In the wake of the school shootings last month in Parkland, Florida that claimed the lives of 17 people, key leaders in both the Senate and the House have introduced legislation they believe will improve school safety and bring more mental health counselors to schools.

Senate HELP Chairman Senator Lamar Alexander has introduced a bill (School Safety & Mental Health Services Improvement Act) that would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and allow states and districts to use ESSA Title IVA funds to “improve school safety infrastructure,” including “physical security, technology, and training of school personnel to recognize and respond to threats of school violence.”

POLITICO reported that Alexander told members of CCSSO during their legislative meeting that “states could use the funds for mental health, hiring more school counselors and steps for violence prevention, and that funds could be used for armed systems, improving entrances and exits of schools, installing security cameras and other infrastructure upgrades if you chose to do that.”

Alexander’s bill would also allow states to use Title II teacher training funding “to hire and improve the professional development of school counselors” and creates a Presidential Task Force to better coordinate resources between the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Justice, Interior and Homeland Security. It also updates Titles II and IV to clarify existing allowable school safety activities, including bullying and harassment prevention, crisis response, and other programs designed to reduce and prevent school violence.

A bill that would authorize a Justice Department school violence prevention program has also been introduced in both the House and Senate and House action is expected. The “STOP School Violence Act,” H.R. 4909 (115), would allow the Justice Department to issue grants to states and districts to train police agencies, school personnel and students and to develop reporting systems and other programs, and fund security measures in schools, such as metal detectors.

On Wednesday, March 7, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, site of last month’s school shooting, where she told attendees that school districts should have the option to arm teachers. 

President Donald Trump has called for armed and trained teachers in the schools, citing examples of programs that stress extensive training and safety already established in Texas and Florida. These ideas have been repeatedly opposed by teacher unions and school psychologists.

Increased Title IV Funding for School Safety and Mental Health Services?

Members of Congress are also calling for increased funding for Title IVA so that schools have funds available for school safety measures.

During his meeting with state leaders last week Alexander hinted that there “might be additional money” for the additional Title IV programs in the upcoming fiscal 2018 omnibus appropriations bill.

Both House leaders of the Education and Workforce Committee—Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx and Ranking Member Rep. Bobby Scott—urged that funding grants to states that support student services should be a “top priority” after the Florida school shooting and urged congressional appropriators to prioritize funding for the  ESSA Title IVA,  Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (SSAEG).

In a March 8 letter, 28 Democratic senators asked appropriations leaders for the highest possible funding for the ESSA TitleIVA SSAEG grant to support school climate and safety programs and address the opioid epidemic. “As of the date of this letter, there have been 12 shootings in American schools this year, according to an analysis by CNN, and we are only two months into 2018. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, in 2016 there were 63,600 drug overdose deaths in the United States, equivalent to 174 individuals dying each day, and 92,000 children were removed from their homes in FY16 because at least one parent had a substance abuse issue. Congress cannot ignore these disturbing trends.”

As you will recall the Title IVA SSAEG is a formula based program that allows states and districts to determine the use of funds as long as programs support student health and safety, a well-rounded education (which includes science and STEM programs) and the effective use of technology.

Trump Issues Report on Science and Technology

The White House released a report last week that highlighted the Administration’s successes in science and technology during President Trump’s first year in office.

On STEM education, the report states, “On September 25, President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Education to prioritize high-quality STEM and computer science education when awarding competitive grant funding. The memorandum also establishes a goal of de-voting at least $200 million annually in grant funds for this purpose, which was matched by a private industry commitment of $300 million.

“On February 28, President Trump signed the Inspiring the Next Space Pioneers, Innovators, Researchers, and Explorers (INSPIRE) Women Act into law. The INSPIRE Women Act called on the NASA Administrator to encourage women and girls to pursue STEM education and careers in aerospace by supporting related NASA initiatives. On July 26, President Trump donated his second-quarter salary to the Department of Education to host a STEM-focused camp for students. The Trump Administration has also continued senior level attendance at STEM gatherings across the country, including the National Science Bowl, the U.S.A. Mathematical Olympiad, and the FIRST Global Challenge.”

The achievements cited in the report also include the Administration’s efforts with energy dominance, the opioid epidemic and space exploration.

Read the full report here.

Also last week . . .

Fifty seven House Democrats sent a letter to Education Secretary DeVos on March 7, expressing their disappointment regarding implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, saying she was approving states plans that violate the federal law, and urging her to review all state plans to ensure they are compliant with ESSA.

At issue is whether DeVos has approved (or is about to approve) state plans which will rate schools on school-wide averages and will not adequately count the performance of certain groups of historically underserved students, including low-income students, African American students and Hispanic students. The law requires that the performance of individual groups of students must be counted in school ratings. More here.

And Education Secretary DeVos has released the Department’s final priorities for issuing funds through existing discretionary grant programs and as expected, STEM education and computer science are included as one of the 11 priorities. Read more here.

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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This week in education news, new survey finds half of parents are not “very confident” in their ability to help their children with science; U.S. News STEM Solutions partners with USA Science & Engineering Festival; Pearson is selling off its U.S. print and digital curriculum business to focus on assessments and virtual schools; new research suggests that increasing access to STEM courses in high school may be no cure-all for producing more college students who take STEM classes or major in STEM fields; the New Teacher Center released the 2018 Teacher Induction Program Standards; a new study by 3M reveals that science is underappreciated; and a new report finds that the gender gap in STEM education is still prevalent.

Half of Parents Not ‘Very Confident’ They Can Support Children’s Science Learning

Only about half of parents are “very confident” in their ability to help their children with science, according to a new survey. Compare that with the 7 out of 10 parents who feel they can help their children develop reading and writing, math, and social-emotional skills. Not surprisingly, parents with lower levels of education felt less confident about their ability to help their children with science concepts at home than did parents with higher levels of educational attainment. Read the article featured in Education Week.

The Prevalence Of Collaboration Among American Teachers

Teacher collaboration is an important component of long-term career development for educators across the United States. For example, collaborative activities (such as peer observation and co-planning meetings) can provide opportunities for teachers to engage in informal mentoring with more-experienced and more-effective colleagues, experiment with new instructional approaches, and co-construct understandings of policies and practices — which, in turn, can shape their teaching practice. However, many factors impede support of teacher collaboration. Read more about the study conducted by the RAND Corporation.

U.S. News STEM Solutions Partners with USA Science & Engineering Festival to Host “Workforce of Tomorrow” Conference

U.S. News STEM Solutions is joining with the 5th USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo, presented by Lockheed Martin, to host its Workforce of Tomorrow National Conference April 4-6, 2018 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The co-located Festival and Conference will bring together educators, scientists, performers, business and government leaders — as well as children and families — to create an inspiring and exciting week of events to advance STEM education and careers in America. Read more about the partnership and conference.

Educators Carefully Watch Pearson As It Moves To Sell Curriculum Business

Millions of U.S. students use Pearson’s curriculum products in their classrooms, but soon those print and digital resources will no longer fall under the education publishing giant’s business umbrella. The London-based company announced recently it will sell off its U.S. print and digital curriculum business to focus on assessments and virtual schools, leaving educators wondering what that means for day-to-day instruction. Read the article featured in Education Week.

Many Preschool Teachers Are Scared Of Teaching STEM. Here’s A Solution That Might Help

Everyone knows that 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds ask a lot of questions. But that unrestrained curiosity can unsettle preschool teachers who feel they lack sufficient understanding of science, technology, engineering and math, often referred to as STEM. Hari Sreenivasan reports from Chicago on efforts to boost science learning among some of the youngest students by boosting teacher confidence. Watch the segment featured on PBS Newshour.

High Schools Are Adding More STEM Classes. It May Not Be Enough

For more than a decade, politicians have raised concerns that not enough U.S. students are specializing in STEM subjects, leaving the country reliant on talent from overseas to fill engineering and tech jobs. All of that has led to a tremendous amount of attention on the “STEM pipeline” and how to improve it. Now, new research suggests that one of the popular policy solutions—increasing access to STEM courses in high school—may be no panacea for producing more college students who take STEM classes or major in STEM fields, raising big questions about what needs to change in K-12 to improve outcomes in the field. Read the article featured in Education Week.

Standards For Teacher Induction Programs Released

The New Teacher Center (NTC) released 2018 Teacher Induction Program Standards to provide school leaders with a framework for supporting new teachers during their first two to three years in the classroom. The standards state that “well-qualified, carefully selected, extensively trained” mentors are just as necessary for a new teacher’s success as an effective teacher is for the success of students. Read the brief featured in Education DIVE.

Gender Gap In STEM Education Continues Despite Appeal Of High Wage Careers, Strong Job Growth Rate

STEM careers are equally appealing to female and male students, but the achievement gap between the two groups continues, with females again trailing males in terms of readiness for college STEM coursework, according to ACT’s newly released report, STEM Education in the U.S.: Where We Are and What We Can Do. Read ACT’s press release.

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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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 your own.

All three journals this month include recommendations for the Best STEM Books for Students K–12.

Science Scope – Cells

From the Editor’s Desk: Sparking Student Interest in Hidden Worlds …cells are the essence of life, and to understand cells is to begin to understand ourselves…Knowledge of cells and the life processes they conduct is the basis for understanding tissues, organ systems, genetics, and the brain…Cells’ impact on the human body therefore warrants more than a circumspect lesson in the middle school classroom.

Articles in this issue that describe lessons include a helpful sidebar (“At a Glance”) documenting the big idea, essential pre-knowledge, time, and cost; many follow a 5E format. The lessons also include connections with the NGSS, and many include examples of student work, assessments, and classroom materials.

• Could “The Martian” Really Have Grown Potatoes for Food? is the context for an investigation into how amounts of soil, nutrients, and water can limit plant growth.
• Mars is also the context for Cells on Mars as students compare the similarities and differences between plant and animal cells working with authentic tissue samples.
• Engineering Nanoparticles for the Body includes a 5E lesson on creating and using models (and their knowledge of the circulatory system and blood vessels) to determine the best way to deliver a nanoparticle in the body
• Go beyond a replica craft project to Cell Modeling Students Can Really Get Into Students create a model to explain and explore cell structure and diversity and display their models to others in a classroom museum. Photos of models are included.
• Classic Lessons 2.0: Diffusion in Action describes an activity that helps explain the cell surface area to volume relationship.
• In addition to the structure of a cell, activities address the processes that take place in the cell. Integrating Technology: Mapping Digital Game Analogies to Science Instruction looks at photosynthesis.
• Citizen Science: iNaturalist suggests how to incorporate the application with a “bioblitz” survey of living species in an area.
• If your students struggle with the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning Teacher To Teacher: Scaffolds for Scientific Explanations has some suggestions and an organizer to assist students.

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

• Scope on the Skies: Motions of the Earth and Beyond
• Listserv Roundup: Interactive and Digital Notebooks in the Science Classroom
• Disequilibrium: Sensory Illusions (5E lesson)
• Science For All: Making Science Memorable

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Animal/Plant Cells, Biodiversity, Biomedical Engineer, Cell Structures, Cell Theory, Circulatory System, Concept Maps, Diffusion, How Do Plant and Animal Cells Differ?, Limiting Factors, Nanotechnology, Organelle, Photosynthesis, Plant Growth, Senses, Stimuli

Keep reading for Science and Children and The Science Teacher

Science & Children – The Maker Movement

Editor’s Note: Making Sense of Makerspaces: Tinkering…allows students to play around with the materials and objects they encounter to determine their properties and how they work together. But students should then have the opportunity to make something out of the materials they have interacted with and understand…Ultimately, teachers should strive to have students create something that solves a problem or supports the accomplishment of a goal…Today, makerspaces are for everyone, each bringing to it their own experiences and building their science and engineering practices and understanding through tinkering, making, and engineering.

The lessons described in the articles have a chart showing connections with the NGSS and many include classroom materials, illustrations of student work, and photographs of students at work.

Check out the February 2017 issue of Science Scope, for more ideas on the Maker Movement.

• Guest Editorial: Elementary Engineering: What Is the Focus? This editorial address concerns   whether children can (or should) engage in the engineering process Children have their own creative ideas to build and are intrinsically compelled to act upon them. In their process of construction, children grapple with systems thinking, growing to understand that the effect of changing one part of the system may have unintended consequences for the performance of another. They problem solve and often communicate with peers to collaborate in their perseverance to be successful. In the process, children have the opportunity to wrestle with their ethical use of materials and navigate social relationships.
• School Maker Faires “showcase student work and work-in-progress to families and the community while also providing opportunities for attendees to make along-side students and teachers.” The article includes tables showing an alignment between maker activities and NGSS, suggestions for organizing a faire, and photos of several maker stations.
• Plastic Pollution to Solution includes a 5E unit that focuses on taking action on ocean pollution. Students share photos of their innovations.
• The teacher-authors of Mars Mission Specialist describe how they updated a model-rocket building lesson into a maker experience with a real-life context in design and problem-solving.
• 3D Pit Stop Printing incorporates the car design process with problem-solving, design, and manufacturing. They also share lessons learned and suggestions.
• Ready, Set, FLOW! traces the development of a classroom aquarium into a working aquaponics system designed and maintained by students.
• The Early Years: Open-Ended Maker Projects includes ideas for updating crafts to opportunities for young students to design and make their own structures.
• Formative Assessment Probes: Uncovering “Maker” Ideas About Sound suggests way to make sure that students understand what they are learning during a maker project.
• In addition to recommending trade books, Teaching Through Trade Books: The Force Is With You (or Against You) has two 5E lessons related to forces: Playground Physics (K-2) and Toying Around With Force, Motion, and Energy (3-5).
• A student’s background should not determine whether they participate in maker projects. Methods and Strategies: Equity and the Maker Movement highlights “five ways that we have found community ethnography as pedagogy for STEM-rich making to yield powerful outcomes for children.”

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

• The Poetry of Science: Let’s Make a Robot
• Teaching Teachers: Designing an NGSS Learning Pathway
• Science 101: Why Do Helicopters Always Have Two Blades, and How Does That Help Cats?
• Science 102: A Faucet Phenomenon

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Engineering Structures, Forces and Motion, Oceans, Planets, Robots, Rocket Technology, Solutions to Pollution Problems, Sound, Space Exploration, Water Pollution and Conservation

The Science Teacher – Phenomenon-Based Learning

Editor’s Corner: Phenomenal Science: In PhBL classrooms, instruction begins with an interesting phenomenon that serves as the anchor for learning, providing context and relevance. Students explore, investigate, and explain the phenomenon, and make predictions.

The lessons described in the articles include connections with the NGSS (including DCIs) and many include classroom resources and illustrations of student work.

• Planning and organizing are necessary skills in PBL. The Activity Summary Board uses visual organizers displaying the driving questions and the goal of the investigation and a tool to summarize what students are accomplishing.
• With the lesson in Shaking It Up, students apply what they learn about earthquakes to design emergency response strategies        
• The authors of A New Take on “Tried and True” describe activities in which students would use science to figure out how and why phenomena happen but which did not require a complete makeover of our curriculum. Their process could be used to repurpose your activities, too.
• There’s Something in the Water, as students may discover in this project as they study concepts such as porosity, infiltration, and aquifer contamination in the context of designing ways to protect groundwater sources.
• Students redevelop a fictional city in Boom. Bust. Build. The article includes six stages in the process used and has examples of student work.
• Focus on Physics: The Delightful Addition of Colored Lights suggests ways for students to explore light and color.

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

• Career of the Month: Astronomer
• Right to the Source: Cemeteries
• Science 2.0: Organizing a Bit of the Google Ecosystem
• The Green Room: Waste Management

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Aquifers, Astrophysicist, Color, Earthquakes and Society, Electromagnetism, Germ Theory of Disease, Groundwater Contamination, Light and Color, Natural Disasters, Recycling, Waste Prevention

Guest blogger Cindy Hoisington is an early childhood science educator at Education Development Center Inc. in Waltham, Massachusetts. She brings to her work more than 20 years of experience teaching young children, developing educational materials, and instructing and mentoring early childhood teachers. Cindy is a member of the EDC/SRI research team working on the CPB/PBS Ready to Learn Initiative, which is funded through the US Department of Education. Welcome Cindy!

As an early childhood teacher, or a parent of young children, do you generally like science and think you are “good” at it? Or does just hearing the word “science” make you sweat? (I’m assuming that since you are reading this blog, you have at least some interest in science!) Which science topics do you most enjoy exploring with children and which do you avoid? Do you like investigating earthworms or does the prospect of picking one up make you shudder? Do you relish collecting and categorizing rocks or does the thought of it bore you to tears? What about observing the moon over time? Or taking things apart and putting them back together?

EDC photo/Burt Granofsky

Think about your interest, motivation, and (I hope) your passion for doing, learning, and teaching science and how it developed.  If you are anything like the hundreds of science students, science educators, and even famous scientists like those described in Sherry Turkle’s book Falling for Science; Objects in Mind, it is likely that your own attitudes were shaped not at school, but at home, and in a family that provided “stuff’ for you to explore, nurtured your curiosity, and proudly encouraged your investigations, ideas, and interests. Neil deGrasse Tyson, prominent astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, has said, “I am where I am not because of what happened in school but in spite of it.” He credits his mother with nurturing his early interest in science by providing him with opera glasses to look at the night sky and by taking him to museums on the weekends. 

EDC photo/Burt Granofsky

What does this mean for a teacher’s work with young children? As the world becomes increasingly science- and technology-oriented, all students will need to be proficient in science, whether they choose careers in agriculture, health, education, science, or any other field. STEM education has become a national priority and early childhood teachers are being asked to think more deeply about the quantity and the quality of the science experiences they provide, particularly for their black, Latino, and female students and economically-disadvantaged children.

Science in early childhood now incorporates a focus on big science ideas (like properties of matter; motion and forces; characteristics and needs of living things) and children’s use of science and engineering practices (like asking questions and identifying problems; planning and carrying out  investigations; and constructing explanations and designing solutions).  However, in these critical early years, teachers also need to nurture children’s attitudes toward science (like curiosity, persistence, and self-confidence about science), and their motivation to do and learn it. These attitudes develop early, and impact a child’s science achievement well into the future. One way teachers can promote children’s’ positive scientific attitudes is by connecting with their students’ families about science in the same way they do regarding social skills or literacy. The first step is to find out more about how families of young children think about science and science learning. By doing so, teachers can help families maximize their potential in supporting children’s scientific inquiry and attitudes. 

A newly released national study, What Parents Talk About When They Talk About Learning; A National Survey About Young Children and Science uncovers parents’ beliefs and attitudes about science and gives educators a place to start in making home/school science connections. Researchers spoke with over 1400 parents across the country with diverse economic situations and educational backgrounds. Below are a few of the findings with brief suggestions for how teachers might use this information to partner with families.

EDC photo/Burt Granofsky

• Almost all parents want to be involved in their children’s learning but many feel that science is less important to support at home than literacy and social skills development.

Although the term parent involvement has traditionally meant parents coming into the school to support school activities, a more current view of parent engagement refers to linking parents to the learning that is happening at school in a variety of ways (phone calls, emails, or classroom social media sites). Provide family-friendly resources about children’s learning using sites such as NAEYC for Families. Talk directly to parents about the increasing importance of science in children’s lives and their role as models in developing their children’s science attitudes, motivation, interests, and achievement. Display photos of people using science, engineering, and technology (reflecting the races, ethnicities, cultures, and languages of your students) in white, blue, and pink collar jobs and careers that are familiar to your families. Point out that doing science involves language (as children talk with and listen to others about what they are doing, noticing, and thinking), reading (reading stories related to science topics and doing research in nonfiction books), and writing (drawing and writing and/or dictating about their observations). Science also supports social skills as children share materials, work together during investigations, and share their observations and ideas with each other.

EDC photo/Burt Granofsky

• Fewer parents feel “very confident” in their ability to support their children’s science learning than in other areas.

Unconfident parents report not knowing much about science and feeling unprepared to answer their children’s science-related questions. Even parents who report feeling “very confident” may benefit from guidance in supporting inquiry. Communicate with families about science as an active process that includes exploring, observing, and talking with their children about their evidence-based ideas (even if they are not scientifically correct) and how these experiences support curiosity, persistence, and self-confidence in doing and learning science. Take and display photos and/or videos of your students actively exploring; talk with parents about the science children are doing; and make connections to home activities. Let parents know that they support their child’s science abilities and attitudes when they encourage them to observe insects or collect leaves; notice how cooking ingredients change when mixed; or share their ideas about how rain falls or where butterflies go in the winter. 

EDC photo/Burt Granofsky

• More than half of parents report engaging their children in science-related learning activities daily. 

Although they are sometimes unsure about how these activities relate to science, many parents do engage their children in exploring outdoors, in cooking and building activities, in using science-related videos and digital games, and reading science-related books. This should be exciting news for early childhood teachers, who often feel that it is a challenge to get parents engaged in supporting children’s school learning. Remember that involvement is a two-way street. Seek out information from parents about their home activities, and whenever possible, make connections to a classroom science topic (for example, picking vegetables in grandma’s garden is related to observing plant parts in the classroom). Making these connections helps children make connections between separate activities and deepen their understanding of concepts (all plants have parts that help them survive and grow). It may also encourage them to approach future plant experiences from a science point of view. Making these connections explicit for parents gives them positive messages about what they are already doing and encourages them to do more. 

EDC photo/Burt Granofsky

• 7 out of 10 parents say that knowing what young children need to learn, and/or having ideas for using everyday materials, would help them do a lot more science.

The more ways you can link parents to classroom science investigations, the more they can extend these experiences at home. Keep parents informed about topics, concepts, and skills children are being introduced to at school and provide ideas for related activities they can do at home with everyday materials (freezing and melting ice cubes or building with containers of different sizes and shapes connect to investigations of solids and liquids). Give parents high-quality resources for supporting science at home such as Peep and the Big Wide World parenting videos and activity ideas and 4 ways to explore science with your child. Provide ideas for sentence starters parents might use as they interact with their children like “What do you notice…?” and “What do you think about…….?”

Children’s attitudes toward science are shaped at an early age and have a lasting impact on their motivation to do and learn science. Because of the close, nurturing relationships they have with their children, families are uniquely positioned to support children’s science inquiry and thinking, nurture their curiosity, and shape their developing attitudes toward science and science learning. By forging relationships with parents around science, teachers can provide their students with the best possible foundation for education, work, and life in the 21^st century.

Curiosity, joy, and wonder. Our youngest students possess an over-abundance of these qualities, and when their teachers successfully tap into them, they help nurture a lifelong love of science.

But finding resources to help make science education relatable and engaging for three- to seven-year-olds can be challenging. That’s why educators will enthusiastically welcome William Straits’ wonderful new book A Head Start on Life Science: Encouraging a Sense of Wonder, which offers 24 inquiry-based lessons that encourage children to make scientific discoveries on their own. We dare you to resist the urge to explore a book whose cover features three wide-eyed, smiling youngsters enthusiastically observing the natural world around them.

Straits directs the National Center for Science in Early Childhood where he works with  teachers who “lovingly and tirelessly” dedicate their careers to helping children expand their joyful “sense of wonder” about the natural world. In writing this book, he collaborated with an extensive list of science and early childhood educators. Photos that capture some of the engaging lessons in action were taken at the Harry and Grace Steele Children’s Center at Orange Coast College and are featured throughout the book.

“We believe that a sense of wonder is part of all children’s experience and that children are intrinsically motivated to explore the natural world,” Strait says. “Therefore, it is important that all children have access to culturally relevant science experiences that are of value in learners’ everyday worlds. Our goal is not for children to acquire ‘facts,’ but to be active explorers, reveling in the process of discovering more about the natural world around them.”

Each lesson is aligned with high-quality early childhood science education and inspired by the learning cycle’s three-part teaching that first orients children toward the topic to be investigated, then gives them a chance to explore and develop an understanding of the concept; and finally offers students a situation where they can apply their new understandings.

This book is a follow up to NSTA’s popular A Head Start on Science and allows teachers to generate a greater interest among their students in life science by: offering a diverse range of inquiry-based and engaging lessons on animals, plants, and nature walks; connecting to a range of other subjects such as reading, art, writing, dramatic play, and math; and extending learning beyond the classroom with activities—written in both English and Spanish—so that children can continue to explore life sciences with their families via activities that are related to their everyday lives.

Read the free sample chapter, “Science for Young Children”, to understand the components of a high quality ECSE and what constitutes developmentally appropriate science; get a lesson overview, learn how to plan for a lesson, and more.

This book is also available as an e-book.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to make science accessible to your youngest students. There are jumping crickets, earthworms, and snails to observe; plants to smell, compare, and measure; weeds to investigate and map where they grow, outdoor scavenger hunts to plan, and so much more. 

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Coryn Cange, a member of the NSTA Student Chapter at Stony Brook University, guides high school students as they study water filtration in a chemistry teaching lab. Photo courtesy of Judy Nimmo

Whether they’re helping to judge a regional science fair; conducting family science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) nights; or learning about professional norms from an inservice teacher, members of NSTA Student Chapters are laying the foundations for their professional lives.

At Stony Brook University, New York, all science teacher preparation students are strongly encouraged to join NSTA and the Science Teachers Association of New York State. “This is the beginning of their professional preparation; we encourage them to become part of the larger science teacher community. We try to set [our students] off on a path that will shape their professional careers” by encouraging membership in professional organizations, explains Linda Padwa, associate director of Stony Brook’s Science Teacher Preparation Program. The students, typically either seniors or graduate students, interact with inservice teachers and secondary school students through volunteer work with the Science Olympiad and regional science fairs. They also work as assistants in the university’s Institute for STEM Education after-school program and teaching labs taught by faculty members.

“These are genuine interactions with students. [Stony Brook preservice teachers] demonstrate how to use equipment and guide [the grades 7–12] students through the lab protocols. Our students who participate in teaching labs are really ready for student teaching: They’re comfortable; they’re ready to go when they get into the classroom,” Padwa asserts. “When our students participate, they meet inservice teachers…they frequently make connections that lead to placements for student teaching and even future employment.”

She likes to remind her students of the importance of creating a professional network, telling them, “You never know where it can lead. There are no guarantees, but if you’re out there, you stand a chance.”

The NSTA Student Chapter at Central Michigan University (CMU), formed in 2002, was the seventh in the country, according to Jim McDonald, professor of science education and the chapter’s faculty advisor. The group currently runs three programs to bring more science to local schools: Family Science Nights, STEM Involvement Nights, and Science Hours.

“The students organize three family science nights a semester,” explains McDonald, who also serves as the president of the Council for Elementary Science International. The events feature six or seven activities for parents and children to do together and often include handouts if they want to continue at home. The STEM Involvement Nights are a “mix of math, science, and technology…You could call it a maker lab if you want to put that label on it.”

Only 10–15 families attend the STEM events due to the program’s more hands-on, intensive nature. CMU students give attendees a problem and a selection of recycled materials to work with as each family collaborates on a solution. “We may target different grade levels every year,” he adds. “This is not for gifted kids; it’s for kids who maybe need a shot in the arm as far as science, math, and engineering go.”

Local teachers invite CMU students to their classrooms to teach a lesson for the Science Hour programs. “Our students prepare and teach the whole lesson, and confer with the teacher to address the standards the teacher wants to address,” McDonald says. “It goes over well and is a great opportunity for our students to get some hands-on experience.”

In addition to their work with the local community, CMU students receive support from the university to attend and present at one NSTA conference a year. “The rationale is for them to present professionally and get some professional development. I want them to give back to the science education community. I want them to network with other science teachers. They’ve gotten really good feedback on their lessons, strategies, and ideas for their family science activities [when they present at conferences],” he contends.

Making Connections

Usha Rajdev, professor of math and science and the NSTA and International Association for STEM Leaders (IASL) Student Chapter Faculty Adviser at Marymount University (MU) in Arlington, Virginia, says she was concerned about “exhausting” her students if they were expected to conduct too many activities, so the NSTA and IASL student chapters work with students in the Masters in Education and Curriculum Instruction (EDCI) STEM Leaders group on four events during the academic year.

The EDCI plans the events each year, which a “core group” of NSTA and IASL student members then conduct. This year, as many as 40 students from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington assisted the MU students during individual events at area schools. Each event features multiple activities spanning life, Earth, and physical science. She describes the events as based on science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics, but “with the emphasis in engineering and design.

“There’s some core math and technology, some show-and-tell. Sometimes parents join in. We have leaflets for them to take home and replicate,” explains Rajdev. “I’m partial to taking students to schools where the need is higher and the principal wants parental involvement.” The schools typically include a Catholic school, a school where a current student or alum is teaching, and Fort Belvoir Elementary School on the Fort Belvoir Army base.

The “finale” event is held in the MU campus gym. “It’s very similar [to the other events], except much larger. We’re not only serving the Arlington community, [we’re] also serving children of our faculty,” says Rajdev. “We have rockets; we have a professor from the arts and sciences department with a 3-D printer, a planetarium. This year, we have several community outreach programs participating, including NASA, the Arlington police department, and a nature center.” She estimates the four events reach about 1,000 children annually.

“We go to the same school for two years. The goal is the school will know how to do events and will do their own,” she declares. “We’re not only doing community service, but [also] spreading the wealth [of knowledge] we have.” The MU students “spend a lot of time over the year planning, researching, and conducting the events… This would be nothing without the students,” she maintains. The students receive certificates recognizing their community service, and the experience also helps make them more marketable in their careers, according to Rajdev.

Inservice teachers, including Catherine Sadowski (right) and Andrew Barnes (second from right), attend NSTA Student Chapter meetings at the University of Missouri, offering advice on topics such as interview clothing and professional development after graduation as part of the chapter’s effort to create a professional community. Photo courtesy of Melissa Grindstaff

When she started advising the University of Missouri (Mizzou) NSTA Student Chapter in 2016, Patricia Friedrichsen wondered—due to the chapter’s size and fluid membership —if it was possible for students to attend a chapter meeting and not interact with other members. “I started thinking about how to connect them…make them feel someone recognized they were at the meeting.”

Her solution was to invite inservice teachers to attend meetings and act as mentors to the students. “I reached out to people at different levels. It was natural to reach out to past officers… it’s a way to keep alumni connected to the club. We wanted to mentor at all levels: elementary, middle, and high school,” Friedrichsen says. During the Fall 2017 semester meetings, the mentors arrived early to discuss the meeting’s focus, and students would sit with mentors teaching their grade level or content area at each meeting. The mentoring groups created smaller communities within the chapter.

Kara Schulte, a ninth-grade physics teacher at Simonsen Ninth Grade Center in Jefferson City, Missouri, was excited about mentoring Mizzou students. “I graduated in Spring 2017 from Mizzou. The people I met in college were such a huge part of who I became [as a teacher] that I wanted to help students transition from being pure students to being a teacher,” she explains. “As a mentor, I’ve attended all chapter meetings. They talk to me about their content exams…interview questions, what to wear on an interview, what principals will ask… We basically go over things so they’re not blindsided when they go through them on their own as actual teacher…I can give very tailored advice to people who are going to be teaching the same thing I teach.”

“I’ve seen vertical mentoring with the classroom teachers mentoring undergrads. There’s also horizontal mentoring [when students discuss classes to take and assignments with peers] going on,” Friedrichsen states. “Students move through the program in cohorts. They get to know their cohort, but don’t have many other opportunities to get to know other cohorts, other years. It’s very intentional how we’re building community at the beginning of the meeting.”

She notes it was important to her to foster connections between her students and teachers in the classroom in informal settings. “To me, it’s all about connections…helping students network, get to know people outside their immediate circle.”

Another way she encourages students to expand their circle is by presenting at the Science Teachers of Missouri (STOM) conference. The Mizzou students shared apps “that highlight particular Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) standards. They presented different tech tools to help with the implementation of NGSS.”

Friedrichsen reports that the presentation caught the attention of the STOM board, and STOM recently appointed a Mizzou student to serve as a director at- large as the group explores ways to draw more preservice teachers to the conference.

This article originally appeared in the March 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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