“Why do we have to learn this?” I’m sure we’ve all heard this in our classes, and most students aren’t satisfied by answers such as You might need this information later in life or It’s an important part of science or It will be on the test (and rightfully so). Some students see the connections between the real world and what happens in class, but most will need some guidance to make these connections. By engaging in authentic activities, students have a chance to apply what they are learning to new situations, they can experience what scientists actually do, and many of their experiences could evolve into lifelong interests or career choices.
As an advocate for citizen science projects, I’m excited about NSTA’s partnership with SciStarters—you may have seen the promotion on the Science Scope site. SciStarters is a searchable collection of community-based and citizen-science projects–regional, national, and international. There are projects appropriate for all grade levels and on a variety of topics.
This issue features descriptions of several classroom-tested projects:

• Even if you don’t live in Boston, the site of the project described in Across the City and Across the Grades: Investigating Energy Flow in the Boston Harbor Ecosystem, the project can be an example of how local ecosystems (including urban ones) can become a learning environment. [SciLinks: Ecosystems]

• I spend a lot of time on the Delaware coast, and I often find bits of sea glass on the beach. These bits of glass from bottles get polished by the waves, although with the prevalence of plastic bottles, we’re finding less glass on the beach. So I was intrigued by Citizen Science: International Pellet Watch, a project based in Japan in which students collected resin pellets that wash ashore and send them to a lab for analysis as an indication of the presence of “persistent organic pollutants.” [SciLinks: Ocean Currents] This project exemplifies the type of collaborations described in Speaking of Science and the value of inviting speakers from the community to work with your students. This article has suggestions for working with community members, including brainstorming questions with students ahead of time, working with your administrators, and connecting the visit with the curriculum. The author also suggests taping the presentations to use with other classes. I’d add a suggestion about Skyping with these folks to take advantage of expertise beyond the community or to coordinate your schedules.

• Our students have a hard time disconnecting from electronic devices. The title Empowering Students to Investigate Their Energy Use with a Safe, Easy-to-Use, Low-Cost Electrical Energy Meter has three descriptors that teachers like to hear, and the author is true to his word. The real research that students do with a lost-cost meter could help the school and their families to save money. (And you’ll have to read the article to see what vampires have to do with the project.) The authors of Energy Monitoring: Powerful Connections Between Math, Science, and Community describe an activity in which students monitor electricity use in the home and analyze the data to find trends or patterns. They provide several graphs of electrical use—even if you can’t do the activity, the graphs tell a story that can spark class discussions. [SciLinks: Current Electricity]

• Connecting to Your Community Through Birds and Citizen Science updates us on the pioneering projects from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, such as e-Bird and Bird Sleuth, with examples from middle school classrooms. The author of Turtle Conservation and Citizen Science shows how students can connect with local efforts in studying populations of living things and their reactions to invasive species. [SciLinks: Bird Characteristics, Bird Adaptations, Herpetology, Reptiles]

• Environmental Decision Making in Our Backyard has a variation of a simulation on predator-prey relationships and the impact of habitat change and invasive (or nonnative) species. [SciLinks: Food Chains and Food Webs, Invasive Species, Predator/Prey]

“Community-Based Science” was also the theme of the March 2010 issue of Science Scope. Find more ideas here.

Share Your Expertise: Be Part of the National Conversation on STEM! Don’t miss a chance to participate in the NSTA 2013 STEM Forum & Expo, in St. Louis, MO, May 15-18. The deadline to submit a proposal to share your STEM expertise is quickly approaching on November 30.
NSTA is looking for workshop presenters (teachers and administrators) to address STEM in the context of the following topics and corresponding strands:
PreK–2 (Early Childhood)
Grades 3–5
Grades 6–9
Grades 10–12
Effective STEM Partnerships
Administration/ Implementation
NSTA calls for proposals go out to all, including classroom teachers who have never yet presented but want to share an interesting science inquiry and their principals who want to support their presenting teachers. All presenters were once a teacher who had never presented at a conference. NSTA participants are engaged and welcoming!
The Forum kicks off on May 15 with keynote speaker, Dr. Ainissa Ramirez, Ph.D., scholar, inventor, host of Science Saturdays, and science evangelist, followed by an exclusive evening exhibit preview and reception. The next three days offer in-depth panel discussions with over 30 experts, hands-on workshops, and demonstrations of the latest technology, products, and methodologies related to STEM instruction.
Proposals to present at the 2013 NSTA STEM Forum & Expo will be accepted online until November 30.
Early childhood educators–get your science professional development at a National Science Teachers Association conference–click here to see a list of future conferences.
Hope to see you, and attend your session, at one of them!

In my sixth grade science class, I try to involve the students in fun activities. But they don’t take them seriously unless I require something in writing or give a quiz. And then the students don’t seem to be able to connect the activity with the content. What can I do?
—Nina from Idaho
I once worked with a teacher who used his own action research to investigate a similar situation. He surveyed his students to find out what class activities they enjoyed the most. He was not surprised when the students mentioned hands-on investigations, games, small group discussions, and simulations. He then asked what activities they thought were most important in learning science. Expecting to see the same activities, he was surprised (and puzzled) when the students identified worksheets as the most important.
He followed up on this response with the students. They noted that worksheets (often assigned as homework) are graded and if they were not completed the students were kept in at recess to finish them. To a fifth-grader, this consequence meant the task was very important. The worksheet grade was then factored into the course grade, which the students saw as the teacher’s evaluation of their learning. They considered the “fun” activities to be a diversion or a reward for doing the worksheets.
This finding troubled the teacher. He had chosen investigations and other activities related to the learning goals and assumed students would see the connection. His research showed this was not happening, so he began to introduce each activity with an explicit reference to the learning goals (which he kept posted on the board during the unit). For example: In this lab, we will investigate the relationship between…. The purpose of this word game is to check your understanding of the key vocabulary for this unit. As you use this online simulation, pay attention to….
I shared his research with another teacher, who added a short discussion at the end of an activity to debrief with the students on how it helped them achieve the learning goal(s).  She also used an exit slip or a notebook entry in which students summarized what they learned.
If in previous years, your students were used to science as seatwork, they will need some extra help, guidance, and modeling to understand how learning can occur in a variety of situations.
 
Photo: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/2942099404_1a7248a39a.jpg