The science teacher must be prepared to clean up minor spills that may occur in the lab and know how to proceed in the event of a major spill. A proper response could prevent major disruptions to science laboratory operations, damage to laboratory equipment, and serious bodily harm. If a spill is serious, students may be required to evacuate the lab, and spills could discharge into the atmosphere, sewer system, and surrounding soil or surface water. If handled properly, however, a chemical spill can be nothing more than a nuisance.

Causes of chemical spills

There are a number of factors that can result in chemical spills in science labs, including:

• overfilling of waste containers;
• storing hazardous chemicals in inappropriate locations (e.g., in cabinets or counter tops);
• storing chemicals that have deteriorated over time (e.g., peroxides becoming explosive);
• mixing incompatible waste or containers in the lab or prep room;
• inappropriately labeled containers;
• people not paying attention to what they are doing;
• chemicals inadvertently dropped on the floor or counter top; and
• inappropriate or incomplete cleanup.

Assessing the situation

When preparing for chemical spills, determine the hazard class of all the chemicals to be used during laboratory work. Of most concern are chemicals that are flammable, corrosive, toxic, and reactive to air or water.

If a chemical spill occurs, don’t panic. First, have staff and students move far away from the area while you assess the situation and determine the appropriate response. Try to determine the identity of the spilled substance using the Safety Data Sheet (SDS)—specifically, sections II (Hazard Identification), IV (First Aid Measures), V (Fire-Fighting Measure), VI (Accidental Release Measures), and VIII (Exposure Control/Personal Protection). When evaluating the chemical spill, consider:

• the spill hazards and resulting risks (e.g., volatile vapors, flammable, toxic, water or air reactive, ignition sources, oxidizers).
• the chemical volume in the spill (i.e., simple or complex spill).
• the potential impact of the spill (e.g., toxic vapors after cleaning, damage of the equipment).
• the severity of the spill (i.e., major vs. minor spill).
• the appropriate personal protective equipment such as eye protection, protective gloves, and lab coat or apron.

Minor spills vs. major spills

Minor spills can be handled by the science teacher in a safer manner. A spill kit can be used to clean up minor spills. Spill kits can be purchased from commercial chemical supply companies such as Flinn Scientific (see Resources for information about the contents of spill kits). To address a minor spill:

• immediately alert lab occupants and evacuate the area, if necessary.
• close the lab door and increase ventilation through fume hoods. Windows should be opened.
• don personal protective equipment, as appropriate to the hazards.
• try to control the spread of the liquid.
• place a dike from the spill kit around the outside edges of the spill.
• use absorbent materials such as vermiculite, cat litter, or spill pillows.
• prevent the spread of dust and vapors.
• immediately remove contaminated clothing and flush the skin with water for no less than 15 minutes.
• protect floor drains for environmental release by covering them up or placing a protective dike around them.
• distribute loose spill control materials, such as kitty litter and sand, over the entire spill area, working from the outside in.
• use brush and scoop to place materials in an appropriate container.
• place a hazardous waste sticker, identifying the material as Spill Debris involving the chemical, onto the container.
• decontaminate the lab using a mild detergent and water.
• notify chief building administrator, science supervisor, and chemical hygiene officer.
• complete an accident report, if required.

The science teacher will not be able to handle major spills. During a major spill, a fire or chemical reaction is ongoing, medical attention could be required if a lab occupant experiences a physical injury, and the spill contains dangerous or unknown chemical components. To address a major spill:

• immediately notify students and other occupants in the lab.
• immediately evacuate the site, if necessary.
• shut off gas, fume hood, and other equipment, if possible.
• activate the fire alarm.
• secure medical assistance, if necessary (e.g., school nurse).
• consult with first responders (e.g., fire, police).
• try to assess what caused the spill.
• notify chief building administrator/science supervisor and Chemical Hygiene Officer.
• complete an accident report.

Responding to safety issues with chemicals

If chemicals touch the skin or clothing:

• immediately flush skin with water for no less than 15 minutes (eyewash/shower).
• quickly remove all contaminated clothing or jewelry while rinsing.
• use caution when removing pullover shirts or sweaters to prevent contamination of the eyes.
• check the SDS to determine if chemicals have delayed effects.
• discard contaminated clothing or launder them separately from other clothing. Leather garments or accessories cannot be decontaminated and should be discarded.
• do not use solvents to wash skin.
• (for flammable solids on skin) brush off as much of the solid as possible, then proceed as described above.
• fill out an accident report.

If chemicals get into the eyes:

• immediately flush eye(s) with water for at least 15 minutes using an eyewash station. Hold the eyes open to wash, and the eyeballs must be rotated to rinse the surface area. If an eyewash station is not available, pour water on the eye, rinsing from the nose outward, to avoid contamination of the unaffected eye.
• remove contact lenses while rinsing.
• seek medical attention regardless of the severity. Explain carefully what chemicals were involved. If easily accessible, bring an SDS.
• fill out an accident report.

If chemicals are inhaled:

• close containers, open windows, or otherwise increase ventilation, and move to fresh air.
• seek medical attention if symptoms such as headaches, nose or throat irritation, dizziness, or drowsiness persist. Explain carefully what chemicals were involved.
• review the SDS to determine how the chemicals affect your health, including delayed effects.
• fill out an accident report.

If chemicals are accidentally ingested:

• contact the school nurse.
• immediately call the Poison Control Center at 800-222-1222 for expert advice.
• do not induce vomiting unless directed to do so by the school nurse or Poison Control Center personnel.

In the end

Anyone involved in the cleanup must be supplied appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) before addressing the spill. The teacher overseeing the spill has must be sure to provide appropriate PPE to avoid legal trouble under Duty of Care expectations should someone get injured during the spill.

To help prevent and prepare for future chemical spills, all chemical hazard incidents should be investigated and reviewed by chemical hygiene officer/safety compliance officer. And finally, any employees working in the lab must have safety training, including spill cleanup procedures. It also helps to better protect the science teacher and school from potential litigation.

Resources

Guide for Chemical Spill Response Planning in Laboratories—
www.acs.org/content/acs/en/about/governance/committees/chemicalsafety/publications/guide-for-chemical-spill-response.html

Chemical spill procedures—
https://ehs.princeton.edu/chemical/spill/procedures

Spill kit contents— www.sc.edu/ehs/Safety%20Sheets/Chemical%20Spill%20Kit%20Contents.pdf

Submit questions regarding safety in K–12 to Ken Roy at safesci@sbcglobal.net, or leave him a comment below. Follow Ken Roy on Twitter: @drroysafersci.

NSTA resources and safety issue papers
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NSTA is headed to Atlanta for our 2018 National Conference on Science Education, March 15-18, and we have incredible things in store for elementary teachers!

The first thing you’ll want to put on your schedule is the Elementary Extravaganza on Friday, March 16. Here’s video from a recent extravaganza, and this year’s promises to be just as exciting.

Cultivate Curiosity

Make time for the Mary C. McCurdy Lecture: Cultivating Every Child’s Curiosity in the Natural World, taking place Thursday, March 15, 2:00–3:00 PM, in the Georgia World Congress Center, B309.

Young children are naturally curious about how the world works and are capable of sophisticated thinking and reasoning. In the age of an ambitious framework and the Next Generation Science Standards, there is a compelling focus on young children—nurturing their wonder about phenomena and equipping them to engage in scientific discourse and practices for investigating the natural world. Presenter Carla Zembal-Saul (professor of science education and the Kahn Professor of STEM Education at Penn State University) will share the approaches that elementary teachers are using to leverage children’s natural curiosity in early grades to support three-dimensional learning in science. Special attention will be given to approaches intended to engage English language learners.

Sink Your Teeth Into These Sessions

Just a few of the sessions we can’t wait to join:

• Georgia Science Innovation Exposition Share-a-Thon
• Connecting Makerspaces to the NGSS and CCSS
• The Virtual Vet: Elementary Learners (Grades 3–5) as Scientists in a Serious Educational Game
• Use Science, Coding, and Robotics in the Elementary Classroom to Solve Real-World Problems
• Bird Enthusiasts Engineer Mindful Science
• Train Like an Astronaut with STEM
• Butterfly Gardening Using Native Plants
• NSTA Press® Session: EUREKA! Grade 3–5 Science Activities and Stories
• CSSS-Sponsored Session: Supporting Language and Literacy Through 3-D Science Instruction in Early Grades
• Fake News! Helping Students Understand the Process of Science
• iPads to Support Literacy in Science
• Science on the Go: Using Museum Resources to Support Place-Based Learning
• CESI-Sponsored Session: Transforming and Creating “Predict, Observe, Explain” Sequences for Lower Elementary Science
• Failure Is NOT an Option—It’s Required
• Fun Weird Science Phenomena
• NARST-Sponsored Session: Investigating and Designing Paper Airplanes
• Science at the Dollar Store: 2018 Version!
• Integrating Crosscutting Concepts and Math Using NSTA Recommended Trade Books
• Underrepresented Groups in Educational Science Comics
• Paul F-Brandwein Lecture: Citizen Science: How Ordinary People Are Changing the Face of Discovery

More About the 2018 National Conference on Science Education

Browse the program preview, or check out more sessions and other events with the Atlanta Session Browser/Personal Scheduler. Follow all our conference tweets using #NSTA18, and if you tweet, please feel free to tag us @NSTA so we see it! Need to request funding or time off? Download this letter of support.

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

• 2018 National Conference

  • Atlanta, March 15–18

  “Dive into Three-Dimensional Instruction” Workshops

  • Atlanta, March 14–15, 2018

  2018 STEM Forum & Expo

  • Philadelphia, July 11–13

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I have a few students who test me, as well as my mentor teacher, in most directions and instructions that we give and will abuse the science materials. Any suggestions on how to address this behavior?
– D., Maryland

Let me put your mind at ease. Everyone has encountered these students! I wish I could give you a single answer but this kind of behavior could be based on so many factors that you and your mentor probably have a better idea of what’s driving them than me. You might want to ask other teachers how they have handled these students. Perhaps check with the school counsellors.

I employed a Three Strike Rule to deal with student behavior. On Strike One, I would take the students aside and calmly, but directly tell them what they were doing wrong and that it needed to stop. For Strike Two I would pull each student out of the class individually to have a stern chat, reminding them of our previous discussions. I would even say, “Strike Two,” and ask them if they knew baseball. If there was a Strike Three, offenders would be ‘Out!’ Here you have several options: call home, ban them from the next lab, not allow them to choose who to work with, assign worksheets instead of hands-on labs, and so on. It is very important that you follow through on Strike Three regardless of excuses or begging. It is time to face the consequences.

Hope this helps!

Photo Credit: stuartpilbrow at Flickr via Wikimedia Commons

This week in education news, new report provides guidance on effective coaching models for teachers working with young children; one third of college students in the U.S. change their majors at least once; Iowa’s STEM director chosen for White House position; new poll finds that most Americans harbor concerns about the quality of STEM education in the U.S. and see it as “middling” compared with that of other advanced nations; and Pew Research Center releases seven facts about the STEM workforce.

Report: Coaching Is A Promising PD Strategy For Early Educators

As school leaders plan professional learning for their teachers, a new report provides guidance on effective coaching models for teachers working with young children. “Primetime for Coaching: Improving Instructional Coaching in Early Childhood Education,” from Bellwether Education Partners, recommends that administrators choose coaching strategies that fit into an overall professional development approach, consider cost-effective options, such as virtual coaches, and include assistant teachers and other support personnel in coaching plans. Read the brief featured in Education DIVE.

Study: One Third Of STEM Students In US Change Majors

Most college students in the United States choose their major, or main field of study for their degree, before or during their first year. And about one third of college students in the U.S. change majors at least once. Many who change majors began in science, technology, engineering and math – in other words, STEM fields. Read the article featured on VOANews.com.

Iowa’s STEM Director Picked For White House Post

Jeff Weld, executive director of the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, has accepted a one-year role with the National Science Foundation and the University of Northern Iowa, the governor’s office announced. Weld will serve as senior policy adviser and assistant director for STEM Education at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and as staff associate in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources at the National Science Foundation. Read the article featured on Patch.com.

In Education, Perfect Must Not Become The Enemy Of Good

America’s future, and the futures of our more than 50 million public school students, are one and the same. Essential to this future are the more than 3 million teachers who—more than anyone else besides parents and the students themselves—are responsible for our children’s success. But our dedicated teachers are hamstrung by inadequate funding and a lack of other types of support that are critical to providing our children with high-quality education. That is why all of us must work together to make teacher success our top priority. Read the article featured in Education Week.

Most Americans Say U.S. STEM Education Is Middling, New Poll Finds

Many Americans harbor concerns about the quality of STEM education in the U.S. and see it as “middling” compared with that of other advanced nations, according to a new poll released by the Pew Research Center. Of the nearly 5,000 people surveyed last summer, most said they thought K-12 public schools do a good job teaching basic reading, writing and math (61 percent) and preparing students for college (59 percent). But only one quarter of Americans (25 percent) said they thought K-12 STEM education was the best in the world or above average compared with other advanced countries. Just 13 percent of those with a postgraduate degree in STEM rated K-12 STEM education as above average. Read the article featured in The Hechinger Report.

7 Facts About The STEM Workforce

A new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data takes a broad-based look at the STEM workforce from 1990 to 2016 based on an analysis of adults ages 25 and older working in any of 74 occupations. These include computer, math, engineering and architecture occupations, physical scientists, life scientists and health-related occupations such as health care practitioners and technicians, but not health care support workers such as nursing aides and medical assistants. Here are seven facts about the STEM workforce and STEM training. Read the article released by the Pew Research Center.

The Tech Industry Isn’t Waiting For Education To Change: They’re Changing Education Themselves

The demand for new thinking skills to serve the new knowledge based economy has become critical, and while K-12 and some universities are looking at what teachers teach and how students learn to assess their readiness, the education system is still too far behind for most high-tech companies. Read the article featured in The Huffington Post.

Can A Test Ever Be Fair? How Today’s Standardized Tests Get Made

After politics and religion, few issues are as contentious as standardized tests. Opinions run the gamut. To some, standardized testing overwhelms our schools and helps eradicate differences between students. For others, they remain the best way to compare students objectively and hold schools accountable. Whatever your thoughts, there’s no denying that students are taking lots of tests. Read the article featured on EdSurge.com.

OPINION: Eliminating The Funding That Supports Educators? That’s No Way To Cut The Federal Budget

From the mountains of Tennessee to the West Side of Chicago, teachers represent our best chance of achieving the goal we have for every child in this country to graduate from high school. We increase our chances of reaching this goal if our teachers receive the support and professional development they need. As the only federal money focused on teacher improvement and growth, Title II funding supports the development of our educators. But Title II is on the chopping block, thanks to a bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives to fund the federal government through September 2018. Read the article featured in The Hechinger Report.

Science Museums Offer STEM-Related PD For K12 Teachers

Finding quality professional development for science teachers continues to be a challenge as school districts expand STEM programs. Many science centers and museums offer STEM-related PD, and want to partner with districts to develop programs that align with school curriculum and Next Generation Science Standards. Read the article featured in District Administration.

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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Choosing resources for early childhood science learning that are scientifically accurate, developmentally appropriate, and reference research about learning, requires educators to have time to review resources ourselves, or access to reviews by experienced early childhood educators. The Early Childhood Resource Review column in Science and Children is a source you can trust to locate such resources. These columns review books and other resources and are written by various experienced educators. They are available in the print and digital versions of Science and Children. Take a look at these titles and search your print library or the digital access portal for the issues listed. This is a resource for NSTA members. If you are not yet a member, take a look at the Early Childhood and Elementary Forums in the NSTA Learning Center (free to all with registration) for resource recommendations. 

Date of column, Author of column, title or name of resource(s), Publisher, Date.

• ECRR February 2014, 51(6): 28-29. Ingrid Chalufour. Constructivism Across the Curriculum in Early Childhood Classrooms: Big Ideas as Inspiration. Pearson Allyn and Bacon. 2008. 
• ECRR April/May 2014. 51(8): 26-27. Peggy Ashbrook. Starting With Science. Marcia Talhelm Edson. Stenhouse. 2013. 
• ECRR December 2014.52(4): 16-17. Beth Dykstra Van Meeteren. Building Structures With Young Children. Ingrid Chalufour, Karen Worth, and EDC. Redleaf Press 2004. 
• ECRR February 2015, 52(6): 24-25. Cindy Hoisington and Jeff Winokur. Tools of Science Inquiry That Support Life Science Investigations. 
• ECRR April/May 2015, 52(8): 28-29. Jorie Quinn. Connecting Animals and Children in Early Childhood by Patty Born Selly. Redleaf Press 2014. 
• ECRR November 2015, 53(3): 24-25. Gail Laubenthal, Gardening with Young Children by Sara Starbuck, Marla Olthof, and Karen Midden. Redleaf Press 2014. 
• ECRR January 2016, 53(5): 24-25. Cindy Hoisington and Jeff Winokur. Tools for Physical Science Inquiry.
• ECRR Summer 2016. 53(9): 24-25. Patty Born Selly. Growing Up WILD by Project WILD, Council for Environmental Education 2009.
• ECRR November 2016, 54(3): 30-31. Allison J. Barness. Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years, 3rd edition by Judy Harris Helm and Lilian Katz. Teachers College Press 2016.
• ECRR February 2017. 54(6): 20-21. Ryan Andrew Nivens. Robot Turtles: the Game for Little Programmers by Dan Shapiro at Thinkfun.
• ECRR Summer 2017. 54(9): 21. Peggy Ashbrook. Creative Block Play: A Comprehensive Guide to Learning Through Building by Rosanne Regan Hansel. Redleaf Press 2016.
• ECRR November 2017. 55(3): 20-21. Julie Petcu. Journey North’s Tulip Test Gardens Project. 

Do you have a resource you’d recommend for reviewing for the Early Childhood Resource Review Column? Contact the column editor, Sonia Yoshizawa and make a suggestion! Click here and scroll down to learn more.  

Installing Glass Walls and Doors in the Science Classroom, a commentary in Science Scope, describes what collaborative teacher teams “look like” in science and is appropriate for teachers at all grade levels to begin or fine-tune the process with a sample agenda, frameworks, and ideas for team-building and reflection.

February is the month for the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. Find out how you and your students can get involved in Citizen Science: Birds, Binoculars, and Biodiversity, The data are available to students and are used in ongoing research projects.

Science & Children – Meeting the Needs of ALL Students

Editor’s Note: Removing Barriers: “Science is for ALL. Not just students who are highly capable physically and mentally. Meeting the needs of the entire population is what we do. Remove as many barriers as possible, make learning accessible, and support students as they find their strengths to build on… The purpose of the modifications is not to change what they [students with physical disabilities] conceptually learn, it is to support them in learning.”

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

• Traveling with Science Illustrates how to design activities related to forces for students with visual impairments.
• Students investigate the properties Marvelous Metals Matter! and integrate engineering design principles in this multidisciplinary 5E lesson.
• Bringing Back Our Bayou Chico describes how to use the Universal Designfor Learning (UDL) framework for activities that simulate watersheds and involve all students in meaningful learning.
• The 5E lesson in Sounds of Science demonstrates how students with a hearing loss can learn about the properties of sound waves (“with instructional benefit for all students inthe classroom and not just those deaf or hard of hearing.”)
• Ramps, Balls, and Measuring Distance—For All exemplifies how, with advanced planning and accommodations, the needs of students with disabilities can often be met “in a manner that emphasizes inclusion and independence.”
• The Early Years: An Activity for Every Child includes a seed-planting activity that allows all children to actively participate and document their understanding of seeds.
• Teaching Through Trade Books: Energy Explorations has two lessons and related trade books on the topic of the sun as a source of energy.
• Children can be engineers. Engineering Encounters: Identifying an Engineering Design Problem integrates cooking with the design process. Student engineer a recipe for pancakes.
• The project described in Teaching Teachers: The Scientist Showcase could be adapted for classrooms and younger students to explore the contributions of scientists from underrepresented backgrounds.
• Methods and Strategies: Teaching the Nature of Science to Elementary Students describes how, with appropriate scaffolding, elementary students can understand what science is and what scientists do.

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

• Science 101: Why Do Computers Keep Getting Smaller and Smaller?
• Science 102: A Bunny of a Different Color
• Formative Assessment Probes: Uncovering Representations of the Water Cycle
• The Poetry of Science: Seeing Clearly

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Alternative Energy Sources, Erosion, Forces and Motion, Heat and Temperature, Matter, Metals/Nonmetals, Nature of Science, Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy, Scientists, Seed Germination, Sound, Sun, Water Cycle, Watersheds, Ways to Measure

Science Scope – Assessment

From the Editor’s Desk: Engaging Students in Learning Through Assessment==

“The Next Generation Science Standards requires us to rethink and retool our assessments so that they reflect the shift to three-dimensional teaching and learning…Such assessments represent an opportunity to learn about our own teaching while engaging students in meaningful work.”

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.

• The author of Re-Formative Assessment: One Teacher’s Approach to Integrating Science Within Science to Reassess Student Understanding describes a process she uses to assess students’ enduring understanding and identify misconceptions. Examples of student responses to open-ended prompts are included.
• Creating a Positive Feedback Culture: Eight Practical Principles to Improve Students’ Learning provides examples of feedback that goes beyond “good job” or a letter grade (e.g., prompts and discussion-starters).
• Wilderness Water Crisis: Next Generation Science Standards–Aligned Assessments for an Energy Activity integrates three-dimensional assessment and problem-solving into an engaging, authentic activity.
• Teachers’s Toolkit: The Four Elements of the Claim, Evidence, Reasoning, and Rebuttal (CERR) Framework
• Not all assessments require paper and pencil. This month’s Listserv Roundup: Technology tools for paperless formative assessment has suggestions from our colleagues on alternatives.
• Change your classroom interactions from Q and As to “accountable talk” as formative assessment with the strategies in Science for All: Encouraging Academic Talk
• Teacher to Teacher: The Steps of a Conceptual Storyline describes how students can construct scientific explanations or design solutions, demonstrating their proficiency.

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

• Scope on the Skies: Timely Motions of the Earth and Moon
• Disequilibrium: Why Is Regular Soda Denser Than Diet Soda?
• Integrating Technology: Bringing Science to Life (Using social learning to make real-world connections in science).

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Asteroids, Bird Adaptations, Bird Characteristics, Density, Earth-Moon Connection, Energy TranMoon, States of Matter, Thermal Energy, Water Cycle

The Science Teacher – Innovation

Editor’s Corner: New Year, New Look “Remember that NSTA members can access all TST articles from 2000 to the present online at nsta.org. TST is also now available in a digital version for computer, Kindle Fire, Android tablet/phone, and Apple devices at http://bit.ly/digital-journals“

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

• Where Does the Energy Go? has a new version of a lesson in which students explore energy and motion of a bouncing ball and share their thoughts with Claims-Evidence-Reasoning statements..
• The 5E lesson in A Compound Problem uses modeling to understand the effects of the depletion of the ozone layer.
• Use a microscope in teaching geology and physics? Take A Polarizing View into this innovative use with a 5E lesson.
• Innovations do not necessarily lead to brand-new inventions. The author of Build an Interactive Word Wall illustrates how to take a traditional tool and re-invent it for today’s students to use interactively.
• Looking for funding for your classroom innovations? Where the Money Is guides you through the process of applying for grants.
• Students may be fascinated by the idea that we “continually recycle atoms and molecules that were previously part of every person who has ever lived.
• Focus on Physics: Our Molecular Selves

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

• Right to the Source: Invention vs. Innovation
• Career of the Month: Robotics Engineer
• The Green Room: The Top 5 Environmental Stories of 2017

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Energy Transformations, Igneous Rock, Inventors, Law of Conservation of Energy, Law of Conservation of Matter, Metamorphic Rock, Microscopes, Ozone Depletion, Robots, Rock Cycle, Sedimentary Rock, Thomas Edison, Types of Rocks, Ultraviolet Light

Elementary teachers have to balance the challenges of literacy instruction with high stakes testing and content area instruction.  What teachers need to achieve this delicate balance is a text that can be both an instructional tool and a step-by-step guide for building thought-provoking lessons. Enter Eureka! Grade 3-5 Science Activities and Stories by Donna Farland-Smith and Julie Thomas.

What makes this book unique is the focus on the lives and discoveries of famous scientists and inventors. The book includes 27 lessons and recommends children’s trade book biographies to accompany each lesson. Biography subjects include astronomer Galileo Galilei, primatologist Jane Goodall, astronomer Annie Jump Cannon, and engineer William Kamkwamba. Also, each chapter has literature-based lessons that support the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

“Our bold new idea is that biographies of scientists can allow you to highlight the human dimension of scientists and engineers while you encourage science learning. We think these stories will broaden students’ perceptions of scientists and engineers as real people and add explicit and implicit opportunities for them to consider science and engineering careers,” Farland-Smith and Thomas state in the introductory chapter.

An interesting dimension of the book is the focus on character traits. “Each featured scientist and engineer is introduced with a character trait. These capture the unique human qualities of the scientists and introduce the human assets of scientists’ dispositions. It is important to mention that every individual has such traits, and the focus here is on helping students understand that scientists and engineers are people and express personal, human traits that enable them to be successful,” the authors state.

The book helps to make science more real and relatable. Students can explore the character traits, processes, practices, successes and failures of scientists who have helped to change our society and improve our lives, and imagine themselves making important discoveries of their own.

For example, in the second chapter, which focuses on the trait of “thinker,” students will learn about Philo Farnsworth, who invented television. Using their thinking and tinkering skills, students will develop their own inventions or create a replica of an invention from recyclables or everyday materials. With this lesson, teachers can spark a conversation about how inventions can have a great impact on a society during a particular time in history.

Students will practice asking questions, troubleshooting, and working through the steps of the design process to create something that just about every child loves: a TV. In addition, the lesson connects to the NGSS by asking students to define and delimit engineering problems, as they learn how to eliminate materials and unsuccessful designs in the creation of their invention. They will also get to practice communicating with their peers about proposed solutions and their design process.

To learn more about Eureka! Grades 3-5 Science Activities and Stories, read the sample chapter here.

This book is also available as an e-book.

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