How do you get families and students to participate in science in the summer? I’m looking for ideas to engage upper elementary students.
–Amber, Minnesota
Even though people say students need a break, isn’t it ironic that by midsummer, newspaper articles appear advising parents what to do when kids say they’re bored? Teachers also are concerned about the “summer slump,” a backsliding of skills and knowledge that occurs when students are not actively involved in practicing or extending what they learned during the academic year. As the contents of the April/May Science & Children suggest, “Learning Doesn’t Take a Vacation,” and parents may welcome ideas for science activities that can be done as a family.
Take-home packets of coloring pages or word searches may keep students busy, but their value in terms of science learning is limited. Hands-on projects may be of more interest to students and their parents or other caregivers. However, requiring all students to complete any set of take-home summer activities has some drawbacks. Some students will participate in family vacations or camps, with their own planned activities. Others spend time away from home with day-care providers. Some parents may work evenings or weekends, have other children to care for, or may not have a lot of skills or self-confidence to assist their children. Even giving extra credit for summer work penalizes students who don’t have resources at home.
But don’t give up on finding ways to connect students and parents/caregivers through enjoyable, informal science activities. Many teachers send newsletters or add ideas to a calendar on their own or the school’s website. The advantage of teacher suggestions (rather than the generic ones in the newspaper) is they can be tailored to a specific age group and connected to the curriculum.
Are there topics you couldn’t get to this year or ones your students found especially interesting? Provide a list of books or websites for students and parents to explore in greater detail. Or suggest books and websites related to the topics students will address next year, giving students the opportunity to preview and increase their prior knowledge and experiences. NSTA’s SciLinks can help you create a list of appropriate websites to share with students and parents.

The Get Ready for Summer page on the Reading Rockets website has a “beach bag” full of ideas for younger children, including science-related ones. Home Experiments and Kitchen Science Experiments have both demonstrations and experiments. Experiments from Science Bob also has a section on “make it an experiment” with suggestions on how to extend the demonstration into an investigation. The Exploratorium is always a good source for hands-on science activities. You could make specific recommendations or encourage parents to choose activities of interest.
Encourage students to keep a summer journal, either on paper or as an online blog to record their experiences (with assistance from their parents). Include places to record descriptions of investigations, a weather diary, observations when taking a walk, observations of constellations or cloud formations, a travel diary, or a place to jot down questions.
Suggest prompts for family conversations (What is your first memory of being outdoors? How have inventions and technology changed over the years? Play I Spy at home and find objects made of metal, plastic, glass, or wood. Talk about where food comes from.)
Give each student a take-home plant to nurture and record observations. Monitor a bird feeder (even better if students make them) or observe insects or family pets and describe their behavior. Assemble collections of leaves, pressed flowers, interesting rocks, or photos of interesting objects. Use common items to make a musical instrument, design an invention, or create a work of art. Help with cooking to practice following a recipe and measuring. (See the Exploratorium’s Science of Cooking).
Encourage parents to take children outside and talk to them about what they observe in their surroundings. Provide information and links to the local library and to nearby museums, zoos, and parks. Many of these organizations have free or inexpensive summer programs for children and families. (I volunteer at a nature center, and I’m surprised at the number of people who say that they had never heard of the center or they did not know that the resources—walking trails, picnic tables, and a museum—are free.)
Offer to share your summer suggestions with daycare providers and community groups running activities or camps for children.
Unfortunately, not every family will take advantage of your suggestions. If you have parents’ email addresses, perhaps a gentle reminder would help, especially when the news articles about summer boredom appear.
 
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adwriter/164336504/sizes/s/in/pool-1701103@N22/

Polyethelene. Most people would be hard pressed to NOT to have some in their possession at any given moment. This chance discovery has completely revolutionized the “stuff” in our lives over the last 65 years. Let students discover how by using the assets in this lesson package, part of the “Chemistry Now” series created by the partnership of NBC Learn, NSF, and NSTA.

Use the video Chance Discoveries: Polyethylene in your chemistry or physical science course when discussing monomers and polymers. Or use it along with the other videos and materials in the package to spark debates in your environmental science class or emphasize the history of science. One video on the Pacific garbage patch that first aired in 2007 provides background for 2012 news releases on the same subject.

And don’t forget your teammates and colleagues in other disciplines. With plastic’s connection to the economics of WWII, develop a cross-curricular project using these assets as a springboard.

However you decide to incorporate them in your instruction, let us know how it worked out!

—Judy Elgin Jensen

Photo of art installation made of plastic collected on beaches near Nye Beach, Oregon by Maureen Moca.

Video: “Chance Discoveries: Polyethylene,” tells how three different chemists in two countries over more than 30 years happened to make a white, waxy substance during lab experiments that, once recognized as potentially useful and developed, became polyethylene—the most common plastic in the world.

Video: In the news report “Water Fight: bottled vs. Tap,” environmentalists urge people to drink tap water from refillable containers instead of disposable plastic bottles.

Video: In the news report “In the Bag: Are Paper or Plastic Bags Better for the Environment?” the pros and cons of each are described.

Video: The news report “Discarded: Nondegradable Plastic a Hazard to Marine Life” describes the so-called Pacific garbage dump and the impact of discarded and nondegradable plastics on marine life.

Video: The 1945 General Electric filmstrip “The Kingdom of Plastics” uses the graphics and descriptions of the day to explain the chemistry of plastics and their importance in WWII and the future.

Middle school lesson: This lesson guides students in making their own polymers.

High school lesson: In this lesson, students conduct an investigation about polymers.

You can use the following form to e-mail us edited versions of the lesson plans:

[contact-form 2 “ChemNow]

You’re the goalie. You’re padded down in an extra 10 kg of gear. You know the puck is “over there” somewhere. Then you catch it with your eye, screaming at you from the blue line. But before you really see it, your arm is already moving your glove into position. SMACK!!! The frozen hunk of rubber hits your glove. SAVE!!!

While reaction time is critical in many sports, defending the goal from a puck speeding toward you at 120 kph or more requires especially quick reflexes. NHL goalies have lots of equipment designed to help stop pucks, but their most valuable tool is their brain. Use this lesson package, developed by NBC Learn in partnership with NSTA and NSF to heighten students’ understanding of reflexes as they explore their own.

Remember, after you view the video and use the lessons, we’d love to hear from you about how they worked.

—Judy Elgin Jensen

Photo of goalie in action by Les Stockton 

Video: “Reflexes & Reaction Time” explains what sparks the nerve impulses that travel to the limbs, allowing the goalie to see and react quickly enough to make a save.

Middle school lesson: In this lesson, students explore reflexes and other stimulus-response reactions and design and investigate reflex reaction time.

High school lesson: In this lesson, students investigate reaction time and hypothesize how distractions impact their results.

You can use the following form to e-mail us edited versions of the lesson plans:

[contact-form 2 “ChemNow]

Studying Science Teaching and Learning Through Drawings
I came across this fascinating study via a tweet the other day. I read many traditional research studies (both quantitative and qualitative) but this one caught my attention because it used drawings as a way of communicating and data collecting. According to the authors (a team form the University of Maryland and other institutions), the study examines “how the science teaching identity of the teacher interns/teachers changed over time” based on their internship experiences. Rather than a traditional questionnaire or observations, this study used drawings as evidence, along with interviews and written responses. Periodically through the study, the teacher-participants responded to two prompts:  Draw Yourself Teaching Science and Draw Your Students Learning Science.
The methodology and the scoring rubric are provided. What’s really interesting are the examples of drawings at the rubric levels and how they represent different levels of the teacher’s self-image and reflections on the teaching and learning processes and the roles of teachers and students in these processes.
Another part of the website is the section for “Educators” with ideas on how the process can be used for lesson plans, action research, and professional development.

• The lesson plans have suggestions for asking students (of any age) to draw their interpretation of science learning. Follow-up discussion questions are included.
• There is a description of the action research process and how drawings can be a data tool. I could see the process used at the beginning and end of the school year to examine an changes in student attitudes and perceptions.
• The “Try It” section has suggestions for exploring our own perceptions as teachers. This could be an interesting ice-breaker activity for a PD session or for personal reflection.

This project focused on teaching and learning in science. You may already be familiar with instruments in which students draw pictures to represent their conceptions and misconceptions about scientists and their work: Draw a Scientist Test (Wikipedia description), Who’s the Scientist, The Scientists and Artist in All.
Graphic: http://drawntoscience.org/index.html

NHL hockey is a game of numbers—statistics that is. Fans may cheer on a team because of where they’re from, their team mascot, or the atmosphere of the stadium. Fans may like a certain player because of how hard he hits, how fast he skates, or how cute he is. But until you delve into the statistics of the players and the team overall, it’s impossible to tell who’s better.

Statistics are one way scientists, and hockey fans, can be objective about their conclusions. The numbers don’t lie. Unless, of course, you happen to have the same opinion as Mark Twain, who in his autobiography noted that there are “lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

One thing that’s not a lie is the excitement this series of lesson packages will bring to your instruction! Although we have no statistics to back that up, take our word for it. For sure, NSTA, NBC Learn, and NSF wouldn’t lie to you. Get together with your team or colleagues in other departments and use The Science of NHL Hockey as a focus for end-of-year projects that can be independent of the dates you have to turn in textbooks and library access. Remember, the Stanley Cup playoffs are in full swing during May every year. Plenty of statistics to work with there!

—Judy Elgin Jensen

Photo of NHL infographic by Darren Barefoot.

Video: “Statistics & Averages” shows that being a top goalie in the NHL takes more than quick reflexes and nerves of steel, it also requires a firm grip on the numbers—namely, the key averages and statistics of goaltending.

Middle school lesson: In this lesson, students explore numerical and nonnumerical data and design an investigation to find out more.

High school lesson: In this lesson, students will design and carry out an investigation to collect a set of data and find the mean, median, mode, and range of a set of data.

You can use the following form to e-mail us edited versions of the lesson plans:

[contact-form 2 “ChemNow]

Think autumn leaves.

OK, sing along now … The falling leeeeaves drift by the windoooow. The autumn leeeeaves of red and goooold …

OK, maybe not!

Instead, explore why the autumn leaves are red and gold. Use the video Chemistry of Changing Leaves as an introduction to plant leaves and pigments or to connect life and space science in a discussion of Earth’s seasons. The video is just one of the “Chemistry Now” series, in which NSTA and NBC Learn have teamed with NSF to create lessons related to common objects in our world and the changes they undergo every day.

Other videos in this NBC Learn collection (linked below) include a 21^st Century Chemist profile and historical and modern NBC News profiles on plant research and Sweden’s goal to become fossil fuel free by 2020. After you view the videos and try the lessons, please leave comments below each posting about how well the materials worked in real-world classrooms.

And if you can’t get those first two lines of that song out of your head, do an Internet search for Nat King Cole Autumn Leaves … smoooooooth!

—Judy Elgin Jensen

Photo of autumn leaves in Dundee, New York by Barbara Miers

Video: “Chemistry of Changing Leaves,”  explains the role of the pigment molecule chlorophyll when tree foliage in northern areas changes in autumn from green to shades of yellow, orange and red.

Video: In this 21st Century Chemist profile, “”Green” NC State Chemist Looks for Cleaner, Safer Fuel Process,” North Carolina State University chemist Dr. Elon Ison explains his research on catalysts that could be used to make alternative fuels.

Middle school lesson: This lesson guides students in observing pigments in leaves.

High school lesson: In this lesson, students conduct a chromatography investigation using leaf pigments.

You can use the following form to e-mail us edited versions of the lesson plans:

[contact-form 2 “ChemNow]

In our mid-Atlantic spring we can have temperatures in the 50s or in the 80s, rain or shine. The activities the children have been involved in center around the weather.
We planted peas and radishes, measured their growth, examined the pea flowers, and are waiting for the harvest. The radishes may be too spicy for many children’s taste so they will say “I don’t like it yet” but most will enjoy the slightly sweet crunch of a sugar snap pea pod. Always check for allergies—it is surprising how many plants can be a problem for one or more children.
This spring there was a large broccolis plant that had grown all winter long and produced many seed pods. When it was dry I brought it into the classroom and the children used scissors to cut it apart, opening the pods to see the seeds.
Books to go with planting seeds or gardening, an incomplete list because there are too many worthy books to list them all:

• Bean and Plant by Christine Back and Barrie Watts (a non-fiction classic with clear close-ups of seed sprouting)
• I’m a Seed by Jean Marzollo, Cartwheel Books, 1996. (early reader, accurate science)
• Seeds by George Shannon, Houghton Mifflin, 1994. (fiction, gardening leads to friendship)
• To Be Like The Sun by Susan Marie Swanson, Harcourt, 2008. (poem-like text about a child following the life cycle of sunflowers)

A traditional call and response song, such as “John the Rabbit: or “Ol’ John Rabbit” which can be heard on Mike and Peggy Seeger’s American Folksongs for Children
Oh, John the rabbit                 yes, ma’am
Had a mighty bad habit          yes, ma’am
Of jumpin’ in my garden        yes, ma’am
And eating my peas                yes, ma’am
He ate my tomatoes               yes, ma’am
and my sweet potatoes           yes, ma’am
And if I live                              yes, ma’am
To see next fall                       yes, ma’am
Maybe I won’t             yes, ma’am
Garden at all!              Yes, ma’am!
The amount of rain that falls can be measured in inches that accumulate in any container with nearly straight sides. We switched to a “real” scientific rain gauge because it has numbers on it already and can easily attach to a post. The children draw in the amount of collected rain on a template and compare it to previous days. They are beginning to connect the presence of low grey clouds with rain. This younger sibling is lucky to have a parent who knows puddle-stomping experience is more important than muddy clothes (and to have another pair of shoes at home).
Books: again, an incomplete list because there are too many worthy books to list them all.

• Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse, Scholastic, 1999. Poetic language expressing a child’s wish for, and delight in, rain.
• Down Comes the Rain by Franklyn Branley, HarperCollins, 1983. Classic non-fiction with updated illustrations by James Graham Hale. This book provides teachers more information than preschool children need—allowing us to stay one step ahead of our students’ questions.
• Rain by Peter Spier, Doubleday, 1982. A wordless picture book about two children who experience the fun and wonders of a rainstorm.

I brought “laundry” to school for the children to wash on a hot day. When the laundry was dry we talked about where the water went. When one child said, “It went away,” I asked, “Where could it have gone?” Evaporation is a concept that the children will understand better once they begin to learn about atoms.

• The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Noble, illustrations by Steven Kellogg, Putnam Penguin 1980. Unrelated to water, weather, or evaporation but lots of fun. This tall tale can be used to encourage children to make predictions.
• The Water Cycle by Craig Hammersmith, Capstone Press, 2012. Non-fiction information at an age-appropriate level.

While we’re outside observing clouds and tending the plants, children often find “bugs” and other small creatures. We go looking for more little animals. Be aware that entomologists group only some insects in the “true bugs” category.
You can write your own version of “Going on a Bug Hunt.”
We’re Going On A Bug Hunt 
(Adapted from Michael Rosen’s version of a traditional chant. Children repeat every line after the teacher.)
We’re going on a bug hunt,
We’re gonna catch a big one,
What a beautiful day,
We’re not scared.
Oh oh!
Grass,
Long, wavy, grass.
We can’t go over it,
We can’t go under it,
We’ve gotta go through it!
Swishy swashy, swishy swashy.
Look, it’s a grasshopper!
We’re going on a bug hunt,
We’re gonna catch a big one,
What a beautiful day,
We’re not scared.
Oh oh!
Mud,
Thick, oozy mud.
We can’t go over it,
We can’t go under it,
We’ve gotta go through it!
Squelch squelch, squelch squelch
Look, it’s a mayfly nymph!
We’re going on a bug hunt,
We’re gonna catch a big one,
What a beautiful day,
We’re not scared.
Oh oh!
A river,
A deep, cold river.
We can’t go over it,
We can’t go under it,
We’ve gotta go through it!
Splish splosh, splish splosh.
Look, it’s a dragonfly!
We’re going on a bug hunt,
We’re gonna catch a big one,
What a beautiful day,
We’re not scared.
Oh oh!
A forest,
A big, dark forest.
We can’t go over it,
We can’t go under it,
We’ve gotta go through it!
Stumble trip, stumble trip.
Look, it’s a jumping spider!
We’re going on a bug hunt,
We’re gonna catch a big one,
What a beautiful day,
We’re not scared.
Oh oh!
A cave,
A cool, dark cave.
We can’t go over it,
We can’t go under it,
We’ve gotta go through it!
Tiptoe, tiptoe.
Look, it’s a cave cricket!
We’re going on a bug hunt,
We’re gonna catch a big one,
What a beautiful day,
We’re not scared.
Oh oh!
A neighborhood,
A grassy, tree-filled neighborhood.
We can’t go over it,
We can’t go under it,
We’ve gotta go through it!
Skippetty, skip, skip.
Look, it’s a wooly BEAR (caterpillar of the Isabella Tiger Moth)
(Say this section very quickly.)
OH NO IT’S A BEAR!!!
Quick!
Through the cave, tiptoe, tiptoe,
Through the forest, stumble trip, stumble trip,
Through the river, splish splosh, splish spolosh,
Through the mud, squelch squelch, squelch squelch,
Through the grass, swishy swashy, swishy swashy.
Through the neighborhood, skippetty, skip, skip.
Run to the house, run up the stairs,
Oh oh forgot to shut the door!
Run back downstairs, shut the door,
Run back up, to the bedroom,
Jump into bed, pull up the covers,
WE ARE NEVER GOING ON A BUG HUNT AGAIN!!
WAIT! It was a wooly bear, a moth caterpillar, not a big bear!
(You can listen to a sample of Lorraine Bayes saying the traditional chant at Songs For Teaching.)
Books, an incomplete list, to pair with searching for small animals such as insects, spiders, and roly-polies.

• Backyard Detective: Critters Up Close by Nic Bishop, Tangerine Press, 2002. A photographic collection on each page of “critters” which might be found in the same habitat.
• Bugs Are Insects by Anne Rockwell, illustrated by Steve Jenkins, Harper Collins Publishers, 2001. Use this book to learn about the scientific groupings of insects and the greater arthropod group.
• Do All Bugs Have Wings?: And Other Questions Kids Have About Bugs by Suzanne Slade, Picture Window Books, 2010. Once a small animal is found, use this book to answer some questions.
• It’s A Good Thing There Are Insects (Rookie Read-About Science Series) by Allan Fowler, Children’s Press, 1990. This book for emerging readers is also a good read-aloud for beginning a discussion on how insects are beneficial for human life.

I hope that spring weather has provided new science exploration opportunities for your students,
Peggy