Looking for ways to engage preschool students in physical science? Are your students curious as to how animals communicate and make decisions? Want to expand your students interest in engineering? Looking for new ways for undergraduate teaching assistants to work with college students in entry-level STEM courses? The January K–College journals from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) have the answers you need. Written by science teachers for science teachers, these peer-reviewed journals are targeted to your teaching level and are packed with lesson plans, expert advice, and ideas for using whatever time/space you have available. Browse the January issues; they are online (see below), in members’ mailboxes, and ready to inspire teachers!

Science and Children

Starting in preschool, teachers can engage students in physical science through creative, hands-on lessons. This issue of S&C delves into physical science lessons that involve derby cars, UV-sensitive lizards, and more.

Featured articles (please note, only those marked “free” are available to nonmembers without a fee):

• Free – Addressing Three Common Myths About the Next Generation Science Standards
• Assessing the Unseen
• Free – Editor’s Note: Early Childhood Physical Science
• How We Know What We Know
• Made for the Shade
• Seeing the Solar System Through Two Perspectives
• Table of Contents

Science Scope

New Caledonian crows are master tool makers and users. They have even been known to stash their favorite tools in the hollows of trees so they can be retrieved and reused for another meal. Check out this issue’s Tried and True column for a crow-foraging activity that is sure to engage and inform your students as they explore animal communication, cooperation, and decision-making.

Featured articles (please note, only those marked “free” are available to nonmembers without a fee):

• A Biomedical Engineering Twist to Science Fairs
• Free – Addressing Three Common Myths About the Next Generation Science Standards
• Eco-Choices: Understanding the Complex Consequences of Local Decisions
• Free – Editor’s Roundtable: More Than Just a Chart
• Modeling Ecosystems
• Outbreak! Cells, Pathogens, and Disease
• Table of Contents

The Science Teacher

Science is all about asking questions and constructing explanations, while engineering focuses on defining problems and designing solutions. Think of science as the quest for timeless truths and engineering as the search for design solutions to problems rooted in a particular time and situation. To be sure, there is overlap. Scientists often must complete engineering tasks such as designing experimental apparatus and testing prototypes, and engineers sometimes explore new phenomena and develop scientific models. In our schools we need to educate students about engineering careers, especially our young women, who are dramatically underrepresented in engineering fields. We cannot waste precious human capital by creating another generation of students who can say, “I have no idea what an engineer is.”

Featured articles (please note, only those marked “free” are available to nonmembers without a fee):

• Addressing Three Common Myths About the Next Generation Science Standards
• Free – Don’t “Short Circuit” Stem Instruction
• Free – Editor’s Corner: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
• Health Wise: Spotting Depression in High School Students
• Help Yourself, Help Your Students
• How Do Siamese Cats Get Their Color?
• Table of Contents

Journal Of College Science Teaching

Read about a study that investigated the learning gap between students with strong prerequisite skills and students with weak prerequisite skills and concluded that these skills are critical to subsequent learning. See the Research and Teaching article that examines the development of peer mentoring skills and deepening of content knowledge by trained undergraduate teaching assist
ants working with students in entry-level STEM courses. And don’t miss the Case Study that looks at a flipped classroom approach in which students both produce and watch videos in preparation for class.

Featured articles (please note, only those marked “free” are available to nonmembers without a fee):

• Crossing Boundaries in Undergraduate Biology Education
• Point of View: Predictably Unpredictable
• Research and Teaching: Computational Methods in General Chemistry: Perceptions of Programming, Prior Experience, and Student Outcomes
• Research and Teaching: Correlations Between Students’ Written Responses to Lecture-Tutorial Questions and Their Understandings of Key Astrophysics Concepts
• Research and Teaching: Development of Undergraduate Teaching Assistants as Effective Instructors in STEM Courses
• Free – Strategies to Recruit and Retain Students in Physical Science and Mathematics on a Diverse College Campus
• Table of Contents

Get these journals in your mailbox as well as your inbox—become an NSTA member!

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

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“I have all the time I need to teach my science content and processes,” said no teacher, ever! When I was an elementary teacher, I often felt pressured to spend more time on math and reading than on science because, after all, those were the subjects tested most often by the state. So, I did my best to weave science into the math and reading curriculum, whenever I could. However, I never felt that my students received the depth of what I could expose them to with additional time.

Moving to middle school, grade six, I was thrilled to think that I had dedicated time for science because we were governed by a bell schedule. However, as testing season came around, students were pulled from classes to receive interventions for, you guessed it, math and reading.

Do We Need Dedicated Science Time?

So the question becomes, do we really need that time? The answer is a resounding yes! In, A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas, published by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, the committee emphasizes that greater improvements in K-12 science and engineering education will be made when all components of the system—from standards and assessments, to support for new and established teachers, to providing sufficient time for learning science—are aligned with the framework’s vision. In, Successful K-12 STEM Education: Identifying Effective Approaches in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, published by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, the report states, “Overall, the decrease in time for science education is a concern because some research suggests that interest in science careers may develop in the elementary school years. School districts should devote adequate instructional time and resources to science in grades K-5.” The NSTA Position Statement for Science Education for Middle Level Learners recommends that middle level administrators support their science programs by “supporting the recommended time allotted for middle level laboratory investigations.

As middle level educators, some of us may be in a K-6 building, while others may be at 6-8, or even 7-9 buildings. What can we do to promote the allotment of adequate instructional time? Knowledge is power, as the old adage goes. Arm yourselves with the data and research that supports your assertion and ask to have a discussion with your administrators. According to the, Improving STEM Curriculum and Instruction: Engaging Students and Raising Standards, brief by the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education, “The problem is not simply academic; it is economic. If the U.S. fails to increase the number of students mastering STEM content and preparing for STEM careers, the nation will fall farther and farther behind in the global economy—and that affects us all.” Raising the awareness of our administrators, school boards and parents is one of the first steps to creating change.

What are some ways YOU have addressed the issues of adequate instructional time for science? Please share your comments with us.

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.

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).

My fifth grade students get excited about hands-on activities, but sometimes they use an activity as a reason to socialize or joke around. Sometimes the class appears chaotic. I’m looking for ideas on what I can do to make sure this is a good use of time for students to learn.  —F., Arizona

As you have observed, most students enjoy working together on investigations, projects, and activities. This excitement can get out of control, which leads to safety issues as well as students not meeting the learning goals for the activity…and perhaps the chaos that you mentioned.

Part of the issue could be addressed by classroom routines and planning, but a more fundamental thought is whether students understand the purpose of these activities and how they relate to learning.

If your students’ previous science experiences were based on worksheets or teacher-led demonstrations, they might view “fun” activities as a special event or reward for doing the worksheets, rather than an integral and essential part of learning. They also might need guidance on working cooperatively and safely.

Students should be aware of how an activity contributes to the learning goals or performance expectations. Take a few minutes to introduce or describe the activity in that context. Students will be more engaged if they have a personal ownership in the activity.

If activities are an integral part of instruction, they should not be a reward for good behavior (“Since you were really well behaved at lunch, we’ll do an activity today”) or taken away for unrelated poor behaviors (“You were noisy in the cafeteria, so no lab for you”). Some teachers have a no homework-no lab policy, but unless the homework was a preparation for the lab, this is not something I would recommend.

Doing an activity without any kind of follow-up or reflection may also contribute to students’ attitudes. My students seemed to take the activities more seriously when a “product” was required—a lab report, notebook entry, summary, photographs or video, drawing, data chart, graph, or exit slip.

In order to use class time efficiently and safely, it’s essential that you and the students have routines and procedures in place. Here are some from NSTA’s email lists and discussion forums:

• To reduce the drama of choosing partners, assign students to groups, with a promise that at some time you’ll change them. Designate a space for each team to work on activities.
• To minimize students roaming around, one of the roles in cooperative groups could be that of “coordinator” whose job is to get the materials for the activity.
• Monitor the time. Students need time to not only clean up but also to pack up their thinking. Don’t dismiss the class until the room is cleaned up and the materials are accounted for.
• Never leave the room or use this time for your own paperwork. Mingle with the groups and monitor student behavior. Use time to talk with each group, note student skills on a checklist, or ask students to describe what they’re doing and learning.
• Have a zero tolerance for unsafe behaviors. If student behaviors get out of control or become unsafe, stop the activity.

Planning and organization are also important. In your mind, go through the activity and focus on what the students should be doing to accomplish the task in an orderly and timely fashion. Can the activity be completed in one class period, or will students need to continue at another time? What is in place for students who finish ahead of time? What accommodations might be necessary for special needs students? Review any safety issues that may arise.

Have a labeled box or tray for each lab group to make it easier to organize the materials. Have these ready ahead of time for the coordinators to pick up. Include an index card in each box with an “inventory” so that at the end of the period, students knew what is to be returned. Save the cards to use the next time you do the lesson. Even though you’ll discuss any safety issues prior to the activity, you could put a summary on the card as a reminder.

As you mingle and monitor, you may find yourself spending more time near the groups who need your attention. Use an agreed-upon signal for quiet if the noise becomes distracting or chaotic. You’ll eventually learn to distinguish between off-task noise and the sounds of excited learning—the best sound ever!

The unusually warm December weather has brought out flowers in some of the plants that usually bloom in Spring in my area. Citizen scientists who participate in phrenology are documenting these observations. Phenology is an important subject to study, because it helps us understand the health of species and ecosystems.  

Studying the timing of life cycle events in all living things, such as flower blooming or eggs hatching, is called phenology. The USA National Phenology Network describes it as “nature’s calendar—when cherry trees bloom, when a robin builds its nest and when leaves turn color in the fall.”

“Phenology is a key component of life on earth.  Many birds time their nesting so that eggs hatch when insects are available to feed nestlings.  In turn, insect emergence is often synchronized with leafing out in their host plants. For many people, allergy season starts when particular flowers bloom—earlier flowering means earlier allergies.  Farmers and gardeners need to know when to plant to avoid frosts, and they need to know the schedule of plant and insect development to decide when to apply fertilizers and pesticides. Many interactions in nature depend on timing.  In fact, phenology affects nearly all aspects of the environment, including the abundance, distribution, and diversity of organisms, ecosystem services, food webs, and the global cycles of water and carbon.”

Read about how children can participate and learn from phenology monitoring programs on the “Resources For K-4 Classroom Teachers” page from The USA National Phenology Network. It would be interesting for children to compare photographs of a particular tree or other plant from a particular day in previous years to the current year. My students have been observing a Paw Paw tree since October and I’ll save the photos for the 2’s and 3’s to look at next year.

Weather and environment experts, Nicholas Bond, Julia Kumari Drapkin, Richard Primack, and Noel Perry, talked with On Point‘s Tom Ashbrook (no relation that I know of) about the record high December 2015 temperatures.

The insects out in this warmer weather gave me subjects to photograph using a new 15x lens on my smart phone. I may use the lens to photograph objects children express interest in, but won’t let them handle it. I do let them use my digital camera because I learn what they are interested in as they document their observations.

I look forward to using the lens to photograph snowflakes!

The Science Teacher: Novel Science Tools

I once worked with a teacher who said that he would put off doing anything with technology until “things settled down.” I suspect he’s still waiting… The featured articles in this issue look at some current (as of now anyway) technologies that related to teaching and learning in science, such as mapping tools, digital probeware and sensors, and online simulations. The lessons show their connections to the NGSS.

• Wired for Controversy describes the materials and methodology used to explore ethics in autonomous systems through cyborg roaches and robotic insects. Sounds almost like science fiction!
• Turn Your Smartphone Into a Science Laboratory has several activities in which students collect and analyze data related to force and motion as al alternative to more expensive probes or monitors. We can use our phones in class!
• Where the Birds Live is another phone-enhanced activity in which students use real data and online maps to explore bird habitats, migration patterns, and biodiversity.
• Clearing the Air explores the greenhouse effect in the context of black-body radiation and Wien’s Law in a 5E lesson using online simulations.
• The Learning Portal describes a source of free classroom-tested web-based activities that use probes and models.
• Science 2.0: Did They Really Read It? Describes two online tools to assess student comprehension of reading and video resources. (See the authors’ related blog).

For more on the content that provides a context for these projects and strategies see the SciLinks websites for Acceleration, Birds, Biodiversity, Blackbody Radiation, Centripetal Force, Conduction Convection and Radiation, DNA Replication, Forces and Motion, Gravity, Greenhouse Effect, Max Planck, Migration of Birds.

Continue for Science Scope and Science and Children

Science Scope: Science and Engineering Practices

Assessing Science Practices: Moving Your Class Along a Continuum groups the eight science and engineering practices into three categories: investigating, sensemaking, and critiquing. The authors include an assessment tool and describe how it can be used during a lesson.

Other featured articles:

• Present, Critique, Reflect, and Refine is a four-step strategy to teach evidence-based argumentation.
• Authentic Science Investigation in the Classroom: Tools for Creating Original, Testable Questions and Graphical Hypotheses discusses the importance of asking questions and includes suggestions (such as flowcharts and inquiry boards) for helping student refine questions into testable ones.
• Argumentation and Explanation: Tools for Using Them Together While Keeping Them Separate includes graphic organizers and an example of an explanation template.
• The ICAN Intervention: Helping Science Learners Make Connections to Content During Inquiry has examples of “probes” that help students chart and reflect on their learning
• Everyday Engineering: Queuing Theory—Is My Line Always the Slowest? takes engineering concepts to the supermarket.
• Tried and True: Puff Mobile Derby Student Engineers demonstrate their learning by applying concepts from physics and engineering to the design of wind-powered vehicles.

For another engineering project, see Engineering Encounters: Creating a Prosthetic Hand from Science & Children.

For more on the content that provides a context for these projects and strategies see the SciLinks websites for Forces and Motion, Plant Growth, Plate Tectonics.

Science and Children: Earth’s Place in the Universe

As always, the articles in this issue have ideas for classroom activities that align with the NGSS, along with photos of students, examples of their work, rubrics, and downloadable resources.

• Patterns in the Sky
  has a 5E lesson for maximizing young students’ experiences before, during, and after a visit to a planetarium.
• Seeing the Solar System Through Two Perspectives describes how a focus on learning progressions in modeling and observing patterns can help students develop their understanding of interactions between the Earth, sun, moon, and stars. (Part 2 will be published in a later issue).
• Embodying Earth’s Place in the Solar System shows how students can explore seasonal changes in how we see constellations.
• Fossil Explorers uses a 5E lesson to build on students’ curiosity about prehistoric life.
• Map That Find! has 5E lesson ideas for student archaeologists to apply their skills in observation, reasoning, hypothesis-testing, and mapping.
• Teaching Through Trade Books: Sunrise, Sunset, and Shadows has two activities with suggestions for related books in which K-2 students investigate what causes and affects shadows and 3-5 students examine the correlations between the amount of daylight and the seasons.
• The Early Years: The Earth-Sun System has ideas for younger learners as they investigate shadows.
• Formative Assessment Probes: Mountaintop Fossil: A Puzzling Phenomenon explores students’ knowledge of how fossils form and what we can learn from where they are found.

From the Science Teacher: Career of the Month: Earthquake Engineer

For more on the content that provides a context for these projects and strategies see the SciLinks websites for Archaeology, Constellations, Fossil Discoveries, Fossils, Fossil Record, Planets, Properties of Light, Seasons, Stars, Sun, Using Models in Earth Science.