When Rogue One: A Star Wars Story debuts next month, science teachers who use the Star Wars films in their classrooms will have another tool not just for teaching science, but also for integrating it with other subjects. The films “are a great place to integrate science and the arts,” says Jacob Clark Blickenstaff, NSTA’s media reviewer and Director of K–12 Engagement at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. “If teachers are worried about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) leaving out the arts, [the films] are a great place to make that connection.”

John Derian uses Star Wars films in his Living Environment and Physical Science class at The Brooklyn International High School in New York City. Here students are doing a peer tutoring activity about protein synthesis using magnetic nucleotides to build DNA and mRNA. (photo by John Derian)

John Derian, who teaches ninth- and 10th-grade Living Environment and Physical Science to newly arrived immigrants at The Brooklyn International High School in New York City, uses the first three Star Wars films to do just that. After learning sculpting from an art teacher, he incorporated it in a Star Wars project-based unit he created for a school-wide interdisciplinary portfolio project with the theme “Adaptation”: something young immigrants can readily relate to.

Working in groups, “students design and sculpt an alien animal adapted to a specific Star Wars planet and identify its unique sequence of DNA by investigating ecology of different ecosystems, animal adaptations, and protein synthesis,” Derian explains. 
“Students model their animals around real animals and adaptations…We look at animal skeletons” to prepare them to create their alien animal’s framework, he relates. Students “look at the Star Wars animals with a critical eye [and ask the] big questions, such as, ‘Did [George] Lucas consider adaptations when he created [those animals]?’”

In addition to completing written assignments, students create time-lapse videos showing the creation of their alien animal. Derian says he asks students to do this “to be more cognizant of the design process in the moment. Additionally, the requirements for the final fully edited time-lapse video require students to reflect on the design process and how they collaborated together.”

Because the protein synthesis of real animals involves sequences of 50 to 1,000 amino acids, Derian does short sequences with the alien animals instead. “I’ve never had students more enthusiastic about learning protein synthesis,” he asserts. Using their Star Wars animal “makes [it] more purposeful.”

“Darth Maker”—a.k.a. Dave Marriott, makerspace lab facilitator at Stateside Elementary School in Jacksonville, North Carolina—incorporates Star Wars in subjects like robotics to provide students with authentic experiences for applying science and math. “I show students the clip from Episode IV [in which] Luke is buying droids. [Then I ask,] ‘What is their purpose?’” says Marriott.

“We’ll have a discussion: Could we have a lightsaber or autonomous droids? Or I’ll show the clip from Episode II with C-3PO, a droid, making other droids. Then I’ll show a video of robots building cars, assembly-line robots, so [students] can see how they’re used in society,” he relates. 

“Kids want to build what they see,” Marriott contends. When they build robots, they “see where science fiction turns into reality, even if their robot
looks more C-3PO than I’d like.” 

May the Force Game With You

Amy Alexander, science teacher at Angola High School in Angola, Indiana, uses Star Wars to teach evolution and created an activity with a gaming element. “[S]tudents [read] a page from Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Alien Species, which describes the characteristics of dianogas, the slithering, one-eyed creatures who live in the garbage chutes of spaceships. I show students the clip from Episode IV [in which] Han, Luke, Leia, and Chewie escape down the chute, and Luke gets pulled under by the dianoga.”

Next, “students roll dice to determine how the next generation of dianoga will evolve. They then get to decide the path of evolution, and roll a die to determine what type of environmental change will occur. They then make a determination as to whether the new trait will be beneficial in this new environment or not.

“They go through this cycle 4–5 times and draw their final dianoga in its new environment. This really gives students a chance to be super creative,” she contends.

Megan Menker, middle division teacher at Marburn Academy in Columbus, Ohio, incorporated Star Wars in her grades 7–8 physics unit to teach about forces, vector diagrams, and net force. In one game-like activity, she gave each student a paper lightsaber with an amount of Newtons specified on it. “They took their lightsabers up to the blackboard for a duel and drew vector diagrams demonstrating the force of their lightsabers,” she relates. “They then determined who is stronger by subtracting the difference between the forces to find the net force.”

Then as a class, “we combined forces to overcome Darth Maul, and drew vector diagrams to represent that. By themselves, each Jedi was not strong enough…The students realized they had to combine forces to beat Darth Maul,” she points out.

Attacking Science Flaws

Some educators have their students explore the films’ scientific inaccuracies. In her sound unit for preservice teachers, Mary Lamar, science manager and chemistry lecturer at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, has students “write a letter to George Lucas to explain why they would not hear the Death Star explosion in space if they were [in] X-Wing fighter[s] with their back[s] to the Death Star and the communications system [was] down.”

After her eighth graders complete a unit on force, energy, and motion, Rebecca Kern, Year 2 and 3 Integrated Science Educator at Channing Hall International Baccalaureate World School in Draper, Utah, shows her students a Star Wars film. “While viewing [it], students take notes about all of the ‘misuses’ of physics” in it, she notes. When the film ends, “students immediately start writing an argumentative essay that includes topics such as Newton’s Laws of Motion, lightsabers, sound in space, jet engines, and explosions in space. I also give the students links to supplemental materials, such as Discovery Channel’s MythBusters episodes on Star Wars…, that they can use as evidence to back up their claims” in the essay, Kern explains.

Theresa Jones, science teacher at Hackensack Middle School in Hackensack, New Jersey, shows her fifth graders Episode IV. They then “brainstorm all the science fiction in the film” and create a list of topics for a research paper, says Jones. Their papers include “what the real-world equivalent technology/invention would be”and “the scientific principles involved in making it a reality,” as well as the benefits and negative effects of it, she relates.

“Kids typically like doing the research paper because they really want to know if these crazy things just might be possible,” Jones contends. 

This article originally appeared in the November 2016 issue of NSTA Reports, the member newspaper of the National Science Teachers Association. Each month, NSTA members receive NSTA Reports, featuring news on science education, the association, and more. Not a member? Learn how NSTA can help you become the best science teacher you can be.

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

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Flying across the country to the conference for the National Association for the Education of Young Children brought many different landscapes into view through the plane window. I saw ridges, meandering rivers and river-carved canyons, heavily wooded areas, hills, mirror-like lakes, flat regions that went on and on, and sharp snow covered peaks. Human impact on the land appeared as long straight and curved lines, circles, crazy quilt patches, and structures of many shapes including skyscrapers, railway lines, wind turbines, flat roofs, single structures and clusters of structures. The sky changed from clear to cloudy.

How can we help preschool children explore how the landscape and natural resources affect how their community’s infrastructure develops? Should we? National Council for the Social Studies describes the benefits of learning about geography: “Geographic inquiry helps people understand and appreciate their own place in the world, and fosters curiosity about Earth’s wide diversity of environments and cultures” (NCSS, pg 40). How can preschool educators provide experiences that will later help children think about the landscape and ask questions to learn more to be able to make informed choices as adults?

We can begin with becoming very familiar with the area around our own school or home, talking about its slopes, vegetation, and structures. Help children take an inventory of the natural features of their play area counting how many: trees or other plants, rocky areas, puddles, grass lawns, mulched areas, steep slopes and gentle inclines, and other elements. An inventory can include human structures such as fences, tables, and climbing structures. As they count and record how many, children can sort the features into groups, natural or human-made. Ask children what elements they would add, if possible.

Walking field trips to the field or building next door will reveal additional features–the spot with the most grasshoppers or a ditch with cat tail plants to pick for their fuzzy heads, and buildings made of stone containing fossils or windows with a glimpse into a store. Children’s reasons for valuing a particular location may differ from adults’ reasons. A walking field trip can incorporate a mapping experience (Ashbrook). As children grow older the walks can go further, expanding children’s understanding of their place. 

Ashbrook, Peggy. 2011. The Early Years: A Sense of Space. Science and Children. 49 (1): 30-31

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013).

At the beginning of class, it takes my students a long time to settle down. We are wasting time as I try to get their attention. Any suggestions? –T., Maryland                                  

To take advantage of the class time we have, it helps to have an established routine so students know what to do when they come into the classroom.

One method I found effective was posting an agenda. When the students entered the lab, they saw what the learning goals were, what activities they were going to work on in class, what needed to be turned in, and what materials they needed (pencil, science notebook, paper, and so on). As they assembled these materials and put their other things away, they still had a little time to socialize, which is important to middle schoolers. When we started the lesson or lab investigation, they had their materials in order.

Another suggestion is to have a warm-up or bellringer activity. Students should get started right away, even before the bell actually rings. The students are focused while you take attendance, distribute materials, or return assignments. Some examples include

• Answer a question about yesterday’s work or another related topic
• Respond to a statement or visual to uncover misconceptions or activate prior knowledge
• Complete a vocabulary entry with a graphic organizer
• Do a “quick write” with several sentences on a theme or topic
• Do a “quick draw” on a theme or topic

You can tell the students to quiet down over and over every day. Or you can help students take responsibility for using time purposefully through guidance and modeling (and persistence).

When I was student teaching, I had some really good science lessons for second-graders that lasted about an hour. But now I have only a half-hour for science each day. I need suggestions for shorter lessons. – C., Colorado

I’m glad to hear that your school schedules science daily. In many elementary schools, science and social studies have been deemphasized, in favor of reading and math.

• If your schedule is flexible enough, “borrow” time from another subject to complete the activity, making up the time later.
• Divide the activity into several parts, perhaps making observations or collecting data one day and doing the analysis or summarization later. (You may have to include time to review on the second day)
• Use time during writing instruction for students to summarize the lesson in their science notebooks.
• Use nonfiction books on the topic during reading instruction, read-alouds, or personal reading to provide background prior to or after the science lesson.

Each month, NSTA’s Science & Children publishes features to help educators craft additional age-appropriate lessons:

• Teaching with Trade Books explores a concept with recommended books and lessons. For example, the September 2016 topic is “What We Do With Ideas.”
• The Early Years features easy-to-use ideas for developing student interest and curiosity. The July 2016 topic is “Discovering Through Deconstruction.”
• Articles related to the monthly theme include lesson plans, connections to the Next Generation Science Standards, and related materials.

Even at the secondary level, the class period is often not long enough to complete an investigation or activity. And I’ve never heard science teachers say they had too much time!

Photo:    https://www.flickr.com/photos/cgc/7080721/sizes/q/

This December, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “Tackling Scientific Problems and Pitching Engineering Solutions” at our 2016 Area Conference on Science Education, in Columbus, Ohio, December 3-5. We need this strand, because the challenges facing society are both complex and interdisciplinary. Issues like water availability/quality, climate change, renewable energies, food shortages, the need for improved transportation/city infrastructure, and issues in the biomedical realm require clearly defining problems that can be solved through design. Students address these issues by implementing the practices of scientists and engineers, including developing explanations, designing and building models, and creating solutions. Students must be able to link the domains of science and teachers must teach students in a learnable manner that reaches multiple grade levels, increasing in depth and sophistication.

The featured presentation for this strand will be “Sowing the Seeds of STEM,” on Friday, December 2, from 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, B130. Presenter Kimberly Clavin (Pillar Technology: Columbus, OH) tells us that today’s world delivers advanced technologies at lightning speeds—and with that comes an exponential growth in STEM fields. How can educators prepare middle school and high school students without a background in the emerging fields? Learn various strategies to attract and grow a diverse range of students into these in-demand career fields.

Below is a small sampling of other sessions on this topic:

• Human-Centered Engineering Design: The Key to STEM
• Developing Scientific Arguments: Claims and Stories in the Graphs
• Learning Ecosystem Management with NGSS: Developing Solutions to Invasive Species Using Science and Engineering Practices
• EiE Ohio: Building 21st-Century STEAM Learners
• Impactful Learning: Engineering to Serve Special Needs Students—The Win-Win Scenario
• Teaching Engineering in Grades K–3

Want more? Browse the program preview, or check out more sessions and other events with the Columbus Session Browser/Personal Scheduler. Follow all our conference tweets using #NSTA16, and if you tweet, please feel free to tag us @NSTA so we see it!

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

Future NSTA Conferences

• Portland, November 10–12
• Columbus, December 1–3

2017 National Conference

• Los Angeles, March 30–April 2

2017 STEM Forum & Expo

• Orlando/Kissimmee, July 12–14

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