Regardless of what grade level or subject are you teach, as you skim through the article titles, you may find ideas for lessons that would be interesting your students or the inspiration to adapt/create/share your own.

Special thanks to Linda Froschauer (My Last Editor’s Note)! Under her leadership as editor of Science & Children she has provided all of us with ideas and inspiration! Rather than “retiring,” I suspect she’ll be “retooling” into other ways of contributing to science teaching and learning.

Science & Children – Learning Centers

 Another big change at S&C is the retirement of Bill Robertson, author of Science 101 which appeared in every issue. In his last column, Science 101: How Do We Best Teach and Learn Science Concepts?, he shares a technique he uses as an introduction to how people learn and how to teach for understanding rather than memorization.

The lessons described in the articles include connections with the NGSS.

• The introductory part of Formative Assessment Probes: Using Formative Assessment Probes to Develop Elementary Learning Stations describes learning stations as more than a collection of activities. The article shows how formative assessments can be used when designing learning stations and includes a probe on magnets.
• Explore Early has a rationale and suggestions for three approaches to exploratory science centers for young students. The authors include photographs and stories of children exploring science concepts in multi-disciplinary centers.
• Learning centers can be a way to address the issue of “not enough time” for science. Lighting the Way to Learning Centers suggests ways to determine which standards could be addressed in centers, which activities would be appropriate, how all students can benefit, and how teachers can organize the center concept, within the context of a center on circuits.
• The case study described in Methods & Strategies: Responsive Teaching and High-Stakes Testing shows that “teaching responsively need not compromise students’ test scores. These findings, along with rich opportunities afforded by teaching responsively, suggest that veering from the standards-mandated curriculum to pursue students’ ideas may not be as risky as many fear.”
• Modeling in Learning Centers describes a series of learning centers that focus model-building and testing as students explore and characterize objects as living, nonliving, natural, or human-made. The article includes key questions for each center.
• A Mystery in Motion illustrates a 5E lesson in which students used motion sensors to graph and predict future motions based on what they observed.
• Learning centers are not a new idea. Renovating Our Science Learning Centers discusses how to adapt traditional centers into informal learning centers that support and challenge students to develop and expand their understanding of science concepts. Weather and natural disasters was the focus of the centers described in the article.
• The Early Years: Engaging Children in Multidisciplinary Learning Centers includes an overview of how learning centers support children’s use of manipulatives, their imaginations, exploratory activities, and interdisciplinary connections. The article includes a detailed description of setting up learning centers, using the topic of seeds.
• In addition to recommending trade books, Teaching Through Trade Books: Star Light, Star Bright has two 5E lessons (Pictures in the Stars K-2) and Stellar Science (3-5) that focus on constellations and studying star charts.

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• Teaching Teachers: Breathing New Life Into Elementary Science Preservice Teacher Education
• The Poetry of Science: Force, Motion, and Energy
• Engineering Encounters: STEM-ify Me: It’s Elementary! Designing Butterfly Wings

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Butterflies, Constellations, Electric Current, Energy, Forces and Motion, Life Cycle of a Star, Light, Living Things, Magnets, Natural Disasters, Seed Germination, Simple Machines, Stars, Weather

Continue for The Science Teacher and Science Scope.

The Science Teacher – Investigating STEM Careers

The Editor’s Corner: A Good Day’s Work discusses reasons to encourage students to consider STEM-related careers:

• This comes at a time when the global knowledge-based economy demands increasing participation in STEM fields, and even many non-STEM occupations require a high level of STEM knowledge and technical expertise.
• Scientific knowledge makes everything—a walk in the woods, reading a newspaper, a family visit to a science museum or beach—simply more interesting.
• The skepticism and critical thinking that are part of the scientific worldview are essential for informed civic participation and evidence-based social discourse.

The lessons described in the articles include connections with the NGSS.

• A teacher-researcher describes the View from the Top (and the Bottom) of the World in terms of climate change in the polar regions. The lesson focuses on students comparing the Antarctic region with other places on Earth and includes links to video interviews with scientists who are studying polar climate change.
• Kick up your career preparations with the ideas in On the Job. This project involves a job-shadowing program at a zoo, with suggestions on adapting the strategies for other shadowing/internship opportunities.
• As part of unit on heredity, students explored Decoding Careers in DNA as they took on the role of code-breakers. The article includes a rubric for a Claims-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) framework.
• Who Tagged the Bench? describes five activities in which students collect and analyze data throughout the year, practicing their skills. The authors include a detailed overview of the activities, including a culminating investigation that required students to analyze and interpret data from a new situation.
• Creative Assessments includes a strategy (RAFT) for using writing prompts as a formative assessment. As the example show, students can be both creative and scientifically accurate as they write about what they learned about motion.
• Focus on Physics: Bow Waves to Sonic Booms reviews the characteristics of waves with simple diagrams and examples.
• Recognizing patterns and trends is a NGSS crosscutting concept. Science 2.0: Map My Data illustrates how mapping technology can be used to identify and visualize patterns that exist in a data set.
• Career of the Month: Audio Engineer has suggestions for integrating technology and the arts into a career. (This column features a different STEM career each month. Here is a list from the 2013-2018 TST issues.)
• Perhaps the historic posters in Right to the Source: Encouraging Exploration—The WPA Poster Project would encourage students to create their own.

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Biology Careers, Careers in Chemistry, Careers in Earth Science, Careers in Life Science, Careers in Environmental Science, Careers in Physics, DNA, Doppler Effect, Motion, Nature of Waves, Paper Chromatography, Public Health Careers, Spectra of Elements, Wave Properties, Wavelength, Wildlife Biologists

Science Scope – Matter and Its Interactions

From the Editor’s Desk: The Meaningful World of Matter: The world is made up of matter—everything we come in contact with, see, and touch embodies properties that make that matter unique. Whether it is plastics, medicines, or even automobile paint, we manipulate matter for the purpose of improving our lives. It can be challenging, however, to take something that can be as abstract as matter and make it meaningful for middle school students.

Articles in this issue that describe lessons include a helpful sidebar (“At a Glance”) documenting the big idea, essential pre-knowledge, time, and cost. The lessons also include connections with the NGSS.

• Help students investigate and understand exothermic and endothermic process with an interesting question: How Will We Freeze the Ice Cream? The lesson incorporates knowledge probing, learning stations, measuring, experimental design…and ice cream!
• While Making Mixtures, students use models to explain what happens when materials are mixed with water.
• Where Does a Tree Get Its Mass? addresses student misconceptions about the relationship between plant growth and photosynthesis.
• A teacher demonstration can be adapted into an opportunity for student discussion or an opportunity for formative assessment. Classic Lessons 2.0: The Discovery Demonstration uses an example that incorporates modeling, prediction, observation, and explanation.
• “States of matter” is the focus of the investigation in Disequilibrium: Oobleck: Is It a Solid or Liquid?
• Commentary: “When You Walk Into This Room, You’re Scientists!” promotes developing science-linked identities in students, including those who may not see themselves as scientists. .
• Science for All: Ready, Fire, Aim! has ideas for managing student behavior during class activities.
• Do your students have difficulty identifying variables during an investigation? Teacher to Teacher: Supporting Students With the Four Question Strategy includes suggestions for helping students plan and conduct investigations with their own experimental designs.
• If you live near an ocean, the Great Eggcase Hunt described in Citizen Science: Citizen Science at the Shore could be interesting to your students.

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• Listserv Roundup: A Short Guide to Genius Hour Makerspaces
• Scope on the Skies: Return to Sender (part 1)
• Integrating Technology: Depth of Knowledge and Conceptual Understanding
• Practical Research: Help! I’ve Been Asked to Coach a Robotics Team

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Catapults, Chemical Reactions, Density, Exothermic and Endothermic Reactions, Mass, Matter, Photosynthesis, Properties of Matter, Robot, Solutions, States of Matter

This week in education news, a modern learning environment could be the key to making any space the right space for innovative thinking; Microsoft invests $2 million in Computer Science Teachers Association; the increased use of industrial robots has enhanced the efficiency of manufacturing, but it has also fueled a skills gap in the field; NGSS could change elementary science education; “Peanuts” and NASA partner again to inspire a passion for space exploration and STEM; survey finds that weaker math students who choose to take calculus in high school actually get the most benefit from the class; new report suggests that many graduate programs do not adequately prepare students to translate their knowledge into impact in multiple careers; and study finds science degree holders more likely to use inquiry-based teaching.

Modern Classrooms Energize Students And Teachers

Flexible workspaces that allow teachers to manipulate the classroom for changing needs can help to keep students engaged and enthusiastic. Read the article featured in Ed Tech Magazine.

Microsoft To Invest $2M In Computer Science Teachers Association

The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), a 25,000-member professional association dedicated to K-12 computer science education worldwide, will receive $2 million in funding over the next three years from Microsoft Philanthropies, the tech company announced Monday. Read the article featured in edScoop.

Bridging The STEM Skills Gap Involves Both Education And Industry Commitments

While the increased use of industrial robots has enhanced the precision and efficiency of manufacturing, it has also fueled a skills gap in the field. According to a study by Deloitte Consulting LLP and the Manufacturing Institute, there are an estimated 3.4 million jobs to be filled in manufacturing from 2015 to 2025 – and only approximately 1.4 million qualified workers to do so. Schools and industries try to bridge this gap and find ways to best prepare students for workforce requirements – one in which science, technology, engineering and mathematics play a major part. Read the article featured in U.S. News & World Report.

Will New Standards Improve Elementary Science Education?

Science could be considered the perfect elementary school subject. It provides real life applications for reading and math and develops critical thinking skills that help students solve problems in other subjects. Plus, it’s interesting. It helps answer all those “why” questions — Why is the sun hot? Why do fish swim? Why are some people tall and other people short? — that 5- to 8-year-old children are so famous for asking. But science has long been given short shrift in the first few years of school. Most elementary school teachers have little scientific background and many say they feel unprepared to teach the subject well. Read the article featured in The Hechinger Report.

‘Peanuts’ And NASA Are Collaborating Again — Five Decades After Snoopy’s Moon Mission

Even before man had landed on the moon, Snoopy had landed his name on NASA equipment. Now, “Peanuts” and the space agency will launch a new phase of partnership. Peanuts Worldwide and NASA will announce on Tuesday that they have entered into a multiyear Space Act Agreement, executives at Peanuts tell The Washington Post’s Comic Riffs. The partnership is engineered “to inspire a passion for space exploration and STEM” education among students, according to Peanuts Worldwide. Read the article featured in The Washington Post.

Study Finds That Mastering Prerequisites—Not Taking Calculus In High School—Better Predicts Success In College

Contrary to widely-held opinion, taking high school calculus isn’t necessary for success later in college calculus—what’s more important is mastering the prerequisites, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry—that lead to calculus. That’s according to a study of more than 6,000 college freshmen at 133 colleges carried out by the Science Education Department of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. In addition, the survey finds that weaker math students who choose to take calculus in high school actually get the most benefit from the class. Read the article featured on Phys.org.

Why Corporate America Is Recruiting High Schoolers

With more job openings than unemployed workers in the US economy, companies are finding it hard to fill jobs. One solution is for corporations to train high school students with the skills needed in the labor market. Sometimes, they start as young as kindergarten. Since 2011, more than 400 companies have partnered with 79 public high schools across the country to offer a six-year program called P-Tech. Students can enroll for grades 9 to 14 and earn both a high school and an associate’s degree in a science, tech, engineering or math related field. Read the article featured on CNN Money.

What’s The Way Forward To Reform Graduate Training?

A report, issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, offers a bracing alternative vision of the student-centered “ideal graduate STEM education” that aspiring scientists should, by rights, experience. It fails, however, to show a path toward producing the reforms that would make the current system provide what students need. It thus presents an implicit warning for anyone currently contemplating or pursuing graduate study that big changes are unlikely anytime soon. Nonetheless, it succeeds in offering an outline of the treatment that students ought to receive—and therefore ought to press for. Read the article featured in Science.

Science Degree Holders More Likely To Use Inquiry-Based Teaching. But There Aren’t Enough Of Them

This is what you want to see in a science classroom: Less memorizing. Fewer ready-made science experiments. Students designing their own hands-on investigations in pursuit of scientific questions. Educators most likely to teach this way hold science degrees, a new study finds. Nationwide, that includes just half of all science teachers. Read the article featured in Education Week.

When Form Follows Function In Classroom Design, The Learning Ramps Up

Studies show that active learning — group work, activities and discussions — increases student performance in STEM. Architects and others who design learning environments can improve student performance by keeping knowledge about student learning — and flexibility — in mind, according to a piece in Building Construction and Design. Read the brief featured in Education DIVE.

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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House Appropriations Committee Approves FY2019 Appropriations Bill

After several delays the full House Appropriations Committee approved their Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) FY2019 Appropriations bill on Wednesday, July 11 and this year there is again good news for education funding advocates.

Overall the FY2019 bill would fund the Department of Education at nearly $71 billion, which is $43 million above the FY 2018 enacted level.

Congressional lawmakers did not act on the Administration’s priorities this year when determining the FY2019 budget and instead ignored the Administration’s budget request to eliminate large K-12 education programs including professional development (title IIA), Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (Title IVA) and after-school programs (Title IVB). The FY2019 budget also ignores Secretary DeVos’ requests to expand school choice programs. Here are the numbers:

• ESSA, Title I: a $125 million increase for Title I funding to support economically challenged schools, bringing the total to $15.5 billion.
• ESSA, Title IIA: level funding of $2.1 billion–comparable to FY2018–for teacher training, professional development and class size reduction.
• ESSA, Title IVA: Appropriators increased funding for the ESSA Title IVA Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants by $100 million. The program would be funded at $1.2 billion for FY2019.
• Charter Schools: The bill would increase federal funding for charter schools by $50 million, bringing the total to $450 million.
• Title IVB, 21^st Century Community Learning Centers (After-school programs) would be funded at their current $1.2 billion level.
• CTE programs: 1.9 billion for career, technical and adult education programs, an increase of nearly $115 million over last year’s levels.

In late June the Senate Appropriations Committee approved their bipartisan fiscal 2019 spending bill which also seeks to increase overall funding for the Education Department by $541 million to $71.4 billion.

The Senate bill also requests additional funding for key education programs, including a $125 million increase for the Title IVA Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants program. Title IIA and afterschool programs were level funded in the Senate bill.  Click here for the side-by-side funding chart for selected federal education programs, and stay tuned for more in the coming weeks.

Senate Passes Bipartisan Career and Technical Education Bill

Also last week the Senate HELP Committee unanimously approved a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career Technical Education (CTE) program, the first such rewrite of the law in more than a decade.

The bill still has to be passed by the full Senate and then compromised with the House CTE bill passed last year (H.R. 2353 (115)). It has the support of governors, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and most education groups.

The Senate bill would allow states to set their own career and technical education goals and it eliminates an existing negotiation process between states and the Education secretary, who still approves the state plans.

The goals would be built around specific “core indicators” outlined in the bill, such as high school graduation rates and the percentage of CTE students who enroll in post-secondary programs. Schools would also be required to make “meaningful progress toward improving the performance of all career and technical education students.”

Janus v. AFSCME—What’s Next for Teacher Unions?

On Weds, June 27, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that public-sector unions, which include teacher unions, may not charge non-members mandatory fees since it violates their First Amendment rights because it essentially forces them to subsidize unions’ political speech.

This means that unions must operate under “right to work” rules, where unions may not recoup from union non-members their share of the cost of collective bargaining, even though the law requires those same unions to represent all members of a bargaining unit regardless of whether they belong to the union.

Unions have complained that right-to-work creates a “free rider” problem because members can quit the union yet still enjoy its benefits without paying member dues or non-member “fair-share” or “agency” fees.

Plaintiff Mark Janus, an Illinois state worker who declined to join the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, argued that the payments he was compelled to pay AFSCME violated his First Amendment rights. Public employee unions are already barred from spending fair-share fees on political campaigns. Janus’s lawyers argued that because AFSCME represented government workers, any activity it engaged in — even collective bargaining — constituted political speech. The high court agreed.

The Supreme Court ruling also means that teachers who oppose the candidates and policies unions favor — like teacher tenure — are free withdraw their money from unions.

The decision is widely seen to fracture the teacher unions’ ability to recruit and maintain members and a loss of political clout. Both the NEA and AFT anticipate a huge loss to their treasuries and membership rolls. The NEA has publicly estimated it could lose as many as 300,000 members and anticipates $50 million less in expenditures over two years as a result of the ruling.

Conservative groups, worker-freedom advocates education reform groups, and educators who don’t support teachers unions’ political causes welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling, while the teachers unions have said they are preparing for change. Many state teachers’ unions are working now to make sure they are complying with the law.

How will the Educator Spring Play Out this Fall?

In light of the Janus ruling, many pundits are looking at the rising tide of grassroots advocacy and how the recent educator protests this spring in West Virginia, Arizona and Oklahoma over teacher pay and cuts to school funding will affect local and state elections this fall

The American Federation of Teachers reports that nearly 300 union members are running for political office this year, more than double than in 2012 and 2016.

Nearly 800 teacher candidates running in the Oklahoma primaries and more than 200 teachers will run in the Arizona primary, many hoping to unseat conservative candidates.

In Kentucky, high school math teacher Travis Brenda defeated the majority leader of the state House in the Republican primary. In Oklahoma, three Democrats won special elections in solid red legislative districts. In West Virginia, the local teachers union helped defeat one of its main antagonists in the state senate, and voted in a moderate Republican challenger more sympathetic to their cause.

Watch this space for more on teacher advocates later this summer and into the fall election season.

How Do Districts Plan to Use their ESSA Block Grant Money?

Finally, the American Association of School Superintendents Association, in collaboration with Whiteboard Advisors, recently produced a study of how districts plan to use the $1.1 billion currently appropriated to the ESSA Title IV, Part A program. 

STEM education topped the list of priorities that school leaders plan to fund through the “well rounded” portion of these new ESSA funds, which flow to every state and district according to population and need.    Download our Title IVA infographic here and read more about the study here. 

The Education Week webinar How Can Districts make the Most out of Title IV Federal Funding under ESSA is now available on-demand here.

During the webinar speakers (including yours truly) focus on the many different funding possibilities within the ESSA Title IVA Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants. Districts can choose to spend a hefty portion of this flexible block grant on STEM and technology, but can also choose to spend funds on school safety and health, arts education, and college and career readiness.  Funding for this grant program jumped from $400 million during the 2017-18 school year, to $1.1 billion for the 2018-19 school year.

Stay tuned, and watch for more updates in future issues of NSTA Express.

Jodi Peterson is the Assistant Executive Director of Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Chair of the STEM Education Coalition. Reach her via e-mail at jpeterson@nsta.org or via Twitter at @stemedadvocate.

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

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How can I teach science when my school only allots 15-20 minutes per day to teach it? This usually comes at the end of the day when students are worn out.
—N., Louisiana

It can be very frustrating to have only tiny chunks of time to teach. One thing you can try is to block science every 2-3 days. This also gives you extra time for math and English Language Arts (ELA) on most days!

If blocking time won’t work then you have to be very organized to minimize setup time and use demonstrations and lessons that are either quick or lend themselves to being broken into small, separate segments. For instance, you could divide up a hands-on activity involving plants into: filling pots with soil; planting seeds; recording daily observations; collating data; representing data; and creating reports or presenting.

The best solution, in my opinion, is to embed science into math, ELA, and social studies instruction. . All subjects benefit from being seen as useful and interconnected. Data manipulation and representations can be done in math while reading, writing, and presenting projects are all perfectly suited to ELA. . Social ramifications, geography, and history can all be incorporated.

The last period scenario is another concern that requires some extra effort. . If you can hype activities and keep them quick, engaging and hands-on, you may find that students may want to extend their days because we all know how cool science is!

Hope this helps!

Photo credit: Public domain via Wikimedia

This week in education news, Pennsylvania needs to get serious about STEM education; personalized learning has broad appeal, but may be more revolutionary than people think; and to properly integrate coding and computer science into the education system, it is critical to provide teachers with access to training programs that support their personal development.

Pa. Needs To Get Serious About STEM Education. Here’s How To Make That Happen

As a practicing Pennsylvania classroom science teacher for more than 30 years and a National STEM Teacher Ambassador, I appreciate the good work Gov. Tom Wolf has done for STEM and education. His recent PennLive Op-ed “Pa. can build on apprenticeships, skills training and STEM education progress” points out how far we have come in preparing our students for STEM and the workforce. But we have a long way still to go. Read the article featured on Pennlive.com.

‘I Still Think I Have A Lot To Offer:’ Three Decades Later, A Virginia Teacher’s Words Ring True

On the last day of the only job he’s known for three decades, Dean Howarth wore a kilt. It was the same kilt he’d worn for many first days of school, a purchase inspired by his travels to Scotland years ago, which included a visit to Duart Castle — the ancestral home of the Clan Maclean. A fitting homage, he thought, for his final hours as a physics teacher at McLean High School in Fairfax County. Read the article featured in The Washington Post.

Is The New Education Reform Hiding In Plain Sight?

In December 1997, a sixth-grader at Dan D. Rogers Elementary School here set a three-alarm fire in the library. Erin and Sean Jett, whose house is so nearby they hear the school bell ring, did not have school-aged children at the time. But it left an impression. “My child will not go there,” said Erin. When it comes to their children’s education, parents are like drug-sniffing dogs. Test scores matter. But so do other things. Which is why now, more than 10 years later, Emma Jett will be a fifth-grader at the Dallas school this fall. And her parents are happy about it. Their changed view — and that of others who shunned Rogers and now want in — is driven by what seems to be a magic educational elixir: personalized learning. Read the article featured in The Hechinger Report.

Got STEM Funding? Here’s How To Use It

Schools lack the resources they need to properly offer coding education to students. So it’s not surprising that U.S. employers have only been able to fill 10 percent of available computer science jobs with qualified applicants. Progress was made this year when the U.S. Department of Education (DoE) was tasked to devote at least $200 million of its grant funds annually to STEM education, and this initiative was followed by an additional $300 million from tech giants and the private sector for K-12 computer science programs. Read the article featured in eSchool News.

Workforce Report Highlights Gaps Between Early-Childhood, K-12 Educators

Over the past two years, median wages for educators working in the early-childhood field have increased by 7%, but those working in child-care and preschool programs still earn a fraction of what kindergarten and elementary teachers make, according to the Early Childhood Workforce Index 2018, released by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. Read the brief featured in Education DIVE.

Kindergarten Coders: When Is Too Early To Put Kids In Front Of Computer Screens? 

As some parents try to slow the tech tide for their children, code.org has expanded its reach into schools. Twenty-five percent of all U.S. students now have Code.org accounts and 800,000 teachers use the site for class lessons, according to the nonprofit. Code.org has been pressing states to pass laws and adopt policies that support computer science, and, by extension, put technology in the hands of students at a younger age. Some parents worry not just about excessive screen time, internet addiction and data privacy, they worry that new courses are being taught too early in the name of workforce development.

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.

Follow NSTA

I am looking for recommendations on how to spend my summer preparing to implement the science program our school district adopted.

—C., Illinois

Without knowing the specifics of your district’s program I can’t say precisely what to do, but I have some general advice.

First, this is your summer break—take some time to unwind and not think about this at all!

About three weeks from the beginning of term, start reading the introductory material —you might even consider arranging a relaxed planning party with colleagues to go through the material together. Have a calendar handy and take notes.

• While you read, keep these questions in mind:
• What is the program’s basic approach to science education?
• How is it structured? Is it flexible?
• How does it match with what you are doing in your classroom already?
• Does it differentiate for the different learners in your classroom?
• How are assessments structured?
• Compare it line by line to your state’s curriculum. Note any differences. Can you insert local content?

Many programs use simulations, videos, and class management software. Try to get access to these now. Will there be technical issues using these in your class? Are they good quality and can you substitute media that you already use?

Inspect manipulatives or kits. Are they durable? Will you need to purchase consumable supplies? Start planning when to reorder materials.

What supports are available? Contact them now to establish lines of communication. If there are training sessions start signing up. Coordinate this with your colleagues.

Hope this helps!

Photo credit: H. Zell  via Wikimedia

Introduction

The Go Direct Respiration Belt measures human respiration rate. While using the Go Direct Respiration Belt, you can measure human breathing patterns with a wireless Bluetooth connection or by plugging-in the device with a USB cord. It works with a sensor and an adjustable nylon strap that goes around the chest to measure respiration effort and respiration rate. So that belt tension can be optimized, an LED indicator provides feedback.

First, if using the Bluetooth, the device will need to be charged, which takes approximately two hours. Respiration rate and exerted force are reported with a free “Graphical Analysis™ 4 app,” which simplifies comparisons between subjects during experiments. The “app” can be downloaded onto a computer or a smart phone.

What’s included:
• Go Direct Respiration Belt
• Micro USB cable

While using the device, the user can observe how respiration rate changes. For example, a student can examine the effect of a particular exercise on respiration effort, which is the force exerted by the chest during respiration changes after exercise or breath holding. Another nice feature is the built-in pedometer, which measure steps and step-rate during experimentation.

To use the Go Direct Respiration Belt, it needs to placed around the subject’s chest or abdomen. Another nice feature of the device is that the sensor does not need to rest directly on the skin in that it can be worn over clothing using a strap and clips (this is included). Subsequently, once the belt is secure, make sure that sensor box is positioned just below the sternum of the subject.

Undoubtedly, the possibilities for Vernier Respiration Belt are unlimited. Nonetheless, our approach to using it included three subjects (all college athletes) doing different exercises. In the example shown below, the subjects all did a different exercise, showing results with how endurance and force applied changes over time during the specified exercise.

Example 1: Exercise- Boxing

Example 2: Exercise- Jump roping

Example 3: Exercise- Bench press

Three different exercises were completed and we recorded the data on a smartphone using the Graphical Analysis™ 4 app. The “app” creates a graph and chart and also shows the force exerted by each subject. The “app” can also show the Respiration rate in the form of BPM, which stands for breaths per minute; showing how many breaths the person is taking per minute during the exercise.

The normal respiration rate for an adult at rest is 12-20 breaths per minute. However, as our results show, the different exercises result in different breaths per minute and different forces exerted.
This product is an excellent tool to compare variation of respiration rates of different subjects during a variety of physical activities. Undoubtedly, the Go Direct Respiration Belt is a great tool to get students physically active in the high school or college classroom!

Summary

After reviewing the Go Direct Respiration Belt, we found that its user-friendly data collection capabilities have many practical uses both within and outside of the classroom. Moreover, the included rechargeable battery is reliable and offers long battery life for experiments.

The Go Direct Respiration Belt is reasonably priced and connects direct to mobile devices. Without doubt, we found it to be a great tool for science and mathematics students to become active and motivated learners. Hence, the Go Direct Respiration Belt is highly recommended for classroom use!

Cost: $99.00

Edwin P. Christmann is a professor and chairman of the secondary education department and graduate coordinator of the mathematics and science teaching program at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. Caitlin Baxter is a graduate student in the mathematics and science teaching program at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.

Incorporating art into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has been a natural consequence for many teachers; for others, a more deliberate process. Art has been intrinsic to the STEAM Lab in the Millstone Township (New Jersey) School District since its inception.

“From very start of our program, it’s been called STEAM. Good design incorporates art. Every good design has to be aesthetically appealing,” asserts STEAM Lab teacher Beth Topinka. “It makes the lab happier having the A in STEAM.”

At The Learning Community in Black Mountain, North Carolina, students collected, sorted, and measured leaves as they learned about patterns, graphing, proportions, and analyzing and interpreting data. Photo courtesy of Melissa Wilson.

For instance, one STEAM Lab project challenges Topinka’s fourth-grade students to design “mountainside mouse motels” after studying erosion and natural hazards. “Students did real angle measurements of the hillside, then designed a motel for a mouse,” she explains. After making risk assessment maps, students received differing material budgets based on their locations’ erosion risks. The assignment also called for students to come up with ways to promote their motels. Topinka monitored the weather forecast, and when rain was expected, had students install their motels, with a container inside to catch and measure water, on the hillside.

Topinka also has coordinated with colleagues to apply what students learn in her lab to other classes. After noting that “these little motels take a pounding,” the language arts teacher created a natural disaster reporting assignment. Topinka also works with the art teacher to make sure students develop the sketching skills they need.

“With my third graders, it was teaching them about sketching for scientific accuracy,” she recalls. The students reviewed the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition as well as Notable Notebooks: Scientists and Their Writings by Jessica Fries-Gaither to “emphasize the importance of sketching by hand. If you snap a pic, you’re not looking, analyzing, observing” as closely, Topinka contends. “Those artistic sensibilities and detailed observational skills come more into play when sketching than by taking photos.”

When she adds art to a lesson, “kids who don’t feel like they’re science and math kids really like it. It feels a little bit more accessible,” explains Melissa Wilson, math and science teacher at The Learning Community, a K–8 experiential learning school in Black Mountain, North Carolina. When her seventh- and eighth-grade students were learning about scale, “the math curricula had a lot of taking an object and scaling it down. I thought, ‘Where do we use scale?’…I realized we could study da Vinci’s work as an artist and scientist and incorporate scale. Students looked at Vitruvian Man in art [class], then took those ratios and proportions and applied them to themselves. We used those ratios to do scatterplots in math. In science, we went outside and looked for ratios and proportions in leaves, sunflowers.”

Wilson’s fifth- and sixth-grade students studied Rube Goldberg comics before sketching and building their own devices. She says the experience was a lesson for her as well. “I was hoping they’d learn engineering, force and energy, a lot of math,” she recalls. “I learned, though, that I needed to put grit and resilience on the rubric. Because the machines had an end task, there were so many trials” as students learned why they shouldn’t manipulate multiple variables at one time.

She adds, “By starting with art, I hooked the artist students. It’s a way to get a higher level of engagement as well.

At San Francisco’s Town School for Boys, Lower School STEM teacher Jessica Boualavong meets before the school year starts with colleagues to discuss the main themes they will each cover during the school year. “We try to find one unit of collaboration in each grade…Our units are not STEAM in one classroom; they’re more STEAM-collaboration,” she says. When the fourth graders were studying ecosystems in STEM, they learned about the anatomy and life cycle of coral, knowing they would be using what they learned to make coral models in art class. In art class, they also learned about clay—from how pigments change when the clay is fired to techniques to add texture to a clay surface.

Boualavong and the art teachers assess the models separately. “On my side, it’s about scientific accuracy. Are they including accurate representations of different types of coral? Is the design appropriate to scale? In some activities, there is a labeling component,” she explains. She also aligned her assessments with the science and engineering practices of the Next Generation Science Standards. “It’s one way to vary my projects from year to year, and to keep skills consistent as they move through the grades.”

Timing is one of the “trickiest things,” she observes. “I’m moving at a pace based on student progress…and I’m trying to sync my schedule with the art department’s schedule. We have to decide if they’re learning the science first or the art first. I like to pop into the art studio when they’re starting a STEAM project to answer questions. The art teachers also visit the STEM lab.”

Boualavong appreciates the support of the art teachers as they also hold students accountable for developing skills. “Kids understand they’re building skills and those skills overlap in different areas.” she says.

Seth Hodges, a physical science teacher at Adna Middle/High School in Chehalis, Washington, began incorporating engineering into physical science lessons more than 10 years ago. Inspired by his own physics teacher years earlier, he began assigning his ninth-grade students to design Goldberg-type devices, which naturally led to discussions of perspective and scale.

“I tell them perspective is about looking at it in two dimensions and how to get it looking like three dimensions,” he explains. “I want students to learn how to evaluate things. I have juniors and seniors, who did the drawings themselves in ninth grade, evaluate [anonymously] the [ninth graders’] drawings for perspective and scale.”

Hodges likes to “surreptitiously slide” art into his lessons. “Kids have preconceived notions about what science class is like,” he says. He tries to disrupt those ideas by having students create skits about rules and sharing illustrations from Grey’s Anatomy as examples of “all the kinds of different things they can do here…Kids [come to appreciate] that there’s a lot more to my class than ‘just’ science.”

This year, Hodges started teaching a course on the physics of sound. “One of the main projects is kids have to build a musical instrument…We’re incorporating art and the visual process in designs of musical instrument process,” he explains, adding the instruments will not only have to produce sound, but they also will have to resemble something someone would want to play.

“I find that when we do incorporate artistic things into the classroom, I get a very good response from students. It’s not always art; sometimes things from [physical education] class. I’m always trying to find what else I can bring into my classroom to maybe reach the students,” Hodges concludes.

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2018 issue of NSTA Reports, the member newspaper of the National Science Teachers Association. Each month, NSTA members receive NSTA Reports, featuring news on science education, the association, and more. Not a member? Learn how NSTA can help you become the best science teacher you can be.

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

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While handling and examining objects from nature, such as sea shells, pinecones, rocks, and plant leaves, children may encounter patterns and experience properties of different materials. Without additional experiences with these objects children may not learn that structures grow in nature or develop an understanding of the complex relationships in nature—how a leaf grows from a stem or the relationship between plants and the earth they grow in.  A “science center,” where these kinds of objects are made available for children, may be a table, shelf, or just a basket. There may be a fish tank or worm box. These objects and living organisms are gateways to extended science explorations that can happen anywhere in an early childhood program—in the classroom, during “science time” or center time in any center, on the playground, or on a field trip. When children are no longer interested in the objects as science center objects, move them to other locations. Shells can become scoops for water in a tub and pine cones can make interesting impressions in play dough.

If you have a specific location for natural materials sure to leave room for any “finds” that children want to share.  A few days after new objects related to an exploration of a larger topic are placed on the science center, add tools for looking closely and for drawing to renew children’s interest in the objects and open opportunities for talking with children about what they see and think. Magnifiers, paper and crayons, a digital camera, and most importantly, people to talk with as they share their ideas, will extend initial observations into science explorations. Think about how the ideas they share can be explored more fully in additional situations, such as, in a sandbox or on a woodland trail, in the block center or in a book, or using paints or wire to make their ideas visible.

The July 2018 issue of Science and Children is focused on the topic of science centers. Read it now so the ideas related by authors can simmer this month and bring clarity to designing an effective and engaging science center that will support young children’s learning about scientific concepts.

Take a look at this science center and think about how young children might use it. Would you make any changes to the organization of materials? What support, that is not shown, would be helpful to make it possible for children to use and learn about the objects on the table? Do your children need a science center, and if so, what do they need in it?

PS–while you are reading the July 2018 issue of Science and Children, notice that journal Editor Linda Froschauer is saying good-bye: “My heart will be with Science and Children always. That’s what happens when you become involved in an initiative that impacts the lives of so many people.” Thank you, Linda, for making my work as The Early Years columnist more effective and more engaging.

For the STEAM Fair at Doane Academy in Burlington, New Jersey, upper-school students “complete projects in any field as long as they [relate] in some way to science concepts,” says Michael Russell, STEAM coordinator and mathematics and science department chair. Photo by Jack Newman, director of communications, Doane Academy.

Schools and teachers are transforming traditional science fairs into events incorporating science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) or STEAM (STEM plus Arts). At Lake Washington Girls Middle School in Seattle, Washington, for example, “we have transitioned [to] a Public Health STEAM Fair [in which seventh graders] identify a public health issue in our community, research the issue, develop a question and design a research procedure, then conduct statistical analysis to help them explain their data. Lastly, students present their research to [public health]…experts in the style of a conference,” says Christine Zarker Primomo, STEAM teacher.

“The curriculum in seventh-grade science is biology, so public health works great. But the bigger piece is that it [connects more] to citizen science. Public health is super broad and has a lot of connection to students’ lives,” Primomo observes. In addition, “[s]cience and social justice come together [for students] because their research can impact their community.”

She works closely with the math department because “they teach statistical analysis. [For their project,] students have to collect 30 data points…Students are more motivated to learn about standard deviation when it’s their own data,” she maintains. Local public health department staff provide data sets.

Students collect data via surveys and activities like collecting cigarette butts from nearby water bodies to study their effects on water, for a project exploring the effects of air quality on water quality, Primomo explains. For a project focusing on human sugar consumption, “students had test subjects and created a form requesting permission to collect data from them,” she recalls.
During the fair, students present a slideshow about their research to their families and judges from the public health community. Primomo grades students on their questions, procedures, data analysis, graphs, and presentations.

Doane Academy in Burlington, New Jersey, transitioned to a STEAM Fair because “we [decided] to celebrate student innovation and collaboration across all grade levels with a fair that permitted them to complete projects in any field as long as they related in some way to science concepts,” says Michael Russell, STEAM coordinator and mathematics and science department chair. “We wanted to motivate [students] to use the engineering design process more organically, [with the] idea that the science department isn’t the only anchor for that,” he adds.

Doane now holds a STEAM Fair because the science department found “students who thrive in science do elaborate, cohesive projects, while mid-tier students and students struggling in science find shortcuts and don’t do original work…We wanted to not just apply standards, but also have students do purposeful tinkering, driven by their passions and struggles,” Russell explains. “We made the fair a core part of our curriculum” because when students worked on projects at home, they tended to receive either “too much help from parents or none,” he contends.

Upper-school students can work with any teacher or community member to develop a product of their choice. One student wrote a book of science-related poetry that informed readers about mental health issues. Another wrote short stories about bug anatomy and behavior and illustrated them with photos. “A really cool thing is that our science kids haven’t lost the opportunity to do hard-science projects,” Russell emphasizes.

Introducing Engineering

Seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher Samantha Rudick of Northvale Public School in Northvale, New Jersey, was asked to redesign the seventh-grade science fair to include the engineering design process (EDP). “I [also] came up with [the idea of having] a theme,” she notes. Last year, students were told they were stranded on an island and had to create things to help them survive. This year, she told students they were living in a town with a polluted environment and had to use recycled or reusable materials to create games for a carnival that would raise funds for their town’s new recycling center.

“We did a unit on reusable versus nonrenewable materials…[Students] had to distinguish between [reusable and nonrenewable materials] to create their games,” she explains.

Students developed game prototypes and continued testing and improving them before the fair. They also created an interactive button apparatus that fair attendees could push to begin a presentation. “Some groups’ buttons were electric, [while others] used a sound-making device,” Rudick relates.

In addition, students had to make videos of their games and create a poster board showing every step of the EDP, illustrated with photos. “In their presentations, they had to explain their [EDP] without looking at their poster board,” she points out.

“The [school’s] administrators said this was the best science fair they’d ever seen,” Rudick reports.

Virtual Fairs

“We now participate in a Science/Engineering Fair, and everything is virtual,” says Laura Mackay, science coach and STEM liaison at Ed White Elementary E-STEM Magnet School in El Lago, Texas. “Students complete either a science fair investigation or engineer a design to solve a problem” and create a PowerPoint presentation, she explains.

Science fair participation had declined because “it wasn’t required, so more parents opted out. We decided to take the parents out of the process, and technology allowed this,” she relates.

Science fair boards were no longer needed, “which was really hard for some parents and teachers,” she reports. “The boards were flashy, but they didn’t emphasize the data.”

Using PowerPoint “meets the tech part of STEM,” Mackay contends, because students become highly proficient in it. “We’re modeling what the world is like now [and teaching] lifelong skills,” she adds.

“Science is still in there because students are analyzing data to see if their design will work,” Mackay points out. Past projects have explored solutions to problems like how to go fishing with minimal equipment and how to keep a soda cold using a wet towel in the freezer.

“Sometimes the finished project isn’t as amazing, but it’s all student-driven. It equaled the playing field on the judging part” because not all students have access to technology, “so we provide it to everyone,” she observes.

The judges appreciate that the judging is done virtually because “they don’t have to come here [to do it],” she reports. Students are only graded on participation because “[h]arsh grading killed the love of science fair [in the past],” she asserts.

“[Now we can] see what kids are really capable of doing,” instead of what parents do, Mackay concludes.

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2018 issue of NSTA Reports, the member newspaper of the National Science Teachers Association. Each month, NSTA members receive NSTA Reports, featuring news on science education, the association, and more. Not a member? Learn how NSTA can help you become the best science teacher you can be.

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

Follow NSTA