An early childhood education conference is an opportunity to meet others who share a passion for improving our science teaching practice, meet our education mentors and gain new insights into why certain educational practices are effective. It’s a privilege to be able to attend, and fun to experience. It’s also a time to hear about new research that can guide us to achieve our goals of starting all children on the path to scientific literacy. Our local -AEYC and other professional organizations offer this kind of learning experience in smaller bites, and wider geographic locations. 

The Early Childhood Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (ECSTEM) conference hosted by The Children’s Center at CalTech for the fifth year, joined by THINK Together, brought together educators from 26 states and 5 countries as well as many, many more local California residents. The theme of “Curiosity” inspired presenters and promoted discussion. I felt fully in that happy place where early childhood education and science education overlap, so please join me as I reflect on the experience. Listen to what this Florida educator from the Osceola Center for Early Learning in the Osceola County School District has to say about her conference experience (we continued our conference networking while at the airport on the way home.)

I heard many times that the quality of the sessions met participants needs, and the venue, food, level of organization, and friendliness of the community made everything else a positive experience. With so many interesting session descriptions it was hard to choose among them. 

Arriving at the conference, an exhibit too!

Susan Wood greets presenter Dr. Beth Van Meeteren

Hawkins’ Centers of Learning exhibit: “Cultivate the Scientist in Every Child: The Philosophy of Frances and David Hawkins”

At registration we were greeted by CCC Director and conference founder, Susan Wood, who engaged us with the Hawkins’ Centers of Learning exhibit, “Cultivate the Scientist in Every Child: The Philosophy of Frances and David Hawkins.” The panels illuminated the ideas of “eolithism,” “messing about,” “I, Thou, It,” and “Teacher as Learner.” The table of rocks gave us materials to mess about, a satisfying way to experience messing about and also wonder in a scientific way. We later heard more about these ideas from Alex Cruickshank, Community Outreach Specialist of the Boulder Journey School.

As an early childhood educator I am very familiar with looking for funding to create opportunities to learn and appreciate how sponsors make these opportunities possible!

Getting our geek on: astrophysics with humor, and down-to-earth design

With humor, and tempered with his experiences as a parent of a preschooler, keynote speaker Konstantin Batygin, Assistant Professor of Planetary Science, bought us into his investigations into what the long-period orbits of objects within the Kuiper belt suggest about the existence of a yet-unseen Planet Nine within the Solar System. We science nerds got our geek on with the keynote address and sessions that challenged us to link our imaginative play space scenarios with problem-solving challenges geared for our adult fine-motor skills and prior experiences while learning how to support children in developmentally appropriate challenges as they follow their own interests. Inspired by the robots of NASA’s space explorations and presenter Carrie Lynn Draper of Readiness Learning Associates, we built mechanical arms with hands to move objects—children might decide they need to build a long tool to retrieve objects from beneath bookcases. 
Making a model and engineering design are part of the Next Generation Science Standards for K-12, and part of even younger children’s experiences.

Experiencing learning: Friday sessions

I love the way we early childhood educators—college professors, preschool teachers, museum educators, preservice teachers, and all—join together in a common learning mode as we participate in conference sessions. Discovery Cube educators gave us challenges to explore boat structure, floating and sinking, and the force of moving air as we manipulated common materials and built together. As you watch this video and consider how to extend this investigation, predict how many marbles this teacher’s boat design might hold!

Do you love using the slo-mo feature on phone cameras to see details of motion that are missed in real time video? Does this technology help young children analyze motion of objects they are investigating? What direction might this investigation go in? (Tip of the hat to Joe Robinson, educator of young children.)

Empowering children to identify problems that are important to them, explore their environment, analyze what they observe, discuss their ideas with peers and adults and document their understanding was the message throughout the conference sessions.

After seeing the Rigamajig system in use by Kindergartners at The Willows School where they created models of their human bodies, I was especially interested in attending the session, “Designing for Children to Design: Creativity in STE(A)M Learning” by the designer of the system, Cas Holman of the Rhode Island School of Design. Hearing about her design processes, and how she collaborates with others made me reflect on how there is no one Design Process for children. Food for thought from her website: “When a toy gives the story, the good part is done.” “The moments that I see things [happening] I wouldn’t have thought of, that’s when I know it’s [toy] successful… Kids are inventing things I didn’t think of. I didn’t design it to do that but they made it do that so, woo-hoo, it’s working!” In addition to explaining how children love to build bigger than themselves and can build without adult instruction, she introduced us to the early childhood curriculum Anjiplay, developed by educator Cheng Xueqin and in practice the Anji region in China, where children design their play area each day by setting up the provided materials. (This short description doesn’t do it justice-see the webpage and videos.)

Book signing event: a time to connect

This conference left me feeling inspired by getting to learn more from people whose work mentored me and being affirmed by people who said they use my work. At a book signing event I was able to talk with another presenter, family childcare provider Raissa Lee who is the center owner and director of ABC Mom Learning Center & Childcare. It was exciting to learn that she uses my book, Science Is Simple (Gryphon House 2003) in her practice. We had a conversation about our growth as educators, learning about how to take our science teaching from a single activity into science inquiry from teacher-educator-researchers whose work has guided us. They were also presenting at the conference: Karen Worth, Beth Van Meeteren and Ellen Hall! I introduced Raissa to Karen and her books which continue to be my references. Other people also found it meaningful to connect directly with the thinkers and authors, like Chip Donohue, whose work guides theirs.

Additional conversations with early childhood educators from as far as Hawai’i, China and Saudi Arabia, who teach science, technology, engineering and mathematics to preservice teachers revealed how the work of researchers and writers support young children across the world. It feels good to be working in concert with so many others.

Saturday morning panel discussion (with links to their work)

On Saturday morning I was honored to be part of a panel providing another opportunity for learning and dialog. Before we answered questions I told the story of how a combination of technology tools—a program shown on television and a stick—allowed one child to view, manipulate, and understand a spatial relationship between floating “plates” of ice.

Dr. Chip Donohue, Dean at the Erikson Institute and Director of the TEC Center, spoke about the policy report by the Early Childhood STEM Working Group, “Early STEM Matters: Providing High-Quality STEM Experiences for All Young Learners,” one of two excellent reports that came out this year. Speaking to the packed room of early childhood educators he said, “We are all media mentors and we all have a responsibility to help parents navigate the digital age.” Donohue also emphasized that as much as children are natural scientists and naturally curious, they need the adults in their life to help them grow that disposition. The report will help us be these vital roles in STEM education. Early childhood educators will be delighted to see that in the recommendations, the report calls for us to have “access to and support for implementing existing and newly-developed high-quality [STEM] resources.” We know we need professional development and financial support to implement quality science and engineering practices. It is a must-read, and must-share with our administrators, parents, and legislators! Donohue also recommended we read and use the American Academy of Pediatrics’ “Media and Children Communication Toolkit” which includes their policy statement, “Media and Young Minds.”

Dr. Elisabeth McClure, Research Fellow at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop introduced us to the Cooney Center publication she co-authored, “STEM Starts Early: Grounding Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education in Early Childhood.” This report, also a must-read must-share, is the culmination of an exploratory project by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and New America, funded by the National Science Foundation, to “better understand the challenges to and opportunities in STEM learning as documented in a review of early childhood education research, policy, and practice”, make recommendations, and encourage collaboration to implement and sustain needed changes. The report is a call that, to “support the future of our nation, the seeds of STEM must be planted early, along with and in support of the seeds of literacy. Together, these mutually enhancing, interwoven strands of learning will grow well-informed, critical citizens prepared for a digital tomorrow.” McClure related report findings, including, “Both parents and teachers need additional knowledge and support to encourage their [STEM] interests and support the children effectively.” Teacher instruction must be on-going and connect these three strands in meaningful ways: STEM content, training in children’s developmental learning progressions in STEM, and well-modeled and practiced pedagogy. McClure expands on this, saying, “Teacher educators should model best teaching practices for teachers in the classroom, rather than just telling teachers about these practices. If they’re educating teachers about hands-on activities and small group work, they should educate teachers about them while using these techniques themselves. By modeling best practices, teacher educators can help teachers remember these teaching practices and also allow them to empathize with the student experience of these methods. Teachers need many opportunities to practice these teaching methods prior to beginning their teaching service, with supervision and positive feedback, and in real classrooms. We cannot expect teachers to know how to use these methods effectively and adapt them to the real and ever-changing circumstances in the classroom if they haven’t had many many opportunities to practice them.”
I really related to her additional summary of parts of the report: “Teachers need to experience this learning in ways that we hope children will. It should be joyful, it should be engaging, inspired by curiosity, and wonder, it should offer tinkering and exploration. Ultimately it should help teachers weave a holistic understanding of the topic areas.” Because research and policy are critical to the discussion of STEM learning in the early years, the report calls for practitioners to be involved in the research as early as the design phase. See the findings and recommendations, as well as the section by Frameworks Institute, “How Reframing Research can Enhance STEM Support.”

Susan Nall Bales, Founder, Board Chair, and Senior Advisor of the Frameworks Institute, showed us the importance of using a good story to advocate for early STEM learning. The Frameworks Institute studies how people think about complex socio-political and scientific issues. Her work provides insight into the challenges of communicating about STEM education and the kinds of tools we can use to get our message across. “Making the Case for STEM Learning,” the Frameworks Institute’s free course on communicating more effectively about the importance of high-quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, is available online. This course “gives communicators the tools they need to show the need for expanding innovative, and engaging, hands-on learning that will equip the leaders of tomorrow to face the challenges that await.”

Sessions on STEM education

The discussions continued during Saturday sessions. In “Understanding Change and Growth Over Time,” The Children’s Center at CalTech teachers Olivia Garcia and Gretchen Kammerer answered queries on including children’s questions about death into life cycle explorations. They recommend reading I Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, and the Knuffle Bunny series by Mo Williams. In their exploration of growth their class that year did “a lot of tiny little plantings because they really liked exploring seeds.”

I have been inspired and challenged to deepen my science teaching by the work of Karen Worth and Ingrid Chalufour, using works they co-authored, Worms, Shadows and Whirlpools, and The Young Scientist series. So I was delighted to be able to participate in Worth’s session, “A Look at the Work of Frances and David Hawkins.” We learned about the Hawkins’ approach, “eolithism,” “messing about,” “I, Thou, and It,” and “Teacher as Learner.” The conference theme of ‘Curiosity’ reflects one of the Hawkins’ central tenets, that “children learn most deeply when they are following their natural curiosities.” We experienced learning about various objects in ways that we hope children will, and were joyful, engaged, inspired by curiosity, and we wondered as we discussed the scientific concepts we encountered in our exploration of the objects.

My last session of the conference was the one I presented with Children’s Center at CalTech teacher Evelyn Sussman, “Utilizing Free Resources,” in which we shared how to find free resources online:
Websites such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) (including this Early Years blog) and their state and local affiliates; the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS); public libraries; and the publications from the National Academies Press; and From the reycling bin, such as: Clear plastic egg cartons, Clear plastic bottles, Plastic milk jugs, Yogurt containers and lids, Baby food boxes, Seed catalogues, and Corks, and From nature, such as: Milkweed seeds, Magnolia leaves, Twigs, Acorns, Rocks, Soil, Clay, and Water. I am grateful to Evelyn for stepping up to share her teaching practice in her first-ever presentation.

Exhibit “Hall of Inquiry”

Exhibitors in the “Hall of Inquiry” loaned materials for the Children’s Center at CalTech teachers’ “Model Outdoor Teaching Lab,” a welcoming model space for children to effectively engage in science, engineering, and mathematics learning while using technology.

See you next year?

The joy of teaching and the excitement of discovery and exploration were in the hands and faces of every person at the conference as we listened, learned, collaborated and networked. Yes, see you next year!

The term “wireless” does not so much describe what is, but instead what isn’t. And what isn’t is wires. What’s strange about many wireless technologies is there was never a wired version to begin with so describing the device by an absent feature that never was present in the first place can be confusing to those who grew up in a post-wire world. Imagine if cars were still considered horseless carriages. Another indication of progress is the lack of a capitol letter or hyphen. For example, email officially became a thing when it changed from E-mail to e-mail, and finally to email. And the internet arrived when it no longer was capitalized in common usage. At least that is one perspective on so-called disruptive technologies.

The Celestron Micro-Fi is a highly portable handheld digital microscope/video camera released in 2014 that can magnify subjects up to 80x. Powered by three AA batteries, and carrying onboard lighting in the form of six LEDs surrounding the lens, the Micro-Fi has few limits in the field.

The ergonomics of the Celestron Micro-Fi are excellent and make for a simple effective one-handed user interface. For tripod mounting a 1/4-20 threaded port is included that provides mechanical stability when needed when distance, safety or stealth is desired. The other controls include a illumination adjustment wheel, a focus wheel, a shutter release button, and an on/off switch.

Outdoors, lichen and moss present stunning subjects for the Celestron Micro-Fi. At the microscopic scale, there is no shortage of things at your fingertips to explore, including exploring your own fingertips.

Networking

The Celestron Micro-Fi uses the 802.11x standard of wireless communication to share images and video at 15 frames per second. The 802.11 standard is the one common to wireless network routers. Someday Bluetooth may be able to carry enough information to share video, but for now the wireless of choice is something else. Why this is important is three-fold. First, the 802.11 standard is powerful enough for the lightweight battery-powered unit to send video through the air up to 10 meters and up to two hours. Second, the wireless standard is not exclusive to one pairing. Instead the the Celestron Micro-Fi can have up to three individual computing devices connected at one time. And those devices can be of different operating systems and platforms such as an iPhone, an Android tablet and an iPad.

And third, because the selected network wireless on the device must be the Celestron Micro-Fi, there will be no wi-fi wireless internet connection while using the scope, cellular data connection is unaffected if one is available on the device. However when out in the field where there is no wi-fi network, the Celestron Micro-Fi works great and nothing is missing from the usual experience.

Eat Up!

Using the Celestron Micro-Fi App, (available on iOS and Google Play) the shutter button on the microscope captures an image onto all connected devices. I refer to this as “force feeding.” But also since the imagery is continuously viewable on all connected devices, the user of the tablet or phone can capture pictures at will. So a teacher or group leader using the Celestron Micro-Fi can force chosen images onto the devices ensuring all group members have the same base set of pictures. And the device users can supplement the forced set of images with their own picture choices taken by clicking a button in the App on the device.

Bird feathers at 80x are mesmerizing to explore. The patterns, textures, colors and iridescence is easily captured by the Celestron Micro-Fi. The transparent nose surrounding the lights and lens makes flush-focusing a snap. By literally setting the business-end of the Celestron Micro-Fi onto the subject and a bit of focus if needed, the wow just pours in. Even the youngest can use the Celestron Micro-Fi under basic-use conditions.

Museums and Zoos Everywhere

On one somewhat macabre field trip, I took the Celestron Micro-Fi out for a spin around my truck’s radiator grill. After a busy day driving through insect-rich highways, the grill was a veritable bug collection. Since the Celestron Micro-Fi has no onboard screen, the tablet must be nearby in order to focus the unit. Here is a collection of pictures taken with the Celestron Micro-Fi.

Introduction

By subscribing to STEM Sims, teachers can open-up a kaleidoscope of educational and interactive classroom activities for students. These activities are relevant for teachers who are interested in a research-based approach to investigate STEM content that is aligned with the National NGSS Standards –https://stemsims.com/about/standards/national.pdf.

To begin, the first step is to visit the STEM Sims website, which can be found at the following website –https://stemsims.com. Once there, you will find that STEM Sims maintains over 100 simulations of laboratory experiments and engineering design simulations. Designed with excellent graphics,  these simulations are meticulous in adhering to content and engaging students into meaningful classroom learning scenarios. Moreover, like the best video games, these simulations are challenging and are designed to harness students’ attention. The good news, however, is that the content of these  activities is relevant and standards-based.

After sampling several activities, we found STEM Sims to be an incredibly user-friendly program for both teachers and students. Moreover,  a single subscription gives access for 30 students to participate in the activities. In addition, for students who need remediation, STEM Sims provides students with background information and terminology for each simulation activity.

Another key feature for teachers is that each simulation includes lesson planning (often more than one), a video walkthrough, and an assessment with an answer key. Below are some examples:

Lesson Plan: https://stemsims.com/content/lessons/machines-lesson-1.pdf

Assessment (Answer Key): https://stemsims.com/content/teacher-guides/trench-dive-teacher.pdf

Conclusion

Aligned with the NGSS Standards, STEM Sims provides teachers with a motivational and an exciting approach for the teaching of hundreds of core STEM concepts.  Moreover, with a wide-variety of authentic applications, STEM Sims makes it easy for the lessons to assimilate into various grade-levels and different courses, e.g., biology, chemistry, geology, etc. To substantiate its relevance, STEM Sims includes lesson plans, methods, and assessments for teachers to measure learning outcomes. If you are interested in having students experience these excellent scientific simulations, sign-up for a free trial. Undoubtedly, you will agree that STEM Sims offers students an excellent opportunity for scientific inquiry.

For a free trial, visit https://stemsims.com/account/sign-up

Recommended System Qualifications:

• Operating system: Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.7
• Browser: Chrome 40, Firefox 35, Internet Explorer 11, or Safari 7
• Java 7, Flash Player 13

Single classroom subscription: $169 for a 365-day subscription and includes access for 30 students.

Product Site: https://stemsims.com/

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

The most experienced science teacher is retiring this year at the middle school where I am principal. The other five teachers on the science faculty are early in their teaching careers. What are your thoughts on asking an experienced non-science teacher to mentor the new hire?  —K., VA

When I started as a teacher we did not have a formal mentor program, and the other two science teachers were almost as new as I was. I struggled with an especially challenging group of students until a veteran English teacher took me under her wing and helped me through the first year.

Years later, I was asked to mentor a new Spanish teacher. My knowledge of Spanish is minimal, but the principal noted many issues faced by new teachers transcend specific subjects. Classroom management, relationships with students, dealing with parents, navigating paperwork—all beginning teachers face these challenges. Even though our subjects were different, my mentee and I worked well together, developing a sense of trust and mutual respect.

In addition, perhaps the retiring teacher would be willing to be “on-call” to answer questions or provide advice. The district safety officer can also help with questions related to safe practices and inventories. Encourage your team of young science teachers to form a “support group” to share ideas and experiences.

The onsite mentor can help the new teacher with school culture and local issues and requirements, even though subject areas are different. Remind your new teacher that he/she has hundreds of potential online science mentors in the NSTA listservs and discussion forums. These experienced colleagues can provide just-in-time answers to questions specific to science instruction.

Having an onsite and online team of mentors can help to make the first year less lonely.

Fifty years ago, in 1967, the Tennessee legislature repealed the Butler Act, a 1925 law that made it a misdemeanor for a teacher in the state’s public schools to “teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals” (Larson 2012).

It was the Butler Act under which John Thomas Scopes was prosecuted and convicted in what remains the most iconic event in the litigious

Teacher John Scopes shortly before the 1925 “monkey trial.”

history of evolution education in the United States (Moore and McComas 2016).

Teaching evolution is still contentious
The repeal of the Butler Act notwithstanding, the teaching of evolution is still contentious. Proposals to require the teaching of Biblical creationism, creation “science,” and intelligent design—all billed as scientifically respectable alternatives to evolution—have, in a series of federal court cases, been ruled to be unconstitutional (Branch, Scott, and Rosenau 2010). Evolution’s opponents have thus resorted to calling for teachers to be required or encouraged to misrepresent evolution as scientifically controversial. Such proposals were enacted as laws in Louisiana in 2008 and Tennessee in 2012 (Matzke 2016).

But of course evolution is anything but scientifically controversial. The nation’s premier scientific organizations, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, are on record as describing evolution as the foundation of the biological sciences (NAS 2008; AAAS 2006). Moreover, the consensus is reflected among individual scientists. In a 2014 survey, 98% of scientists—and 99% of active research scientists and working PhD biomedical scientists—accepted that “[h]umans and other living things have evolved over time” (Rainie and Funk 2015).

Recognizing the responsibility of science educators to respect the scientific consensus, the nation’s leading science education organizations endorse the teaching of evolution. The National Science Teachers Association, for example, “strongly supports the position that evolution is a major unifying concept in science and should be emphasized in K–12 science education curricula” (NSTA 2013). And the authors of science standards agree: The Next Generation Science Standards, for example, treat evolution as one of four disciplinary core ideas of the life sciences (NGSS Lead States 2013).

Yet it is regrettably common for teachers to bypass, balance, or belittle evolution. A rigorous national survey of public high school biology teachers conducted in 2007 revealed that only 28% taught evolutionary biology forthrightly, while 13% presented creationism as scientifically credible in their classrooms, and a whopping 60% were “cautious”—teaching evolution, but feeling unable, unwilling, or unprepared to do so in full accordance with the recommendations of scientific and science education experts (Berkman and Plutzer 2011).

Be part of the solution
As a reader of The Science Teacher—and of the February issue focused on evolution—you probably already present evolution to your students as a central, unifying, and established principle of biology. Moreover, you may be likely to keep current on the latest developments in the evolutionary sciences and in effective science pedagogy through professional journals, reliable online resources (such as Understanding Evolution), and in service trainings. So you are not part of the problem. But you can be part of the solution.

You can improve the effectiveness of your own teaching of evolution, by, for example, taking into account the distinctive obstacles to understanding evolution (see, e.g., Kampourakis 2014); taking notice of the history, complexity, and diversity of the reactions of faith traditions in the United States to evolution (see, e.g., Giberson and Yerxa 2002); and taking advantage of the burgeoning literature emphasizing the practical applicability and the human relevance of evolution (see, e.g., Mindell 2006; Pobiner 2012). But you should also look beyond your own classroom.

If any of your colleagues present creationism as scientifically credible in their classrooms, you can gently but firmly remind them of their professional and legal responsibilities as science educators and government employees. If any are among the cautious, you can inspire them to improve their scientific knowledge and pedagogical confidence, enabling them to teach evolution honestly, accurately, and confidently.
(That is also the goal of the National Center for Science Education’s new teacher network, NCSEteach.) And those who already present evolutionary biology forthrightly can help you with those projects.

Finally, you can become a public voice to defend the integrity of science education. In recent years, proposed state science standards have been criticized for their treatment of evolution in Alabama, Kansas, Iowa, Kentucky, and South Carolina, while in 2016 alone, legislative attempts to undermine the teaching of evolution arose in Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. Science educators have commendably resisted these assaults, but it is clear these assaults will continue, or even intensify, in 2017—and so will the imperative to resist them.

If you recognize the need to improve your classroom presentation of evolution, or to support colleagues who may feel unable, unwilling, or unprepared to teach evolution forthrightly, or to defend the teaching of evolution in the public schools, but you simply haven’t found the time to do so yet, remember what Scopes reportedly said—with no great degree of originality but doubtless with plenty of feeling—when Tennessee repealed the Butler Act, 42 years after his conviction: “Better late than never.”

Glenn Branch (branch@ncse.com) is deputy director of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California.

References
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). 2006. Statement on the teaching of evolution. http://bit.ly/AAAS-evolution

Berkman, M.B., and E. Plutzer. 2011. Defeating creationism in the courtroom, but not in the classroom. Science 331: 404–405.

Branch, G., E.C. Scott, and J. Rosenau. 2010. Dispatches from the evolution wars: Shifting tactics and expanding battlefields. Annual Reviews of Genomics and Human Genetics 11: 317–338.

Giberson, K.W., and D.A. Yerxa. 2002. Species of origins: America’s search for a creation story. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Kampourakis, K. 2014. Understanding evolution. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Larson, E.J. 2012. Creationism in the classroom: Cases, statutes, and commentary. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing.

Matzke, N.J. 2016. The evolution of antievolution policies after Kitzmiller v. Dover. Science 351: 28–30.

Mindell, D.P. 2006. The evolving world. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Moore, R., and W.F. McComas. 2016. The Scopes Monkey Trial. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.

National Academy of Sciences (NAS). 2008. Science, evolution, and creationism. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). 2013. NSTA position statement: The teaching of evolution. www.nsta.org/docs/PositionStatement_Evolution.pdf

NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For states, by states. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Pobiner, B.L. 2012. Use human examples to teach evolution. The American Biology Teacher 74 (2): 71–72.

Rainie, L., and C. Funk. 2015. Elaborating on the views of AAAS scientists, issue by issue. http://pewrsr.ch/2gETWcD

Editor’s Note

This article was originally published in the February 2017 issue of The Science Teacher journal from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).

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A Science Ambassador from North Forsyth High School in Cumming, Georgia, uses a tube with a marble inside it as a “roller coaster” to teach an elementary school student about gravity, force, and motion.

For more than 42 years, Manhattan High School in Manhattan, Kansas, has offered the Wide Horizons Nature Program, a science course in which high school students “work with a partner to put together a [30-minute] educational program [and] teach [it] at local elementary [schools] and preschools,” says science teacher Leslie Campbell, who has taught it for five years. Wide Horizons students “report to my classroom to pick up supplies, then drive out to the schools to present. The goal is to do it all within a normal class hour,” Campbell explains.

“It has grown to be two classes per day (36 students enrolled between the two this year). They present 2–3 times per week on their subject,” she reports, adding, “I make sure their science instruction will enhance elementary school classes.”

The course has no set curriculum. In 1974, biology teacher Gary Ward designed it “as a flexible course for juniors and seniors to pursue their [individual] nature study interests,” says retired biology teacher Tish Simpson, who taught Wide Horizons from 1994 to 2011. Prerequisites include teacher recommendation, science interest, commitment to a year-long class, good character, reliability, and responsibility—“not necessarily their academic performance,” she notes. Students need to have completed required lab science credits or “be taking them simultaneously” because Wide Horizons is an elective, she adds. They also need to have “some form of transportation to the elementary schools.”

Campbell also relies on student recommendations because peers typically are knowledgeable about students’ attitudes and social skills when “dealing with younger students, teachers, and administrators,” she relates. After checking with guidance counselors and other teachers, she issues invitations to students interested in taking the course.

Students choose presentation topics based on their interests, with the caveat that the topic must be interesting to elementary students. Many use live animals as props in their presentations. “The animals are used as examples; [one] example this year is how geckos are adapted for their environment. The presentation is about conditions in different biomes; the team presents information on different geckos, and then brings out their own to demonstrate,” says Campbell.

Sometimes the animal “is a personal pet, but [students] have purchased their own or even borrowed [them] from friends. The chinchillas in the program this year were adopted by one of my students,” she notes.

“Once a team has been assigned to an animal, they are in charge of [its] care,” including taking animals home on long weekends and holidays, says Campbell. She adheres to Kansas guidelines on animals in the classroom when instructing her students.

“The first thing that each team has to do is to learn as much as they can about their animal, about how it lives in the wild and how to take care of it as a pet. The last thing students share in their presentations is all about having the animal as a pet: the cost and care involved and being a responsible pet owner,” Campbell explains.

“We go over what to do if [elementary] students are scared or hesitant about the animal. We have never had a student so scared that [he or she] cannot be in the same room, but we have had some [who] don’t want the animal near them. If that is the case, my students station themselves at the opposite side of the room with the animal and the [elementary students] come to them…The animal is in a carrier and out of sight until the end of the presentation,” says Campbell, and some animals are not removed from their carriers.

“I have only had one student [who] had to change to another class because [of the animals] in my classroom…I have had [Wide Horizons] students [who had] allergies (to the rabbit, for example), but they are fine as long as there is no contact. At the elementary schools,…[teachers] choose which presentations they want and will not book ones [involving animals students are allergic to],” she explains.

Simpson notes that Wide Horizons teachers “are insured under the school system’s policy” in case of any mishaps.

“I have had [staff] from the local zoo come to our class and share how they handle animal demonstrations. We also share stories from previous students. At the end of the school year, the teams write reflections that are useful for instructing the next year’s teams,” says Campbell. Students are graded based on elementary teachers’ rubrics and feedback, as well as on their final project for the class.

Wide Horizons began with a live animal focus, but during her tenure, Simpson needed to change the course to help elementary teachers meet “state science standards and benchmarks” and No Child Left Behind mandates, she explains. These changes included encouraging students “to research any literature involving their topic” and suggesting the younger students read it and presenting on other topics in biology and on chemistry, physics, and Earth science topics, she relates, adding, “To a little third-grade girl, seeing an older girl do chemistry and physics makes her think, ‘I can do that, too.’”

The high school students “grow so much in their presentation skills and confidence,” says Campbell, and “it’s not uncommon for them to go into teaching.”

Science Ambassadors

In Cumming, Georgia, Coal Mountain Elementary School and North Forsyth High School are partnering to stage Family Science and Engineering Nights at local elementary schools. The high school students serve as Science Ambassadors and hold family nights at 4–6 area schools annually. “We are now in [our] fourth year,” says Denise Webb, K–5 science and engineering teacher at Coal Mountain, who started the program with Donna Governor, a former North Forsyth science teacher (now assistant professor of science at University of North Georgia), and current co-facilitator and North Forsyth science teacher Charlotte Stevens.

Funding for Science Ambassadors comes from local business partners, and “we charge a small fee for supplies to the elementary schools, which [parent-teacher organizations] help pay,” she notes. “We wanted to make [the program] free to the elementary students and their families.”

Science Ambassadors’ mission “is for all [preK–5 students] and their families to engage in science and engineering activities that have real-world connections to develop [skills in]critical-thinking and problem-solving. Our goal is to inspire more students with the confidence to pursue careers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields,” Webb explains. The elementary schools “are rural schools and need exposure to possible future careers that [students]otherwise may not be aware of…This program [also] provides high school role models of varied ethnicity and genders for the elementary students,” she points out.

“A second goal is for the [Science Ambassadors] to gain leadership skills and [develop] confidence in the science and engineering [skills] that can lead to careers in STEM,” she adds.

The Science Ambassador program is open to all North Forsyth High School students. “We have [advanced placement] students, special-needs students, and those who have no other niche and need service hours” among the Ambassadors, she reports. Candidates must have passing grades in their classes, a recommendation from a teacher, and no discipline referrals.

Those chosen for the program create science and engineering activities for stations they will run for elementary students on family nights. “I work with them on questioning skills and understanding the engineering design process,” Webb explains. “I give them science activities that match elementary standards.” Safety precautions are thoroughly covered in the practice sessions, she emphasizes.

Ambassadors must provide a list of supplies they will need for the next family night. “They have to follow through and learn to be prepared and thorough,” Webb maintains. She and Stevens take the Ambassadors to the elementary schools, but Ambassadors “are responsible for cleanup and a ride home,” she explains.

They also “design a brochure that explains all the science and engineering activities that were offered, steps to repeat them at home, and the science or engineering practices connected with the activity,” she relates. Local businesses can buy ads in the brochure.

The program reached more than 2,000 people last year because “students from other grade levels and schools” accompanied their families to the events, says Webb.

As a result of their efforts, “the Science Ambassadors have gained confidence in themselves. They have learned leadership skills, and their teachers [say] that…they are more engaged and motivated in their classes,” she reports. Representatives from the business partners have noted the Ambassadors’ prowess in “21st-century workforce skills like teamwork and communication,” she adds.

“Parents have told us that they are surprised at how well their elementary- aged child did in the science and engineering activities and plan to continue to look for ways to encourage them in STEM. They also commented on the professionalism and patience the high students showed their families. These are great qualities [Ambassadors] will [have] as they enter the workforce. [Parents] all overwhelmingly want us to come back again,” says Webb.

“We are helping other schools in our county start their own elementary/high school partnerships with similar programs because we cannot take on any more schools, and many more want to participate. We have also presented this program during [state and national education conferences] to assist others in getting this partnership started in their own districts,” she relates.

Science After School

KAST students from Annandale High School in Annandale, Virginia, teach elementary school students about aerodynamics using a paper plane demonstration.

“Youth teaching youth is [what’s special about] our organization,” says Jessica Yang, founder and chair of Kids Are Scientists Too (KAST; see http://kidsarescientiststoo.org), a nonprofit program in which high school and college students offer free hands-on science programming after school to elementary schools in Illinois, Washington, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Utah, and Ontario, Canada.Yang founded KAST because as high school students, she and CEO Jessica Sun wanted to “offer an enrichment program to make science learning experiences even better for students,” Yang explains.

Yang learned how through a year-long fellowship at LearnServe International, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that helps high school students start social change programs. She received a $1,000 grant to start the business with support from LearnServe and Youth Venture. She also won $500 in a George Washington University business pitch competition. With these resources, Yang founded KAST Maryland in 2010. Sun established KAST Virginia soon afterward.

Yang, Sun, and other KAST volunteers created a series of one-hour lesson plans for fourth and fifth graders featuring “fun, interactive activities to get students excited about science,” says Sun. They used their “unique perspective as high school and college students,” their “studies in science in college,” and their “experiences working with kids” to create seven units with more than 60 lesson plans on various science topics, she relates.

The lessons were inspired by elementary and middle school curricula and “science experiments we’ve done in the past,” says Yang. During KAST’s pilot phase, “we received feedback from teachers [that] helped us ensure their quality.”

Since KAST volunteers usually teach students with a classroom teacher present, safety is ensured. “We have one KAST volunteer for every five elementary students, which helps us maintain a safe learning environment,” say Yang and Sun. KAST alumni—those who have graduated high school—serve as mentors to high school or college students who are new to the program.

Typically, “a high school student or teacher will reach out, and we’ll meet with [him or her] and [provide] all the materials needed to connect with schools and start a KAST program,” they explain. “We wanted the program to be free of charge to make it accessible to students from low-income families.”

In return for their service, KAST volunteers gain experience in leadership, organizing, recruiting, and public speaking, along with the satisfaction of “giving back to their community,” they conclude. “It is inspiring to see…some of the younger students [become] excited about science.”

This article originally appeared in the February 2017 issue of NSTA Reports, the member newspaper of the National Science Teachers Association. Each month, NSTA members receive NSTA Reports, featuring news on science education, the association, and more. Not a member? Learn how NSTA can help you become the best science teacher you can be.

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