Should science instruction before grade 3 be eliminated to make more time in the school day for Language Arts and Math instruction?
That question has energized the NSTA General Science email list in recent days. It was raised by a science teacher asking for research on the question so he can guide a study committee to best practice rather than slashing a whole section of the curriculum.
Here are a few responses.

• I am in firm agreement that it is not only okay but absolutely necessary that young children PK – 2 have quality science instruction. As referenced in the research, young children not only learn when presented quality instruction but also are engaged and excited by the instruction.
• I was just the other day talking with two of our granddaughters about science activities they were doing in school – 3 and 5 grade.  Both happily talked about the writing and more they did following the activities. The third grader said they were writing a related play, making props, for presentation to class.
• …youngsters are naturally curious about EVERYTHING – most especially science.  Therefore the initiation of science education right away is not only important as a component of every student’s general education; …stimulating [content] is an intrinsic motivation for learning AND to further the independent and voluntary efforts of youngsters in informal learning.
• 

  Children sound out words to label their observatio n drawings. "Baby beetle" and "Beetle adult"

  
  I agree that the hands-on science activities motivate children (beginning in preschool) to want to use language arts and math skills to explain their discoveries and reasoning. They want to sound out or copy the word “caterpillar”, measure and record the length of a sprout on a calendar, and record their explanation of how the steepness of a ramp changes the speed of the ball.
• Science is everywhere and can be integrated into all topics. Instead eliminating it, we should be looking for ways to integrate it into more curriculum. The schools that have done this kind of cross curricular integration have been able to utilize their limited classroom time more efficiently. Admittedly, it takes cooperation and some time to work out how to cover all the standards, but to just eliminate science in this age group — which is full of a sense of wonder about nature and a sponge for learning concepts — seems almost like they are giving up and I think they would regret this in the years to come. 
• Teaching science in the primary classroom significantly increases students’ vocabulary which is a biggie in any testing environment. As a retired 1st grade teacher I saw science as a way to BOOST my students’ verbal skills as it addresses communicating their findings as they perform experiments. VERY logical. You can’t do this with just reading/math. Science was my hook, line and sinker to get them to LOVE reading and writing.  
• Ask the committee how the 3^rd and 4^th grade teachers will prepare the students for the 4^th grade science standardized test if students do not have science instruction in K-2.
• Spread science out throughout the week in varied, appropriate formats—have a group lesson of about 20-30 minutes, one at the beginning and one near the end of the week to introduce concepts and procedures, and to have a discussion and sense-making wrap up. In the middle of the week the children use centers to carry out and repeat hands-on activities, complete data-gathering, write, math work, and vocabulary development, scheduled during the time for small groups or independent work.

What do you think, what does research show? Add your two cents as a comment.
Peggy
PS—If you are not yet an NSTA member, here is your chance to get $10 off your new membership (discount code: SMBR2011). Join NSTA for $65 until April 30th …and get all journal articles (4 journals, and their archives) online for free, and a 20% discount on every NSTA Press book in the NSTA Store. Members can join any of 12 members-only listservs to share valuable knowledge from other science teaching professionals. This blog is just the tip of the iceberg in sharing with, and learning from, the greater community of science-interested teachers. Peggy

Spring is a great time to focus on botany! This issue has many ideas to enhance traditional plant activities to make inquiry “bloom” in the classroom. I’ve noted the SciLinks topics that would support the content or include additional activities. The editor has also included quotations on the value of plants from many different authors Words to Grow On – perhaps they could be the center of your bulletin board on the topic.

The next time you see an advertisement on TV for “chia pets,” you’ll have a different perspective after reading Ch-ch-ch-chia Seeds for Inquiry. (I did not realize that chia is considered a “superfood” by some). The article describes how working with these seeds can help to clear up misconceptions about seeds and extend the typical plant-a-seed activity. The student activity worksheet is included. [SciLinks: Seed Germination]
Earth’s Most Important Producers: Meet the Phytoplankton illustrates several activities to help students explore the basis of aquatic food webs in the field and create their own plankton blooms. I wish I would have had the directions for making simple plankton nets (having students make them would give them some ownership in the investigation. [SciLinks: Plankton, Protists, Food Webs]

The guest editorial Biodiversity and the Future of Food notes “…we have come to regularly purchase and ingest products that have no recognizable connection to anything that would historically have been called food.” I wonder how many of our students really understand where the “food” they eat comes from, and how plants are the basis of food chains and webs. (My students were surprised that what they called “vegetables” were actually parts of plants – fruits, seeds, stems, roots, leaves, flowers.) The author describes how the biodiversity of plants is the key to sustainability. On a similar food-related topic, Organic Milk: Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side considers the definition of “organic” and issues related to nutrition, health concerns, additives, and animal welfare. There is also a chart showing the worst and best fruits and vegetables for pesticides. The investigation in Food-System Botany helps students to consider the relationship between their own eating habits and agricultural diversity. [SciLinks: Plants as Food,  Sustainable Agriculture, Nutrition, Biodiversity, Antibiotics]
The authors of Our Human-Plant Connection raise some interesting points about the “plant deficit” in schools. How many schools or classrooms have live plants in them? Is plant science an important part of the curriculum (more than just learning the parts of a flower or planting seeds in paper cups)? Do we include botanical gardens in our field trips? Even worse than a deficit is “plant blindness” in which we overlook the plants in an environment to focus on the animals and their adaptations (and then it’s mostly the vertebrates that get the attention!). The article has a wealth of suggestions and resources to get students (and teachers) interested in plant biology. In What’s So Special About Plants? Inquiry in the Classroom, the author shares her passion for plants with her students through many activities, including the 5E lesson described in detail here. Students explore the characteristics of plants and learn how to do biological drawings. [SciLinks: Plant Adaptations, Plant Growth]
Seeds of Wonder and Discovery describes the PlantingScience online community that fosters communication between students and scientists as they investigate topics in botany. These investigations could be used as both ongoing or culminating activities. (You may also be interested in Project BudBurst, a citizen-science project related to plants.
I’m ready to work in my garden with a new appreciation for plants.

I just sat through another full day of “professional development.” As a middle school science teacher, I’m interested in many topics related to my subject, but this day was a series of generic presentations to the entire faculty. I kept thinking about better ways to use my time.
—Heidi, Bellingham, WA
I know exactly what you mean! It is frustrating to sit through a session on a topic you’re already comfortable with or does not relate to your teaching situation. These one-size-fits-all workshops also can be frustrating from the perspective of the presenter. When my colleague and I were invited to conduct a workshop on cooperative learning, we asked the administrator for particular issues to address or if we could provide several sessions based on the experience levels of the teachers. She insisted all the teachers needed “the basics.” It was not a great day for anyone.
It’s important, however, to differentiate between training and professional development (PD). If the school is implementing new software for attendance, grading, or communications, then all teachers and staff need the training and subsequent updates. Other topics—such as safety, regulation updates, or district-wide initiatives—may require periodic training events.
From an administrator’s point of view, scheduling a large group session—a presentation or “motivational speaker”—is the easiest form of PD. But just as we differentiate our instruction based on students’ needs, PD should be differentiated based on teachers’ needs. Early-career teachers may need more on basic strategies such as cooperative learning or classroom management, while veterans may have more specialized needs.

Does your school or district have a PD committee? If so, who is the representative from the science department? What voice does he or she have in terms of expressing your needs?
Would it be possible for the science department to design its own PD (taking into account any “training” the school would require)? Ask the teachers to examine your curriculum and standards to identify science topics in which they need background knowledge or cutting-edge instructional topics for which they would like more information or experience: inquiry, science notebooks, formative assessments, laboratory procedures, reading/writing in science, inclusion, technology, safety, content background. The result of your discussion should be a set of goals reflecting the needs of your teachers.
Ask your administrator for any state or local PD requirements and for district or contractual stances on activities such as independent study, teacher-directed activities, or professional learning communities. Find out what types of pre-approval and documentation would be acceptable for these nontraditional activities.
With the approval of your administration, identify potential PD activities that could help teachers reach the goals: teacher-directed study groups, action research projects, independent study, online courses, connections with higher education science departments, collaborations with other school districts (including videoconferencing), events at nearby museums or science centers, webinars, online collaborations via discussion groups or networking sites, and/or presentations by your own teachers (for which they should receive a modest stipend). Rather than listing a series of unrelated events, be sure your planned activities connect with your identified goals.
I’ve worked in a district that encouraged teachers to design PD activities. If we did activities on our own time, we were excused from the full-day workshops during the year. It was a lot of work to plan and document, but it was worth it to have experiences that met our needs.
The NSTA Learning Center http://learningcenter.nsta.org/ has resources to help you create and document PD plans and portfolios to help you chart your progress toward meeting the goals.
Don’t write off the concept of ongoing PD, based on a few bad experiences. I would hesitate to use an accountant whose last attended a tax seminar in 1995 or a doctor who bragged she never bothered to learn new medical procedures. The mechanics in the garage I use display the certificates they earn from their ongoing training. Teachers, as professionals, have the obligation to maintain and update their skills and knowledge base.

Long-time NSTA exhibitor Thomas “Tom” Nelson Hubbard died Monday, March 21, 2011, in Santa Barbara, California from cardio-respiratory failure.  Born February 22, 1931, in Rockford, Illinois, Tom attended Rockford schools, Hotchkiss School (Class of ’49) and Yale University (Class of ’53).  He is survived by Loretta “Lorry” Hubbard, his wife since 1981.
Tom founded Hubbard Scientific Co. in 1961 and sold it in 1973 and then founded Crystal Productions Co., an art education resource publisher in Northbrook, Illinois. He then moved to Aspen, Colorado in 1975 where he served as Chairman until his death.  The business continues today in its office located in Glenview, Illinois.
Although he became a paraplegic in 1975 following a hang glider accident in Aspen, Tom’s enthusiasm for life, adventure, travel, fly fishing, and the invention and production of educational resource materials, both for science and art, was unhampered.  His sense of humor, his intellect, and his charming smile were enjoyed by all who knew him. Tom was also a talented watercolor landscape artist and showed in various galleries around the country as well as in Aspen, Colorado, where he lived for over 30 years.
Memorials may be sent to the Anderson Ranch Arts Center Foundation in Aspen, Colorado; the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in Santa Barbara, California; or the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Foundation in Santa Barbara, California.

Pucker up, it’s time to talk pickles. Pickled peppers, cukes, onions, eggs, really anything that can be preserved by tossing it in a brine solution and letting nature take its course. In the case of pickling, its about establishing the right conditions for one group of bacteria to win out over another. The ones that proliferate give the food the flavors people like, and they preserve the food for the long haul (to the pantry or refrigerator… tough times). The ones that lose would have made the food taste off and can even make the food poisonous. It’s a rigged game that we don’t mind betting on.

Chemistry, as you might expect, is at the root of this. The brine solution makes conditions acidic, which the bacteria we want to thrive happen to prefer, and as they thrive, they generate lactic acid, making their surroundings even more to their liking. At the same time, the bacteria we want to fail prefer an environment on the other side of the pH scale. An ideal pickling solution ends up at a pH of 4.6, somewhere between tomato juice (4) and black coffee (5) in terms of acidity.

We have passed into the tenth week of the weekly, online, video series “Chemistry Now,” and the chemistry of the kitchen returns as a source of interesting video and lessons. As we’ve written before, please view the video, try the lessons, and let us know what you think.

Photo: T. Brown

Through the Chemistry Now series, NSTA and NBC Learn have teamed up with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create lessons related to common, physical objects in our world and the changes they undergo every day. The series also looks at the lives and work of scientists on the frontiers of 21st century chemistry.

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Video: “The Chemistry of Pickles” (one in a 6-part Cheeseburger Chemistry series) describes the role of fermentation, lactic acid, and pH in the process of pickling food to preserve it. (The Latin root of the word “preserve” is traced in a separate Word Root.)

Middle school lesson: the pH and Acidity Lesson Plan gives students an understanding of pH indicators, pH, and the acid/base properties of some common household mixtures.

High school lesson: the pH and Acid Content High School Lesson Plan helps students understand pH indicators, pH and properties of acids and bases, and titration of an acid.

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

[contact-form 2 “ChemNow]

Astoria High School in Astoria, Oregon just became an experiment in the future of student computing. The tech company Google put an experimental laptop into the hands every one of the school’s 700 students. Beyond the usual one-to-one initiative is the fact that the particular laptop, named the Cr-48, is not a regular laptop, but more a cross between a laptop and a mobile internet device.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtnIQfjoMrg[/youtube]


The video below is a humorous take on why to use an internet based notebook over a traditional laptop. Note: at the end it mentions that 25 computers were harmed during the filming. No kidding! With the fabulous photography, especially in slow motion, and the application of wonderful yet damaging scientific/engineering procedures, this five minutes and 37 seconds is well worth your time even though it is an infomercial.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm-Vnx58UYo[/youtube]
 
What does the P in PC stand for? Why personal of course. But have you forgotten why the C was called P? I know, the Cr-48 is not just a dumb terminal accessing a mainframe…or is it? Either way, that’s not my point. Instead, I would like you to consider why we wanted some P in our C.
Was it to get away from the mainframe? Likely. But remember the mainframe is not dead, just remarketed. IBM has a whole page of mainframes for sale on their website as well as a historical archive of information about the mainframe. And with just a slight tweaking of the meaning of the term mainframe, cloud-based computing and thin clients have pushed mainframe as a concept back to the forefront. It’s just that the mainframe no longer must be physical machine in a physical place. Instead it is more of a mystical aberration where everything is sort of …well, everywhere, anywhere, somewhere?.
In a nutshell the Cr-48 looks like a laptop and behaves like a laptop, that is if you only use your laptop to surf the net and use web or cloud-based apps.  It does not download in the traditional sense, nor run traditional programs beyond its browser-like OS called, as you’d expect, Chrome OS, and Chrome-based apps. In fact, in some ways is similar to the One Laptop Per Child Program’s XO machine.
Here are some links to info and reviews about the Cr-48 notebook:
Google’s site showcasing the Cr-48
Engadget’s review of the Cr-48
A first-hand account of using the Cr-48
A description of a soon to be released public version
And of course, a naysayer’s take on the Cr-48

So the Google CR-48 Chrome notebook is an interesting change in paradigm…or is it?

I’ll spare you my take on the Cr-48, especially since I have not played with one yet, but I do find this technology innovation somewhat circular in its reasoning. Not good or bad, just circular. But remember, traveling in a circle does not mean you are always in the same time zone.
New technologies have a way of arriving before their time. But in this case, the Cr-48 just might be right on time. Very much like the iPad, it will take users of the Cr-48 a while to start focusing what it can do rather than what it can’t do. But once over that hump, there is a great big world of new possibilities waiting discovery.
And that’s when things will really get interesting!

I will have a student teacher next semester. In addition to her leading my physical science classes, I’d like her to experience some other responsibilities that teachers have. Any suggestions? — Kimberly, Providence, Rhode Island Many people don’t realize the responsibilities that teachers have beyond the curriculum. Even though your student teacher will be eager to work with your classes, you’re very wise to help her get a more comprehensive picture of the related professional duties and responsibilities. Check the student teaching handbook from the college/university or contact the program supervisor to find out what activities they suggest or require. You could consider asking your student teacher to

• Attend faculty meetings, department or committee meetings, curriculum workshops, inservice activities
• Participate in non-instructional duties (homeroom, hall duty, study halls, etc.)
• Assist you with managing lab materials and resources during your planning period
• Attend student events (plays, concerts, athletic contests)
• Attend a school board meeting
• Learn about the requisition and budgeting process
• Prepare an “emergency” lesson plan for a substitute to follow
• Make a presentation at a department meeting on new technology or other skills she has

During my student teaching, I “shadowed” a ninth-grade student for an entire day—from homeroom period to the dismissal bell. This was a university requirement, and student teachers had an observation sheet to describe what happened in each class, what the student did, the teachers’ instructional strategies, and how teachers interacted with the shadowed student. It was an eye-opening experience. When our student teaching seminar class met, we shared our experiences and what we learned from them. We concluded the day was exhausting: It was hard to maintain a high level of interest and enthusiasm as the day went on, and some classes were more engaging than others. I had several “aha” moments throughout the day:

• The difficulties in getting from one room to another within the 3-minute time allowance
• The different expectations teachers had for acceptable class behavior
• How students had to adapt to different grading schemes used by the teachers
• The preponderance of teacher-led activities (I’m hoping this has changed over the years)
• The overall noise level—even in the classrooms it was hard to think or reflect quietly

But one observation was the most compelling. My student was a quiet, unassuming young man. On this particular day, not one adult spoke to him. He slipped into the classrooms and sat in the back. He did not cause any distractions. He didn’t raise his hand much, and no teacher called on him for a response, asked him a question, or talked with him one-on-one. So for eight periods he basically sat and watched and did what he was told. The cashier in the cafeteria did not even say “thank you” when he paid for his lunch. I hoped that this was not a usual day for him, but I suspect it was. I wonder what kind of memories he has of his high school days. Based on this “sit-through” experience, I vowed that my greatest responsibility as a teacher would be to make my class a safe and welcoming place, where all students are invited (and expected) to participate and where their efforts are recognized. I don’t remember this young man’s name, but observing his experiences as a student helped me to become a better teacher. I would recommend giving your student teacher a similar opportunity.   Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maysbusinessschool/381289757/

The children whom I see once-a-week in an hour-long afternoon science enrichment class show growth in their exploration of building using ramps and blocks to create pathways for balls. These materials have been available each session for about four months. An hour once a week is not much time to explore a set of materials but the children seem to be able to pick up where they left off the last time. They enjoy making the balls go into a goal, creating elaborate structures around a few ramps, and making especially long ramps. Their work had seemed stalled so I assigned a task before building. I wanted to see how the children, ages 3.5-5, would approach the difficult task of drawing the relationship between two 3-D objects so I asked them to make a set-up with any two wooden (unit) building blocks and draw a picture of it. Most of the children made simple line drawings of one face of the blocks with varying degrees of accuracy (some were more oval than rectangular), and a few children traced the shapes. I hoped that this practice drawing would help them begin to think of how 3-D objects can be placed together and that thinking before building might lead to new structures.
(Note: In talking with the children I was searching my brain for the name given to the rectangular block and couldn’t come up with it. Not a cube but a ________. An online resource, The Annenberg Foundation’s Interactives: Geometry 3-D Shapes, gave me the word I was looking for. These unit blocks are polyhedrons, 3-D shapes whose faces are polygons, and specifically right prism polyhedron because the opposite sides are equal and they meet at right angles. The general term “rectangular prism” is appropriate. The site has a cool section where these shapes are shown unfolded.)
Nora S. Newcombe’s article in the Summer 2010 American Educator, Picture This: Increasing Math And Science Learning By Improving Spatial Thinking, has a fascinating discussion about spatial thinking skills and how to improve spatial thinking with some simple techniques. Newcombe asks, “Since spatial thinking is associated with skill and interest in STEM fields (as well as in other areas, such as art, graphic design, and architecture), the immediate question is whether it can be improved. Can we educate children in a way that would maximize their potential in this domain?” “In addition to practicing spatial thinking tasks like those shown in the box on page 30, well-conceived symbolic representations, analogies, and gestures are also effective in improving one’s spatial thinking ability.” She describes a study that shows that parents using spatial words like outside, inside, under, over, around, and corner help preschoolers improve their spatial thinking. Although “precise answers are not yet possible,” Newcombe says, “However, we are beginning to have some good ideas about where to start, especially with preschool and elementary students.”

Last week I challenged the children to first draw a ramp set-up that included at least two ramps and two blocks, and then build it. There were also sponges and plastic quart containers available. The children got to work drawing, some rushing to finish and some working more methodically. As they finished, they picked out materials and began building. Most of the 14 children referred to their drawings as they built, whether or not the structure closely matched the drawing.

One child announced that, “Mine’s not working!” I asked the group, What should he do?” and they responded, “Make a new plan!” He did. He went back to the table, re-drew his plan and then built a revised structure (which he was happy with) and continued working with for another 30 minutes. Two of the youngest children did not wander as they often did but spent the time engaged with building and ball-rolling. Another child had drawn a bridge-like structure with an up-ramp, level section, and a down-ramp. He tried to build it but could not get it to stay up. When I asked him what he wanted to do, he pointed to his plan indicating where he needed two supporting blocks. With a marker he drew in the supports, and then got two blocks to successfully build the revised structure.
To learn the most out of this activity, the children need time to investigate the relationship between the blocks, the slope of the ramps and the size and weight of the balls. They need time to play—did the ball make it into the hole?, time to compare—the heavy ball bumped off the path here but the light one kept going, time to think and talk about why, and time to revise their structures—“I’m going to make it better this time!” By designing, discussing their ideas, building, and revising their designs, I hope the children will gain experience with physical science concepts of force and motion while developing their spatial thinking.
Peggy

When I was in my undergrad science methods class, we learned about the value of inquiry in science. That was many years ago, and yet we’re still talking about the value of inquiry in science. I wonder if it’s because we still think of an “analog” situation: we do either cookbook labs (in which all students have to do is follow the directions) or we do full inquiry investigations (in which many students struggle). But rather than an either/or situation, this articles in this year’s Science & Children are showing how inquiry can be considered a continuum— confirmation inquiry (i.e., the cookbook), structured inquiry, guided inquiry, open inquiry. What differentiates these is the role of the students and teacher in asking questions, designing procedures, collecting and organizing data, and generating explanations and conclusions. The more input the students have, the “higher” the level of inquiry. The graphic in Inquiry Is Essential shows the relationship between levels of learner self-direction and directions provided by the teacher.
NSTA publications have many examples of how teachers can scaffold activities to guide students through the continuum, so that even a traditional activity can take on the characteristics of inquiry. (See The Many Levels of Inquiry in the October 2008 issue of Science & Children.) For this issue, I’ve noted the SciLinks topics that would support the content or include additional activities.

If you teach middle or high school and your students need some assistance in transitioning through the levels of inquiry, the strategies described in this issue could be helpful. The authors of Fire Up the Inquiry, Lose the Recipe, and Got Inquiry? describe how to adapt lessons to each of these levels–the same basic investigation, but with different levels of student input. The Mitten Problem discusses what to do when students have misconceptions that interfere with inquiry learning.  Overcoming Difficulties has ideas for working with bilingual students during inquiry lessons.  [SciLinks: Heat and Temperature, Insulation, Seed Germination, What Are the Parts of a Plant]
Water Pressure in Depth makes the point that although students may follow the directions and enjoy an activity, they may not really understand the science involved. By giving students more of a role in the activity, they may take on more ownership of their learning.  [SciLinks: Fluids and Pressure, Magnetism, Recycling]
One rationale that some teachers may have about inquiry is that there is too much content to cover. In 5 Strategies to Support All Teachers, one of the strategies is to connect the students’ ideas to the standards or curriculum goals. [SciLinks: Lakes and Ponds, Composting] From Adding Inquiry to Doing Science is a very honest discussion of a teacher’s efforts to transition from activities with predetermined outcomes to less predictable inquiry investigations. As she shows, younger students are indeed capable of higher-level thinking. [SciLinks: Autumn Leaves, Identifying Trees] Inquiry Follow-Up capitalizes on the curiosity and enthusiasm of pre-schoolers to investigate patterns of bird behavior at feeders. [SciLinks: Birds]
Two articles embed inquiry into the 5E model. Which Paper Towel Is Best? and Let’s Try It Out in the Air show how even a common investigation question can be kicked up a notch to incorporate more input from the students.[SciLinks: Wind Currents. See also The KidWind Project]
And check out more Connections for this issue (March 2011). 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.