In the not-so-distant past, many science teachers measured temperature with mercury-based thermometers and graphed the results of their experiments on graph paper. Perhaps some of you recall how problematic it was to clean up a broken mercury thermometer and cringe at the thought of a smeared pencil erasure after a correction was made to the graph paper of a lab report. In stark contrast to the old-fashioned scientific laboratory equipment of the past, a new tool known as the LabQuest 2 is available to science teachers. The LabQuest 2, a standalone unit interface, can be used to collect data from a sensor. Slightly larger than a cell phone, the LabQuest 2 is equipped with built-in graphing and analysis applications that combine integrated software for data collection and inquiry. The hardware includes a USB port and three analog ports and can collect data from multiple sensors simultaneously. Once data is collected, results can be saved on a USB flash drive for later transfer to a computer. In addition, the unit includes a built-in GPS, stopwatch, calculator, and even a microphone for remarks. The unit lends convenience to situations in which it’s undesirable or problematic to carry multiple instruments into the field. In a field test, the device was easy to use and worked well with both Macintosh and/ or Windows computer platforms. Moreover, it comes with easy-to-follow instructions for over a hundred labs and is compatible with more than 70 probes. From my perspective, it is remarkable that a multifaceted device such as this is so easy to use. Once data collection has occurred, the LabQuest 2 can complete data analysis and report the results via Wi-Fi using Vernier Data Share. Subsequently, rather than using a pencil and graph paper, the results can be exported to a spreadsheet and sent out as a PDF graph representation for analysis. This function is unique in that it allows students to e-mail, print, and share sensor-based data for the report. In summary, the LabQuest2 from Vernier is an outstanding tool to engage students in scientific inquiry. In my opinion, its reasonable price and ease of use make the LabQuest 2 a valuable tool for students conducting scientific investigations. It can help motivate them toward greater science achievement. If you’re interested in a versatile and cost-effective tool that is user friendly, look no further than Vernier’s LabQuest 2.

This product is an idea for introducing young children to skills they will use for robotics and computer programming. Level 1 includes lightweight, flexible floor tiles, cards, and a guide booklet. Students tried Step Turn And Learn both in the classroom and outdoors. Any floor grid will do indoors, even a taped carpet. The tiles provided make it easy to take the activity outside where there might be more room for students to watch one another. The website directs viewers to a video. This narrated slide show gives the basic information about the product. Students look at symbols on cards that direct them as they move through the grid. Eventually the students will be designing the routes and organizing the cards. Children age seven and older handled the cards without problems, removing the top card and placing it at the bottom of the pile after following the instruction. Some younger children moved more than one card at a time, or dropped the cards. A teacher or an older student can hold the cards for the children as they work their way through the grid, moving around the array as the direction changes. As children pick up and later deposit an object, they can no longer juggle card manipulation. Students are to learn that the “Step Right” instruction means “Turn right and step one time.” The symbol glossary identifies this card with the caption “Step Right.” Identical symbols accompany these three instruction cards: “Step Forward,” “Step Left,” and “Step Right.” Arrows differentiate one card from the other, so students used the arrows and ignored the symbols. The product is announced as K–3 on the Bulletin Board at the website; PreK–4, on the accompanying literature. At the Oregon public elementary school where students tested it, children in grades 1 and 2 were able to grasp the concept, and they enjoyed it more than younger students. The Step Turn And Learn idea can initiate readiness for a complex, technological world without using any technology at all. It is portable, and the sequences are limited only by the users’ ability to strategize. Robotics tends to find its way into enrichment classes for academically successful students. This product can be used for all students and for more than one purpose. For example, students can organize the tiles in several arrays, preparing for comprehension of more advanced math concepts. From first grade up, students wanted to keep doing the activity. Younger students, confused at first, later got the idea and began helping one another. Step Turn And Learn allows students to design grids, paths, and strategies for getting from one place to another without having to read a single word. Therefore struggling readers and English learners may practice complex skills with the same access opportunity as their more literate classmates.

It’s hard to write a review for Vernier’s motion sensor and not sound like I’m writing an advertisement. Between the interface to the software and number of possible applications, this is one of the most modular and versatile tools of scientific investigation a physics teacher is likely to encounter. Let’s start with the hardware. Unlike previous and different companies’ motion sensors, this one plugs in using the same USB cable your printer or scanner might use. That makes storage much easier, while it also means if I (or a student) manage to damage or misplace the cable, replacements are both cheap and plentiful. Thanks for going generic, Vernier! Now let’s talk applications. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a physics teacher, and you’re likely at some point to use a motion sensor like this to follow a cart, ball, or other object. Let me tell you, the Go!Motion sensor delivers. To measure the efficiency of a motor reeling in a vertically suspended shoe box, I used the motion sensor looking up at the shoe box from the floor. Worked perfectly. Same for a basketball dropped from under the motion sensor looking down. Same for a student carrying a whiteboard in a graph-matching exercise. It just works. In fact, I tried replacing my old photogate with the Go!Motion sensor to analyze the pendulum’s motion. Worked even better! I must admit a large par t of what makes the Go!Motion sensor a great piece of lab equipment is the software. Logger Pro is intuitive, straightforward, and inexpensive. For a typical pendulum experiment , I had previously had used a photogate to just measure the pendulum’s periods and average them over each trial. Using the Go!Motion sensor, I just placed it on a lab table, aimed it horizontally at the pendulum, and the sensor watched as the pendulumm approached and receded. Now it just became that much easier to teach simple harmonic motion, since I have demonstrable evidence that the motion of both the pendulum and a mass suspended from a spring are sinusoidal. And with the Curve Fit tool, I can fit a sine curve to my pendulum’s posi t ion-versus- t ime graph, get the period, and get the correlation so I know how confident I should be in the value. What could be easier? Putting it all together, if you want a device that just works for you, no questions asked, I would strongly recommend the Go!Motion sensor from Vernier. It’s great as a stand-alone product because of its USB functionality, but will also be backwards compatible if you do have older Vernier hardware on hand. Logger Pro allows students and teachers to have a very straightforward analysis of the data you collect in lab. It’s a lot of bang for the buck, and a site license costs as much as do many companies’ single-user licenses. Not only that, but when you call tech support, you might even be speaking with Dave Vernier himself.

Who better to meet, in this winter season, than someone from Minnesota who shares her ideas on how to enjoy the outdoors with children in her blog, Small Wonders?
(I especially enjoyed the post about wrestling with discussing possible truths about a butterfly’s end with her children.)

When we met in person at a conference for the National Association for the Education of Young Children I found that the friendly, inquisitive nature of her blog is really who Patty is, and she clearly enjoys talking about connecting children with nature.
Patty is the founder of Small Wonders, an educational consulting company, and teaches classes on environmental and nature education at universities. In her book, Early Childhood Activities for a Greener Earth (2012 Redleaf Press), she writes joyfully about important environmental topics such as recycling, and her engaging experiences for young children illustrate how to be “greener”—while still being developmentally appropriate and focusing on play. Her background in early childhood teaching shows—the ideas are very doable.
Welcome Patty!
Peggy, thanks for the very kind intro. I’ve been a loyal and devoted “Early Years” reader for a long time and I’m grateful and honored to contribute a guest post!
Nature offers a host of opportunities for children to develop scientific thinking skills such as inquiry and observation. Scientific learning is not something that happens only in the science stations in the classroom! Opportunities for scientific exploration in the out-of-doors include: the structures we and other animals build, the air we breathe, the changes of seasons, animals, habitats, the list goes on. Whether you have access to a large wilderness preserve or just a few scattered trees at the edge of your parking lot, you have a rich source of material just outside your doors.
Exploring nature is, in fact, a perfect opportunity to develop the same skills that are essential for scientists, researchers, and engineers throughout the world. These fundamental skills include: making observations and describing those observations, classifying objects, investigating phenomena, asking questions, predicting outcomes, drawing conclusions and explaining outcomes.
Most of you who work with young children will intuitively recognize that these are skills and habits children already practice, simply through play and exploration. Thus, an early childhood environment that embraces outdoor experience, is a perfect setting for practicing the skills of science.
You can support and cultivate these skills by approaching your interactions with children in ways that creatively engage their scientific minds. Some ideas include:
Engaging the five senses, observing and describing—Challenge children to notice ten new things outside and then use words to describe them. Bringing awareness to the senses can really help children become more adept at noticing details. Have frequent conversations that include your sense-observations: “I hear a bird chirping.” “This smells like pine” or “I can feel a light breeze on the back of my hand”. Sentences like this help direct attention to children’s senses.
Classifying—One of my favorite activities to do with young children. This helps children make sense of things, to bring order to collections of seemingly random objects. Pay attention to the many ways that children collect, organize, and use materials such as sticks, plant materials, or small stones outdoors. Ask them to tell you some common characteristics about the materials. Many children will notice colors and textures, others will point out general shapes, or even scents. Then challenge the group to find or describe more objects that fit their categories. Mix up the materials and find new ways to classify them together.
Investigating and asking questions—Carefully observe children’s natural curiosities outdoors. What are they drawn to doing? Do some children always investigate the same tree trunk, day after day? Are others constantly moving piles of sand from one place to the next? What are they investigating by doing so? They may be exploring different ways of carrying sand, a loose material whose texture can be manipulated. Or, perhaps they are curious about how much sand it takes to make a very big hill. Ask them lots of questions, such as “how else could we carry the sand?” or “What can you tell me about how wet sand and dry sand pile up?”
Drawing conclusions, giving explanations—When children are able to make observations, describe and discuss those observations, and are able to repeat an experience, they can draw conclusions based on that experience. Support those explorations by asking children to explain what happened. For example, the child who drops pinecone after pinecone into a stream from a bridge above and then quickly turns to see the pinecones traveling downstream has drawn a conclusion that the pinecones will come out on the other side of the bridge as they travel downstream. He has also concluded that they float (as evidenced by the fact that he knows he’ll be able to see them when they pass under the bridge) through trial and error, he’s tested his observations and is making predictions, expecting a certain outcome. An observant teacher may ask the boy, “What is causing the pinecones to move? Will other objects appear on the other side of the bridge if you drop them into the water too?”
Note that none of the examples I gave above are scripted or pre-planned. One of my favorite things about nature is the consistent unpredictable supply of spontaneous opportunities for exploration!  (also known as “fun learning”!) Often things happen in nature that just can’t be predicted: a rainbow in the morning sky, a busy squirrel rummaging on the edge of a sidewalk, or a chrysalis discovered under a picnic bench. Be open to nature’s own “curriculum.”
The idea of free, unstructured time in nature may be challenging for some educators, but I encourage you to allow children to explore freely: following their own interests, spending their time on the things that pique their curiosity. Allow them time to become deeply immersed in their explorations. By observing them carefully, you’ll soon see that their scientific minds are hard at work, although their bodies may appear to be at play.
Patty Born Selly
Early Childhood Activities for a Greener Earth (2012 Redleaf Press)
Read more tips from Patty at Redleaf Press, Author Spotlight
 

Interested in what using the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) could look like in a classroom? The editor has a summary of significant components outlined in the Framework for K-12 Science Education, which is a guide for the development of the standards. The featured articles in this issue each start with an overview of how the activity can be related to the Framework.
What are the differences between science inquiry and engineering design? The authors of Taking Engineering Design Out for a Spin* compare and contrast these in several tables and then illustrate the processes with a simple whirl-a-gig activity (which many of us may already do—or something similar such as paper airplanes). Cost or Quality* looks at the trade-offs that can be part of engineering projects. Using an egg-drop activity, students go beyond following directions to designing their own solutions to a problem with a real-life context. The authors include rubrics, examples of student work, a visual of the design process, and other resources. Shedding Light on Engineering Design shows how content and engineering practices can relate to a real-life design project—determining the UV protection afforded by sunglasses.  The Stealth Profession* suggests several trade books and activities to think about engineering and think like an engineer or inventor. [SciLinks: UV Index, Gravity, Buoyancy]
Wonders of Weather* is this month’s Early Years contribution which includes suggestions for a learning activity to investigate local weather patterns. You could take this a step further and have the students present their observations each day via the school’s public address system or website. [SciLinks: Weather, Weather and Climate, Weather Instruments, Weather Patterns]

The authors of Ducks Overboard* show how principles of buoyancy can be integrated with concepts of water movement and pollutants (especially debris) in the ocean – or local waterways. This is an interesting activity, given that debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan is beginning to wash up on the beaches of Hawaii.  This month’s Formative Assessment Probe Using the P-E-O Technique* is also related to uncovering students’ ideas about sinking and floating. [SciLinks: Water Pollution and Conservation, Buoyancy]
Many elementary science classes include growing plants from seeds and learning the names of plant parts. Strong STEMS Need Strong Sprouts* has 5e lesson ideas that show how to kick this up a notch to incorporate questioning, models, and higher order thinking (the photographs of the first-graders and their work are wonderful). [SciLinks: What Are the Parts of a Plant?, Photosynthesis]
Constructing and Critiquing Arguments describes strategies that could be used with any age level of student: Visualize ideas using a concept map; Whole-class engagement in a negotiation circle; Time to pause and reflect; and Writing a letter to a younger audience. The authors provide examples of student work, too.
* Many of these articles have extensive resources to share, so check out the Connections for this issue (January 2013). Even if the article does not quite fit with your lesson agenda, there are ideas for handouts, background information sheets, data sheets, rubrics, and other resources.

The second draft of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) has been released and can be viewed in two formats, by Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI) from the NRC’s Framework for K-12 Science Education, and by topic.
We are all invited to provide feedback, on parts of the standards that interest us, or on the entire document. Again and again, the NGSS states that the Performance Expectations build on “prior experience.” That means to demonstrate understanding of the Kindergarten Performance Expectations, children must already have had experiences which will allow them to understand. So preschool teachers take note of the proposed Performance Expectations for Kindergarten through Grade 2, and provide the rich experiences that will allow children to build understanding of these natural phenomena and relationships.
Before diving into this second draft, I found it helpful to read Science and Children editor Linda Froschauer’s reflection on the guiding document for the NGSS, A Framework for K–12 Science Education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. 
In the January 2013 Editor’s Note she says:
What does the Framework tell us? We all see different aspects of the document that are personally revealing, but I’ll share with you my own list of significant components.
•          Inclusion of engineering as a partner in developing scientific thinking. The addition of engineering brings with it many opportunities to support student understanding not only of core ideas (concepts) but also the nature of science and practices.
•          Practices (using process skills) taught in conjunction with development of disciplinary core ideas (content). In the past, lessons may have provided instruction in practices without these vital connections.
•          Crosscutting concepts as integral and conscious components. We have all used themes to connect aspects of student learning. The Framework provides a concerted effort to identify crosscutting concepts and build them in a continuum of understanding.
•          Continuum of learning or learning progressions. Although we have all been aware of the importance of knowing what our students have learned in the past and how that learning will be further developed in the future, the Framework emphasizes the importance of this carefully crafted progression.
This issue [Science and Children 2013] helps teachers move toward the NGSS by providing lessons based on the Framework. It’s clear that where we are going and how we will get there has changed; the next step is up to you.
Linda Froschauer
Editor, S&C
Reference
National Research Council (NRC). 2012. A framework for K–12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Take a look at the NGSS January 2013 draft and see the Performance Expectations for grades K and above. Join in the conversations in the NSTA Learning Center forum about the NGSS and comment before the January 29, 2013 using the NGSS website form.
Regardless of how we think the new standards apply to preschool or align with our programs’ standards, we can use this opportunity to reflect on our teaching and consider how to improve it.