How does online learning through watching a webinar work for you? I am most engaged when I am able to participate in a live session where presenters might respond directly to my typed questions. But that means I have to be online at a set time so I often view the archived versions. Recorded sessions are more fun for me when I view with a colleague as we exclaim over insights, and I learn more when we discuss how the strategies might work in our programs. Program administrators support fun and effective use of webinars when they plan time for a group to view and work together. 

The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in Early Learning Series by the Preschool Development Grants of the US. Department of Education offers “research, practical application for classroom and home and provides examples of experiences that build scientific, technology, engineering, and mathematical learning for older toddlers and preschool children.” This 11-part series has two key objectives:

1. Provide early childhood professionals with background information and research on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning for young children.
2. Provide evidence-based strategies to support STEM learning in varied environments, including early learning settings, homes, and community settings such as museums and libraries.

Each of the 11 part sessions of the series has hands-on work and discussion questions for participants, with supporting documents to print and use during each session.

From the first to the eleventh module you will see children using technologies (see examples on slide 1.15 in Module 4) in STEM (science, engineering, and math) learning situations. You will gather information about integrated S-T-E-M learning strategies and curriculum that other educators are developing based on research and find useful strategies for your teaching environment. Indoors, outdoors, in a library and at a museum, STEM is more than an acronym! Here are just a few of my favorite snippets from the eleven modules:

See slides 1.36-1.38 in Module 2: Creating Environments That Promote STEM Learning presented by Cindy Hoisington and do the exercise of examining photos of “Science Centers” to see if they are accessible, inviting, and engaging so children will want to do sustained work with the materials.

Check out the Activities and Handouts for the modules. Questions such as, “What are intentional strategies you use to promote habits of mind in the block, housekeeping and art areas?” and “How do you support children’s systems thinking, creativity, optimism, collaboration, communication and attention to ethical considerations?” from Module 5: Engineering in Early Learning Environments presented by Beth Van Meeteren, help us engage with the ideas and consider our own practice. 

The importance of family engagement is addressed in Module 9, presented by Claudia Haines: “Parents and caregivers, their children’s first teachers, are a vital part of children’s lives, regardless of their race, background, socio-economic status. Children are more confident and successful learners when parents and caregivers are involved.” Family fort night at the library is one example of a family engagement event. Growing relationships with families develop through learning about and integrating families’ and caregivers’ interests, strengths, and knowledge into their children’s learning.  Another key strategy is to educate adults. “Adult programs…are designed to give adults time to learn and play in low pressure situations without the expectation of teaching and guiding their kids at the same time.” See slide 1.20 to learn about communication tools that will help you meet families where they are.

This set of modules is not a brief overview STEM but a thorough walk into STEM learning with activities for adult learners. There are explanations that help us understand the practices of science and engineering, like this description of a graphic design image used by a program to describe a design process: “Even though it looks like a linear process, it’s really important to note that design is really a very messy, organic, cyclical process that really must ebb and flow in order to be successful.” Paige Gordon, Module 11: STEM and Design Thinking in the Preschool Classroom.

Find your webinar buddy to watch and do the activities together, or use the Facilitator Toolkit to present these sessions for your program. Already a “STEM” expert? Download the resources to expand your own. Then visit the NSTA Learning Center and search for “STEM” in the elementary resources, and check “Type/Format” to find additional online learning presentations such as, “STEM Starts Early: Guidance and support from the NSTA Early Childhood Science Education Position Statement,” a 90-minute webinar archived from April 15, 2015. And add resources you find helpful in a comment below!

This week in education news, teacher-student relationships are important in boosting student learning; high schools across the nation are adding competitive video-gaming to its list of extracurricular activities for students; despite its reputation as a field flush with opportunity, even STEM can pose dead ends for students; former Arizona Department of Education employee resigns after she was told to make changes to parts of the draft Arizona Science Standards; current research results are in favor of early childhood experiences for students, especially those who are disadvantaged; diversifying the field of interesting and rigorous math courses could broaden students’ path to STEM and other careers; and former Kentucky Education Commissioner selected as the next president of the Southern Regional Education Board.

Introducing A Digital Science Program For Incarcerated Kids

One thing Michael Krezmien noticed about working with incarcerated teens, is that they’re not a population that typically catches the attention of education researchers—or educational funding organizations. And this is a problem, he realized, as research suggests that the consequences of failing to address the educational needs of incarcerated juveniles are dire. Because incarcerated teens are usually left out of the educational system—having either no access to good education or having been kicked out of school—they often fail to pass state mandated tests in science and cannot obtain a high school diploma. Read the article featured in Forbes magazine.

Two Studies Point To The Power Of Teacher-Student Relationships To Boost Learning

Two studies on how best to teach elementary schools students — one on the popular trend of “platooning” and one on the far less common practice of “looping” — at first would seem totally unrelated other than the fact that they both use silly words with double-o’s. “Platooning” refers to having teachers specialize in a particular subject, such as math or English, and young students switch teachers for each class. “Looping” is a term used when kids keep the same teacher for two years in a row. They don’t switch teachers for each subject and don’t switch each year. Read the article featured in the Hechinger Report.

E-sports In Schools Primed To Grow ‘Bigger Than The NFL’

More than 100 students tried out for just 30 spots when the innovation class at Noblesville High School in the Indianapolis suburbs launched an e-sports team in December 2016. And Noblesville is not alone—dozens of high schools across the nation are adding competitive video-gaming as it becomes one of the fastest-growing activities in both K12 and higher ed. Read the article featured in District Administration.

Unlocking STEM Pathways For All Students

Gateways can swing open, giving students opportunities to master the ability to think logically, reason, model solutions to problems, and troubleshoot, all of which are in demand among employers both in STEM fields and, increasingly in non-STEM ones. Or gateways can shut and lock, cutting off the ability to acquire those skills and putting students at a disadvantage, perhaps for the rest of their lives. Despite its reputation as a field flush with opportunity, even STEM can pose dead ends for students, such as the traps of remedial math education or course sequences that don’t lead to high-paying, satisfying careers. Read the article featured in Education Week.

Former Education Staffer Quits After Being Told To Change Evolution In Science Standards Draft

A former Arizona Department of Education employee says she resigned after she was told to make changes to parts of the draft Arizona Science Standards involving evolution. Lacey Wieser is a former high school biology teacher who began her career with the Arizona Department of Education 14 years ago. Wieser says her most recent title was director of science and STEM. In 2016, she began the process of reviewing and updating the science standards. Read the article featured on AZfamily.com.

E-Cubed Academy Students Win Civics Competition For Science-Lab Legislation

The E-Cubed Academy students who drafted a bill requiring up-to-date science labs at every high school in Rhode Island took top honors at Rhode Island Civics Day. The students, taught by E-Cubed history teacher John Healy, developed the idea for the bill, drafted its language and began advocating for it as part of their involvement in Generation Citizen, which inspires civic participation through civics class that give students the opportunity to experience democracy in action. Read the article featured in the Providence Journal.

How Early Should Kids Begin STEM Education?

Current research results are in favor of early childhood experiences for students, especially those who are disadvantaged. This education is the great equalizer because it provides a rich, common foundation for children who may have diverse backgrounds and experiences. Read the article featured in The Edvocate.

Is STEM Oversold As A Path To Better Jobs?

In report after report, government panels, business groups, and educators have sounded the alarm about the state of training in science, technology, engineering, and math. STEM, they conclude, serves as a gateway to higher-paying jobs and is an important linchpin to a growing economy, and therefore, K-12 education in those fields must be improved. In this vast echo chamber, it can be hard to separate fact from fiction. So Education Week reviewed dozens of research studies and interviewed experts on the challenge. The staff found that the conventional wisdom is generally correct—jobs in STEM are in demand and tend to be more highly paid—but the picture of the STEM pipeline is more nuanced than many of these predictions suggest. Read the article featured in Education Week.

Calculus Is The Peak Of High School Math. Maybe It’s Time to Change That

For more than 30 years, calculus has been seen as the pinnacle of high school math—essential for careers in the hard sciences, and an explicit or unspoken prerequisite for top-tier colleges. But now, math and science professionals are beginning to question how helpful current high school calculus courses really are for advanced science fields. The ubiquitous use of data in everything from physics and finance to politics and education is helping to build momentum for a new path in high school math—one emphasizing statistics and data literacy over calculus. Read the article featured in Education Week.

Former Kentucky Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt Lands New Job

Barely a month after he was ousted as Kentucky’s top public education official, Stephen Pruitt has landed a new job as president of the Southern Regional Education Board, an organization of southern states formed to improve public education throughout the region. Read the article featured in the Louisville Courier-Journal.

To Hook Students On STEM, Start With Their Parents

There’s a fair amount of hand-wringing about how to get students interested and engaged in STEM subjects. We do know that the pipeline leading to STEM careers begins to leak in high school, when students are faced with decisions about taking advanced mathematics and science classes. Decades of research show that a key factor motivating adolescents to pursue these advanced courses is the perception of utility value. More recently, my research colleagues and I examined the role of parents in communicating utility value to their children. It turns out, it’s critical. Teachers, parents, and peers can all contribute to students’ perception of value. But parents, who are often an untapped resource, can play a crucial role in their children’s learning and motivation because they know what interests them. Read the commentary featured in Education Week.

A Case For Flipping Learning—Without Videos

When professor Lorena Barba talks to other educators about flipping their classrooms, the approach she hears is often similar. Faculty assign homework to expose students to a new concept before they arrive to class, and use class time to ask questions and do more-active learning. In most cases, what professors ask students to do outside the classroom is watch video lectures. Barba thinks that part of the flipped approach needs to go, and that professors are relying too much on videos as a crutch. Read the article featured in EdSource.

Stay tuned for next week’s top education news stories.

The Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs (CLPA) team strives to keep NSTA members, teachers, science education leaders, and the general public informed about NSTA programs, products, and services and key science education issues and legislation. In the association’s role as the national voice for science education, its CLPA team actively promotes NSTA’s positions on science education issues and communicates key NSTA messages to essential audiences.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

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I am about to graduate and become a new teacher. Is it a good idea to use lesson plans that are handed to me and maybe need to be tweaked or is it better to write brand new lesson plans each year?
—G., Florida

Since I never had an entire class comprehend 100% of what I taught, I always made changes to my courses.
The most important thing, in my opinion, is to reflect on everything you do! You need to have a real willingness to learn and change in order to make things work in your classroom.

You do not need to create everything from scratch! There are a lot of bright and intelligent people out there producing great resources. You should make decisions about resources in this order:

1. If you find or are given a resource that, after thorough review, fits perfectly to what you want to accomplish in your classroom, then use it unmodified.
2. If you find a great-looking resource that doesn’t quite fit, then modify it.
3. If you can’t find a great resource— make your own.

Most of your lessons, obviously, will revolve around modifying something out there.

After your lesson reflect and re-evaluate everything you used and the impact it had on your students. Make modifications as necessary. Don’t beat yourself up if a lesson bombs…just figure out why it did and do something about it.

Hope this helps!

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“Mathematics is a tool that is key to understanding science.”

NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

How many? How soon? How big? How much more? These questions are of vital importance in young children’s lives and may be part of their science explorations and later investigations. “Using mathematics and computational thinking” is one of the practices described in Appendix F—Science and Engineering Practices in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

“Mathematical and computational thinking in K–2 builds on prior experience and progresses to recognizing that mathematics can be used to describe the natural and designed world(s).

• Decide when to use qualitative vs. quantitative data.
• Use counting and numbers to identify and describe patterns in the natural and designed world(s).
• Describe, measure, and/or compare quantitative attributes of different objects and display the data using simple graphs.
• Use quantitative data to compare two alternative solutions to a problem.”

-Appendix F—Science and Engineering Practices in the Next Generation Science Standards

We can use online resources on mathematical and computational thinking in early childhood to become more familiar with, and strengthen our own understanding of, math topics and ideas. 

The Erikson Early Math Collaborative describes key topics that exist in early math: Counting, Data Analysis, Measurement, Number Operations, Number Sense, Pattern, Sets, Shapes, and Spatial Relationships.

 The collaborative identifies 26 foundational key mathematical concepts, or “Big Ideas,” within the Early Math Topics such as, “Shapes can be combined and separated (composed and decomposed) to make new shapes,” “Shapes can be defined and classified according to their attributes,” and  “Sets can be compared using the attribute of numerosity, and ordered by more than, less than, and equal to.” Detailed explanations and examples shine a light on these ideas and show how they can be addressed in early childhood programs. I would use the first two ideas about shapes when talking with children about their building structures and the third idea when children show me their collections of rocks or are sorting their snack mix. 

Playing games is one way to provide experiences that build young children’s understanding of mathematical and computational thinking. The Iowa Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa lists games for children ages 3-8, some commercial and some they developed. Nearly every game can be printed out and all have rules rewritten to be kid-friendly. They are linked to standards and include notes for the educator for each game, indicating its value for mathematical learning.

Math resources for early childhood learning communities include articles in the journal Teaching Young Children from the National Association for the Education of Young Children: 

McLennan, Deanna Pecaski. Math Learning—and a Touch of Science—in the Outdoor World. Teaching Young Children. April/May 2017 10(4):

Reed, Kristen E., and Jessica Mercer Young. 2018. Play Games, Learn Math! Pattern Block Puzzles. Teaching Young Children. April/May 2018. 11(4): 20-23

Reed, Kristen E., and Jessica Mercer Young. 2018. Play Games, Learn Math! Two Numbers: Games with Cards and Dice. Teaching Young Children. February/March 2018. 11(3): 21-25 

Reed, Kristen E., and Jessica Mercer Young. 2018. Play Games, Learn Math! Explore Numbers and Counting with Dot Card and Finger Games. Teaching Young Children. October/November 2017. 11(1). 

“Jumping on the Lily Pads” game board.

Reed and Young’s work creating games that teach math concepts is also published online at the Education Development Center, Inc website and includes printable math mini-books for families. 

Learn how to play “How Many Are Hiding?,” “Two Numbers,” and “Jumping on the Lily Pads” and then engage your children in playing and learning math concepts.

What resources do you use to foster your children’s use of mathematics and computational thinking?

The use of power tools, such as table saws, drill presses, and miter saws, is becoming more common in science and STEM laboratories. All power tools have special mechanical and non-mechanical safety hazards that can result in injuries, including abrasions, burns, and fractures. This blog post describes machine-guarding safety protocols that schools need to develop to minimize such safety hazards.

Why machine guards matter

Machine guards are fixed, interlocked, or adjustable physical barriers critical to protecting their operators and those working in the surrounding area from hazards. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), machine guarding prevents such safety hazards as rotating parts, flying chips, and sparks.

Types of hazards

Machine operators should be mindful of the following hazards before using a machine or power tool.

• Operation points are locations where the machine bends, bores, cuts, or shapes the stock being fed through the machine.

• Hazardous movements are machine parts with rotating, reciprocating (up-down motions), and transverse motions (materials moving in a continuous line).

• Pinch/shear points are parts of a machine where a body part or clothing could be caught between a moving machine part and a stationary object such as a belt, cam, connecting rods, or other source of energy transmission.

• Non-mechanical hazards include chips, flying splinters, splashes, or sparks that are created while the machine is operating.

Safety rules for machine guards

The following list by North Carolina State University’s Department of Environmental Health Safety offers simple tips to follow when using machines and machine guards.

1. Be sure that moving mechanisms are clear of people and objects.

2. Be sure that workers are not wearing any jewelry or loose clothing that could get snagged in the machine.

3. Keep an eye on overheard moving parts, like pulleys, for potential hazards.

4. Check that guards are in place at all points where you could contact moving parts before turning the machine on.

5. Understand how to turn power on and off if you should have to do so quickly.

6. Read the manufacturer’s instructions on how to operate the machine safely and correctly.

7. Feed material into the machine with push sticks, not your hands.

8. Take it easy. Rushing through a job is one of the major causes of accidents.

9. Make sure maintenance is performed when required. If you think your equipment might have missed its scheduled maintenance let your supervisor know.

10. Use lockout/tagout procedures when a machine needs repair or maintenance. Turn the machine and the power to the machine off and tag it so that no one tries to use it. (This prevents the release of hazardous energy while employees perform servicing and maintenance.)

In addition, machine guards must be secure and tamper-proof so that no one can bypass or remove them. A guard that interferes with the operation in performing the job might be blocked or removed, but this is too dangerous to do. Guards need to be properly used to not only keep workers safe but to perform the job. Guards may need to oiled or greased occasionally to remain functional, but the guard should never be removed because doing so may cause the guard to not function properly or present a sharp hazard. Finally, a guard should never obstruct an operator’s view.

Conclusion

OSHA’s major goal for workers using power tools is to guard all machinery and equipment to eliminate a number of hazards. Always make sure safety guards are in place and that they are working properly, clean, and inspected before use.

Submit questions regarding safety in K–12 to Ken Roy at safesci@sbcglobal.net or leave him a comment below. Follow Ken Roy on Twitter: @drroysafersci.

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That was my response this week at our middle school science staff meeting.  We’ve spent the last two school years exploring the new Michigan standards (which are identical to NGSS) and trying out units from different curriculum programs.  While the pace has seemed excruciatingly slow at times, it’s been necessary to allow everyone to learn, grow, and come to consensus.  Which is where we were at this week – we’ve all agreed to pilot the two finalists in the first semester next school year, and then go back to our old curriculum while we prepare for full launch of the selected NGSS curriculum in the fall of 2019.

But I can’t do it.  I can’t ever go back.

For the past two years, I’ve been pilot-teaching the Mi-STAR (mi-star.mtu.edu) NGSS-aligned curriculum – in a 5E structure, with phenomena, modeling, arguing from evidence, and coming to consensus to evaluate and solve local problems, with engineering integrated in every unit – and it has become my joy.  While the teaching world reels with pay cuts and privatization and standardized testing and teacher shortages, making me frustrated and worried for our profession – I can still close my door, and have my joy.

I am joyful about the potential for NGSS curricula to change the world for our kids.  The ever elusive goals of leveling the playing field, closing the achievement gap, reaching all learners, is happening, right now, in my classroom.

My school is economically and racially diverse.  Located in an affluent community that borders one of the highest poverty neighborhoods in the country, we are a rich mixture.  Our lower income, minority kids, like their peers in every state, have often been “left behind.”  Until now.  And I’m positively joyful about it.

An NGSS-aligned curriculum like Mi-STAR starts each unit with a real-life, locally relevant problem, and none of my kids know the answer.  It doesn’t matter if they’ve traveled the world and can master college texts, or if they rarely leave their block and struggle to read at grade level.  Even learning disabilities aren’t barriers any more, because all of my kids can problem-solve in this unit structure.  All of my kids can ask good questions for our bubble maps.  All of them can uncover concepts in labs and activities, share their findings, connect them to the problem, and then apply their new skills and knowledge in another context.   All of them can use criteria and constraints, and optimize, and reason like engineers.  Even my cognitively impaired kids are learning with a little scaffolding from our incredible special ed teachers.   The typical compliance behaviors, like turning in homework on time, outlining chapters, and memorizing flashcards for tests, are no longer the focus of our classroom.  And my kids are thriving.

I’ve done a little action research, and here’s what I see:  while my at-risk kids’ pre-test scores are very low, their post-test scores are well within the range of the class average.   The minority kids in my heterogeneous classes have post-test scores nearly equal to my homogeneous honors class.  We’re literally leveling the playing field and closing the gap.  This works!  NGSS really works!

Which is why I can’t ever go back.  In an academic world full of stress, teaching NGSS has become my joy.

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Good morning! Time to head out the door and start the day.

Wait. What’s that thing up there in the tree? It’s … a bed. And it’s hanging upside down.

Huh?

How did that happen?

So Begins a Delightful Mystery

Curious students will have fun solving the mystery in Kristel Pushes and Pulls. NSTA author Morris McCormick’s eBooks⁺ Kids Enhanced E-book combines engaging, full-color graphics with dynamic enhancements and interactive features for students to learn, share, and explore. Animations, simulations, and video bring content to life, while pop-up review questions and special notes help underscore the most crucial points of knowledge.

This interactive e-book takes students through a day in Kristel’s life, one in which she explores push and pull forces. Students seek answers to questions such as how forces cause objects to change position or move different distances, as well as change speed and direction. Each of Kristel’s normal, every-day activities, such as eating breakfast, cleaning her room or playing soccer, become opportunities for students to figure out just how that bed came to land on the tree in her front yard.

Real-Life Content (and Context)

McCormick, who has been an elementary school educator in the Los Angeles School District for well over a decade, used his professional as well as personal expertise to form the book’s content. His daughter served as the inspiration for Kristel, the lead character. Observing how his own children engage with technology at home, as well as his students in the classroom, McCormick knew that a good story needed to be embedded within this engaging teaching tool to encourage kids to want to explore it.  

Where the e-book started conceptually, McCormick admits, was nothing like where ended up.

“In Round I, I was asking myself, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’” McCormick laughs in recalling the creative process.

“I wrote a story … much more like a Dr. Seuss children’s book. After much conversation with my editor, I knew that I needed to build in curriculum and a teacher’s manual. With that expert guidance, I was able to flesh out how to do this.”

The events in the story were intentionally chosen so that children everywhere could relate. The same thought was given to making Kristel’s family ethnically diverse, McCormick added.

“We are a racially blended family; my own family mirrors what America looks like. I wanted kids everywhere to ‘see’ themselves in this book.”

McCormick, who admits to being old enough “to remember using a rotary phone,” welcomes the addition of teaching tools such as Enhanced E-books.

“I would love to see teaching tools like this be transformed into virtual reality where kids are transported right into the story,” he said.

“The kids we are teaching today? Everyone is connected—even in the poorest neighborhoods,” he added. “I teach in a Title I school and at least half of my students come to the classroom with an electronic device. Our students today will be coding at whatever job they do in the future. They will be exponentially ahead of where we are in school right now.”

The Student Becomes the Teacher

McCormick now teaches in the same credentialing program that he went through in becoming certified to teach.

Teachers, he stressed, must catch up. With their own students.

“We teach children to be lifelong learners. I’m a National Board-certified teacher. I have to continue to learn to keep my certification current. We have to change what we are teaching in our credentialing programs. New teachers need to be prepared for today’s classrooms and to be able to grow with their students.

“Student engagement is everything,” McCormick explained. “If we can get student buy-in, then learning happens. We have to meet students where they are. Think about adult learners at a professional development conference. If we don’t like what we are hearing, what do we do? We get up and leave. Unfortunately, children don’t get that opportunity. We have to understand what children want to learn and get their buy in. I do this with my own children at home; why should the classroom be any different?”

Survey after survey confirms that kids use technology at home that harnesses their attraction for learning. Through entertainment, McCormick said.

“An e-book can replicate this. It brings that piece of entertainment to learning.”

As for what’s next for this NSTA author? He’s already conceptualizing his next NSTA e-book. He admits that the pressure is on him to “produce.”

“My son … he’s seen his sister ‘on the big screen’ in our house, so he’s asked, ‘Where am I, daddy?’”

“I told him that he’s in the next book.”

Learn about other titles in the eBooks⁺ Kids series.

About the Author: Morris McCormick is a graduate of CSUN (ACT-Elementary Ed)/ MA-Curriculum & Instruction). He’s National Board Certified (Middle Childhood Generalist), Level 2 Google Educator, and a trainer for the Boston Museum’s Engineering is Elementary curriculum. He currently teaches at Arminta Street Elementary in North Hollywood, as well as, ‘Math Methods’ courses at Cal State Northridge.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

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A student once asked me why if carbon dioxide is so much heavier than air, how come the lower atmosphere doesn’t become thick with CO2 and kill everything?

“Umm, well…because it…umm…doesn’t?”

The student then asked if I was going to answer her question with another question? Which of course is also a question. So how many questions are we up to now?

Anyway, before we all panic and run to higher ground, let’s stem the fear with the simple answer that convection (wind) and diffusion (mixing) keep the CO2 concentration in check and evenly distributed. But first, some history before moving on to measuring CO2.

Amazingly, the identification of carbon dioxide as a discrete substance was first reported a full two years before Sir Isaac Newton was born. In fact Galileo still had two good years of research left in his bones before taking his final break.

Now, 378 years later, carbon dioxide is a not just a proportion of our atmosphere, but potentially an indicator of the health of our one-and-only planet.  Our current concentration of CO2 is 405 ppm or parts per million. Estimates of pre-industrial levels of CO2 are around 280 meaning there has been a substantial and statistically significant increase in the global CO2 level.

For all its danger, Carbon dioxide is an elegant molecule that contain two oxygen atoms 180 degrees apart tied to a single carbon atom through double bonds.  Often symbolically written as O=C=O, carbon dioxide is an odorless, colorless gas that is 60% denser than the average handful of air.

Chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont discovered that when charcoal was burned in a closed container, the mass of the ash was less than that of the charcoal at the beginning. His inference was that the missing charcoal mass had been turned into an some sort of invisible material that was named a “wild spirit” essentially meaning a gas.

That gas also just happens to absorb wavelengths in the infrared of exactly 4.27 microns allowing a digital sensor to record changes in the concentration of light with a 4.27 micron wavelength. And those concentrations can be measured with a known light source and a known sensor. More specifically a thermal sensor that converts temperature to electricity which makes sense since we are working in the infrared.

Essentially, the physics behind Pasco Wireless CO2 sensor works like a mini greenhouse effect where the particular IR wave that is the same size as a CO2 molecule is projected across a space that contains the gas to be measured. As the infrared waves move through the space, the CO2 molecules absorb the IR. So the more CO2 in the sampled gas, the less IR that reaches the detector. This type of sensor is called an NDIR or nondispersive infrared sensor. You could imagine it like measuring the amount of dust in or snow in the air by noticing how much less road your car headlights illuminate.

Sensing carbon dioxide has been an issue for centuries. The whole Canary in a Coal Mine thing included CO2 as well as CO and methane. And lowering a burning candle into a hole in the ground being dug for a well has been a thing much longer than when Pa Ingalls struggled with CO2 in chapter 12 of the book Little House on the Prairie.

And like the carbon dioxide conundrum in Little House on the Prairie, a popular science demonstration is to use vinegar and baking soda (or dilute acidic acid and sodium bicarbonate) to generate carbon dioxide that is then used to extinguish burning candles. Whether on the scale of a  Mason jar or a 20 gallon aquarium, the visual is impressive. Float some soap bubbles on the invisible layer of CO2 and you will have disequilibrium events of Pigetian proportion.

Venus (above) compared to the size of the earth (below)

And also like the carbon dioxide conundrum in Little House, the very earth into which that well was dug has its own CO2 conundrum. Nestled just a scant 0.22 astronomical units (AU) from earth lies the planet Venus. Just slightly smaller than the earth and one-fifth closer to the sun, our morning start is a run-away greenhouse effect. With Venetian air composed of roughly 96% carbon dioxide and surface temperature of 462 degrees Celsius, Venus, as beautiful as she is deadly and represents our worst nightmare for earth.

The planet Mars.

And just half an AU further from the sun than where you are sitting right now is Mars. Although only one-half the diameter of the earth, Mars does maintain a minor atmosphere, once described by Allen Chen, the Mars 2020 Cruise and Entry, Descent, and Landing Phase Lead scientist, as “There’s just enough atmosphere to be annoying, but not enough to be helpful.”

Chemically, the atmosphere of Mars is an eerily familiar roughly 96% carbon dioxide. May I remind you that the concentration of carbon dioxide you are breathing right now is about 0.4% or 240 times less than Venus or Mars. So low is the Earth’s atmospheric CO2 level that we measure it rather than in parts per hundred (know as a percentage), but in parts per million. Compare that to our 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen happiness.

In 2014, NASA launched a satellite with the second nerdiest moniker for a spacecraft namely Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2, or OCO2 for short as in the second OCO spacecraft. OCO, or more specifically O=C=O is shorthand chemical symbol for carbon dioxide. Why the name OCO2 is in second place is because the first satellite, named elegantly “OCO” failed to separate from its launch faring and thus failed to separate from earth’s gravity enough to go orbital, and instead fell lifelessly into the Indian Ocean. Politely known as a “reflight” the second OCO, or rather the first OCO2, would add critical data to our understanding of the carbon levels and distribution on earth.

The OCO2 is the sixth boxcar(?) in the A-train satellite constellation providing a series of indirect measurements of CO2. But if you want to directly measure CO2 levels in your classroom, the Pasco Wireless CO2 sensor is just the ticket. And at half a billion dollars less than an OCO satellite! Or you could spend that half-billion to buy one Pasco Wireless CO2 sensor for every five high school student across the entire United States.

Specifications of the Pasco Wireless CO2 Sensor

The Pasco Wireless CO2 sensor is controlled by the software on a computing device. The SPARKvue software platform is available from Pasco in any of 28 different languages and once in in SPARKvue, you can build a custom visual interface that presents the Pasco Wireless CO2 sensor data in a real-time graph, gage, or numerical readout.

There are plenty of classic experiments where the Pasco Wireless CO2 sensor works wonders. And then there are the creative and unique tangents where the Pasco Wireless CO2 sensor can provide real-time feedback as the atmospheric condition change whether in a paper bag or vehicle, or crowded mall on Black Friday.

For the classics, Pasco includes a 250ml sampling bottle that the Pasco Wireless CO2 sensor snugs into just fine with its tapered stopper-like collar. Another classic demonstration is the measurement of CO2 in an enclosed space like a bag as a person exhales into the bag.

On the creative end, well, there is no end. A philosophical change I’ve had during my decades in science education is that students are getting a little concerned about being issued our current problems as a challenge for their intellect and assignments. But its not the problem that concerns the students, but instead that we (adults) continue to make the problems worse as we ask our students to generate solutions to the problems. And CO2 is a big one. A big scary one.

CO2 is not just another atmospheric component as anyone over age 40 knows, but to K-12 students these days, CO2 is the Hiroshima of my era. Its the quantifiable example of when things go bad. In full disclosure, my great uncle was in Hiroshima when the bomb went off. My immediate uncle married into the Japanese family and they chose not to have children in fear of effects from the Hiroshima bombing. As a  result, my children do not have any cousins from my only uncle on that side of the family. Sorry to go into detail, but as we try to keep a safe distance between threats for our global security and the happiness of classroom science, know that students put the scientific jigsaw puzzle pieces together even if its not on the test.

Another feature of the Pasco Wireless CO2 sensor is that a waterproof yet CO2 breathable sleeve can be added to the business end of the sensor that allows the Pasco Wireless CO2 sensor to read the CO2 concentration in a solution. Like a magic sleeve that lets in CO2 but not water, the Dissolved CO2 Waterproof Sleeve slides over the sensor proper and allows submersion in water up to the top of the sleeve and no further. The Pasco Wireless CO2 sensor is far from waterproof, and if submerged, expect the worst. But you might be lucky.

Using the SPARKvue software, you can have the actual CO2 concentration down to the millionth of air in seconds. CO2 is an exhaust gas from humans and other biotic organisms. And the burning materials and fossil fuels. CO2 is a gas that needs sequestering. A gas that needs to remain underground. Note that burning a log or even a forest fire is totally different ballgame extracting CO2 from long buried pre-dino-age plant matter, or limestone rocks that haven’t been airborne carbon molecules in hundreds of millions to billions of years. So this is why the CO2 emissions of a forest fire and cow emissions are completely different from that of burning fossil fuels and straight across comparisons are dangerous.

For more specifics on the further subdivision of CO2 molecules below just a part-per-million number, explore the Seuss Effect. But in a nutshell, the Seuss Effect shows that “the carbon from fossil fuels that is returned to the atmosphere through combustion is depleted in both ¹³C and ¹⁴C compared to atmospheric carbon dioxide.” In other words, we can actually identify if the carbon in atmospheric comes from current processes like forest fires or volcanoes, or released into the air from the burning of fossil fuels.

Another CO2 conundrum is the safety wisdom to crawl out of a burning building when it’s full of smoke. Not only is the smoke the densest the higher you go above the floor, but so is the carbon dioxide. So in this case CO2 is less dense than ordinary air. How can that be? The higher temperature of the CO2 from the fire allows it to “float” on air until it cools.

Carbon dioxide is a fascinating substance with which life has a love/hate relationship. Using the Pasco Wireless CO2 sensor to explore quantities and changes in CO2 and put some firm numbers to invisible deadly gas we produce with every breath.

My kindergarten students recently became citizen scientists as they investigated their big questions about the natural world around them. The snow finally melted, the critters have made their appearance, and the plants are beginning to bloom. It’s early May, and Spring has finally arrived—not a moment too soon. Our class has been out walking on our school trails, observing the signs of life that finally have appeared!

After reading aloud Salamander Sky, a new book by Katy Farber; The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry; What Matters by Allison Hughes and Holly Hatam; Sandy’s Incredible Shrinking Footprint by Femida Handy and Carole Carpenter; and Take Care of The Earth Every Day by Tammy Gagne, students wondered about our natural world and how we can care for our plants, critters, and everything around us. Some questions they asked were these: How can we ensure clean water for amphibians and fish? How do we keep the air and land clean? How can we protect forests, which many creatures call home? How can we protect the food supply of the creatures in our environment? 

Students brainstormed to create a list of the many comforts and conveniences we humans enjoy, such as disposable containers and wrappers, paper and canned goods, gas for cars, goods produced in factories, and trees that are transformed into things we use. They discussed the many ways our comforts and conveniences can affect the land, air, water, and other life in our environment. They shared their concerns that trash is accumulating in landfills or is left where it can harm animals and the land, that emissions from cars and factories cause air and water pollution, and that cutting down trees can leave animals without homes and food.

Students were eager and excited to identify many ways we can all help. They believe we should use less, reuse when possible, and recycle items; drive less, ride bikes, drive electric cars, or carpool; make better filters, ask companies to “please stop releasing harmful chemicals into the environment”; write letters to the governor and president requesting change; and cut down fewer trees or plant more in their place to save the homes of creatures and to create more clean air. My students’ ideas are their own, and they are brilliant!

In response to our daily read-alouds and discussions, students wrote nonfiction books titled All About What Citizen Scientists Do that detailed the many great ways they chose to take action. Students agreed to create signs to remind others about caring for the environment; build birdhouses and bird feeders; use recycled materials to create art; start a compost bucket at home and school; write a letter to the governor about ways to save the environment; and ride their bikes more often instead of traveling in cars.

Students also enjoyed participating in an all-school Green Up Day event to clean up our school and community, as shown in the pictures featuring the cross-grade collaborative greening up they did with fifth and sixth graders. Finally, our class shared their stories and finished products with other students and teachers in the school to inspire others to become citizen scientists. My students are busy saving the planet, and we hope you will do so, too!

I would enjoy hearing your feedback on this science investigation or if you had similar investigations to share. Comment below and I’ll be sure to respond.

Standards Addressed Through These Activities

K-ESS3-3.3: Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, air, water, and/or other living things in the local environment.

• Core Idea: K-ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems: Things that people do to live comfortably can affect the world around them. But they can make choices that reduce their impacts on the land, water, air, and other living things.
• Core Idea: ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions: Designs can be conveyed through sketches, drawings, or physical models. These representations are useful in communicating ideas for a problem’s solutions to other people.
  • Crosscutting Concept: Events have causes that generate observable patterns.

W.K.2: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply information about the topic.

Transferable Skill: Engaged Citizenship—Participate in and contribute to our local and global communities.

Kelly MacMartin is a passionate kindergarten teacher at Calais Elementary School in the Washington Central Supervisory Union in Vermont. She has taught for 12 years at the primary level. She is passionate about connecting with students in all instructional areas, but especially loves helping students explore their own topics of inquiry related to the natural world. MacMartin is studying in the School Leadership program at Saint Michael’s College and enjoys sharing and learning great practice with and from colleagues.

This article was featured in the May issue of Next Gen Navigator, a monthly e-newsletter from NSTA delivering information, insights, resources, and professional learning opportunities for science educators by science educators on the Next Generation Science Standards and three-dimensional instruction.  Click here to sign up to receive the Navigator every month.

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I am a student teacher in a kindergarten class and I have been struggling with focusing on laying the foundation for my students. But how much is too little? How much is too much for students at such an emergent level? —Y., Arizona

This is something teachers in all grades grapple with! The first person I would go to is your cooperating teacher and other kindergarten teachers. They have taught this curriculum and should have a good idea of the expectations and will likely fill your repertoire with all kinds of strategies they have used. Next, look at the curriculum support documents. There should be activities, lessons, and assessment strategies that have been identified or created by the department of education to help you out. Check out your state’s science teachers’ association for their resources. Develop a professional development plan in which you attend and participate in as many opportunities to learn, network, and share ideas about your curriculum.

Your students probably have diverse backgrounds and abilities. Don’t be too afraid to over-estimate your students. It is probably better to back track to simpler stuff than underestimate your students’ comprehension of the content.

Foremost, reflect on everything you do and make self-assessments by asking yourself: Are my students getting this? How do I know? And, regardless of whether the lesson worked well or not, How can I teach this differently? From your reflections, you can create informal and formal assessments that will help guide you and determine your students’ understanding.

Hope this helps!