As head of the middle level division at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), one of my goals is to communicate more with middle level science teachers. So, we’re launching a blog, which I hope will enable even more grade 5-8 teachers to contribute to and learn from NSTA. The refined focus at this level will provide an additional opportunity for middle level teachers to share ideas and gain insights from their teaching counterparts. I invite all middle level teachers of science to read, share, contribute ideas, ask questions, and otherwise help us create a greater identity in NSTA while enhancing teacher voice at the middle school level.

Who Are We?

I’d like to start by introducing the members of NSTA’s Committee on Middle Level Science Teaching:

• Kenneth L. Huff, Chairperson and Director
• Justin Brosnahan
• Melanie Canaday
• Zoe Evans
• Fran Hess
• John Milam
• Elizabeth Orlandi
• Mary Patterson
• Kitchka Petrova
• Tiauna Washington
• Michael Bowen, District XVIII Director, Council Liaison
• Diana Cost, NMLSTA Affiliate Representative
• Inez Fugate Liftig, Field Editor, Science Scope

Two members serving on the NSTA Committee on Middle Level Science Teaching are featured below.

Mary Patterson, a 2014-2015 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, 2014-2015 PBS Digital Innovator, and 2009 NOAA Teacher at Sea, has over 30 years of classroom teaching experience at both the elementary and middle school levels. Currently, she is the Campus Content Instructional Specialist for Science, Grades 6 through 8, at Hopper Middle School in Cypress Fairbanks ISD in Cypress, Texas.

For students to become interested in STEM careers, Patterson strongly feels that early career awareness and positive role models are critical. In 2011, a Fund for Teachers grant enabled Patterson to travel to Taiwan and the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy to investigate robotics and emerging technological advances. In 2009, Patterson was a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Teacher at Sea. She spent nearly a month on a research ship doing hydrographic surveys in the Pavlov Islands in the Aleutian Island chain in Alaska. In 2006, another Fund for Teacher grant took Patterson half-way around the world to Australia and New Zealand to explore the natural history, ecosystems, and geology of the areas. “Each of these experiences greatly impacted my teaching. I was able to bring back real-world, hands on activities that modeled numerous STEM careers for my students and my students saw me as a scientist. Students said they never knew there were so many different jobs on a ship and now they could see themselves doing science as a career.”

Fran Hess (a National Board Certified Teacher, past Science Teachers Association of New York State president, former NSTA District IV Director, and Earth Science textbook author) has many years of classroom teaching experience at both the middle and high school levels. Currently, she provides professional development opportunities and mentors teachers across the United States.

Hess says, “Middle school students, while they can be the most vibrant and challenging, are also the most rewarding students to teach. Teachers need to support and challenge them to strive in the sciences beyond what they may consider are their limits and capabilities. One way teachers can do this is for teachers to take advantages of opportunities to travel, bringing students with them through a variety of mechanisms including through the use of the latest technology, to places they may never have the opportunity to experience otherwise. Show them the world as you help them understand their importance in the global environment so that each one of them can envision themselves as a vibrant part of planet Earth, able to make a difference in the world in which they live.”

Join Us!

If you are a member of NSTA, I invite you to apply to serve on the Committee for Middle Level Science Teaching. Join us as we seek to share and collaborate on promising ideas elevating teacher voice and teacher leadership at the middle level.

To apply to serve on our middle level committee or another NSTA advisory board or panel, please visit: http://www.nsta.org/about/governance/advisoryboards.aspx. The application deadline is December 1, 2015.

Kenneth L. Huff serves on the NSTA Board of Directors as the Division Director for Middle Level Science Teaching. He is a science and math teacher in Williamsville Central School District, Williamsville, New York.

Get more involved with NSTA! Join today and receive Science Scope, the peer-reviewed journal just for middle school teachers; connect on the middle level science teaching list (members can sign up on the list server); or consider joining your peers for Meet Me in the Middle Day (MMITM) at the National Conference on Science Education in Nashville this spring (sign up to present at MMITM here).

Volunteers for eCYBERMISSION [a web-based Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) competition for 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grade teams] play an integral part in supporting and helping to build students’ interest STEM. During the past competition year, team “Power Up” (a 9th-grade team from Jenks, Oklahoma) sought to use the kinetic energy captured through gears, turned by revolving doors in high traffic areas, to power LED lights. Their national winning project was an innovative way to address the alternative energy solution of crowd harvesting and yield costs savings for their community.

Volunteers Spark Innovation

Working with the eCYBERMISSION teams that create these innovative project are volunteers who spark the teams’ engines and encourage them to explore STEM. Who are these volunteers? People like Army Sergeant Robert Hollins, who serves as a power station mechanic stationed in Hawaii. As a mechanic, Sgt. Hollins maintains the engines that produce large amounts of power for various applications—running lights for buildings, air conditioning, and water pumps.

When Sgt. Hollins is not working, he volunteers as an eCYBERMISSION Virtual Judge and CyberGuide. When he first started volunteering, he served as a Virtual Judge for two years while on post as a medical laboratory specialist conducting bio-research.

“As a Virtual Judge, I often times saw the pitfalls some of the teams were going through and I wondered how teams could be steered toward putting out more insightful project results,” said Sgt. Hollins. “This is what led me to become a CyberGuide, where I could actually interact with the teams and provide insightful answers to a variety of questions. Being a CyberGuide allowed me to assist teams with crafting a better report for their Mission Folder.”

“I know people do this for a particular benefit, but I do it because I have a love for science and learning,” said Sgt. Hollins. “I see eCYBERMISSION as a development tool for kids to use their minds and to see that spark of light shine while building interest in STEM.”

Army Sergeant Robert Hollins serves as a power station mechanic in Hawaii. When he’s not working with students online, he takes his love of science outdoors, biking and taking in the sites of Hawaii. The beautiful climate, water, and land make every moment enjoyable for day-to-day adventures, including snorkeling and hiking.

How can you get involved with eCYBERMISSION?
Visit the eCYBERMISSION website; contact communications coordinator Dimetrius Simon; like us on Facebook; or follow us on Twitter or Instagram!

I’m taking a job with a preschool program. I’m concerned about how to incorporate science lessons with children who have had no experience with science. Any suggestions or advice would be welcome.  —C., Virginia

Thank you for taking on the awesome responsibility of working with young children! I think you’ll find that even though they may not have had formal science classes, they have many informal behaviors and experiences that lend themselves to learning and doing science: asking questions, observing and exploring their surroundings, drawing, learning new words, making new “discoveries,” being creative with materials, and using their imaginations. Many children may have visited parks and nature centers or participated in outdoor activities with their families.

The Framework for K-12 Education has a section, “Children Are Born Investigators,” describing the capabilities of young children:

In fact, the capacity of young children—from all backgrounds and socioeconomic levels— to reason in sophisticated ways is much greater than has long been assumed. Although they may lack deep knowledge and extensive experience, they often engage in a wide range of subtle and complex reasoning about the world. Thus, before they even enter school, children have developed their own ideas about the physical, biological, and social worlds and how they work. By listening to and taking these ideas seriously, educators can build on what children already know. (p.24)

Their curiosity and thought processes are interesting to observe. For example, I was at a supermarket seafood counter when a toddler sitting in a cart suddenly squealed, “Spider! Spider!” We all looked around, and her mother reassured her that there weren’t any spiders nearby. The girl pointed to silhouettes on the wall behind the counter depicting a crab and a lobster. I was impressed that she made the connection between spiders and these other arthropods. Her mother did not correct her but identified them as crabs and lobsters and said that spiders and insects were indeed related to them. She expanded the child’s knowledge and validated her observation.

Preschool activities should capitalize on young children’s experiences . It has been said that “Play is the business of childhood” and from what I’ve observed what may look like “play” in a classroom is actually the learning process at work—something that we often forget with older students! Your school program probably includes many play experiences that can be a foundation for science learning:

• Exploring living things with classroom pets, an aquarium, or windowsill plants
• Recording daily weather observations and looking for patterns
• Collecting and organizing objects such as rocks, seashells, leaves
• Investigating objects with magnifying glasses
• Playing games that include sorting and counting objects
• Building with blocks
• Solving problems through trial and error
• Making objects with clay
• Observing with the senses and using hand lenses or cameras to gain different perspectives
• Keeping a “journal” of drawings
• Using outdoor space for bird or insect watching, collecting, gardening

While you observe children at play, talk to them: What is happening here? What would happen if…. Tell me about your drawing. Does that remind you of anything? A think-aloud of your own thought processes can encourage children to make connections.

You can also integrate science into other activities. Introduce appropriate words to describe or explain things. Have picture books available on high-interest topics such as animals, rocks, machines, dinosaurs, plants, and weather. Include nonfiction in read-alouds. (See NSTA Recommends or check with a librarian for suggestions.) And be sure that your displays and conversations are scientifically accurate (I cringed when I saw a bulletin board with polar bears and penguins frolicking together in the snow.)

If you’re looking for activities with a focus on specific concepts, see Peggy Ashbrook’s “The Early Years” column in NSTA’s Science and Children journal. Each issue has a different lesson with background information, suggestions for using the activity with children, and a photograph of students in action. For example, the March 2015 issue includes “Getting Messy With Matter.”  Her NSTA blog The Early Years also has helpful ideas.

Take a look at the NSTA Position Statement on Early Childhood Science Education for suggestions on supporting science learning in young children.

Although I have a secondary science background, I’ve learned from my own experiences that young children’s interest in the world around them should not be underestimated! I wonder what happens to their creativity, curiosity, and enthusiasm as they get to the upper grades?

No Child Left Behind is closer to becoming history.

Earlier this week House and Senate education leaders announced they had come to an agreement on the major differences between the House-passed (H.R. 5) and Senate-passed (S.1177) bills to reauthorize No Child Left Behind and quickly named conference committee members. A three-page summary of the Framework agreed to by the top four education leaders in Congress (Reps. John Kline, R-Minn.; Bobby Scott, D-Va.; and Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; and Patty Murray, D-Wash.) was released at the start of the conference and guided the discussion that started yesterday afternoon.

Earlier today (November 19), the conference committee voted 39 to 1 to approve the Framework (as amended). The text of the new bill is expected to be out on Monday, November 30. Chairman Kline indicated he hopes the bill will go to the House floor for a final up or down vote either on December 2 or 3.

What’s in the Framework for STEM?

Much more information will be available next week when actual language is available. But from the Framework document it appears that science tests will continue and must be given three times between grades 3 and 12. Annual, statewide assessments in reading and math in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school will continue.

Title II continues to provide substantial support for teacher professional development, induction programs, and recruitment. It eliminates the federal mandates for teacher evaluations. A change in funding formula will allow states with a higher number of low income students to receive funding.

The Math and Science Partnership program, along with a number of smaller, targeted programs, was streamlined into a massive Title IV block grant. Districts will be able to choose from a number of allowable uses, including implementation of key STEM activities.

Replacing the MSP program under Title II of the law is a provision reserving funding for the Secretary to award grants to State educational agencies to enable them to support the development of State­ wide STEM master teacher corps and to develop and implement state-wide STEM teacher professional development.

Other Issues in the Framework

• Accountability: Continues annual, statewide assessments in reading and math in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. Science tests will continue and must be given three times between grades 3 and 12. Eliminates “adequate yearly progress” federal accountability system and allows states to develop their own system to identify and support struggling schools. States can measure school performance using multiple measures. They are required to improve student learning in the state’s lowest performing 5 percent of schools. The Framework maintains the annual reporting of data disaggregated by subgroups of children and establishes a state-level participation cap of 1 percent of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who can take the alternate assessment.
• Standards: States are able to choose their standards in reading and math without interference from Washington. The federal government may not mandate or incentivize states to adopt or maintain any particular set of standards, including Common Core.
• Low Performing Schools: States are responsible for identifying and providing support for improvement in struggling schools. The federal government is prohibited from interfering in state and local decisions regarding accountability and school improvement activities.
• Grants to States and Districts. Authorizes a new Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant program that would allow states and school districts to determine how they will spend funding based on local needs and priorities.
• Authorizes Preschool Development Grants program and continues Charter Schools.

Read more in this Ed Week blog and in this press release on today’s conference meeting. Here is some information on how a bill becomes a law.

Jodi Peterson is Assistant Executive Director of Legislative Affairs for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Chair of the STEM Education Coalition. e-mail Jodi at jpeterson@nsta.org; follow her on Twitter at @stemedadvocate.

The iPad Pro is, at its core, a larger iPad. Larger screen. Larger speakers (four of them), larger keyboard, larger processor, and larger resolution. But so what? Well, I guess it depends on whether or not you believe in magic!

Not just life-size but larger than life. Running anatomy apps like Ess. Skeleton 4 is truly exciting and throughly engaging!

I’ve been with the iPad since the first one back in spring of 2010. The original screen was the perfect size for what it did well. But too big for some things, and too small for others. The iPad Mini does mini iPad stuff very well. But still it was too big for some jobs, and plenty too small for others.

Understanding the size of an iPad is based on two things. First, let the tablet do what it does well, and second, don’t use the tablet for things it doesn’t do well. So enter the iPad Pro, the bigger, faster, louder, smarter younger brother.

Leica’s SlidePath app is a database of exceptionally clear and detailed microscope slide images. The massive real estate of the iPad Pro is amplified by the ultra-high resolution of its Retna Display.

In the few days I’ve had my hands on an iPad Pro, I learned much about what a larger touch screen offers to a teacher, to students, and to the running of a class.

The beauty of the iPad Pro easily outshines the utility of a textbook-sized screen. Using a projection system via AppleTV shares screens, but the resolution of the iPad Pro can be more advantageous than a huge but lower resolution projection. Some apps like Leica’s SlidePath, or the 3D 4 Medical apps including Essential Skeleton and Essential Muscle. Anatomy apps are particularly effective on a large touchscreen especially when the object under study is full size.

Although the iPad Pro is large measuring 30.5cm x 22cm, its weight is actually about five grams less than my first generation iPad. The Pro is also half as thick. But no matter what, the iPad Pro is a two-handed device when held. The Pro has a 12.9 inch screen that Apple refers to as a retina screen.

Comparing screen sizes, the iPad Pro is large to giant. Pictured are the Pro, the iPad, the iPad Mini, and the iPod Touch. All sizes have their place and strengths.

Sensor apps become a truly collaborative effort with the iPad Pro. The large screen and magical touch interface makes manipulation of captured and graphed data a joy to explore. Apps including Vernier’s Graphical and Pasco’s SparkVue HD, while not formally optimized for the iPad Pro’s screen resolution, do offer a significantly more immersive environment. 

While the iPad Mini and iPhone makes for a highly convenient and mobile data collection platform, and the original iPad size makes an excellent individual interface for data collection, the iPad Pro brings to life the obvious visual components while offering up nuances that would go unnoticed or inexperienced in a smaller frame. It is like the difference between consuming media on a laptop compared to a large-screen HD television. Or television compared to movie theater. Well, maybe not quite that big, but it’s definitely a different experience.

As Apps are optimized for the iPad Pro, and others are invented specifically for it, there will be an expansion into uncharted teaching and learning territory. With each new space (with “space” denoting a new size, form factor, or interface) we discover more about education. One area that has struggled to gain wide traction is with digital textbooks. The iPad Pro just might be the breakthrough needed to push the digital textbook platform into widespread use. The size of the Pro is more friendly to new digital text users because it does not require either squinting at the screen or manipulating the pages in an entirely new way that distracts from the traditional cognitive tempo and smoother workflow that paper books offer readers.

And while discussing books, the iPad Pro is large enough to hold up in front of a class of students without just going through the motions of sharing. You can actually present images by waving the iPad Pro around the class. I imagine a preschool teacher loving the Pro because it has a similar screen real estate as many children’s books that are read during circle time. And the bright backlit screen would make the viewing the pictures more lively and rich as the colors and artist’s details jump off the “page.”

Another size comparision.

There is plenty more to explore with the iPad Pro in science education, but since the Pro is less than a week old, I’ll be visiting this topic again. The iPad Pro has many new features like a slo-mo video option (aka: High Speed) as well as better light sensors. The touchscreen seems to have some hidden advantages that will be exploited further with the Apple Pencil. And the offering the growing potential of multitasking allows a more fluid (but not perfect in my opinion) solution for combining the power of Apps. The boomy and loud speakers makes the Pro an obvious choice for small to medium sized group work and communication. The onscreen keyboard mimics a laptop  keyboard and has additional buttons and features to make the iPad Pro a worthy word processor.

The A9X chip running the show behind the scenes of the iPad Pro is noticeably faster than previous iPads. Not that we are all making movies and editing large pictures all the time, but to make the classic silly oversight, I’ll just go ahead and say it, “Who need all this power in an iPad?”

The answer is we all do because we don’t yet know what’s possible since we’ve never been here before.

When the two-year-old class goes walking around the open space with me, they sometimes like to bring pretend cameras with them. I have let children use my real digital camera if they are interested, making them use the wrist strap to catch it if they let go. Watching them use the camera teaches me about their ability to use a device and their objects of interest. Something I never had to consider when raising my children was their use of mobile electronic devices. We had limits on the type of television shows and how long the children could watch, but they did not have their own mobile devices (Gameboys or phones) until they could pay for them themselves in high school. Today there are so many more mobile device options and so much more content available on devices that they’ve become a useful tool for very young children to be entertained and expand their knowledge of the world.

I’ve turned to early childhood colleagues to understand the research about children’s use of “screens,” how it affects their development and what they learn from such use. Here are several of the recent resources I’ve read or listened to as I consider what I think:

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) issued a joint position statement with the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College in January 2012, “Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8.” The key messages are:

• When used intentionally and appropriately, technology and interactive media are effective tools to support learning and development.
• Intentional use requires early childhood teachers and administrators to have information and resources regarding the nature of these tools and the implications of their use with children.
• Limitations on the use of technology and media are important.
• Special considerations must be given to the use of technology with infants and toddlers.
• Attention to digital citizenship and equitable access is essential.
• Ongoing research and professional development are needed.

American Academy of Pediatrics News, “Beyond ‘turn it off’: How to advise families on media use” by Ari Brown, Donald L. Shifrin, and David L. Hill. September 8, 2015.

The authors state that “scientific research and policy statements lag behind the pace of digital innovation” and report on the key messages for parents that emerged from the AAP Growing Up Digital: Media Research Symposium. The first 2 of 12 in the list are:

• Media is just another environment. Children do the same things they have always done, only virtually. Like any environment, media can have positive and negative effects.
• Parenting has not changed. The same parenting rules apply to your children’s real and virtual environments. Play with them. Set limits; kids need and expect them. Teach kindness. Be involved. Know their friends and where they are going with them.

Interesting news articles and podcasts include:

“Many Children Under 5 Are Left to Their Mobile Devices, Survey Finds” by Catherine Saint Louis, (NY Times Nov. 2, 2015) reports on usage and notes the lack of research.

“Parents: Reject Technology Shame: The advantages of helping kids learn to navigate the digital world, rather than shielding them from it” by Alexandra Samuel. November 4, 2015. The Atlantic, reporting on a series of surveys on how families manage technology.

Diane Rehm Show: New Research On Teens, Toddlers and Mobile Devices. November 5, 2015 (archived). Diane and her guests discuss the latest research on screen time and kids. Guests are: 

• Lisa Guernsey, director of the Learning Technologies Project in the Education Policy Program, New America
• Rachel Barr, associate professor in the department of psychology, Georgetown University
• Dr. Michael Rich, founder and director, The Center on Media and Child Health; associate professor of pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
• James Steyer, founder and CEO, Common Sense Media

Diane Rehm Show: Touch-Screen Devices And Very Young Children. May 23 2012 (archived). A conversation on young children and touch-screen devices with guests:

• Lisa Guernsey, director, Early Education Initiative at the New America Foundation
• Liz Perle, editor in chief, Common Sense Media `
• Heather Kirkorian, assistant professor, human development and family studies, University of Wisconsin , Madison
• Ben Worthen, reporter, Wall Street Journal

An online collection of information from early childhood educators, Gail Laubenthal and Robbie Polan, sharing their experiences and offering reflective questions on their wiki, Using the Latest Technology in Early Childhood.

The four-year-olds spent longer observing and commenting on a slug they found when they used the digital camera to record every glistening track. Given that I teach in a half-day program with a very limited budget and have a focus on exploring the natural world, I don’t have plans to use tablets and computers with children in the short time I have with them. Technology tools have made my learning much easier as I use it to connect with resources posted online and communicate with colleagues. I really appreciate the way these tools expand my world.

The NAEYC Technology and Young Children Interest Forum, is a network of early care and education professionals who are committed to promoting the developmentally appropriate use of technology in the early years by leading discussions, sharing research, information and demonstrating evidence-based practices. They encourage us to work together to create responsive learning environments for children everywhere. Find them online, on Facebook, and at the annual NAEYC conference in Tech on Deck sessions including a “Free Play” area outside the meeting rooms all day on Thursday and Friday where participants will encounter a variety of traditional and emerging technology tools. And we’ll likely encounter some illuminating conversations too!

Thank you to all early childhood educators who help me learn about technology and the research about how young children use it and are shaped by it.

Babafemi Ojo is a high school biology teacher. Yet his favorite booth at the National Science Teachers Association’s Philadelphia conference was the portable planetarium.

“I could see kids getting in there and being amazed,” says Ojo, who teaches at Newark Tech Essex County Vocational School in Newark, New Jersey. “The kids would ask a lot of questions.”

Science teachers had the opportunity to step inside STARLAB’s planetarium, where they could gaze at the constellations and images of the Greek myths the constellations were named after. The portable planetariums start at $32,995 and can fit in a school gymnasium or auditorium, says Sarah Bell, who works for STARLAB.

According to Bell, the planetarium is an “immersive” learning experience designed to get kids interested in science while moving them beyond textbooks. For kids, “there’s nothing cooler,” she says.

Many of the booths at the conference offered new approaches to science teaching, especially through hands-on lessons and projects.

If you were at the conference, you probably noticed Carolina Biological Supply Company’s booth, which featured numerous butterflies inside a display cage. Carolina employees were giving away butterfly larvae to educators. With the larvae, Christine Eccles, a visiting assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, who also teaches biology at a private school, hopes to spark students’ interest in the butterfly’s life cycle, saying the lesson works for grades 5–12.

Matt Esser, an eighth-grade physical science teacher, particularly enjoyed the two-liter bottle rocket launchers. They were similar to the bottle rockets he used to teach his students about Newton’s three laws.  To launch the bottle rockets, teachers put water into the two liter and provide air pressure through a bicycle pump that is connected to the bottle.

Middle school science teacher Lisa Niemi says she’s always wanted to implement environmental-based instruction into her classes, but it hasn’t been included in her science curriculum. That’s why her favorite booth was Nutrients for Life Foundation’s, who gave her a free curriculum to teach environmental science.

“Kids of all ages have to care about the planet,” Niemi says.

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

Future NSTA Conferences

2015 Area Conferences

• Kansas City, December 3–5

2016 National Conference

• Nashville, March 31–April 3

2016 STEM Forum & Expo

• Denver, July 27–30

Follow NSTA

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of giving a presentation at the NSTA STEM Forum in St. Louis. I got lots of questions, but I also got something unexpected—homework. One science teacher challenged me to make understandable science stories that she could use in her classroom. To answer this, I’ve created a weekly 2-minute science podcast called Science Underground to do just that.

Science Underground officially launched this month (November 2015) and can be found on iTunes (iOs) and Stitcher (Android). The goal of this free podcast is to make science fun. Each audio episode is a short nugget of understandable and un-dry science that middle schoolers can comprehend. But also, high school students, college students, and even adults benefit from them too. The podcast is designed so that many of the science stories are supportive of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

What’s the cost? There isn’t any. You can sign up for the newsletter and learn about future episodes, premium content, and events (like a STEM camp for adults), but there isn’t any obligation at all.

So, what topics might you hear? Well, NFL great Jerry Rice tells us about the perplexing way that the football spins when thrown by a left-handed or right handed quarterback, and how the spin shifts the ball sideways. This secret way that a football travels can be the difference between a touchdown or not.

Not a football fan? No problem. One scientist shared how he is making tires from lettuce. Another scientist shows how she is using fireflies to make new medicines. You will also find timely topics, like how leaves change colors for the fall, the science of chocolate for St. Valentine’s Day, and the chemistry of fireworks for the Fourth of July. And, all these conversation starters happen in 2 minutes.

The goal of Science Underground is to awaken the inner scientists in all children and support educators in making science fun.

Details:

Downloadable, Science Underground is a free weekly 2-minute science podcast that targets middle school and high school students.

Website: http://www.scienceunderground.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/scienceundrgrnd

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scienceunderground

Questions: scienceunderground@gmail.com

Ainissa Ramirez (@AinissaRamirez) is a scientist and the co-author of Newton’s Football and the author of Save Our Science. She hosts a science podcast called Science Underground.

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

Future NSTA Conferences

2015 Area Conferences

• Kansas City, December 3–5

2016 National Conference

• Nashville, March 31–April 3

2016 STEM Forum & Expo

• Denver, July 27–30

Follow NSTA

To be a teacher means being a life-long learner, by disposition and by program and licensing requirement. Every day I learn a something new in my conversations with children (“My mommy has a baby in her tummy”), colleagues and online. Attending workshops, webinars, and conferences are other ways I keep learning and developing professionally. Professional learning communities and my individual reading contribute a lot to my understanding of how children learn and how to teach them. I appreciate all these learning settings and relationships for different reasons, in addition to the new understandings I gain from them. Scroll down to the kind of PD you’d like to hear about and help me learn more by adding your perspective in a comment at the bottom.

As a country we need to make professional development more affordable for the individual and the institutions by increasing spending on early childhood education. Most early childhood educators and programs, in my experience, do not have a budget to pay for travel and hotel costs in addition to conference registration fees and may choose other ways to provide professional development.  (See my suggestion for making conference attendance possible, below.) Even paying for an additional staff member to fill in for teachers meeting with another teacher, or closing the program doors to children for an afternoon or a day is out of reach financially for many early childhood education programs. What steps can you take to raise awareness about the need for more financial support for programs that serve young children? 

Conferences

I still remember the rush of being in a convention center hallway for the first time—as sessions ended people streamed past me, people from all over, all early childhood educators like me! It was stimulating and empowering to go from the sometimes isolating daily work as a family home child care provider, to being immersed in learning experiences with so many other adults.

Conferences continue to be a source of affirmation for me, in addition to the concentrated expertise available through sessions with experts who might be family home child care providers, kindergarten teachers, researchers, science teachers, or one of the many other kinds of educators in early childhood. Next week I have to choose between participating in my local NAEYC affiliate conference, my state science teachers association conference, and the national NAEYC conference! All three conferences have been worthwhile experiences in the past.

Conferences may be the site of annual meetings of smaller professional groups, such as the NAEYC Early Childhood Science Interest Forum.

The cost of attending a conference is a challenge for early childhood educators. Instead of writing off conferences entirely, consider making a five-year plan to attend one conference. Find out the likely dates and locations of the conferences of your local, state and national professional organizations by checking the websites or emailing the conference committee. NSTA has “area” conferences in addition to a national conference. NAEYC has annual conferences and institutes, and state and local affiliates hold conferences. Talk with your administrator about budgeting for teachers to attend at least one day of a local, state or national conference. Some programs send a few teachers each year.

Read more from NAEYC about the reasons to attend a conference .

Workshops

A two or three hour workshop is much easier to schedule than 2-3 days away from work for a conference. The concentrated focus on a single topic helps me consider my own practice in a specific area. There is time to discuss, ask questions, and often engage in a hands-on experience so we can test the ideas for our own classrooms. Workshops can be conveniently scheduled just for one program, which allows an easy flow of conversation specific to that site. Workshops may bring early childhood educators from various settings together—an experience that broadens our view of our community. I have learned ways to support child behavior and many practical tips from early childhood educators who happened to sit at the same table.

Webinars

Alone with my computer, or in the midst of family activity, I can join a webinar online and get an hour of professional development about almost any topic important in early childhood science education. A variety of experts, sponsored by a variety of organizations and companies, share their knowledge. I can ask questions as the webinar happens “live,” or view the webinar later in short chunks of time as I have time. I have to make a bigger effort to relate webinar content to my own practice than content from a workshop where I’m in the same room as the presenter and other participants. Webinars offer many choices of content and presenter.

Professional learning communities (PLTs)

Discussion groups that support learners around a particular topic, PLTs depend on good facilitation to stay on topic. Participants come ready to contribute their ideas and understanding after reading the selected article, or book chapter, and reflecting on their own practice. This seems like the expertise of the webinar experience combined with the discussion-with-colleagues experience of a workshop. Read more about PLTs in the November 2015 Young Children, in “How a Professional Learning Community Changed a Family Child Care Provider’s Beliefs and Practices” by Jennifer Gerdes and Terri Jefferson.

Conversation with colleagues

Intermittent, fragmented and never long enough is how I experience my conversations with colleagues at school—until the teachers’ planning meeting. Even the short, hurried exchanges can give us insight about a child’s behavior or a new way to manage a logistical challenge, but setting aside time to focus on what we want to do and why, discuss it and plan a path and some alternatives, is much more productive. No one knows your work or shares your goals like the people you work with every day!

Conversations with children

Children reveal what is important to them as we talk. I can use this information to design lessons that engage children and scaffold their understanding. A lunchtime conversation about edamame revealed that children did not recognize this “green soybean” as a seed. Planting beans is now on my list for the spring garden.

Social/emotional development is also revealed in conversations. Yesterday three giggling children were pretending to be kitties and they were “Bad kitties.” I asked them what a bad kitty does that makes them bad, and the children answered “Because they steal things.” One child gave a very articulate explanation of what stealing is. It is so interesting to learn that their imaginative play can coexist with their very accurate description of reality. They knew that stealing is bad, but it felt delicious to pretend that they had stolen something. Where do you think I should go with this understanding? How should I use it in planning lessons?

Individual reading and podcasts

Professional journals such as, Science and Children, Young Children, and Teaching Young Children (TYC), are available online in addition to in-print. Some content is free to all, not just for members. The best articles take me into the world of the authors and help me think about how the greater concerns of the early childhood education world apply in my work. I read an article while waiting for my computer to boot up, dinner to cook, or my family to get ready. If an article gets me thinking about my own practice, I print a copy to share at work. This helps me remember to put my learning into practice.

One of my favorite “in between” reads is Science News, https://www.sciencenews.org/ when I’m reading for pure learning about all kinds of scientific work. Podcasts are another way to hear discussion by experts about topics of your choice — Tech Tuesday gal and guys on The Kojo Nnamde show, or the many voices sharing their knowledge on NAEYC Radio.

Coursework

Coursework towards a secondary program degree, and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) are also professional development but are usually described as “coursework,” not “PD.”

 Of all the continuing education possibilities available, I’m glad I have the resources to attend one conference every year for the many choices of sessions, and the extended networking that happens when I reach out in conversation to the person next to me. Hope to see you there!

It seems like it’s getting harder to get my middle school students interested in a topic. I’ve strained my brain trying to come up with new ideas. Am I the only one in this situation?  —B., Arizona

You are not alone! Students have many distractions (e.g., electronics, social media), extracurricular activities, and other responsibilities competing for their time and energy. I’m sure you’ve used activities and investigations, multimedia, and a variety of instructional strategies, but it’s still a challenge.

Rather than taking on the entire responsibility of making science relevant, ask your students about their interests. This could be on the questionnaire you give them at the beginning of the year or periodically on an exit ticket in class. You can refer to the list of interests to make connections to lessons and build on student interests.

A KWL (Knows, Wants to know, and has Learned) chart can also provide insights into what students know or want to know (or wonder about). But in my experience, when asked about their interests, middle schoolers often will say “I don’t know,” try to leave the W column blank, or shrug their shoulders. Sometimes they’re afraid to try or think about something new. Sometimes it’s “cool” to act disinterested in anything academic. And sometimes students honestly don’t know much about the world beyond them.

We shouldn’t underestimate the teacher’s role in broadening student’ interests and horizons. For a professional development project, I conducted focus group interviews with high school students. One of the questions was “Did you ever think that a topic in class was going to be boring, but it turned out to be really interesting?” The students all responded positively and we followed up with the question “So what made the topic interesting to you?” All of the students said that it was something the teacher did that changed their minds: the teacher’s passion or enthusiasm for the topic, the teacher sharing a personal interest or experience, the teacher assigning interesting and challenging projects with options the students could choose from, or the teacher helping them make connections between the topic and their own experiences and interests.

Your enthusiasm can be contagious, as students enjoy hearing stories of your personal interests. When I shared some photos I had taken of coral reefs in the Caribbean, my students were intrigued—”You actually were under water?” I just happened to have some of my gear with me to show them. Several of the students had traveled with their families to the beach (our school was not in a coastal state) and shared their experiences, too. We took a vicarious dive with a brief video. At that point, most students were hooked on learning more about marine environments.

Providing options and choices is another way to engage students. Technology provides many options. As an alternative to formal reports, students could demonstrate their learning through creating videos, infographics, or presentations, working independently or as part of a team. This requires work and organization on your part, but seeing the students’ enthusiasm and creativity is worth it.

Encouraging students to take ownership in the classroom can be engaging, too. One of my colleagues started the school year with blank bulletin boards. During each unit, students added to them—vocabulary cards, reports, news and current events, drawings, photographs, maps, and so on.

Some student interests are independent of what the teacher does. Definitely encourage students to explore on their own through independent study and provide the resources to do so. One of my life science students shared her illustrated journal. She had made a list of biology terms based on Greek and Roman mythology, from the Io and Luna moths to Cyclops, Hydra, and Medusa. I learned a lot from it myself!

Keep trying. It’s hard to say what activity, strategy, or content topic will connect with a student. Think about the teachers that inspired you. What did they do?