Being away from my daily routine is both exciting and a little anxiety-producing, as in Look at all the other early childhood educators who are attending a session on science! and Did I remember to ask someone to feed the fish? Here are descriptions of a few of the sessions I attended at the 2011 NAEYC national conference.
The first session (8am!) got me in the swing of early childhood learning. Jill and Adam Bienenstock made a roomful of people feel as though we were outside as we photo-toured many playgrounds and play areas, and were introduced to features such as Wacky Posts, and ideas, such as, shrubs can be better than trees in maintaining close to the goal of 50% shade coverage because their shadows stay on the play area. Then each table got to find out how difficult it is to design a playground that meets most of children’s needs (and the designers’ requirements)—and how satisfying! We imagined ourselves working hard to climb a boulder, feeling the wind in our face as we went down the slide, and as teachers, being able to see and count all the children, even those behind a shrub (because the lower trunks are bare, we can see their legs). I will never look at playgrounds in the same way!

 
 
 
Jill and Adam know how to be playful while learning about the natural world through direct contact with it.
I especially looked forward to the conference because this was the first time  the NAEYC Early Childhood Science Interest Forum (ECSIF) would  hold an official meeting! (I sometimes think of my work as being in two worlds, the world of early childhood education and the science-teaching world, and it is so satisfying when they overlap.) The Early Childhood Science Interest Forum provides an opportunity  for early childhood educators, both experienced teachers and those new to the field, to network with others about teaching science, explore what is appropriate  content, discuss what young children are capable of doing and learning, exchange effective strategies and materials, and learn about resources for boosting  inquiry-based science in early childhood. Join the ECSIF, and help fuel a national dialogue around early childhood science  teaching and learning! Find the ECSIF on the NAEYC Interest Forum page, Facebook or email the facilitators at naeyc.ecsif@gmail.com
Presenting a workshop session with Science & Children editor Linda Froschauer to a  roomful of early childhood educators was delightful! My Early Years columns benefit from her expertise (in addition to the work of editors Valynda Mayes and Stephanie Anderson) and her knowledgeable instruction anchored our workshop. And the participants worked  so hard! When teachers participate in science inquiry we understand more fully how  to engage young children. (Read Debra Shapiro’s account of a workshop at a National Science Teachers Association conference where participants explored a motion-and-force activity.) Thank you for doing science with me.
Something about hearing a speaker in person makes their words connect more immediately  with my own experiences. Vivian Gussin Paley invited NAEYC participants to tell stories with her, and we did, even in a huge hall. You can learn more about this honored educator’s work by reading interviews with her at http://www.naeyc.org/content/conversation-vivian-gussin-paley and http://illinoisearlylearning.org/interviews/paley.htm
Oh why didn’t I take notes at Sylvia Chard and Yvonne Kogan’s presentation “Implementing the project approach: Changes in teaching, children’s work, and classroom displays”? They narrated a slide show of teachers’ and children’s work before and after implementing the Project Approach which revealed the ways classes can use a variety of media to investigate the  world and develop understanding through in-depth project work. And now I wish I had written down those inspirational words! You can read some of Chard’s and Kogan’s work in an introduction to their book of photography, From my side: Being a child.
At lunchtime I met with people at the Early Childhood Science Interest Forum table in the Interest Forum Café. The conversations I shared with educators from Florida, Turkey and China were about how science inquiry supports other curriculum areas and develops children’s problem-solving skills. How far did you have to travel to participate in this enriching conference?
The American Museum of Natural History presentation brought educators together with invertebrates—small animals such as caterpillars,  pillbugs, and Bess beetles. Again, our experience will help us guide our students. Look online for their resource, Life in the Leaf Litter by E.A. Johnson and K.M. Catley.
Early childhood teachers make the best astronauts! “Teacher Marie” (Faust Evitt) spoke on how interesting investigations meet teachers’ urgent need to move children from unproductive behavior to involved learning. Take a look at the work of her students and try these activities in your program.
 
Kindergarten teacher and author of Math Exchanges Kassia Wedekind shared math activities that are contextually meaningful and mathematically significant. She said the key characteristics of these mathematical conversations are that they are: 1) short, focused sessions that bring all mathematical minds together, 2) responsive to the needs of the specific group of mathematicians, and 3) designed for meaningful, guided reflection.
Even if you did not attend the conference, for a little longer you can download the handouts that presenters posted by going to the NAEYC website at www.naeyc.org, go to “Conferences” and select “Annual conference and Expo”, and then click on the “Session Handouts” button on the top menu bar to go to http://precis.preciscentral.com/utils/ip/FindPresentation.asp?EventID=9431c87f&Presenter=True&bhcp=1
Search the sessions for whatever interests you, click on the presentation title to make another small screen pop up, and scroll down on that screen to see any handouts that were uploaded by the presenters. Test it out by searching for “ashbrook,” or “evitt,” for example, and download my lesson plan for using our sense of smell, and Marie Faust Evitt’s resources.
One must eat and luckily the first restaurant I went to had many appealing dishes that proved delicious. I passed up the Ice Bar, the WonderWorks science-themed indoor amusement park, and Disney, but had great fun talking with teachers and others. Have you been to a conference? Check the NAEYC conference page to see where the next one will be and make a plan of how you can attend next time.
Let me know what the conference did for you,
Peggy

My school is offering “mini-grants” to teachers. It’s not a lot of money, but every little bit counts these days. I want to apply for funds for a digital camera for my elementary classroom. I know it would be useful, but the proposal requires a rationale and specific ideas for science use.
Jennifer, Evansville, Indiana
In the pre-digital age, cameras were a bit of a luxury in the classroom—there was the cost of the camera itself as well as  the costs of purchasing film and developing and printing the pictures. Digital cameras have eliminated these additional expenses, and the photos are readily available to you and your students. You and your students can incorporate images into other digital and print resources, assuming you have the hardware and software in your classroom to download and edit photos or video and to print pictures. The technology keeps getting better and better.
Students love to take photographs, and many of them may already have their own cameras, including cell phone cameras. However, schools often do not allow students to use cell phones in the classroom, even for academic tasks, and it would be a challenge to collect the images from different phones and cameras for class projects. Teachers sometimes bring in their own equipment for the classroom, but it’s better to keep your personal things at home. (I learned this the hard way when one of my cameras “disappeared” from a locked desk drawer. The school insurance did not cover it, and I’m glad it was an inexpensive one.)
Science classes are great venues for photography. The students are actively learning concepts and skills, and science topics are interesting to illustrate. When students create visuals to communicate, they are developing skills in visual literacy. Some ideas include

• Student presentations
• Field trip activities
• Examples of science fair display boards
• Showing the steps of an investigation
• Illustrations for reports
• Photos for science notebooks
• Photos of lab set-ups
• Virtual albums with examples of simple machines, rock formations, insects, cloud formations, erosion, and more
• Mystery objects (such as the ones on the last page of Science Scope) for discussions or bell-ringers
• Photos of class activities for bulletin boards, instead of commercial posters or other decorations
• Special event “scrapbooks”
• “Good news” photos to send to parents—in print or electronically—showing the students engaged in science activities
• Photos of ongoing observations (e.g., a butterfly in the stages of metamorphosis, the location of the sun during the year, a class garden, crystal growth, plant growth)
• Illustrations of safety rules with students as models or student-created posters of safety rules
• Illustrations for student handouts or assessments
• Illustrations for vocabulary on a word wall
• Photos used with writing prompts
• Incorporate photos into presentations such as wikis, blogs, or Glogster

When you get the camera(s), ask the art teacher to help students learn the basics of photographic design. Establish class guidelines about the appropriate use and care of the cameras. In cooperative groups, one student could be assigned the role of photographer. He or she would be the one responsible for using the camera during the activity. If students are using the cameras in class, be sure they return them to you before you dismiss the class. Check the cameras periodically to delete any inappropriate photos.
Some students may not want to be photographed. Check with your school for any policies about photographing students (parental permission may be required) or posting pictures of students on public websites, including blogs, wikis, social media sites, and online photo galleries.
At an NSTA conference, I saw a technology demonstration that connected cameras and computers wirelessly. As soon as the picture was taken, it was sent to the computer. It was quite a time-saver. Your tech staff may have more information on camera and network compatibility and with this technology.
The NSTA journals have published articles on photography in science classrooms with many more ideas. I’ve assembled a collection of articles in the NSTA Learning Center.
Good luck with your proposal!

It seems with each passing week, another tablet (computer?) is announced, reviewed, and sits on the store shelf. At last count, there are 54 options of the device occupying the “space” called a tablet. But how many of us have ever seen more than one or two or perhaps three different species of tables out in the wild, so to speak?

As the Christmas shopping season moves into high gear, the competition among the tablets will also gain momentum with ads for higher speed or lower price. What does all this matter to the science teacher? Well, believe it or not, it comes down to standards.
It’s not the standards we are used to teaching, but rather the standards of industry that will guide the producers of content into the hands of the consumers. Without a popular or universal standard, it’s an expensive risk for publishers to make a version of their science content available for a specific tablet or app with little more than the whims of the consumers and educational tech advisors as the guarantee that the work of the publisher will remain viable. The tablets and apps are similar to new languages. If enough people adopt the new language, then it is worthwhile to publish content in that language. But where is that tipping point?
Another aspect of a tablet’s chance of survival is its ecosystem. In tech terms the ecosystem is all of the content, apps, connectivity, and peripherals of the particular tablet. A diverse ecosystem is good sign that the tablet will have enough of a presence in the food chain to survive long enough to attract the attention of publishers and app writers.
You could think of the various tablet operating systems as biomes that support the life in the ecosystem. When HP cut its TouchPad tablet along with its WebOS, not only was the TouchPad’s ecosystem devastated, but arguably the entire biome disappeared from this planet.
The biomes of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android OS support the richest ecosystems right now, and although some tablet islands have evolved to significantly complex levels, the ability to interbreed with mainland tablets is limited. Sony has developed its own tablet to serve its own content, and work with its own products as well as include or install some legacy games which is something reminiscent to the disproven theory of ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. But it also can play well with Android apps.
Other tablets including the Nook Color and the Kindle Fire are enticing mates with the peacock plumage of low price and large storage and their personal cloud filled sky, but some early adopters wonder now if e-reading has taken the backseat to rich media viewing (and shopping) which could likely open again the wounds of video games and movies out competing printed text for user attention to the point the high quality e-ink screens are evolving out of the tablets. Ask Maggie at CNET discusses the Nook/Kindle/textbook issuer here.
So here lies the big question. Traditional textbooks have significant limitations, significant weight, signification costs, as well as limited shelf life, limited potential for alternate media, and limited space for diversions from standards-based content. If a single tablet emerged as the dominant content predator in a biome containing most of the schools, then science textbook writers could justify the costs and time to build effective e-texts around that dominant platform. But until one emerges that meets the appetite of the schools and the publishers, then a majority of the publishers and authors involved will sit on the sidelines waiting for the genetic dust to settle and a clear organism emerges victorious.
Some of the features that I believe the must-have tablet for science teaching requires is robust I/O meaning it is easy to put stuff on it and transfer stuff off it, in addition to outputting its screen to large displays. It needs cameras, microphones, device connectivity, wireless connectivity, GPS reception, easy app access, and realistic and effective classroom controls. Of course it would also need a tether-free life, and the strength, durability and long battery life of a black ops military-grade tablet, if such a thing exists…which I’m not at liberty to disclose. My dream device would also have a built in Geiger counter, IR thermometer, oscilloscope, multimeter, barometer, strain gauge screen (to use as a digital balance), mass spectrometer, pH meter, gas chromatograph, and light meter. Floating would be nice, and waterproof is a given. Solar power backup is a reasonable request, but I can understand if it would cost more for lifetime unconditional fault-free warranty.
So in the end, an almost unfathomable paradigm shift in science teaching is-at the moment-just out of reach. Just imagine a sub-454 gram tablet filled with every possible/needed science book, video, table, chart, lab notebook, emergency/first aid procedure, MSDS, photograph, dichotomous tree, graph, handbook, test prep, etc. that provides connectivity to school, college prep, scholarships, career information, government facilities, science organizations, journals, websites, breaking science news, NASA missions, equipment catalogs, education standards, etc.
On top of all that, the cost of the tablet could be less than that of two print textbooks. It could works across all grade levels, many subjects, is perpetually up to date, and is multi-lingual. What’s there not to like?
A pipe dream? No. But before companies invest in a completely new medium, expectations for a financial return are reasonable. Or are they?
The environment of the educational tablet is changing more rapidly then the dominant species have adapted. Somewhat of a vacuum has been allowed to form, and now more then ever before has the science content landscape been up for grabs. Whatever media-organism can capitalize on these new niches may prove to the next Tyrannosaur, saber-toothed cat, or Homo sapiens. And many are looking at us to fill the void.
Us?
Hmmm.
Why not?

As I read this issue, I really identified with What Students Really Think About Doing Research, but in a slightly different context. I was affiliated with a professional development workshop a few summers ago, and as the culminating event, teachers were expected to conduct a research project and present it to the group. The teachers went through the same feelings as the students in this study in terms of reluctance (Why do we have to do this? I’d rather spend time making lesson plans.) and difficulty in topic selection (although in the interest of time, teachers were given a list of suggestions). The university faculty offered support and after the complaining was over, the teachers really got involved. The course finale was each team presenting their findings to the group. Afterwards, most of the teachers agreed that this was an outstanding experience (many had never been involved in a science fair as a student and a few had never conducted original research before). They were justifiably very proud of their accomplishments and took the display boards back to their schools to show their students what they did.
The author of The Science Fair: A New Look at an Old Tradition describes science fairs from two other perspectives: as a professor of science education and as a parent. He offers several suggestions for making science fairs a meaningful experience: using modeling and long-term preparation with students, training for teachers and judges, recognizing that not all research is experimental, differentiating between projects completed in a laboratory setting and those completed at home or in school, identifying the role of parents, and providing opportunities for teamwork.

Regardless of the science fair format, it can be difficult for students to get started (or even to think about participating). Students Inspiring Students describes the Archimedes Initiative, http://www.archimedesinitiative.org/an online tool with video segments designed to help students choose a topic and conduct research. The site also includes video interviews with students as they describe their projects. Would these students be role models for yours?  The Art of Scientific Ideas looks at “problem finding” with strategies for students and teachers based on the notion of creativity and thinking outside of the box.
What do judges look for in science fair projects? Inside the Science Fair: The Judge’s Perspective describes the results of a survey of science fair judges. Their suggestions and recommendations are summarized in the form of a Q&A session: What makes the top projects stand out? How important are the display boards and oral presentations? What characteristics are important for student participation? If students work with scientists or in professional labs, how does that affect the judging?
The author of Using Inquiry to Break the Language Barrier offers suggestions on how to modify science fair requirements to help ELL students be successful. Using pendulums as a common denominator, students were guided through the research process. Would these suggestions be appropriate for other students? [SciLinks: Pendulums]
NSTA’s MsMentor blog also addressed a question about science fairs and SciLinks inlcudes a list of websites with many ideas for both traditional and nontraditional projects. For example, Science Buddies has a “topic selection wizard” that guides students through the process of selecting and fine tuning a topic. This site has sections and resources for both students and teachers.
Many colleagues have shared excellent ideas for traditional and alternative science projects in NSTA journals, such as the December 2007 issue of Science and Children and the March 2004 issue of Science Scope.  These articles are also good resources for secondary teachers, especially if your students are science fair novices or if you want some fresh ideas. The articles have timelines, rubrics describing high quality projects, and suggestions for helping students who may have few resources at home. They also describe online science fairs, science expos, multimedia presentations, themed projects, mini-conferences, and other nontraditional “fairs.” To save time, I’ve assembled a shared collection of NSTA resources on Science Fairs and Alternatives in the NSTA Learning Center.
Don’t forget to look at the Connections for this issue (November  2011). 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.