Are you updating your approach to modeling? Aligning lessons between 5E and NGSS? Incorporating digital resources? Regardless of the grade level you teach, this month’s journals have ideas that can be used or adapted.
From the Editor’s Desk: No Glue Required “Models can include diagrams, drawings, physical replicas, mathematical representations, analogies, and computer simulations (NSTA 2014). Regardless of the model used, the key is to engage students in making explanations and predictions—vastly different activities from one in which students merely submit a Styrofoam ball that has been converted into a replica of a cell.”
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 and classroom materials.
With the resources in Citizen Science: Did You Feel It?, students learn more about earthquakes in real time, use data to predict and model where earthquakes may occur, and create and text earthquake models.
Editor’s Note: Developing Coherent Lessons With the NGSS and 5E: ” In combination, the research-based NGSS and 5E provide us with opportunities for creating lessons containing learning progressions, a teaching sequence, coherence in instruction, and assurance of integration—the key components of science learning and assessment of student performance… Using the 5E as the structure and the NGSS for guidance in selecting the concepts and skills provides a strategy for developing lessons that can be used with confidence.”
The lessons described in the articles have a chart showing connections with the NGSS and many include classroom materials and illustrations of student work.
The charts in Generating Clean Water illustrate the connections between 5E and Engineering Design cycles. The authors include an example of a lesson in which students use their understanding of the water cycle to create a water filtration tool. Engineering Encounters: What’s The Buzz on Bees? also integrates engineering design with science inquiry, in the context of a real-life study of bees and pollination.
Kindergarten students explore forces and engineering design with the activities in Oh No, Henrietta Got Out!, including one with a mini-robot.
Save Beady Kid From the Sun guides students through an investigation of light energy transfer from the sun and an understanding of experimental design.
When Is Melting Not Really Melting? describes a lesson in which students explore physical properties of matter using Silly Putty culminating in evidence-based explanations.
Are lessons simply a collection of activities? Methods and Strategies: What’s the Story? explains structural and conceptual coherence and how to build storylines around disciplinary core ideas.
These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:
Editor’s Corner: Smartphones: Challenge or Opportunity? “Smartphones are here to stay, and they will only become smarter. What is far less certain is whether we can reimagine our classrooms and instructional practices to take advantage of this powerful new tool.”
The lessons described in the articles include connections with the NGSS and many include classroom resources and illustrations of student work.
Creating Science Websites can be an engaging way for students to share their learning and ideas. The authors suggest tools, techniques and rubrics.
The 5E lesson in Making Waves incorporates data from a classroom seismograph (or an online station).
Connecting Science and Technology shows how to create and use historical short studies as case studies to investigate the history and nature of science.
The series of lessons in Learning Lichens guide students in a study of these organisms in the lab, in the field, and as air quality monitors.
Are you updating your approach to modeling? Aligning lessons between 5E and NGSS? Incorporating digital resources? Regardless of the grade level you teach, this month’s journals have ideas that can be used or adapted.
This week in education news, one California school district is leading the way on new science standards; a study looks to find the best tactics for flipped instruction; Virginia adopts computer science standards for K-12; new study suggests schools could help uncover the next generation of inventors; a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on undergraduate STEM education; Taos, NM, students wowed Jimmy Fallon with their science invention; NSTA releases best 2018 STEM books; it’s not how long you spend in PD, it’s how much you grow; and narrowing the achievement gap in K12 is not enough.
As schools nationwide take on the most comprehensive overhaul of science standards in 20 years, a school district in a quiet suburb of Los Angeles has become a pace-setter. Without relying on outside funding, or major grant money, Torrance Unified has trained more than 500 teachers and has unveiled the new standards to all 24,000 students in the district. By devoting thousands of hours to teacher training, the district has shown teachers from kindergarten through 12th grade how to explain scientific phenomenon in a new way to their students — by letting the students discover the answers on their own, instead of memorizing facts from a textbook. Read the story featured in Ed News.
More and more teachers are “flipping” their instruction—but what does that really mean? And does it work? A University of Missouri team of researchers has received $450,000 from the National Science Foundation to study these questions over a three-year period. They’re going to be observing 40 Missouri algebra classrooms—20 that will be using some sort of flipped instructional tactic more than 50 percent of the time, and 20 that will be using the traditional classroom format. Read the blog featured in Education Week.
The Virginia Board of Education voted last month to become the first state to adopt mandatory computer science standards for all students. The computer science Standards of Learning were unanimously approved after lengthy discussion on Nov. 16. They laid out the four key fundamentals that must be taught: computer literacy, educational technology, digital citizenship and information technology. Each of these concepts is interwoven into other content areas in most cases. Computer literacy means just that: making sure a student knows how to use computers and programs and can demonstrate that by creating a digital presentation. Read about it in this story in the Daily Press.
At nearly 326,000, the number of new U.S. patents has more than doubled from 2005 to 2015. But in every year since 2008, the patents granted to foreign inventors have outpaced those of U.S. inventors, and a new study suggests the nation could be overlooking thousands of potential young inventors. Read the blog featured in this Education Week.
Quality instruction goes a long way toward keeping students — especially underrepresented minorities and women — in the sciences, technology, math and engineering. But measuring educational quality isn’t easy. A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, “Indicators for Monitoring Undergraduate STEM Education,” says that assessing quality and impact in STEM at the national level will require the collection of new data on changing student demographics, instructors’ use of evidence-based teaching approaches, student transfer patterns and more. Read the article featured in InsideHigher Ed.
When The Tonight Show’s host, Jimmy Fallon, praises your product, you might have something there. Three Taos, NM, students wowed Fallon — and the nation — Nov. 29 when they showed off their invention called NanoForm, a breathable, antibacterial, fireproof fabric coating, on a segment of the NBC show. Taos High School students Daniel Córdova, Indigo Acosta and Cameron Gonzáles rolled out their newest version of the material several months ago and took it to the national eCYBERMISSION competition in Washington, D.C., over the summer. The trio were then invited by NBC to be featured guests on The Tonight Show with their invention, which has taken several turns in design. Read the article featured in the Santa Fe New Mexican.
I have found that science teachers often do not use the textbook they’ve been given. Many make up their own lessons. In recent years, the National Science Teachers Association has been looking for ways to integrate nonfiction literature into science courses. To this end they have created a new list of Best STEM Books. They recently released their second list amidst much excitement. Read more in an article featured in the Huffington Post.
The research is clear: The “sit ‘n’ get” model of professional development doesn’t work. Yet the majority of states continue to base the requirements for maintaining a teaching license on clock hours or seat time. And very often that looks like teachers heading en masse to one-off conferences and seminars, disconnected from their everyday classroom work. But 14 states, including Georgia most recently, are now trying something different. They’re asking teachers to craft personalized plans for improving their instruction, and they’re measuring success with proof of teacher advancement. “How long” teachers spend in PD is no longer the central question; instead, it’s, “How much did they grow?” Read the article featured in Teacher Magazine.
Districts are increasingly tasked with providing options for at-risk and underserved student populations to address persistent achievement gaps. While nationwide gains in closing achievement gaps have been made, research shows that underserved student populations still achieve at lower rates than their peers in many areas. Read the article featured in District Administration Magazine.
Stay tuned for next week’s top education news stories.
The Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs (CLPA) team strives to keep NSTA members, teachers, science education leaders, and the general public informed about NSTA programs, products, and services and key science education issues and legislation. In the association’s role as the national voice for science education, its CLPA team actively promotes NSTA’s positions on science education issues and communicates key NSTA messages to essential audiences.
The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.
Professional development—learning that will develop our professionalism, make us better teachers, and expand our content knowledge—aims to be delivered at just the right moment with an insight that changes you forever. Attending PD sessions builds up our store of such learning that we can draw on in challenging moments, those times when we wish a more knowledgeable colleague would step in and show us how. The reality in early childhood is that often PD is fit in during nap time, on half of teacher work days, in a burst at the beginning of the school year, or online alone after work. If we can’t have that knowledgeable mentor to work with on a weekly basis, consider attending a conference to broaden your professional development. Being immersed in thinking and talking about early childhood science education with others in the profession for an entire day, or several, is a transformative experience. Conferences provide those immersive experiences where keynote speakers inspire us to fully participate in our work—at the conference and back at school, and colleagues with more experience share their research, knowledge, and situation or lesson specific tips. The statistics about who attends such conferences helps the profession see who is interested and financially able to attend conferences.
The acronyms STEM and STEAM, and sometimes STREAMS, are part of many conference session titles. We should expect these sessions to connect the S-T-E-and-M in ways that represent what is known about how children learn, and how adults learn. In Taking Science to School:Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K–8 (National Research Council 2007 pgs 2–3) the authors describe what were new understandings of what children know and how they learn:
Children entering school already have substantial knowledge of the natural world, much of which is implicit.
What children are capable of at a particular age is the result of a complex interplay among maturation, experience, and instruction. What is developmentally appropriate is not a simple function of age or grade, but rather is largely contingent on their prior opportunities to learn.
Students’ knowledge and experience play a critical role in their science learning, influencing all four strands of science understanding.
Race and ethnicity, language, culture, gender, and socioeconomic status are among the factors that influence the knowledge and experience children bring to the classroom.
Students learn science by actively engaging in the practices of science.
A range of instructional approaches is necessary as part of a full development of science proficiency.
Conference sessions reflect these understandings when they teach participants how to actively engage students in using the practices of science, rather than only being observers of demonstrations or the science work of others.
ECE session to deepen your appreciation of play.
At the 2017 national conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) a session on play was my first choice, “The play experience: Fulfilling the promise of play.”
It was a way to remind myself why I was there: to learn to teach those experts at play (children). Through hands-on first solo, and then cooperative, play experiences using a variety of open-ended materials, followed by journaling and discussion, we talked about how play helped focus our minds, and opened opportunities for problem solving. We discussed ways to use play to stimulate creativity and imagination as part of teaching mathematics, science, literacy, art, and social studies, and helping children develop social emotional skills. When one 20 minute play period ended several participants remarked on how they didn’t want to stop exploring and using the materials to create through building, designing, trying first one way and then another. Others noted that children feel this way when they must transition to a different activity before they have finished playing.
Solo play exploring materials.
Presenter Dr. Drew documenting the play for later discussion.
As we played I saw people exploring the concepts of shape, balance, symmetry, and trajectory; testing materials for the properties of flexibility, weight, and texture; and creating pleasing patterns.
Where does play lead you?
Extended play with pipe cleaners led to exploring balance.
Cooperative play followed the silent solo play leading to talking about our programs and playing games.
Cooperative play.
After the session on play, there were so many STEM, science, and engineering sessions that I had to make difficult choices. I don’t regret attending the sessions I chose but I’d like to learn a little about those I had to pass on. Presenters can upload handouts to the Precis Abstract Management system but unfortunately few do, making it even more important to choose sessions wisely (for content in addition to how far they are from the last session).
The discussions among educators who work in different areas of the early childhood education profession, and different areas of the country, help me clarify my thinking about teaching science. Presenting with other educators is another way to get the most out of a conference. In preparing for our session on supporting children’s use of the NGSS science and engineering practices, the experiences and views of colleagues Cindy Hoisington and Sandy Chilton informed my understanding. In the session participants sorted through a
group of photos of preK-grade 2 children at work and identified which science and engineering practices children were using in their investigations. In my NSTA Press book, Science Learning in the Early Years, I support using the NGSS because integrating the three dimensions—science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas—provides a learning environment that encourages children to ask questions, plan investigations, and record and discuss findings as they build understanding of science concepts.
I’m looking forward to the next conference I’ll be attending, the NSTA 2018 national conference, March 15-18, in Atlanta, GA. And later in the year, the NAEYC annual conference will be held in Washington, DC, close enough to drive! Post about calls for proposals for conferences near you on the NSTA Learning Center Early Childhood forum and the NAEYC forum, Hello.
And I’m feeling wistful about having to pass up several opportunities for effective conference learning including the Early Childhood Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (ECSTEM) Conference, February 2-3, 2018, in Anaheim, CA.
Meanwhile I’m finding time each week to participate in the NSTA Learning Center conversations and NAEYC forums, and enjoying making time to talk with colleagues locally about the engineering design happening in their Kindergarten class, and the tools their preschool students use to shape cardboard.
National Research Council. 2007. Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Professional development—learning that will develop our professionalism, make us better teachers, and expand our content knowledge—aims to be delivered at just the right moment with an insight that changes you forever.
Differentiating for an "Out of This World" Student
I have one student whose knowledge of Earth and space exceeds the other students in class. I feel like I just keep giving him more work, more extension activities, and I think he is getting frustrated. Do you have any suggestions for how to deal with this? How do I grade this kind of assignment? —S., Virginia
Assigning more work to an extremely bright student is not the answer, so kudos for looking for something else! Run this by your principal for approval: Ask the student to propose a project— either long- or short-term —related to the class. The possibilities are almost limitless: videos, a lesson, models, public displays, reviews, and more. Can you find a geologist, astronomer, or other professional that could act as a mentor or be interviewed? Negotiate a grading scheme with benchmarks and expectations for the final “product” or assessment.
Options to reach a fair grade:
Have the child complete all the work the rest of the class is handing in and use the project as extra credit.
Replace the regular work with this project—this puts the onus on the student to follow through. Align the project with your curriculum and create a rubric to share with the student and his family. If a mentor is involved, you should have a direct communication with him or her about expectations and share the assessment piece. Set the bar high, but make sure he isn’t penalized for pushing himself. If the project doesn’t meet all your expectations, ask yourself, “What grade would I record if any other student handed me this work?”
The Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines began an on-site preschool shortly after its doors opened in 1970, inspired by the founders’ belief in the importance of science education for early childhood learners.
Children have the capacity and propensity to observe and explore the world around them from an early age. To foster these innate abilities, students must be provided with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) experiences early in life to begin forging learning pathways in their brains. These learning pathways help the brain channel new information through prior experiences (Harris Helm 2015).
The Science Center of Iowa (SCI) fuses early STEM education for young children with an on-site preschool. The mission of the SCI is to engage and inspire Iowans along their journey of lifelong science learning. SCI believes that science education for early childhood learners is important to the start of that journey, and thus established an active on-site preschool shortly after the museum opened in 1970. Since then, more than 3,000 curious, energetic young STEM learners have experimented, created, and explored both at the SCI Preschool and within the walls of the museum itself. Daily opportunities to interact with exhibits and museum staff makes this preschool unique, and graduates feel a deep connection to the organization and its philosophy of education. In June 2016, SCI Preschool alum Alissa Campbell wrote:
This May, I graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. in Microbiology and a B.S. in Genetics, both with honors. I am blessed with the opportunity to attend Harvard Medical School this fall. I want you to know that everything you did for this little blue-eyed girl with platinum blonde curls and an obsession with knowing how everything around her worked mattered. Your work contributed to my foundational love of science, and that love will last a lifetime.
SCI and Our Philosophy
A preschool staff member demonstrates how to use a stencil.
SCI Preschool is a state-licensed child care center adhering to National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) regulations. Four on-site classrooms provide space for three full-day and three part-day classes serving 112 students annually.
Well-educated and caring, certified teachers set the tone for the classroom experience.
SCI Preschool staff fall into one of four classifications: director, master teacher, teacher, and part-time teacher. The SCI preschool director is required to have a master’s degree in education. The director assumes full responsibility for administration of preschool operations, including staff management, parental support, and management of daily operations, as well as serving as a link between the preschool and the science center. The director models and guides teachers in pedagogy and procedures, designs the annual budget and business plan, and coordinates family events, among other programmatic and administrative duties. The assistant director manages schedules, tracks expenses, orders supplies, and teaches a part-time class. Master teachers, who are required to have a bachelor’s degree in education and typically a concentration in early childhood, serve as the lead in their classrooms. Their role includes establishing the classroom environment, creating lesson plans, assessing students and collecting documentation through observation, communicating with parents, and, of course, educating young minds. Teachers and part-time teachers assist the master teacher in the classroom.
Healthy partnerships between parents and the school provide the best early experience possible for a young child. Research indicates that children have a better attitude and tend to succeed more in school when their families are involved in their education. Parents or guardians are also more aware of their child’s social and intellectual state and more confident in their parenting skills and decision-making abilities. Parent involvement also benefits the school, as parents are more likely to heed teachers’ plans and recommendations (Olsen and Fuller 2008).
Creative Curriculum and the Project Approach
The SCI Preschool uses the Creative Curriculum, a developmentally appropriate early childhood curriculum with a framework designed for young children’s optimal learning and development. The curriculum emphasizes the intersection of appropriate environment and schedule with positive teacher and child interactions to support the growth of the whole child in development and content knowledge, including social/emotional, cognitive, physical, language, literacy, math, social studies, science, and the arts. This curriculum, along with the Project Approach method, is implemented in each classroom.
A preschooler creates a model using clay and straws.
The Project Approach is a method of teaching in which the class conducts an in-depth investigation on a particular topic. Children study one topic for an extended period of time, lasting four to eight weeks on average. The selected topic should be broad enough for multiple avenues of expansion, interest, and relevance to the children’s lives. Topics that have been investigated include pizza, juice, ice cream, bees, trains, movies, and shoes. These topics were successful because they were close to the children’s self, meaning that they were related to something that they see or do in their everyday lives. This investigation and engagement guides early learners to explore surprisingly deep concepts. Teachers also integrate content knowledge such as math, reading, and science into their project studies. In project work, the children ask questions and formulate their own plans to find the answers, with the assistance of the teachers. For their projects, students plan interview questions, look at books, draw and write what they observe, and create plans for building structures and play environments. Field site visits and expert guest speakers are often also included in project learning. As the children learn, they will redraw, rewrite and record their findings in the form of posters, murals, artwork, graphs and charts, constructions, models, and journals (Harris Helm and Katz 2016).
Enhancing Education With Museum Resources
Small Discoveries includes a kitchen with table, magnetic farm scene, working milk cow, food store, checkout, and many other experiences.
Preschoolers have daily immersion in a STEM-oriented environment through museum exhibits, programs, and shared expertise. Within the Project Approach, the museum’s exhibits act as a continuous field site visit. These visits allow children to play, draw, ask questions, and reflect about what they have learned. SCI’s Small Discoveries exhibit was designed with this type of learner in mind. After viewing this exhibit, preschoolers became interested in the exhibit’s new milking cow. This class of four- and five-year-olds spent several weeks studying dairy cows and milk products, which eventually led them to think about ice cream. Several children posed the question, “What are all the kinds of ice cream?” From there, they asked how Dippin’ Dots were made. Their teacher engaged SCI program staff to help them answer this question.
Expert visitors are another important element of the Project Approach model. Experts interested in and comfortable with working with preschool children can be challenging to find. SCI has a pool of on-site experts on subjects such as chemistry, animals, construction, nature, and other STEM topics. As the preschoolers develop relationships with the SCI program presenters, they become more likely to ask deeper questions and see the staff as science mentors. One program offered to the public is called Fire and Ice. This program includes several experiments that use liquid nitrogen to demonstrate thermodynamics. Program presenters are trained to handle these materials safely and were able to adapt this program to demonstrate how Dippin’ Dots are made.
Shared Staff Development and Expertise
The relationship between SCI and its preschool is one that nurtures collaboration and professional learning that benefits students, staff, and visitors alike. This blended community creates a rich environment of idea sharing, innovation, and support that can be seen in many aspects of the museum.
An SCI staff member answers questions about hermit crabs.
Liesl Downs has worked at SCI since summer 2014. She was initially hired as a camp counselor and was able to join the Preschool team at the beginning of the 2014–15 school year. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University in elementary education with a concentration in early childhood and special education, Liesl gained additional critical skills during her time working at the camp that have supported her transition to the preschool. These skills include working with a coteacher, communicating with families, locating resources in the science center, using exhibits to enhance lessons, and building relationships with other staff members.
Originally hired in 2015 as a summer resident maker at SCI, Ellie Willhoit has also worked for SCI as a program coordinator and preschool educator. During her first few weeks at the preschool, Ellie quickly learned strategies for managing groups of students in the classroom. Some techniques were learned through trial and error, whereas some came from interactions with the early childhood director and other preschool teachers. In turn, Ellie also has been a STEM resource for the teachers in the preschool. In Liesl’s classroom, students were working on a project centered around hermit crabs. The goal of this project, like many others, was to cultivate early skills, such as learning to ask questions, recording data, using tools and technology, doing observational drawing (taking notes), designing experiments, and gaining basic content knowledge about living things within a topic that relates to the children’s world. Program staff who work with the museum’s animals came and spoke to the class about the difference between a hermit crab, which is a crustacean, and a snail, which is a gastropod. Students became especially interested in the shell that hermit crabs carry on their backs. Ellie spoke with the class to ask what characteristics they had observed a shell would need to be suitable for a hermit crab to inhabit. She took students’ ideas, designed their shell on her computer, and then brought a 3-D printer into the classroom so students could watch it print. After printing was complete, Ellie showed them how to cut away the support structures to reveal the shell. Students were able to hold the shell and measure it against one of the crabs. They decided the shell was too big and worked with Ellie on a redesigned structure. Liesl, who had never used a 3-D printer before, gained an understanding of how one could be useful in the classroom. Students learned that a 3-D printer can be used to create something that was designed on a computer. A few preschool parents even reported that their students consequently asked for a 3-D printer of their own.
Preschoolers use the GoPro to observe hermit crabs.
The activity later led the class to wonder what hermit crabs did at night after students left. Liesl spoke with SCI staff to find a solution. Having used GoPro cameras for other projects, the education specialist brought a camera into the class. It was set up in the crab’s habitat to livestream the crab’s actions and observe its interactions with its environment. The GoPro allowed the preschoolers to answer their question in an authentic way, like a real scientist would observe and record data.
Challenges Faced
Because the preschool is in the science center, students are out in public spaces more often than children in more traditional preschool settings. Safety is a core value of both SCI and the SCI Preschool. Classrooms are located in a secure wing of the facility with access restricted to preschool staff members. An enhanced security system is in place that can lock down the preschool and notify others in the case of an emergency. When children go into the Science Center, they wear lab coats so that they can be easily identified as students.
Communication can be a challenge due to the nature of a running an early childhood care center. As a result, an increased sense of urgency is placed on communication about shared spaces, staff, and materials. The preschool director attends all SCI leadership meetings and is part of the Science Learning Division of the organization, which, in addition to the preschool, includes internal and external programming, exhibits, and formal education partnerships. The preschool director acts as a constant liaison for increased communication, understanding of differing process, and diligence in safety.
Evaluation
Formal evaluation looks different in settings that are focused on young learners. SCI believes that authentic assessment, as real-time observation, is critical to providing support for continuous improvement. This is replicated in overall program evaluation, which uses a multilayered approach to evaluate the program, teachers, and learners.
The NAEYC requires robust evaluation for their accredited programs; including conducting a self-study and assessment and meeting the highest program standards for quality and early learning. The accreditation process consists of an on-site review, program portfolio assessment, and parent feedback evaluation. In addition to the NAEYC evaluation, a quarterly family survey is conducted to assess curriculum impact, teacher and director quality interaction, and facility/environment. The SCI Preschool believes that parents are their child’s first and most important teachers, and as such, they are valued as true partners in the preschool program. Feedback is analyzed and examined by SCI’s executive team and the preschool’s Parent Advisory Committee. In the 2017 survey, results showed that 98% of responding families believed that communication was ongoing and clear and that staff had knowledge and expertise that was current with best practices for high-quality care. Families indicated they would like their children to have more opportunities for learning in physical fitness, languages, and art. We included these elements in our plan for the future, along with an action plan to incorporate adult volunteers with expertise in these three areas to lead lessons each month.
Learners are evaluated using Teaching Strategies Gold, an online observation-based assessment approach aligned with the Creative Curriculum, to analyze each child’s progress in the development of social, physical, language, cognitive, science, math, literacy, and arts abilities. The results are shared twice a year in parent–teacher conferences, which include discussion about assessments and goal setting. The SCI Preschool uses these assessments to guide daily instruction and provide extra support for children’s individual needs. According to 2016–2017 school year assessments, the percentage of SCI preschoolers who reached kindergarten readiness targets in all learning domains increased from 80% in the fall to 95% by spring.
Comparison With Other Science Center Preschools
Although the Science Center of Iowa is one of the longest-running preschools based at a science center, it is not the only one. Over the years, SCI’s preschool has received numerous inquiries from museums, cultural institutions, and science centers across the United States, all of whom were seeking to emulate our model. Other institutions have asked for information about SCI Preschool’s structure, security, procedures, and routines, and they have also requested to observe our spaces and speak to our administrators. At the Orlando Science Center (OSC), an on-site preschool was opened in 2009. OSC operates four preschool classes with a maximum capacity of 72 students, frequently operating with a waitlist. The OSC Preschool is an approved voluntary prekindergarten provider in the state of Florida, which allows children who are four years old by September 1 to be eligible for state funding for preschool. According to Heather Norton, vice president of education at OSC, “Our STEM preschool allows us to foster a love of science at a very early age and capitalize on the natural curiosity of young children.” In 2015, the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s (IMA) preschool opened with a commitment to serve diverse families in a museum setting. Annually, the IMA program welcomes children ages 3–5 for part-time and full-day experiences. The organization is focused on maintaining a needs-based scholarship component to reach children in poverty.
Preschoolers engage in an activity about circuits.
Preschools within science centers and other cultural institutions are still uncommon, but their popularity is increasing. Heidi Davis-Soylu of IMA believes that the arrangement is mutually beneficial to both the preschool and the institution: “Preschoolers bring a terrific energy to the building and have helped unite departments internally, such as the relationships they have built with security guards.”
Preschool and SCI Sustainability
SCI believes that the primary role of a preschool is to support the first steps in a child’s journey of learning. All preschool families are required to purchase memberships to the Science Center of Iowa, which supports the museum as a whole. The museum becomes a place for the entire family to enjoy. Children have access to their school and have opportunities to share their learning spaces and work with their families any day of the week. Museum research shows that “the primary catalyst for causing an individual to visit a museum in the present are events that happened in the past,” which is to say that positive first experiences at a museum generally entice visitors to return (Falk 2009). In this sense, the preschool can be seen as an investment by SCI in the center as a whole.
The SCI Preschool also partners with Des Moines Public Schools through the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program (SVPP). These partnerships keep SCI Preschool enrollment consistent and accessible. This program, specifically for four-year-olds, promotes the availability of early childhood education for all students. The partnership provides families with funding for 10 hours of preschool per week during the school year. In addition, SVPP provides access to support for needs such as speech therapy, behavioral support, and developmental delays. This partnership aides in financial and resource sustainability of the SCI Preschool and allows access to families who may otherwise not be financially able to attend.
Fueling a Lifelong Commitment to Science
Sustained engagement is a concept that museums of all kinds are working to establish and maintain. To achieve sustained engagement, museums must seek new ways to stay relevant, attract and retain visitors, and secure their position as important cultural institutions (Everett and Barrett 2009). Through its on-site preschool, SCI strives to establish a personal connection with students that is unique and ongoing throughout different stages of life. Nearly 25% of preschool families maintain their membership for more than five years after their child’s graduation. Of those, approximately 20% continue to purchase memberships to SCI for 10 years or more. This shows a lasting connection between Preschool families and the museum.
Rhiley Binns, a current SCI programs coordinator, attended the SCI Preschool as a young child. Rhiley continues to feel a personal connection to the museum where she spent so much time during her youth. She thinks of SCI as “her school.” Rhiley studied science throughout her life and earned a bachelor of science in biology. During her summers, she led summer camps as a seasonal camp counselor at SCI. Upon graduation, she gained nonprofit experience and eventually became a full-time SCI employee. Rhiley now works as a programs coordinator specializing in astronomy and occasionally works in the preschool, helping young minds grow and develop in a STEM-rich learning environment. Perhaps right now at the preschool, Rhiley is working with a future scientist, business leader, SCI staff member, or a curious learner who will continue to be amazed and ask questions that can be answered at a local science museum.
Amber Forrest (amber.forrest@sciowa.org) is director of early childhood at the Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines, Iowa. Jolie Pelds (jolie.pelds@sciowa.org) is director of innovative STEM teaching at the Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines, Iowa. Renee Harmon (renee.harmon@sciowa.org) is vice president of science learning at the Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines, Iowa.
Everett, M., and M.S. Barrett. 2009. Investigating sustained visitor/museum relationships: Employing narrative research in the field of museum visitor studies. Visitor Studies 12 (1): 2–15.
Falk, J.H. 2009. Identity and the museum visitor experience. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Harris Helm, J. 2015. Becoming young thinkers: Deep project work in the classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.
Harris Helm, J., and L. Katz. 2016. Young investigators: The project approach in the early years. New York: Teachers College Press.
Olsen, G., and M.L. Fuller, eds. 2008. Home-school relations: Working successfully with parents and families. Boston: Pearson Education.
The Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines began an on-site preschool shortly after its doors opened in 1970, inspired by the founders’ belief in the importance of science education for early childhood learners.
The Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines began an on-site preschool shortly after its doors opened in 1970, inspired by the founders’ belief in the importance of science education for early childhood learners.
As many high schools begin adopting curricula that include the study of microorganisms, biosafety must be addressed for a safer lab experience.
Biohazards are biologically derived infectious materials, which may present a risk to other living things. Such hazards can enter the body through such places as the eyes, mouth, lungs, and open wounds. Unlike chemical hazards, biohazards can reproduce and spread infection throughout the body. Categories of biohazards include
• human, animal, and plant pathogens: bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, rickettsiae, chlamydiae, toxins;
• human and animal blood, blood products, tissues, and body fluids;
• cultured cells and potentially infectious agents within them;
• allergens;
• recombinant DNA products; and
• clinical, necropsy, and surgical specimens (e.g., tissues, fluids).
Biosafety in the lab
Biosafety protocols developed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) can reduce or eliminate teachers’ and students’ risk of exposure to potentially hazardous agents. The four biosafety levels (BSLs) consist of combinations of laboratory practices and techniques, safety equipment, and laboratory facilities and are specific to operations performed, transmission of infectious agents, and laboratory functions. The BSLs are described as:
• BSL1: No known or minimal potential hazard of exposure to infectious agents.
• BSL2: Moderate potential hazard with low risk of exposure to infectious agents.
• BSL3: Moderate risk of exposure to agents that can cause serious or potentially lethal disease.
• BSL4: High risk of exposure to dangerous agents that cause life-threatening disease.
K–12 science teachers should only conduct activities with BSL1-level hazards, whereas college instructors can use higher level biohazards. This designation is based on safety equipment, practices, facility design, and construction. Laboratory work using BSL1 hazards is done with defined, characterized strains and non-disease-carrying microorganisms (e.g., Bacillus subtilus, Naegleria gruberi).
Working with a BSL1-level hazard only requires handwashing after use of the biohazard. Lab work at BSL1 is generally conducted on open bench tops using standard microbiological protocol. Students must have special training in microbiological laboratory protocol, with oversight by the science teacher.
Recommended protocols
Although organisms at BSL1 pose a low risk for laboratory use, most microorganisms used in the microbiology are capable of causing an infection. To minimize the risk of infection, teachers should follow the best practices and train students in the proper handling of microorganisms.
Personal protection requirements
• Wear indirectly vented chemical splash safety goggles when handling liquid cultures, when performing procedures that may create a splash hazard, or when spread plating (a method for isolating and enumerating microorganisms in a mixed culture and distributing it evenly on a slide).
• Wear closed-toe shoes.
• Wear gloves when the student’s hands have fresh cuts or abrasions, when staining microbes, and when handling hazardous chemicals.
• Clean hands thoroughly prior to and immediately after handling microorganisms and any time that microbes accidentally touch the skin.
• Wear laboratory coats.
Laboratory physical space requirements
• Require all laboratory space to include:
o nonporous floor, bench tops, chairs, and stools.
o sink for hand washing.
o eyewash station.
• Keep personal belongings away from the work area.
• Use a working and validated autoclave.
Stock culture requirements
• Only use cultures from authorized, commercial, or reputable sources (e.g., an academic laboratory or state health department).
• Do not subculture unknown microbes isolated from the environment because they may be organisms that require BSL2 practices and facilities.
• Obtain fresh stock cultures of microorganisms annually to be certain of the source culture, minimize spontaneous mutations, and reduce contamination.
Guidelines for biosafety in the lab
• Do not handle personal items (e.g., cosmetics, cell phones) while in the lab.
• Do not put pipette in mouth.
• Label all containers clearly.
• Keep door closed while the laboratory is in session.
• Use leak-proof containers for storage and transport of infectious materials.
• Arrange for proper decontamination and disposal of contaminated material (e.g., in a properly maintained and validated autoclave) or arrange for waste removal in accordance with local, state, and federal guidelines.
• Sweep any glass with broom and dustpan.
• Notify instructor of all spills or injuries.
• Document all injuries according to school, university, or college policy.
• Use only institution-provided marking pens and writing instruments.
• Teach, practice, and enforce the proper wearing and use of gloves.
• Advise immunocompromised students (including those who are pregnant) and students living with or caring for an immunocompromised individual to consult physicians about participation in the laboratory.
• Keep note-taking and discussion practices separate from work with hazardous or infectious material.
Training practices
• Conduct extensive initial training of handling biohazards for instructors and student assistants.
• Require students and instructors to safely and responsibly handle microorganisms.
• Inform students of safety precautions relevant to each exercise.
• Emphasize to students the importance of reporting accidental spills and exposures.
Document practices
• Require students to sign safety agreements about the hazards of the organisms they will handle throughout the course.
• Maintain student-signed safety agreements at the institution.
• Prepare, maintain, and post proper signage.
• Document all injuries and spills. Follow the school’s policy, if available.
• Make Safety Data Sheets available at all times. Follow institutional documentation guidelines regarding number of copies.
• Post emergency procedures and updated contact information in the laboratory.
• Maintain and make available (e.g., in a syllabus, laboratory manual, or online) to all students a list of all cultures (and their sources) used in the course.
Blood borne pathogens
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (29 CFR 1910.1030) requires employers to have an exposure control plan in place if exposure to blood borne pathogens is likely. Blood borne pathogens include viruses, bacteria, and parasites present in blood or other body fluids. Students can be exposed to the pathogens via laboratory work. For the high school science laboratory, an exposure control plan must be in place.
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.
As many high schools begin adopting curricula that include the study of microorganisms, biosafety must be addressed for a safer lab experience.
Biohazards are biologically derived infectious materials, which may present a risk to other living things. Such hazards can enter the body through such places as the eyes, mouth, lungs, and open wounds. Unlike chemical hazards, biohazards can reproduce and spread infection throughout the body. Categories of biohazards include
House Education and Workforce Chair Virginia Fox introduced a bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA) last week, and her committee will be meeting to mark up the bill on Tuesday, December 12.
H.R. 4508 (115), the “Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity though Education Reform (PROSPER) Act,” would change how students apply for federal aid for college, and streamline the information about colleges that the federal government would provide. Most notably for K-12 educators, the bill would make changes to teacher education by repealing HEA Title II, eliminating the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grant program (currently funded at $43.1m), and eliminating the Title II data reporting.
Currently the bill has no Democratic cosponsors. A Democratic version of HEA reauthorization is expected out after the markup next week. Senator Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, has indicated that Senate legislation to reauthorize HEA will be a priority early in the New Year.
Budget Deal at Year’s End? New StopGap Measure Keeps Govt Open till Dec. 22
On Thursday, December 7, Congress passed another stopgap funding measure that will keep the government open until Dec. 22 in the hopes that leaders can agree to a budget deal by year’s end. The prior spending agreement was scheduled to expire on Dec. 8.
Leaders from both the Senate and House are meeting with President Trump to hammer out a final budget deal and overall spending levels, including the possibility of raising or eliminating the sequestration budget caps currently on many domestic programs.
NSTA joined education colleagues last week in a letter to senators asking them to “raise the sequester-level discretionary caps and ensure that any increases in the defense spending caps are matched with equal increases in the Non-Defense Discretionary (NDD) spending caps” and to “make critical investments in education programs such as the Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) Grant Program under Title IV-A of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).”
Issues such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and the final push to finish the tax plan (see below) are also in play during these budget negotiations.
The stopgap measure will provide funding for the federal government through Dec. 22, meaning that a pre-Christmas, close the government budget showdown is likely. Stay tuned.
What’s in the Tax Bill for Education?
Congressional negotiations continue over the two versions of the tax bill; here are the key differences in the House and Senate bills on education programs:
Deduction for school supplies: The House plan eliminates the provision that allows K-12 teachers to deduct up to $250 that they spend on their classes. The Senate bill would allow teachers to deduct up to $500.
Expanding 529s: Both the House and Senate plans would expand section 529 college savings accounts to cover K-12 expenses of up to $10,000 per year. The Senate plan would allow 529s to pay for children to attend public, private and religious K-12 schools, and cover the costs of home schooling. The House version does not include home schooling.
Taxing graduate students: The House plan calls for taxing as income tuition that is waived for graduate students working as teaching or research assistants. The Senate plan has no such tax.
Deduction for student loan interest: The House plan would scrap a deduction for student loan interest; the Senate version protects this deduction.
Taxing endowments: Both the House and Senate bills have language that would create new taxes on private colleges and university endowments. The House plan would tax endowment incomes at schools that have $250,000 per student, which would affect approximately 60 to 70 colleges. The Senate plan would target half as many, setting the threshold at schools with $500,000 per student.
And finally, Change the Equation, which started in 2010 as a CEO-led effort to improve STEM education and was part of President Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign, will cease operations at the end of the year.
The group announced last week that WestEd and Education Commission of the States will assume and continue two signature CTEq products: WestEd will lead STEMworks, a nationally-recognized initiative to identify and scale the most effective STEM education programs; and Education Commission of the States will lead and expand Vital Signs, the state-by-state data on the condition of STEM education.
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.
House Education and Workforce Chair Virginia Fox introduced a bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA) last week, and her committee will be meeting to mark up the bill on Tuesday, December 12.
Ed News: TFA, Alternative Programs Marginally Better Than Traditional Teacher Prep
This week in education news, study finds that alternative teacher preparation programs are slightly better than traditional programs; Idaho education leaders are working with a consulting firm to gather data and feedback about testing; Colorado unveils plan to tackle teacher shortage; efforts to reduce standardized testing succeeded in many school districts in 2017; according to a new survey most students report feeling engaged in school and take pride in their work, but engagement drop as students get order; and public education in more broken than ever.
Students whose teachers were trained in alternative teacher preparation programs such as Teach For America tend to perform slightly better academically than students whose teachers had traditional teacher training, according to a recent meta-analysis. The study aims to put to rest a long-held debate about whether alternative route teacher training programs, which tend to provide a quick path to the classroom for people who already have a bachelor’s degree, can sufficiently prepare new educators. Read the article featured in Education Week.
Idaho education leaders are teaming up with a consulting firm to stage a yearlong conversation about testing. Created this summer by Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra, the Assessment Task Force is an approximately 20-member group that is gathering data and feedback as the state braces to launch a new science test. Read the article featured in Idaho Ed News.
It’s well known that there are disturbing, pervasive disparities for needy students in their science and math experiences: They attend schools with less lab experiments, have access to fewer rigorous classes, and have less hands-on teaching. But there hasn’t been an agreed-upon definition for what specifically constitutes a “STEM desert”—and especially, where they’re located across districts and neighborhoods. Now, the National Math and Science Initiative is hoping to create such a definition—and use it to better target its work and that of others in the STEM education space. Read the article featured in Education Week.
To combat a shortage of teachers in Colorado, state education officials unveiled a sweeping strategic plan proposing ways to attract, keep and better pay educators. More than 30 strategies are spelled out, ranging from student loan forgiveness and housing incentives to coming up with extra pay to attract educators to stretched-thin rural areas. Read the article featured in Chalkbeat.
Ask teachers what they actually do to renew their licenses every five years, and you are likely to get an elaborate description of their decision process, not a simple answer. There are, in other words, considerations of location and convenience. There’s the variability of what each school district offers—or can afford to offer—in the way of professional development. There are the costs, not just money but time as well, of attending conferences and courses. Beyond that, there’s the desire to learn something relevant to the job. Read the article featured in TEACHER.
Parents, students and public education advocates have been telling policymakers for years about the many problems with excessive high-stakes standardized testing, including narrowed curriculum and evaluation systems that assessed teachers on the scores of students they didn’t have. While there is still a great deal of it in districts around the country, 2017 saw some reductions in the amount of testing as well as the high stakes attached to student scores. Read the article featured in the Washington Post.
Across all grade levels, the majority of students feel engaged, according to data released by the San Francisco-based nonprofit YouthTruth Student Survey. The survey also found that less than half of secondary students feel that what they’re learning in class helps them outside of school, with high school students feeling slightly less positively than middle school students. Read the press release by YouthTruth.
The ultimate dream of public education is incredibly simple. Students, ideally, would go to a classroom, receive top-notch instruction from a passionate, well-informed teacher, would work hard in their class, and would come away with a new set of skills, talents, interests, and capabilities. Over the past few decades in the United States, a number of education reforms have been enacted, designed to measure and improve student learning outcomes, holding teachers accountable for their students’ performances. Despite these well-intentioned programs, including No Child Left Behind, Race To The Top, and the Every Student Succeeds Act, public education is more broken than ever. Read the article featured in Forbes.
Students who are blind rarely major in math or science, and Emily Schlenker understands why, from personal experience. A pre-med major at Wichita State University, Schlenker was born without sight. But that hasn’t slowed down her fascination with organic chemistry. What has repeatedly snagged her ability to study it, however, has been when homework assignments include charts and graphs that her screen-reading software can’t process. Read the article featured in EdSurge.
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.
What if you could challenge your fifth graders to develop an economical, eco-friendly wind farm? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series, you can!
Wind Energy outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. The series is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms.
What if you could challenge your fifth graders to develop an economical, eco-friendly wind farm? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series, you can!
Wind Energy outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. The series is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms.
What if you could challenge your fifth graders to develop an economical, eco-friendly wind farm? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series, you can!
Wind Energy outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. The series is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms.
What if you could challenge your fifth graders to develop an economical, eco-friendly wind farm? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series, you can!
Wind Energy outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. The series is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms.
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Science Scope – 
Science & Children – 
The Science Teacher – 
group of photos of preK-grade 2 children at work and identified which science and engineering practices children were using in their investigations. In my NSTA Press book, 
