and your students to nature?

NGSS Standards:

K-ESS2-2: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.

K-LS1-1: Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.

K- ESSE2-1: Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.

1-ESS1-1: Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.

2-LS2-2.Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

3-LS2-1: Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.

3-LS4-3: Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

NSTA Resources:

Books and E-books:

Outdoor Science: A Practical Guide By Steve Rich (also in Ebook)

The Great Outdoors by Terry Kwan and Juliana Texley

Birds, Bugs, and Butterflies: Science Lessons for Your Outdoor Classroom, by Steve Rich

Mixing It Up: Integrated, Interdisciplinary, Intriguing Science in The Elementary Classroom, Edited by Susan Koba

Schoolyard Science: 101 Easy and Inexpensive Activities, by Thomas R. Lord and Holly J. Travis

Science and Children Articles:

The Early Years: Planting Before Winter, by Peggy Ashbrook

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all. Follow @NSTA on Twitter to see more stories like these and get the science education resources you need.