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Looking for a challenge

By Mary Bigelow

Posted on 2010-03-08

I’ve been teaching middle school science for 15 years, and I love my job. But I’m wondering what other opportunities there might be for sharing and expanding my experiences and knowledge. I don’t think I want to be an administrator, but I’m open to suggestions for a new challenge.
—Brita, Virginia Beach, VA
I’d be interested in seeing any formal research on the topic, but I’ve observed many teachers with 10 to 15 years of experience develop the same feelings. They have a good repertoire of teaching strategies, and they are comfortable with their content knowledge. Although they are very confident in their classroom role, they feel a need to explore additional ways to contribute to the teaching and learning processes.
Moving beyond the comfort zone of the classroom requires risk-taking and a willingness to take on additional challenges. The term “teacher leadership” covers a variety of roles teachers can play in their schools. You might investigate opportunities to serve as a science advocate on school committees and task forces, a department chair, instructional coach, mentor, advisory board member, grantwriter, team leader, or project director.
You could become more active in NSTA or your state affiliate by volunteering for committees or running for a leadership office. Consider sharing your experience, expertise, and enthusiasm by writing articles for NSTA journals or NSTA Reports, or presenting at NSTA’s regional or national conferences. Connect with others through the NSTA email lists and the NSTA Communities. You’ll meet interesting people who share your passion for science and will invigorate your intellect.

Expand your knowledge in different content areas. Take a look at NSTA’s Science Objects, which are free, online modules on a variety of topics. (Being certified in chemistry, I did not have many opportunities to study the earth sciences in college, so I really enjoy these modules). Also consider enrolling in courses at museums or other informal agencies, either on-line or on-site. Experiment with new technologies, including social networking, podcasting, video sharing, wikis, Moodles, and blogs.
Join or start a book discussion group, focusing on science-related themes, using NSTA Recommends for ideas. Offer to do workshops for teachers in your district or others. A district I worked in used teacher leaders to do most of the summer academy sessions. You also could check with a regional service agency or informal science organization to see if they need workshop presenters or advisors. Teaching at the college level can be a great experience, too.
Sabbatical leaves are not as common as they used to be, but your school or district may still grant them for graduate work, travel related to your teaching assignment, or internships at university labs or museums. It may be time to upgrade your credentials through additional graduate study or by working on National Board Certification.
Another exciting opportunity is being a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA). Schools or districts release experienced teachers from some or all of their classroom duties and assign them to assist with strategic planning, professional development, coaching, induction, curriculum design, or special projects. These positions, often funded through a grant, usually last only a semester or two. The cost to the district is the salary of a full-time substitute. I worked with a TOSA whose role was to mentor elementary teachers in science. She modeled inquiry-based strategies in classes, acquired materials for lab activities, and provided professional development. Since she was an active teacher, she had a positive rapport with the teachers in a non-threatening, non-judgmental way. Her salary was paid by a professional development grant.
Don’t overlook the option of earning administrative credentials. Your insights and experience would make you a valuable resource for the science faculty. Working with a principal or curriculum director who understands the unique demands of science instruction would be a dream come true for many science teachers. Even if you never become a principal or central office administrator, the coursework, reflective processes, and internship can provide close encounters with another component of the education system. Having administrative credentials can open the door for other opportunities, too.
You’ll never know when an opportunity for presenting, teaching, publishing, or advisory work will present itself. Have an up-to-date resume/vita including your educational background, your credentials or certificates, a description of your teaching responsibilities, a list of workshops or presentations you’ve conducted, your professional recognitions and awards, any publications, and extra-curricular and community service. Also get business cards and have a professional-looking photograph taken.
As a potential teacher leader or administrator, don’t underestimate the value of your contributions. I’m sure you have the skills and knowledge, as well as a passion for science, to become a valuable resource not only to your students but also to the profession. It will be a rejuvenating experience.
Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankieroberto/3617081841/

I’ve been teaching middle school science for 15 years, and I love my job. But I’m wondering what other opportunities there might be for sharing and expanding my experiences and knowledge. I don’t think I want to be an administrator, but I’m open to suggestions for a new challenge.
—Brita, Virginia Beach, VA

 

Seasonal scavenger hunt

By Peggy Ashbrook

Posted on 2010-03-05

Early spring flowers on a red bud tree.


Red bud tree leaves in fall.


Give your students practice making observations by doing a seasonal scavenger hunt that will require closer looks at the familiar landscape to see what has changed. (Thanks to the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research for the idea.)
Does the tree (with branches low enough to see) have tightly furled flower or leaf buds, leaves the size of a squirrel’s ear, or leaves that are fully grown and changing color? Checklists can use both words and pictures to list items.

Use a new checklist for each season and include some of the following items to look for if they apply to your school yard:
Plants

  • Leaf size on deciduous plants (choose any or a particular plant)
  • Flower buds forming, blooming, forming seeds(choose any or a particular plant)
  • Flower bulb leaves growing above ground, dying back

Animals

  • Baby animals in the fields
  • Tracks in mud, sand, or snow

Birds

  • In groups or alone
  • What are they eating?
  • Birds building nests

Insects and other small animals

  • Bees or other pollinators on flowers
  • Small animals (roly-polies, caterpillars) visible in the garden

Weather

  • Temperature
  • Precipitation
  • Windy or calm
  • Snow on the ground
  • Ice on water bodies
  • People dressed in boots, coats, sandals, shorts, carrying umbrellas.

"Honesty" plant in bloom in spring.


"Honesty" plant seed pods in fall.


The scavenger hunt observations can be posted each month to make it easier to see how the observations have changed over the year. Some months no student will see a bee and other months every student will see some.
What other items should be added to an outdoor scavenger hunt list for your schoolyard?
Peggy

Early spring flowers on a red bud tree.

 

New blog on the block

By Howard Wahlberg

Posted on 2010-03-05

Welcome to the Chapter and Associated Groups (CAG) Blog!  Let me start by introducing myself.  I’m Anne O’Donnell, CAE.  I have been in association management for almost 20 years serving a wide variety of associations and professions.  I am pleased to be here at NSTA and hopefully will be able to meet many of you in Philly at the Annual Conference.
The Chapters and Associated Groups blog is dedicated to helping the past, current and future leadership of NSTA’s CAGs.  Highlighting helpful resources, providing leadership tips and association management solutions, this blog is designed to help keep our CAGs strong!
Your participation is critical to the success of this blog!  I encourage you to submit ideas, post, and guest blog!  As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let me know—I’m just an e-mail away: aodonnell@nsta.org.
See you in Philly!

Welcome to the Chapter and Associated Groups (CAG) Blog!  Let me start by introducing myself.  I’m Anne O’Donnell, CAE.  I have been in association management for almost 20 years serving a wide variety of associations and professions.  I am pleased to be here at NSTA and hopefully will be able to meet many of you in Philly at the Annual Conference.

 

Science Education Leadership

By Claire Reinburg

Posted on 2010-03-05

Book cover image of "Science Education Leadership: Best Practices for the New Century"Leaders from diverse constituencies in science education bring their insights and advice together in an important new book from NSTA Press. Science Education Leadership: Best Practices for the New Century discusses how leaders at the local and national levels, from science teachers to district supervisors to university faculty, can forge new paths in the years ahead toward the goal of science literacy for all.  In the Preface, editor Jack Rhoton credits chapter authors for detailing for leaders at all levels “how to contribute to the success of science education and how to develop a culture that allows and encourages science education leaders to continually improve science programs.”  We’ve posted Rodger Bybee’s excellent chapter in which he summarizes five 21st century workforce skills that science education can focus on to better prepare students for jobs and professional fields in the global economy.  Visit the Science Store to learn more about Science Education Leadership, and scroll down below the book description to download the chapter “A New Challenge for Science Education Leaders: Developing 21st Century Workforce Skills.”

Book cover image of "Science Education Leadership: Best Practices for the New Century"Leaders from diverse constituencies in science education bring their insights and advice together in an important new book from NSTA Press.

 

Peering into students' "private universe"

By Debra Shapiro

Posted on 2010-03-04

Photo uploaded to Flickr.com’s Creative Commons by marcusrg


In the award-winning documentary A Private Universe, education researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics sought to answer this question: Why don’t even the brightest students truly grasp basic science concepts? Teachers and teacher educators alike continue to search for ways to overcome students’ science misconceptions and to determine how they develop in the first place.
Get some insight on students’ “Private Universe” in Philadelphia. You’ll find sessions addressing misconceptions at all grade levels, in a range of science fields. Use the session browser with the keyword misconception to find them. Here’s a sample:

  • Centering Around the Science Standards, Grades K–2 (March 18). Find out how hands-on centers incorporate the learning cycle to address common misconceptions.
  • Everyone Knows That Heavier Things Fall First (March 19). Use misconceptions to teach intermediate-level physical science? You can do it with these classroom demonstrations and activities.
  • Using Diagnostic Assessment to Address Preservice Teachers’ Science Misconceptions (March 20). It’s never too late to identify these deep-seated incorrect beliefs. Learn how to create inquiry-based lessons to improve scientific understanding.

And picking up where A Private Universe left off, Neil Comins—astrophysicist, astronomer, and professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Maine—has identified nearly 2,000 commonly held misconceptions about astronomy and physics and has figured out “their origins, why we develop them, how to avoid them in the future, and how to get rid of old ones (which is the hard part).” Hear how he conquers them on March 20 at the Shell Science Seminar.

Photo uploaded to Flickr.com’s Creative Commons by marcusrg

 

Preschool STEM

By Peggy Ashbrook

Posted on 2010-03-01

Science, technology, engineering and math are linked together in what is called “STEM” curriculum. If we break down this (possibly unfamiliar) term into it’s parts, we see that much of it is already happening in early childhood programs. Science can be planting seeds, mixing materials together to make a change, rolling objects down a ramp, sorting rocks by color, and touching objects with a magnet to test for attraction to the magnet, all the while recording and thinking about what happened. Technology—computers, but also using other tools such as flashlights and digital cameras. Math can be counting and matching shapes, and making patterns. Engineering in preschool and kindergarten is easy to, uh…, engineer, in the block area. There children are planning and designing structures every day with little teacher direction. Measuring is easy too, especially if the blocks are unit blocks where every two make one of the next size up. Add the experience of recording the process by asking children open-ended questions (Tell me what you are working on now. If you don’t like the tipping, what can you do to stop it? What else can you use since all the long blocks are being used?) and writing down their thoughts. Put paper on clipboards or trays in the block area and invite children to draw their structure, or just the “best” part of it.

Building a structure-sculpture with wood and glueThis documentation can be reflected on later as can permanent structures made with wood scraps and glue. Can the children tell you how they built it, analyzing why they chose certain pieces? Do they compare heights and strength? Can they say why they chose certain scraps to create the whole?
Sand, a common early childhood building material, changes properties depending on whether it is dry or wet. Arrange for your class to explore the materials of sand and water separately and then together,  (see the March 2010 Early Years column in Science and Children). There is a place for lengthy, unstructured exploration and for shorter, teacher-led activities in early childhood. When we observe and document children’s work—what they do and what they say—we may more easily understand their thinking and provide experiences that help them learn more, and change misconceptions.
Writing down children’s comments as children explore is, of course, subject to recorder’s attention remaining focused and interest level. I often wish I had video recordings to review, revealing more, possibly nonverbal, exploratory behavior that would suggest additional directions to pursue. If only the means and time were available!
Here is what I recorded over several sessions at the sensory table:

With water What this suggested to me…what do you think?
It’s cold. Using senses and language to make an observation.
You got me wet! Social communication.
Pour it in here. Planning and social communication.
Oops. Recognizing an error in implementing their plan.
It’s floating! Making an observation and using appropriate vocabulary.
It’s [water] going through. Describing the relationship between two materials: water and sieve.
Pour some for me. Describing a property of water.
Don’t splash me! Describing a property of water and social communication.
Want some coffee? Imaginative play recognizing the similarity between water and coffee.
With dry sand What this suggested to me…what do you think?
I need a scoop. Recognizing a property of sand: it’s made of tiny, solid pieces.
It filled over. Describing an amount in relationship to a unit (the cup).
I’m making a pile. Using language to communicate a plan.
I got sand in my eye. Recognizing a property of sand: it’s made of tiny, solid pieces.
[Pouring the sand.] Recognizing a property of dry sand.
I’m hiding all the marbles. Using material playfully, making use of the properties of sand.
Get the earthmover truck. Making a plan.
I need some sand! Deciding to explore the material.
I can’t make a snowball. Noting limitations of the material, or how it is different than expected.
I can pat it to the side. Noting limitations of dry sand as a building material/
The dry sand goes through. Describing the relationship between two materials: dry sand and sieve.
With wet sand What this suggested to me…what do you think?
Make it full. Making a comparative measurement, and a plan.
Find a spoon. Choosing a tool.
Push it over here. Recognizing a property of wet sand, that it sticks together in a clump.
It’s wet. Using senses and language to make an observation.
I want to wash my hands. Using language to describe a sensory experience and noting that wet sand sticks to our hands.
I’m making a castle. Making a plan for imaginative play.
I’m scooping ice cream. Imaginative play recognizing that wet sand can be scooped like ice cream.
My handprint! Making an observation about the property of wet sand being able to hold its shape.

Building (such a useful word!) on previous sandbox and beach experiences, the children learned that both dry sand and water can be poured, and that because wet sand sticks together, it can make a much taller tower or deeper hole than dry sand. With maturity, encouragement, or direct instruction children can quantify their experiences with dry and wet sand: “This” much water added to “this” much sand makes good building sand and we build a castle tower “this” tall.
Here are a few books about building with sand.
Sand Castle by Brenda Yee (Greenwillow Books, 1999). On a sandy beach a girl accepts the help of one child after another to build a sand castle, working with wet sand.
From Sand to Glass (Start to Finish) by Shannon Zemlicka, photos by Randall Hyman (Lerner, 2004). With table of contents, glossary, and an index, this book teaches early readers how to use non-fiction while telling the interesting story of how sand becomes glass, another familiar but very different material.
Or read the similarly structured book with less text, Sand to Glass (Welcome Books) by Inez Snyder. (Children’s Press, 2005).
Sand (Rookie Readers) by Pamela Miller, illustrator Rick Stromoski. (Children’s Press, 2000). With 61 words on the word list, this early reader covers the places we might see sand and the conditions we find it in—beach, desert, in piles, wet and dry.
Jump Into Science: Sand by Dr. Ellen J. Prager. National Geographic Children’s Books (April 25, 2006). Illustrations include close-ups of a magnified view of sand.
Super Sand Castle Saturday (Mathstart Level 2 ) by Stuart J. Murphy, illustrator Julia Gorton (Steck-Vaughn 1999). Larry the Lifeguard starts a sandcastle building contest and the children measure with shovel lengths, steps, and inches to determine the tallest, longest, and deepest.
Engineering is also evident in the design of clothes we wear and the special equipment used by community helpers such as firefighters. In the February 2010 issue of Science and Children, I wrote about one class’s exploration of how a firefighter’s helmet protects its wearer from water spray and falling objects.
What STEM explorations have happened in your classroom?
Peggy

Science, technology, engineering and math are linked together in what is called “STEM” curriculum. If we break down this (possibly unfamiliar) term into it’s parts, we see that much of it is already happening in early childhood programs. Science can be planting seeds, mixing materials together to make a change, rolling objects down a ramp, sorting rocks by color, and touching objects with a magnet to test for attraction to the magnet, all the while recording and thinking about what happened.

Even More Everyday Science Mysteries: Stories for Inquiry-Based Science Teaching

What are the odds of a meteor hitting your house? What are “warm” clothes anyway? Do you get “more” sunlight from Daylight Saving Time? Everyone loves a good mystery and these unfold in the 15 stories presented in Even More Everyday Science Mysteries, the third volume in author Richard Konicek-Moran’s award-winning series. Again, the author uses stories without endings to teach a science principle, allowing the students to investigate how each story can be resolved.
What are the odds of a meteor hitting your house? What are “warm” clothes anyway? Do you get “more” sunlight from Daylight Saving Time? Everyone loves a good mystery and these unfold in the 15 stories presented in Even More Everyday Science Mysteries, the third volume in author Richard Konicek-Moran’s award-winning series. Again, the author uses stories without endings to teach a science principle, allowing the students to investigate how each story can be resolved.
 

Every Day Science Calendar: March 2010

Science and Children—March 2010

This monthly feature contains facts and challenges for the science explorer.
This monthly feature contains facts and challenges for the science explorer.
This monthly feature contains facts and challenges for the science explorer.
 

Natural Resources: Stargazing

Science and Children—March 2010

In 2009, we had the year of astronomy. Even President Obama hosted an astronomy night on the White House lawn. Your explorations of nature need not be limited to daylight hours—though it is important to point our when celestial objects like the Moon are visible during the day to counter misconceptions. This year, introduce your students to the night sky with an astronomy club, or even just a one-time event. There is just something special about the night sky, so spread some blankets on a grassy field, borrow a telescope from a university, and see what’s up there.
In 2009, we had the year of astronomy. Even President Obama hosted an astronomy night on the White House lawn. Your explorations of nature need not be limited to daylight hours—though it is important to point our when celestial objects like the Moon are visible during the day to counter misconceptions. This year, introduce your students to the night sky with an astronomy club, or even just a one-time event. There is just something special about the night sky, so spread some blankets on a grassy field, borrow a telescope from a university, and see what’s up there.
In 2009, we had the year of astronomy. Even President Obama hosted an astronomy night on the White House lawn. Your explorations of nature need not be limited to daylight hours—though it is important to point our when celestial objects like the Moon are visible during the day to counter misconceptions. This year, introduce your students to the night sky with an astronomy club, or even just a one-time event. There is just something special about the night sky, so spread some blankets on a grassy field, borrow a telescope from a university, and see what’s up there.

Outdoor Science: A Practical Guide

Research shows that environment-centered education improves student achievement. Whatever your school’s setting—urban, suburban, or rural—you can create stimulating outdoor classrooms for your students, with a little help from Outdoor Science. Author and state science specialist Steve Rich shows teachers how to create outdoor learning spaces that can be used from year to year—with little extra effort or resources.
Research shows that environment-centered education improves student achievement. Whatever your school’s setting—urban, suburban, or rural—you can create stimulating outdoor classrooms for your students, with a little help from Outdoor Science. Author and state science specialist Steve Rich shows teachers how to create outdoor learning spaces that can be used from year to year—with little extra effort or resources.
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