I’m newly credentialed as a principal and looking for a position at a middle school. I’m currently an English teacher, so I’m not familiar with the needs of other subject areas. What should I expect to see on a science teacher’s “wish list”?
—Tyson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
It’s difficult to balance the roles of building management and instructional leadership, especially in today’s high-stakes situations. I’ve seen principals who worked hard to accomplish this. Being aware of the needs of students and the differences in subject areas is a step toward that balance.
You certainly should ask the teachers in your new school for a wish list, but I can offer a few thoughts ahead of time, based on my experiences as a science teacher working with some excellent principals:

• Treat teachers, including science teachers, as professional adults and worthy of your respect and trust. Ask for input before making decisions that directly affect teaching and learning. Be a good listener and recognize teacher suggestions. When you make decisions, share the rationale with the teachers. For example, the school entrance designated for bus students may not be important to science teachers, but the class schedule, budget, length of periods, or room assignment can directly affect science instruction. Become familiar with the science curriculum, standards, and assessments in place.

• Recognize the teachers’ responsibilities for safety in the labs and security in the storage areas. Teachers will need time for inventory and documentation (and this should be inservice time). Teachers must be able to lock the storage rooms and classroom cabinets. Support their efforts to communicate with parents about safety issues. Avoid scheduling non-science classes or study halls in labs—these are safety problems waiting to happen. Also avoid scheduling science classes in non-science classrooms (those without safety features, flat tables, or utilities such as water and electric). Doing so would limit the types of investigations students can safely do, and students assigned to those rooms will have a different science experience than those whose classes meet in or have ready access to labs. Keep class sizes within the occupancy limits of the lab. NSTA has several publications on safety that should be part of every school’s professional library.

• Consider the behind-the-scenes work science teachers do (especially when they make it look so easy). All teachers use their planning time for writing lesson plans and evaluating assignments. But science teachers have additional demands, in terms of lab set-up and clean-up, equipment and chemical inventories, and compliance with local and state regulations. Be careful how many preps you assign to teachers. It may be unavoidable, but having more than three preps per day is a heavy load for science teachers.

• Get to know the teachers and the science program. Ask them if you can unofficially observe lab classes (for the whole period, not just a walkthrough) to get an idea of what students learn from these activities as well as the amount of time it takes to set up and put away the materials and read a report from each student, the safety and cooperative learning procedures in place, and what the classroom looks like when it’s full of students.

• Invite yourself to department or team meetings and be a good listener. Ask teachers to frame their suggestions in terms of what is better or safer for the students. Recognize that science teachers have professional development needs in both content and pedagogy, as well as safety.

In addition to a wish list, you could also ask science teachers for their worst nightmare. I suspect that high on the list would be the floating assignment, traveling from room to room. Although it’s a reality in many schools, it’s a serious situation for science teachers in terms of safety and the types of activities that can be done (and it’s usually the newest or least experienced teachers who get this assignment). We had such a situation, and the principal asked us to work with him on a plan so that every class met in a lab. It meant sharing facilities and not having the labs open during the day to set up activities. But he recognized our situation by not giving us before or after school duties.

There is something about the changes in the natural world due to seasonal changes in spring time that inspire us to talk about baby plants, baby birds, and baby anything. During a warm spell in January I was inspired to refurbish the garden box on the playground with some new potting soil and have all the children plant greens of various kinds by taking a pinch of the tiny seeds, sprinkling them on the soil and patting them in. The warm days gave way to colder with a few below freezing, and then back up to warm. I was happily surprised to see tiny sprouts a month later because the temperature has stayed on the cold side, mostly below 40*F. Amazing how seeds sprout when the conditions are right for growth! By noticing when and where different plants grow, children are building a beginning understanding of the adaptation of a species of a living organisms to an environment.
The February 2013 issue of Science and Children has many articles for early childhood on exploring life cycles and other concepts in life science (see entire table of contents below or here). I read the articles dealing with older students in upper elementary too, because I learn science teaching methods and scientific information that shapes what I teach. Knowing what older students are capable of keeps me from trying to move the young children along too fast, and it helps me see what they are capable of doing and learning in science.
Talking about life science, I see that Patty Born Selly has a post on the Small Wonders blog about talking with children about one point on the cycle of life, death. When her children discovered a dead squirrel in the snow she allowed them to investigate and talk about death. It was an opportunity to use their observations as evidence for their ideas on why the squirrel was dead. As part of the life cycle we shouldn’t hide death from our children.
What are your plans for teaching about the needs of living organisms and how they change as they grow? Life cycles may not be in national or state standards to be taught in full until grade five, but understanding life cycles begins with prior experiences of caring for and observing living organisms. Maybe a child’s question will be the “seed” that grows into a science inquiry about the life cycle of a plant or animal.
Science and Children, February 2013, Vol. 50 No. 6
Compost: The Rot Thing for Our Earth
By: Fred Estes and Carolee Fucigna
A yearlong classroom project encourages scientific practices and knowledge about ecology.
Does What I Eat and Drink Affect My Teeth?
By: Sherri Lynne Brown
A trip to the Philippines inspires a 5E learning cycle that connects common acids and bases to dental health for students.
Free – Editor’s Note: Life Cycles
By: Linda Froschauer
Science and Children’s editor shares thoughts regarding the current issue
Formative Assessment Probes: Labeling Versus Explaining
By: Page Keeley
This column focuses on promoting learning through assessment. This month’s issue discusses the life cycle of a butterfly.
Free – Indoor-Outdoor Science
By: Jyoti Gopal and Ella Pastor
A kindergarten science curriculum develops life science investigations in and around school.
Making Connections Through Conversation
By: Julie McGough and Lisa Nyberg
First graders explore the circle of life through observations of animals in their habitats.
Methods and Strategies: I Wonder…
By: Anne Stevenson
This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. This month’s issue discusses how “I Wonder” boards serve as a springboard for scientific investigations
Plants, Alike and Different
By: Kathy Cabe Trundle, Katherine N. Mollohan, and Mandy McCormick Smith
The authors planned investigations and taught science lessons that help children extend natural comparisons of physical properties of humans and familiar animals to include observations and comparisons of the physical properties of plants and insects, laying a foundation for future understanding of inheritance of traits.
Science 101: How Do Earthworms Function?
By: Bill Robertson
This column provides background science information for elementary teachers. In this month’s issue the author discusses the different systems of earthworms
Teaching Through Trade Books: Figuring Out Food Chains
By: Christine Anne Royce
This column includes activities inspired by children’s literature. In this month’s issue students investigate and construct models of food chains or food webs to help them grasp the core idea
Free – The Next Generation Science Standards and the Life Sciences
By: Rodger W. Bybee
Using the life sciences, this article first reviews essential features of the NRC Framework for K–12 Science Education that provided a foundation for the new standards. Second, the article describes the important features of life science standards for elementary, middle, and high school levels. Finally, several implications of the new standards are discussed.
The Early Years: “Life” Science
By: Peggy Ashbrook
This column discusses resources and science topics related to students in grades preK to 2. This month’s issue discusses the complete life cycle of a plant
The Wonder of Worms
By: Cynthia Smith and Melinda Landry
To guide kindergarteners in developing a deeper understanding of an earthworm’s life cycle, its feeding habits, and its role as a decomposer, the authors designed an inquiry-based unit focused on red wigglers.

As an NSTA member, you subscribe to one or more journals in print/digital format. But you also have access to articles in the other journals. In the monthly SciLinks blog for each issue (and on the NSTA home page), there are links to browse the table of contents of the three K–12 journals (Science & Children, Science Scope, and The Science Teacher) along with the quarterly Journal of College Science Teaching. For the journals you don’t subscribe to, you can read/download articles as PDF documents or save them to the My Library section of the NSTA Learning Center.
In addition to the themed articles, NSTA journals have regular features that appear in each issue. Each journal has different features, but they are valuable resources for all grade levels. Keep reading to see what monthly features are available online:

Science and Children

• In Teaching Through Trade Books, Christine Royce highlights books related to the month’s theme and provides lesson suggestions for investigations. There are two lessons in the current issue on food chains for K-4 and 4-6. Middle school teachers might be interested in the latter one.
• The Early Years features activities for our youngest scientists (PreK to Grade 2). I’ve shared Peggy Ashbrook’s ideas with the educators at a nature center for ideas on projects for young children and their families. It’s interesting to see what these young children are learning.
• If you’re a fan of Page Keeley’s Formative Assessment Probes, S&C features one every month, complete with a link to download one. These could be used in other grades, too.
• Science 101 has “background boosters” with information on science topics. These quick primers from Bill Robertson can help you fill in some holes in content knowledge regardless of the level you teach.
• Methods & Strategies has ideas and techniques for science teaching. This month looks at a twist on word walls with “I Wonder” boards.

Science Scope

• Do you teach astronomy? Regardless of your grade level, Scope on the Skies is a pleasure to read. Bob Riddle provides information in an easy-to-read format with a monthly sky calendar, a list of visible planets, questions to stimulate student curiosity, and online resources to learn more.
• Scope on Safety is column by Ken Roy, NSTA’s science safety compliance consultant. The February issue discusses how monitoring and awareness can help to prevent or reduce accidents in the lab. The column also has a “Question of the Month.”
• Every month, the Teacher’s Toolkit features how-to strategies and practical advice. This month has lesson ideas for connecting engineering design and scientific inquiry.
• Tried and True has suggestions for demonstrations and experiments and usually includes examples of handouts and related resources. The current issue show how to expand a rock ID lesson into a study of stone-based construction materials.

The Science Teacher

• Safer Science has additional best practices and safety suggestions from Key Roy. This column is different from the one in Science Scope, and both are worth reading (and sharing). For example, this month’s topic is lab occupancy load.
• Science 2.0 looks at new web tools to support learning in science. In February, authors Eric Brusell and Martin Horejsi share a teacher’s experience with a flipped classroom.
• Career of the Month by Luba Vangelova is based on interviews with science-using professionals, such as this month’s materials engineer. Many middle and upper elementary classes discuss careers in science, so perhaps these brief and easy-to-read articles would be useful, first-person resources.
• Health Wise by Michael L. Bratsis addresses issues related to students. This month has ideas to help students understand the importance of exercise.
• The Green Room has the theme of “making your teaching more environmentally friendly.” In the February issue, Amanda Beckrich has suggestions for helping students look at the real-life topic of fuel efficiency.
• The New Teacher’s Toolbox really isn’t just for new high school teachers! The ideas that Michael Romano shares are also useful to teachers at all grade levels! This month features ways to break the midwinter monotony (and don’t we all face that!)

It’s hard to find time to keep up with everything, but these features are worth a quick look every month. They also make good conversation-starters at faculty meetings.
 
 

When my children were very young, we really enjoyed our weekly trek to the public library for story time and checking out books. We would stagger out balancing stacks of what we called “fact books”. You name the subject, we checked out trade books on it: electricity, dinosaurs, elevators, animals of the Amazon. I was fascinated by their innate curiosity of subjects they knew nothing about, simply because they were intrigued by the pictures they saw. These trade books taught them a great deal over the years.
NSTA has a long history of supporting the use of trade books to help teach important science concepts. From the Outstanding Science Trade Books list NSTA selects each year, along with the Children’s Book Council, to the long-running column, Teaching Science Through Trade Books, in the Science & Children journal to the popular Picture-Perfect Science Lessons series, NSTA understands the importance of lively, engaging children’s picture books that present sound and accurate science. NSTA Kids continues this long tradition in exciting new ways.
Two different series, I Wonder Why and Next Time You See, have the new NSTA Kids stamp. The I Wonder Why series includes titles written specifically to provide age-appropriate (K–6) resources about science and nature and to satisfy children’s questions about why things are the way they are. As I wrote this post, I enjoyed reading:





 
 
 
 
 
 
The Next Time You See series takes a slightly different approach, seeking to inspire a sense of wonder at everyday phenomena.


These books are written to encourage children to learn more about the world around them.
I admit reading these books made me wistful for the days when my kids were little. Now they satisfy their curiosity through the devices that are always in their hands. They can get their answers quickly now, but I think the fact that they are still asking questions can be traced back to their early years.

To illustrate the interconnectedness of science and engineering, the editor’s note this month is a crossword puzzle. I think I need to review the K-12 Framework in more detail to solve it. Or else I can see this connectedness through the featured articles in this month’s issue.
Building on Student’s Knowledge of Solar Cells* illustrates integrating math and science with engineering design tasks. The activity is part of a unit on solar energy, and students apply what they know to the design and testing of solar-powered model cars. The authors include many photos of the students’ designs, data tables, a worksheet that is more of a thinking guide, and assessment questions. The authors also emphasize the “role of the teacher in structuring engineering design tasks in a way that supports critical content knowledge.” And I liked their note that “Projects such as this one require engagement beyond the superficial.” Cars seem to be a natural interest for middle schoolers, and another article shows how to tap into this interest. The authors of Integrating Science and Engineering Practices in an Inquiry-Based Lesson on Wind-Powered Cars describe a 7e lesson applying concepts of motion to a design and test of a wind-powered car. [SciLinks: Solar Cells, Solar Energy, Winds, Wind Energy, Renewable Sources of Energy, Motion-Speed Relationship]

Two articles illustrate the use GPS and GIS technology in the classroom. The authors of The Isle of Navitas: Planning for Energy Use with Web GIS use a simulated island to help students explore the development of efficient energy use. Students learned how to apply spatial skills and use web GIS to explore the island’s features and energy resources. All of the materials and resources (teacher guide, handouts, visuals, and scoring guides0 used are accessible through the websites mentioned in the article. Watershed Waypoint: Using GPS and GIS to Learn About Watershed Features shows how to integrate concepts from geography and science with spatial thinking. Although the authors personalized the activity to their school’s location, they note that it can be modified for other locations. They also include examples of the student “worksheets” they used as thinking guides. A geography teacher I used to work with would be really interested in this, too. [SciLinks: Global Positioning System, Geographic Information Systems, Watersheds, Latitude and Longitude, Sustainable Development]
How can you show the connections between engineering and biology? The students in the article Hand Drawn: Lessons on Neuromuscular Control and Prosthetic-Hand Design were introduced to biomedical engineering. They took what they knew from medical studies and research (how joints work) and physics (simple machines) and used that knowledge to solve a problem—helping amputees function with prosthetic limbs. The authors also note how design specifications  illustrate that “a key distinction between an engineering design project and an art project is the emphasis on functionality as well as form.” [SciLinks: Bones and Joints, Joints and Muscles in the Body, Simple Machines, Skeletal and Muscular Systems]
Do you need a new approach to the water cycle? Lunch-Trash Solar Stills* describes a challenge to students to use information about the water cycle to design a solution to the problem of recovering potable water. The authors describe a series of activities that use simple and readily available materials.[SciLinks: Water Cycle, Water Quality]
*Check out the Connections for this issue (February 2013). Even if the article does not quite fit with your lesson agenda, this resource has ideas for handouts, background information sheets, data sheets, rubrics, etc.

As elementary teachers continue to struggle to find time to teach science to their students in an already crowded schedule, particularly as the emphasis on literacy has actually reduced the amount of time designated for science study, authors Jessica Fries-Gaither and Terry Shiverdecker have combined forces and experiences to write Inquiring Scientists, Inquiring Readers: Using Nonfiction to Promote Science Literacy, Grades 3–5.

Using text sets, or collections of multiple genres of nonfiction, can support inquiry-based instruction by assisting students as they pose questions, design investigations, and confirm and extend the knowledge they’ve learned through direct investigation. The seven nonfiction genres recommended by the authors include reference, explanation, narrative expository, how-to, biography, field guide, journal, and poetry.
Literacy instruction has changed in recent years to place a greater emphasis on nonfiction text with students of all ages. A great deal of reading and writing in everyday life is nonfiction.
One challenge that teachers who try to combine science in with their literacy instruction often encounter is that students end up reading about science rather than engaging in any scientific inquiry themselves. With this book, the authors have deftly paired the appropriate readings and text sets with the inquiry-based investigations for your students to engage in.

Inquiry and Literacy

With this book, imagine the possibilities. To name just a few, your students could read:

• Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas and then learn the science process skill of experimenting
• How Tall, How Short, How Far Away and then learn to determine which measuring tools are best for measuring a variety of items
• Ice Cream: The Full Scoop and then learn a tasty example of a phase change as they make ice cream
• Ice Hockey and Curling and then play a game to learn the forces and motion of a sliding object
• The Dance of Life and then learn how the sanderling might be adapted to two very different environments

Throughout the book, the authors replace individual lessons with a learning-cycle format (including hands-on investigations, readings, directed discussion, and problem solving).
Other related resources for combining literacy and science instruction in the elementary grades include NSTA Press® titles:

• Everyday Science Mysteries, Grades K–8
• Language and Literacy in Inquiry-Based Science Classrooms, Grades 3–8
• Picture-Perfect Science Lessons
• Science the “Write” Way
• Once Upon a Life Science Book

Scientists and engineers don’t necessarily start out to innovate, but unexpected things happen! This installment of the “Science of Innovation” video series describes how Dr. Deborah Chung, an expert in composite materials and structural science, was more-or-less “messing around” with materials just to see what would result. What Dr. Chung found could have a dramatic impact on bridge, road, and building construction.

You can set the stage for your students to be similarly inspired by allowing them to “mess around” with materials you have available as they develop and refine their own questions for investigation. Doing so might conjure up scenes of chaos, but teachers who build in a little extra time for students to examine the available materials and fiddle around with them find that it actually conjures up more thoughtful explorations!

The connected lesson plans, loosely based on Brian Hand’s science writing heuristic, allow plenty of leeway for students to put their inspirations to work. This STEMspirational series, developed by the team of NBC Learn, USPTO, NSF, and NSTA, will give you a leg up in incorporating authentic engineering activities into your curriculum. And it will allow students to see how science and math knowledge result in incredible technologies. The series is available cost-free on www.NBCLearn.com, www.science360.gov, and www.uspto.gov/education. Take a look, and then let us know what you think!

–Judy Elgin Jensen

Image of overpass courtesy of Danielle Scott.

Video

SOI: Smart Concrete highlights Dr. Deborah Chung’s innovation that makes concrete able to sense, in real time, the forces to which it is subjected.

Lesson plans

Two versions of the lesson plans help students build background and develop questions they can explore regarding the characteristics of materials. Both include strategies to support students in their own quest for answers and strategies for a more focused approach that helps all students participate in hands-on inquiry.

SOI: Smart Concrete, A Science Perspective models how students might investigate a question about how a composite such as concrete reacts to compressional forces.

SOI: Smart Concrete, An Engineering Perspective shows how students might make and test a composite that models smart concrete.

You can use the following form to e-mail us edited versions of the lesson plans: [contact-form 2 “ChemNow]